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The Cardinals told us that 2025 would be a reset season, but that didn’t happen. At least not to the extent that the Cards described a few days after the end of the 2024 season.
If Cards chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak want to see what a real reset looks like, they should head north of Busch Stadium, a short distance up Clark Avenue, and see what the St. Louis Blues are doing.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong has managed to make his team younger … and faster … and more versatile … and have more success because of it. The Blues went from also-ran to hot contender, and this wasn’t a random development.
And after the Blues got off to a horrible start this season, Armstrong pounced when he had the opportunity to hire Jim Montgomery, the best available coach out there.
With everything falling into place, the scorching Blues have been the NHL’s best team since February 8, streaking through the late-season schedule with a spectacular 13-2-2 record and .824 points percentage that’s tops in the NHL.
In their thrilling 17-game blastoff to rise above mediocrity, the Blues have gotten 32 goals and 77 assists from players age 25 or younger. If we want to include Jordan Kyrou, who is 26, then the Blues have prospered with 39 goals and 93 assists over the last 17 games from players no older than 26.
Zach Bolduc is 21, Jake Neighbours is 22, Dylan Holloway is 23, defenseman Philip Broberg is 23, Robert Thomas is 25, and Kyrou is 26.
Kyrou turns 27 in May, so I didn’t know whether to put him in the young-player group. I’ll boot Kyrou outta there when he reaches 27 on May 5th.
The Blues’ winning spree includes 25 goals and 44 points from three forwards and one defenseman age 23 or younger: Holloway, Bolduc, Neighbours, and Broberg.
Broberg has been an asset all season when healthy. He moves the puck, he’s a threat to score goals, and he’s sound defensively. During the 13-2-2 streak, Broberg leads Blues defensemen with four goals and the Note has outscored opponents 20 to 11 when he’s on the ice.
Broberg and 33-year-old defenseman Justin Faulk have teamed up to form a strong defensive pairing, with the Blues scoring eight more goals than opponents at even strength when Faulk-Broberg are on the sheet.
That’s the other impact generated by the young Blue-bloods. I sincerely believe they’ve energized the veterans.
Older Blues who weren’t playing well are suddenly playing exceptionally well, and I didn’t see that coming.
The young guys have rejuvenated the roster. And the older Blues – especially defensemen Ryan Suter, Cam Fowler, and captain Brayden Schenn – have reinforced the roster night in, night out.
Schenn is enjoying a resurgence at age 33, and his leadership has been resolute. During the team’s 13-2-2 blitz, Schenn has deposited 6 goals and dished 11 assists. Other than being part of the 2019 Stanley Cup champions, Schenn is having the time of his life as a Blue.
And while goaltender Jordan Binnington is only 31, he’s still a large part of this team’s backbone after shocking the hockey world in leading your Blues to the Stanley Cup in ‘19. The bigger the game, the better Binnington is. The idea of getting him into the 2025 playoffs is exciting. Binnington has been backed by a young goaltender, Joel Hofer, age 24. And we sure like the way Hofer has been playing.
This is so much fun to watch. When young dudes can play an important part in changing the team culture, you’re really onto something special.
And the Blues are getting even younger. The team called up 19-year-old forward prospect Dalibor Dvorsky – the 10th overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft – before Sunday’s 3-1 win over Nashville.
It won’t be long before the sniper Jimmy Snuggerud takes his place among the young St. Louis core. Snuggerud, who is finishing his collegiate hockey career at Minnesota, was drafted in 2022.
Unsolicited, a longtime media friend of mine who works in the Twin Cities mentioned Snuggerud and told me that Blues fans would love him because, and I quote, “the kid is a helluva goal scorer. He just has the gift.”
I’ll take my buddy’s word for it.
Coach Jim Montgomery has put together a good mix of line combinations that often put experienced veterans with the youthful up-and-coming talent.
Look at the sensational impact Holloway has made when on the ice with Kyrou and Schenn.
