Blues Challenging for Wild Card Spot

The St. Louis Blues are primed to challenge for the Western Conference Wild Card.

Jan 11, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) clears the puck out of the zone against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the first period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

The wild card race in the Western Conference is wide open, and the St. Louis Blues are aiming to enter it in the second half of the season. Just four points back of the second wild card spot with 38 games left in the regular season, the Blues aren't far from making an unlikely playoff run.

The Blues weren't projected to be a playoff team entering the 2024-2025 season, but they have a path laid out to get there. With a 20-20-4 record, they are trailing the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks in the race for the second wild card spot.

But the Blues have a few things in their favor that could catapult them over those two squads. The first and perhaps their biggest advantage is their goaltending. Jordan Binnington, for all of his faults and quirks, is a Stanley Cup winner and has 156 career wins. His running mate, Joel Hofer, is the team's future starter and continue improving in his third season with the NHL squad.

What that tandem gives them is confidence from the net out. Whether Binnington or Hofer is in the crease, the team has a goalie capable of stealing a victory. Binnington's statistics don't impress at first glance, but he's making the critical saves in crucial moments. According to MoneyPuck, his goals saved above expected is 2.6. For reference, any positive number is means that goalie is preventing more goals than the average goalie would.

The second thing is their forward depth. Robert Thomas is averaging over a point per game over his first 32 games of the season while Jordan Kyrou leads the squad with 19 goals and 38 points in 44 games. Their head coach Jim Montgomery has smartly separated his top players to balance out the top-six group and that approach of spreading out the talent is paying off across the lineup.

The team has five players with 11 or more goals at the halfway mark, and there's at least one on each of their top three lines. With the addition of Dylan Holloway, who has 15 goals in his first season in St. Louis, it's helped relieve the scoring pressure on fellow wingers Pavel Buchnevich and Jake Neighbours. It's been to their benefit, as both players have 11 goals at this point of the campaign.

The forward depth isn't just about offense for the Blues. Their bottom-six has players like Mathieu Joseph, Radek Faksa, Alexandre Texier, and Oskar Sundqvist who are known more for their defensive presences than for putting the puck in the net.

The last piece that could help this team is newcomer on defense Cam Fowler. The former anchor on the Anaheim Ducks' blue line was recently acquired by the Blues and has been a perfect fit for the team. He's boosted their power play and given them another proven top-four defenseman. He's scored four goals and 10 points in just 14 games while averaging 22:36 minutes of ice-time with his new cub.

Four points back of a playoff spot, the Blues have a chance. It's not a guarantee and there is still plenty of room to improve, but they might be the dark horse candidate to be the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.

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