Team: 2021-22 St. Louis Blues

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 30, 2021

Published: Jun. 30, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

If Seattle turns out well (it's probably 50/50), one of Calgary/Vancouver has a bounce back season, then teams like the Blues, Preds, Stars, Jets, and Wild could be in danger. I believe that Colorado will be head and shoulders above the rest and there could be single digit point difference from 2nd place in the Central Division to 6th place in the Central Division. Although unlikely both the Hawks and Yotes could also be in the mix. I doubt the Preds will fall out with Juuse Saros being too good right now. The Jets should be there, a healthy Stars team should be in the mix, and the Wild are finally not irrelevant.
The blue's blue line is a little concerning.
Faulk will probably not get back to the offensive levels from Carolina despite looking better. Krug only scored like twice this year although it's expected as he doesn't score much. Parayko who is probably there #1 defenseman was injured a lot. Scandellla is probably going to have to play top 4 minutes again. A bottom pairing of Niko Mikkola/Jake Walman and Robert Bertuzzo is definitely concerning. Mikkola/Walman are both already 25 and don't have much NHL experience. Bertuzzo is probably more a 7th defenseman.
Offensively:
O'Reilly and Perron have been carrying this team.
Kyrou also had a breakout season.
Schenn was OK, while Schwartz and Taresenko had down years. Thomas didn't have a great year as well.
Binnington continues to be a interesting goalie. .910 SV% is not bad, but is it worth the big 6x6 contract he signed. Husso did look better at the end of the season despite the poor numbers.