The St. Louis Blues are about to start a brand new season and that means it’s time to be excited and optimistic. Unfortunately, the Blues aren’t perfect and will inevitably struggle at some point during the 2017-18 season. Predicting what that weakness will be – and how to address it – can go a long way in limiting the damage any potential issue may cause.
So, once again I took to Twitter for one of those very scientific polls. I asked Blues fans which area they thought the Blues were mostly likely to struggle in this season.
Here were their responses:
The Blues will have the biggest issue with their ____ in 2017-18. #stlblues
— Frozen Notes (@FrozenNotes) August 16, 2017
Out of 123 votes, the majority of Blues fans said that they think offense will be the team’s biggest issue in 2017-18. That’s a pretty safe prediction. When has a team ever said that they score enough goals? You can never have too many goals. The Blues have also struggled to maintain any kind of consistency on offense (outside of being consistently inconsistent) and are still trying to figure out how to help out Vladimir Tarasenko.
A smaller percentage, 20%, said that defense might be the biggest issue. There are plenty of questions on defense even though the future seems bright. Will Jay Bouwmeester decline further? What will a full year without Kevin Shattenkirk look like? There’s some exciting talent waiting in the wings (Hellloooooo, Vince Dunn!) which may explain why Blues fans are feeling pretty good about the team’s defense.
Speaking of feeling good, very few fans think goaltending will be an issue. It’s hard to argue with that thought as Jake Allen was absurd in the playoffs last year and the team’s overall goaltending was outstanding once Mike Yeo took over. With Allen and Carter Hutton manning the crease, there’s a lot of confidence ahead of the new year.
Some Blues fans had some worthy write-in votes.
One said in-game entertainment:
in game entertainment
— pǝıɟıɹǝʌ ɐɯnɐɹʇ pooɥpןıɥɔ ⚠️ (@ctrauma) August 16, 2017
More couldn’t resist noting the Blues’ playoff disappointments:
post season success
— Jimmerz (@MadiganSTLblues) August 16, 2017
"first round playoff opponent" https://t.co/gGtuynoyA0
— Joe Kennedy (@projoeiii) August 17, 2017
They’re not wrong, but that doesn’t make the truth any easier to swallow.
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