St. Louis Blues Report Card a Quarter Into the 2025-26 Season

After the St. Louis Blues‘ tremendous run post-4 Nations break last season and their thrilling seven-game series against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets, there was optimism in St. Louis that the Blues had broken out of their “re-tool” and that they would become a true playoff contender on the rise. Well through 21 games of the 2025-26 season, that feeling has shifted all the way to panic mode.

The Blues currently sit with the third-fewest points in the entire NHL with 18, posting a record of 6-9-6. There isn’t just one or two things on this team that are going wrong; just about everything you can think of is the root issue on the ice from the offense, defense, and goaltending. If there’s one thing that you can hang your hat on if you’re a Blues fan, it’s that the season is still early.

21 games is only a quarter of the season, meaning if the Blues can find what gave them success at the end of last season, there’s a chance that they can turn it around in time to make a push but it’s got to happen sooner rather than later. Some places still give the Blues a chance to make the playoffs despite their slow start, and as soon as the answer to is sports betting legal in Missouri changes to yes in December, more movement will likely show up in those odds. Not often does a 2019-type season come around.

Early season report cards are being handed out around the league and it’s time for the Blues to get theirs, but it won’t look pretty.

St. Louis Blues Report Card

Offense

The lack of offense comes at the surprise of a lot of people given how the Blues performed towards the end of last season. The offensive numbers paint a bad picture as the Blues rank near the bottom in almost every statistical category, including goals for and shots. Even with the bad start, the Blues’ underlying numbers once suggested that they weren’t playing that bad on offense but even those numbers have dipped. Since Nov. 1st, the 5-on-5 offense has ranked 27th in expected goals for per 60, 27th in expected goals percentage and 29th in shot percentage. Needless to say, the Blues’ 5-on-5 numbers have been atrocious. (Numbers as of Nov. 18)

The one overall stat that the Blues excel in is their offensive zone time, which ranks top ten in the league. That stat is a bit confusing given the state of the offense but with the Blues not generating enough shots on goal, and in turn, goals, then that’s where the poor numbers come into play.

To put this all in perspective, Jake Neighbours is tied with Jordan Kyrou and Justin Faulk for the team lead in goals with six and Neighbours has played in only eight games. Also, Robert Thomas leads the team in points with 13 despite missing four games due to injury. The only thing keeping their overall numbers on offense afloat is their power play, which has been pretty much the only bright spot on this team.

Grade: D

Defense

What’s been worse than the offense for the Blues is the defense. They’re last in the league in goals against and that doesn’t have to do with just goaltending. Poor front-net/board battles, failure to clear the puck, and gaps in the defense all contribute to this atrocious defense. Seemingly every game the opponent either has an odd-man rush or a guy wide open in the slot, a lot of times both. The Blues are also giving up almost 28 shots on goal a game.

The plus/minus numbers are some of the worst in the league and when the Blues do get a lead or a multi-goal lead, they can’t find a way to hold it and close out games. This is all to say that the Blues’ defensive structure is just simply not good enough. It’s seemingly been that way for a few years now but this is the worst it has ever been.

Grade: F

Goaltending

What’s masked the defensive woes for the Blues over the years, notably last year, was great goaltending. This season, the Blues haven’t had even close to that from either Jordan Binnington or Joel Hofer. Yes, the trickle-down effect from a horrendous defense is the goaltending following suit and it’s hard for them to overcome poor defense but not being able to make a save also doesn’t help the woes.

Binnington has a save percentage of .872 and a goals-against average of 3.30. Joel Hofer has a save percentage of .870 and a goals-against average of 3.89. That collective effort has the save percentage tied for the worst in the league while the goals-against ranks dead last.

It’s not ideal when one is struggling but when both are, it’s a big problem. There have been more than a few times when each goaltender has let in “soft-goals” or just isn’t making that extra save needed for the team to stay in it. They’ve been the league’s worst tandem a quarter through the season and if the Blues have any hope of making a push, the play in between the pipes simply has to be better first and foremost.

The upward trajectory has to be led by Binnington, who is the number one goaltender and the guy that the Blues have relied on in the past to keep this team upright. If he gets going, hopefully Hofer follows suit and the Blues can get back in the thick of things. But for now, the defense and goaltending have mirrored each other so far this season and that’s not a good thing.

Grade: F

Special Teams

There’s at least a little bit of encouraging talk when the special teams is brought up for the Blues, and that’s solely because of the power play. The unit is surprisingly good despite what the overall offensive numbers look like. The Blues currently are 7th in the league with a 24.5 power play percentage. They got a much-needed boost in that area when Dalibor Dvorsky was called up. He’s scored three goals in 11 games and all three of those goals have come on the power play. The one highlight among the team numbers has been when on the man advantage.

Of course, it’s not all sunshine with the special teams as with the good comes the bad and the bad has been the penalty kill. That’s what has been holding the special teams back from having a good grade. The kill ranks 26th at 73.6 percent and that coincides with the bad defensive play.

The special teams imbalance has been noticeable but if the Blues can get the penalty kill to even just below league average, they might be in a little better shape.

Grade: C

Overall Team Grade

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and that’s usually the mark where we have more of an idea of what teams are around the league. Right now, the Blues are towards the bottom in the standings and it’s not looking good. Even in games that they’re respectable or earn a point, it’s still disheartening more times than not with how the game got to its conclusion, whether it’s giving up the leads or not being able to get a win in overtime.

There are so many little things that if some just turned in the Blues’ favor, they’d be doing ok. There have been minimal bright spots that aren’t getting any attention because of how much the poor play is outweighing the two.

As mentioned, there’s still a lot of season left to turn things around but they have to start playing better in ALL areas of the game before that happens.