On Aug. 1, the Blues looked like a Western Conference tough guy on paper. Not only did Doug Armstrong go out and trade for Ryan O’Reilly, but he signed Pat Maroon, David Perron, and Tyler Bozak to contracts. He shipped out Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobokta, and didn’t resign Carter Hutton and Kyle Brodziak.
The stars were aligning, and all that needed to happen were games to be played and won. 82-0 wasn’t a fair idea, but a 45-50 win season didn’t seem too far out of reach. What could go wrong?
It turns out, a lot could go wrong.