Kyrou’s game has really zoomed since taking residency on the same line with Holloway. Schenn, the wise elder, is an excellent distributor. He gets Holloway or Kyrou the puck, and watches them fly.
Robert Thomas is wheeling and dealing at a high level, ranking third among NHL centers with 15 assists over the last 17 games.
A line of Thomas, Neighbours and Pavel Buchnevich was clicking until Buchnevich was recently shut down because of illness. During the 13-2-2 stretch, that line had an expected goal share of 60%.
Montgomery has cultivated the necessary energy and impact from his fourth line, but every Blue seemingly plays with a defensive-minded conscience.
Through the amazing 13-2-2 breakout, the Blues have allowed the NHL’s fewest shots on goal per 60 minutes at only 23.2.
Monty’s boys are excelling in areas that usually go a long way to influencing a game’s outcome. Over the last 17 games, the blazing Blues are No. 3 in faceoff-win percentage, 7th in power-play success, and 11th in penalty killing.
Above all else, under Montgomery’s direction the Blues have become the NHL’s best 5-on-5 team. Coach Drew Bannister was fired after a loss to the Islanders on Nov. 23. Monty’s first game was Nov. 25.
The coaching change has led to remarkable “before” and “after” results at 5v5, the most important foundation for any hockey team. (That, and goaltending.)
• With Bannister as coach, the Blues ranked 31st among 32 NHL teams with a miserable 41.3% goal share at 5v5. Brutal.
• In Montgomery’s 50 games, the Blues are the NHL’s most effective team at 5v5, ranking first with a fabulous 59.4% goal share.
To me, that’s the most impressive stat of all in quantifying Montgomery’s reordering of this team. Not just with style of play and tactics – but also the collective mindset and competitiveness.
Armstrong traded away pending free agents along the way to collect draft picks that would grow the organization’s young talent pool, and we’re seeing the results.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, chose to go into the 2025 season with pending free-agent pitchers Ryan Helsley and Erick Fedde rather than put them on the trade market over the winter.
The Cardinals could still move the two pitchers before the late July trade deadline, but we can’t be certain if their value will still be as high four months from now. And what if there are injuries that would decrease their trade value?
Armstrong’s creativity produced the steal of last summer. In a maverick move, Army used the NHL’s rarely activated offer sheet system to raid Edmonton of the two 23-year-olds, Holloway and Broberg.
They’re talented assets that have played a major role in the Blues’ turnaround. And they can be part of a winning nucleus for a long time. It was an absolutely brilliant move by Army.
I’m not trying to pile on here, but I can’t remember the last time John Mozeliak made a creative move.
No, Mozeliak and the Cardinals don’t have an offer-sheet system to work with in Major League Baseball – but even if they did, they wouldn’t be taking advantage of it.
Armstrong has found various ways to significantly improve his roster as the Blues still cycle through a retooling project. In the past, he made the mistake of investing too heavily in aging defensemen. But as Armstrong funnels young talent into the Blues roster, he isn’t doing anything that could have long-term consequences. He’s gone the opposite way.
And there’s another contrast between the Blues and Cardinals. When forward Brandon Saad was lagging and not making much of an effort to fit into Montgomery’s system, Armstrong put Saad on waivers – hoping that another team would inherit the responsibility of paying the remaining money on a contract that goes through the 2025-2026 season.
When Saad cleared waivers, he opted to forego the guaranteed salaries owed to him by the Blues, and Saad and Armstrong agreed to mutually terminate the remainder of his contract. Saad didn’t want to go to the minors, so he chose free agency and signed with Vegas.
In the process, the Blues saved $5.4 million and have more payroll to work with – and more roster flexibility – in advance of next season.
Let me just put two names out there and you’ll see the point I’m making in comparing the Blues and Cardinals …
Cardinals: Miles Mikolas.
Blues: Brandon Saad.
