After an unlikely Stanley Cup win last season, St. Louis Blues plan to go all the way in 2019/20 as well. According to Blues’ head coach Craig Berube, his players can’t wait to get back to the ice after NHL resumes its season and are “hungry” to repeat as champions.
NHL recently confirmed that it’s terminating the regular season and will instead resume with a playoff consisting put of 24 teams. According to the league’s schedule, the Blues will return to training in the next few days and will begin playing competitive games in late July.
“They’re hungry,” said Berube in a recent chat with reporters. “They want to get back. We got the good motivation, I believe, coming back and playing and trying to repeat. Our guys are in a pretty good spot now.”
The Blues caught the league off guard last season, going from the last place in January to getting a playoff spot and winning the Stanley Cup. This year, however, the team had a much stronger regular season campaign and found itself at the top of Western Conference with 42-19-10 record. This should give them a significant advantage in the new playoff format.
However, Berube knows that there is always a chance for one team to come out of nowhere and win it all.
“It’s all an even playing field when we come back,” he added. “The team that wants to get out there and plays the hardest and plays at their pace is going to have the best chance.”
The Blues will start the playoffs as part of the Western Conference Seeding Round Robin, where they will play Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, and Dallas Stars. The exact schedule is still to be confirmed.
