The St. Louis Blues’ season didn’t go the way they wanted in 2025-26, but the numbers point to a pretty clear problem: it wasn’t the Western Conference as a whole. It was the Central Division.
Against the Pacific Division, the Blues were more than solid. They finished 13-5-6 in those matchups, which is the kind of record that tells you they were handling most of that side of the conference just fine. Their only season-series loss came against Vegas, and they took two of three from every other Pacific team.
Over those 24 games, St. Louis scored 69 goals and gave up 60. Their biggest wins came against Anaheim, including a 6-2 result on April 3 and a 4-0 shutout on March 8.
That stands out even more when you consider the Pacific Division has sent the last four Western Conference representatives to the Stanley Cup Final. The Blues didn’t have trouble with them at all. And, as the source material notes, neither did the Eastern Conference.
The Central Division, though, was a different story entirely. St.
Louis went 10-16-0 against those opponents, and that losing record did real damage. Those were games against teams with high-end offenses and heavy defensive pressure, and the Blues came out on the wrong side too often.
That’s the part that has to be watched going forward. The other teams outside the playoff race look like they could be better next season too.
Utah is described as a force to be reckoned with, Chicago could be a surprise, and Nashville might sort things out quickly. If that plays out, the Blues could find themselves stuck near the bottom of the Central, and that’s when the panic would really start.
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