Playoff Bound or Playoff Pretender?

Right now the St. Louis Blues sit 6 points out of a playoff spot and are dead last in the brutal Gretzky Central division.   That has not stopped them from making moves to try and catch Colorado to reach their goal of making the playoff this season.  They thought they had the horses going into the season to compete for a wild card spot but things have not gone according to plan.  King Henrik has been mediorcre at best most nights but to be fair to him the Blues have rode him hard not giving the 37 year old to many nights off.  The first thing that will have to happen is St. Louis is going to have to put a string of wins together and hope for some help from teams above them.  Earlier in the season a few trades that made their team better actually started some signifanct losing streaks.  Thankfull that streak ended with Richard Panik being the first traded player to record a win in his first game with his new team.  Lets Review

Jan 09 2019

St.Louis receives Alex Killorn in a swap with Columbus.  Before that deal St. Louis was 7-5 in their previous 12 games without him.  And the next 12 games with Killorn in the lineup they managed to go 2-10, leading them from being 1 Point out of a playoff spot to double digits out. 

Mar 15 2019

St. Louis receives Marcus Johansson and Ben Lovejoy.  Once again trading out picks and prospects and bringing it vets as St. Louis was closing the playoff PT gap.  But instead it happened again.  Before the trade the Blues were 9-3 in their previous 12 meetings, and Johansson and Lovejoy have brought the Blues a record of 3-7 since their arrival.

April 05 2019

Blues trade for Richard Panik.  Maybe we will turn the tides with this one, going into the Panik deal the Blues were 3-7 in their last 10.  BUT since the arrival of Pank they are now 1-0 has the trend been bucked we will see as they play the Wild, Redwings and Preds their next three games.  Those teams currently sit 2nd 3rd and 9th overall in the league. 

These three games will tell us if we have built a team that will challenge for a playoff spot or if we will poentially sell off an asset or two come deadline day.

On a side note, it would appear that St. Louis management has yes to come to any type of agreement with their current AHL affliate Chicago Wolves club on any kind of extension moving into next season.  It is appearing more so that St. Louis will be looking for a new farm team going into next season.