The St. Louis Blues play in one of the most competitive divisions in the entire NHL, every team in the Central Division has made an appearance at least twice in the past five years and there are no signs that this is going to change.
The Blues missed out on the playoffs on the last day of the season in 2017 for the first time in nine years. It is easy to blame the Blues play down the stretch as the reason why the Blues missed out on the big dance, but a lot of the contributors to the Blues absence is due to the increase of talent in the West.