The Blues wanted Saad out of here no matter what because it would benefit the team and give a fuller opportunity to a young skater. Since Saad played his last game for the Blues, the team has a 14-3-3 record.
The Cardinals will live with Mikolas instead of designating him for assignment in a stubborn and senseless decision to try to get a few trickles of value from his final-year salary ($17.6 million) in 2025. And with Mikolas still in the rotation, it blocks an opportunity for a young starter.
Blues chairman Tom Stillman made funds available for Armstrong to use in the offer-sheet heist of Holloway and Broberg.
Stillman gave the payroll go-ahead to take on defenseman Fowler’s remaining salary in a trade. Fowler has been an outstanding fit as a Blue.
Stillman also gave the thumbs-up when Armstrong sought to stabilize his defensemen group by signing the savvy Suter at age 40 and a veteran of 20 NHL seasons.
Even with some performance bonuses clicking in, Suter was a fantastic free-agent bargain. He’s been as steady as it gets, playing 72 games and managing just under 20 minutes per game for the Blues.
The acquisitions of Suter and Fowler were important for another reason: when defenseman Colton Parayko went out with a knee injury, the Blues had the quality of depth to compensate for his absence. In the 13-2-2 march to seize a playoff spot, the Blues have yielded only 2.37 goals per 60 minutes, the fourth-lowest rate in the league.
But hey, after slashing $30 million in payroll before 2025, the Cardinals finally made an outside move by signing free-agent relief pitcher Phil Maton to a one-year, $2 million contract.
When we look at the 2025 Cardinals, they have five lineup regulars that are 25 years old or younger. The eight position players who figure to play the most this season have an average age of 24.8 years. But can the younger Cardinals rise to the level of the younger Blues?
Can the young Birds energize the veterans like the way the young Blues are pumping up their elders on the other end of Clark Avenue?
There’s another huge contrast between the Blues and Cardinals.
After the Cardinals had made the playoffs for a third consecutive season, Mozeliak fired 2019 National League Manager of the Year Mike Shildt days after the Redbirds were eliminated by the Dodgers in the 2021 NL wild card game.
Mozeliak promoted bench coach Oli Marmol to manager. It was the unproven Marmol’s first big-league managing job, and he’s had his ups and downs while learning on the job.
But after the Cards’ 91-loss season, their worst since 1990, Mozeliak gave Marmol a contract extension that runs through the end of 2026. Mozeliak told the media there would be no discussions of a contract extension until after the 2024 season. But Mozeliak reversed course and gave Marmol the extension before the 2024 season.
Armstrong didn’t blink when Montgomery became available after foolishly being let go by the Boston Bruins. He signed a coach, Monty, who has the third-best regular-season winning percentage in NHL history among coaches who have worked at least 300 games behind the bench.
My theory is that Armstrong knew trouble was brewing in Boston, especially after Monty rejected a shorter-term contract extension. So in effect, Armstrong was gambling that he’d have a chance to get Monty, who impressed everyone with the Blues during his two seasons as an assistant here to Craig Berube. That means Bannister was a placeholder coach, here until Monty came back to St. Louis.
Montgomery has transformed the Blues. Some adjustments had to be made, and the team had to buy into Monty’s system and his style.
There were some ruts along the way, but the Blues have been the league’s 10th-best team since Montgomery moved in. Under Bannister, the Blues ranked 26th in the NHL in points percentage.
Armstrong declined to be complacent. He declined to stay the course with the same coach when another, superior coach went on the market.
According to MoneyPuck, the Blues have a 54.3% chance of swooping in for the No. 2 wild card in the Western Conference. That gives them a favorable position when compared to the other wild-card contenders – Calgary (30.6%), Vancouver (17.3%), and Utah (5.3%).
Coaching makes a difference. Managing makes a difference. And having a front office with a more creative and ambitious mindset can make a difference too. Just look at the Blues. The Cardinals could learn a few things from their neighbors on Clark Street.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie