The Blues’ path back to the postseason in 2026-27 starts with one blunt truth: there isn’t much room for error.
St. Louis has lived on the playoff edge for three straight seasons.
The Blues missed the Western Conference field by six points in 2023-24, got in as the final wild card in 2024-25, then fell short again in 2025-26. That up-and-down stretch says plenty about where this team sits - good enough to matter, vulnerable enough to vanish quickly.
The Western Conference cut line has also been moving around. Over those three seasons, it took 98, 96 and 90 points to get in, which averages out to about 95 points in an 82-game year.
With the schedule now stretched to 84 games, the math shifts a bit, but the target stays familiar: somewhere in the low-to-mid 90s could leave the Blues on the outside, while 96 to 99 points should be enough to get them in. If they can reach 100, the pressure eases.
If they can climb toward 108 or beyond, they’re no longer chasing a wild card - they’re playing for home ice.
That 100-point benchmark works out to about 1.19 points per game, which is roughly a 45-29-10 record. In plain terms, win a little more than half your games and stay steady enough around the edges, and you’re in the mix.
The scoring profile does not need to be flashy. Western Conference playoff teams have typically averaged about 3.3 goals per game and allowed around 2.8, which over 84 games comes out to roughly 175 goals for and 236 against.
The Blues do not need to run up a giant offensive number. What they cannot do is bleed goals.
That was the difference between their last two seasons. In 2024-25, the Blues made the playoffs with 250 goals scored and 231 allowed, a plus-19 goal differential.
A year later, they scored 230 and gave up 254, finishing at minus-24. That 43-goal swing changed everything.
For Jim Montgomery and his staff, getting back to something around a plus-15 goal differential in 2026-27 would be a reasonable target.
Special teams matter too, but not in a way that demands perfection. Western Conference playoff clubs have generally sat around 22 to 24 percent on the power play and 78 to 80 percent on the penalty kill.
St. Louis does not have to be elite in either category.
It just cannot live below average. The Colorado Avalanche made it in last season with a power play under 17 percent because everything else was strong enough to carry them.
The Blues should not expect to survive that way. They need to cash in on the man advantage and keep the puck out of their net.
The more revealing numbers come during the season itself. For St.
Louis, the question is not whether it can surge late. It is whether it is tracking properly before the calendar gets to that point.
A 100-point pace is the safe lane. A 95-point pace is the floor. Anything below that and the margin disappears fast.
The first real checkpoint arrives after 20 games, when 24 points is the baseline for a healthy start. An 11-7-2 record would put them on track for the safer path, while 10-7-3 would still keep them on the floor line.
By 28 games, the Blues should be sitting on 33 points. Falling four or more points short of that would mean they are already chasing in a conference that does not give much back.
The halfway mark, after 42 games, is the big one. Fifty points there would keep the second half focused on seeding.
Forty-eight would still leave them in the postseason conversation. Anything close to 42 would mean they need a collapse from the Pacific Division and a lot of help elsewhere.
The next checkpoints are more of the same. After 60 games, they should be in the 68-to-71-point range. After 70, they should be between 79 and 83.
The Blues are not being asked to become the Avalanche. They are being asked to prove they belong in the race.
The last three seasons have made the formula pretty clear: in the West, a team in the mid-90s to low-100s, with decent goal differential, usually gets there. If St.
Louis gets out fast and reaches 24 points in its first 20 games, it gives itself a real shot from the start. If it falls behind early, then a March push may not mean much at all.
In Other News...
Blues Lose Young Defenseman At Worst Possible Time
Tyler Tuckers latest setback comes at an especially awkward moment for the Blues, who are trying to sort out their blue line as camp gets going. The young defenseman, entering the final season of his two-year contract, had been looking to build on his place in the picture, but a knee injury has already interrupted that plan and pushed him onto injured reserve.
The procedure on his right knee was successful, and the next checkpoint is still a ways off, with Tucker due for another evaluation in six weeks. For St. Louis, it leaves one less option available on the back end right when the team would prefer to get a closer look at how its defensive mix might settle in. [Read more 🡒]