Ken Hitchcock has to find a way to rewrite the narrative. To make this year seem different from the past four springs, when big, strong St. Louis teams pooped out in the playoffs without even reaching a Western Conference final.
And even if he can make his troops genuinely believe that the spring of 2016 is going to be the Blues’ Promised Land?
“It doesn’t matter what you say,” he admits.
“All of us chase L.A. and Chicago. They’ve got the knowledge. We can all think we’ve learned, but they know what it takes. They know how far you’ve got to dig, how deep you have to go,” said the former Dallas Stars Cup-winning coach. “I’ve been there before. We all chase those guys.”
St. Louis is one of hockey’s best clubs, annually. Big, heavy, a contender in hockey toughest division. Yet, they’ve won one playoff series in the past four seasons — and that was four seasons ago.
It is truly amazing that a team this hard to play against can have that resume.
“It’s so strong, so competitive (in the Central), that you feel fortunate to just get in. You’ve got to have a hell of a year, with everything going right, just to get into the playoffs,” he said, with his Blues contending for their third Central Division regular season title in five years.
“We think we can beat anybody, and I think anybody thinks they can beat us. You just want to get to the dance. There are no guarantees.”
Sadly, the only guarantee in St. Louis over all these years is that the dream will somehow peter out before the Stanley Cup final begins. A member of the National Hockey League’s first expansion class, the Blues came out of the newbie West Division and made the Cup final in each of their first three seasons.
Since then they’ve been a playoff team in an incredible 36 of 44 seasons, but have never made it back to Round 4.
Today Barclay Plager’s old team sits at the top of the Central in a tie with Dallas heading into Wednesday night’s game in Edmonton. In an injury-riddled season, the Blues team that has emerged is an unknown even to its head coach.
“We’re a mystery team. We still don’t know what we’ve got yet either,” said Hitchcock, who presided over his entire lineup in a practice for the first time this season only last week. “We were at the same point as a lot of teams who aren’t going to make the playoffs; on that same precipice (where) your lineup card of players out is almost as long as the guys who are in.
“Six, seven, eight guys — and we survived. We got points in those games … and that built the spirit in our group. I really like our spirit.”
It truly is impressive, the number of injuries to good, important players that the Blues have suffered, only to contend at the top of the wicked Central.
The season opened with centre Patrik Berglund on the shelf until January. Then Paul Stastny lost a month, while Jaden Schwartz busted an ankle in practice and missed the next three months. Steve Ott, a grinder but also a big part of the conscience of this team, was hurt on Dec. 5. He has not yet returned. Goalie Jake Allen missed six weeks — which is hopefully not as long as partner Brian Elliott is out, having been injured on Feb. 22.
Then there is Alexander Steen. Or as Hitchcock calls him, “Our best player.” He’s been gone since Feb. 22 and won’t play again until the playoffs. Even then, it is fair to question if Steen will be at 100 per cent.
“This is the year we learned how hard it is to make the playoffs,” Hitchcock said. “We had a lot of things go right, getting points late in games, for us to just get to where we’re at. Because of our division, it makes it more satisfying.”
So, if the old line is true that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, perhaps this is the year for St. Louis. What possible adversity could the playoffs bring that they haven’t already overcome, right?
Hitchcock will tell you that the need for everyone to pitch in all year long has made for a deeper, more engaged roster. Or, at least, he’d like to think so.
“The balance of power has changed on our team; the players we count on have changed,” he said. “We’ve got young guys who have really grown into leadership positions.
“Less counting on the same three or four players to do absolutely everything. There is more diversity in our lineup.”
Centre Paul Stastny wouldn’t disagree with his coach, but he wasn’t entirely singing out of the same songbook either.
“Sometimes he relies on (older) guys a little too much,” Stastny said. “I think what he’s started to do this year is give young guys an opportunity. Down the road, when you’re in overtime, you’ve got to play three, four lines. You’ve got to put those guys in situations that might happen down the road.
“And the young guys, they start feeling better knowing they have the coach’s trust.”
Young players, new blood.
What they really need in St. Louis is a new result.
