3 the explanation why Blues missed 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs

The 2025-26 season is ending too early for the St. Louis Blues. In the event that they had one other two weeks to compete with an extra 5-to-7 games, they very likely can be a Stanley Cup playoff team within the Western Conference.

There was no such miracle for the Blues. The finish line is at hand and the Blues know their season is coming to an end once they play their final two games of the season. They host the Penguins Tuesday, they usually close out the 12 months with a road game against the Utah Mammoth.

The Blues dug themselves a serious hole early within the season. They began the season with three wins of their first 4 games, however the team unraveled. They lost seven consecutive games, going 0-5-2 in the method.

After they finally ended the losing streak with a surprising victory over the Edmonton Oilers, they continued to lose ground. The Blues fell into a serious hole with a mark of 3-3-5 over their next 11 games. They were well out of contention and the season was an extended run to nowhere. History said that a bottom-dwelling team just like the Blues couldn’t turn things around.

The one exception to that was the 2019 St. Louis Blues. That team rose from the NHL’s cellar shortly before Recent Yr’s Eve. They went on to win the one Stanley Cup in team history when and beat the Boston Bruins in 7 games. The Blues couldn’t try this again seven years later, but they attempted to do exactly that.

Despite the presence of a star like Robert Thomas (22 goals and 37 assists for team-leading 59 points) and solid supporting players like Jimmy Snuggerud, Dylan Holloway, Pavel Buchnevich, Jordan Kyrou and Justin Faulk, the Blues were left to fight for respectability.

Jim Montgomery was unable to get a grip on his team

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Montgomery is a coach who has been on the sting of greatness, but he has not been in a position to get his team excessive. When he was the coach of the Bruins, he was in a position to take over a longtime team within the 2022-23 season that featured veteran stars in Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Brad Marchand. The Bruins dominated the league and set NHL records for regular-season wins and points.

Yet when the playoffs began, they faced an upstart eighth-seeded team within the Florida Panthers that was not intimidated. Although the Bruins went up by a 3-1 margin, they might not get the ultimate win. Montgomery’s record-setting season got here to an end with a first-round upset that sent shock waves up and down Montgomery’s spine.

Montgomery was a shaky coach the following season and while his team earned a seven-game overcome the Toronto Maple Leafs in the primary round. It took an time beyond regulation goal within the seventh game to permit the Bruins to advance, but they were flushed the next round by the Panthers. Montgomery was shaken to his core and it showed at the beginning of the of the 2024-25 season when his team struggled badly.

The Bruins fired him early within the season and the Blues hired him inside days. Montgomery was in a position to get the Blues on target they usually made the playoffs with a 44-30-8 record. They displayed grit and hunger while going 35-18-7 under Montgomery’s leadership. The important thing to the season was a 12-game winning streak from mid-March through early April that allowed the Blues to make the playoffs because the No. 8 seed.

The Blues were on the verge of a Panthers-like upset as that they had a 3-1 lead within the seventh game before the Jets scored two goals in the ultimate two minutes to send the sport to time beyond regulation. The Blues would lose in double time beyond regulation. How could Montgomery be anything but unsure of his coaching ability?

That clearly showed this season because the Blues played beneath their talent level a lot of the season. They’ve been on one other strong closing stretch — 8-3-1 after Monday night’s victory over the Minnesota Wild — but they didn’t match last 12 months’s playoff appearance. Quite a little bit of that is on Montgomery’s leadership.

Binnington didn’t play like an All-World goaltender

The Blues havea big-time goaltending presence in Jordan Binnington, but he didn’t have a good season

He was talented enough to win the goaltending job for Canada within the Milan Olympics, and he helped take that team to time beyond regulation of the gold medal game before Jack Hughes gave the US the triumph together with his huge goal.

Binnington can have been Canada’s best goaltender, but he struggled with the Blues. He has a 12-20-7 record with a 3.28 goals against average and an .875 save percentage.

That is just not what the Blues expected they usually went with Joel Hofer for much of the season consequently of Binnington’s struggles. Hofer had a 2.57 GAA and a .910 save percentage while playing 45 games — five greater than Binnington.

The Blues could trade Binnington within the offseason and his name was involved in trade rumors prior to the NHL’s trade deadline. While it isn’t fair accountable the Blues overall problems this season on Binnington, he actually played a task within the team’s failure to more the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The 2025-26 season is ending too early for the St. Louis Blues. In the event that they had one other two weeks to compete with an extra 5-to-7 games, they very likely can be a Stanley Cup playoff team within the Western Conference. There was no such miracle for the Blues. The finish line is at hand and the Blues know their season is coming to an end once they play their final two games of the season.

Related Post

Leave a Reply