ST. LOUIS — It was a feeling the Blues did not expect to feel ... at least not that soon.
Even in the most unprecedented of circumstances of trying to defend their Stanley Cup title inside a bubble-like atmosphere, the Blues knew the challenge of trying to repeat, but nevertheless, felt like they had as good a chance as any of doing so.
So when they fell to the Vancouver Canucks in six games during the Western Conference First Round, it was a long off-season for the Blues from a mental standpoint.
It's the precise reason why those players that went through the agony of defeat came into St. Louis earlier than usual to prepare for another unprecedented kind of season, with training camp starting in January and the regular-season a mere 10 days away Jan. 13 in Colorado.
"It was very important for us," captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "I think we saw what happened in the bubble, kind of being under-prepared and we kind of didn't know what to expect. I think we've done a really good job of everyone coming in and knowing that it's going to be a shortened camp. We're going right into it, there's going to be a ton of hockey. I just feel guys are mentally more prepared and obviously physically too. I think the coaching staff trusts us. We have to be ready to go and I think we are. Now is just finding the details in camp and fine-tuning everything. It's looked good so far. We still have to keep going."
The Blues, in the newly renovated West Division, will play a 56-game schedule in what's the 2020-21 season and play only divisional opponents. They know what the challenges are, but knowing there won't be the normal-than-usual training camp, just like the setup they had in the Return to Play Plan last season, served as a reminder to get to work on their own, and to it together.
And ... be prepared.
"I don't know if sting is the word, but when you realize you have a team to win and compete for the Cup, it can only happen so many times in your career," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "You don't want to give up a chance year after year so for now, we'll put that one in the rearview mirror, learn from being unprepared just as players maybe not being ready enough. I think as we saw in the bubble the teams that were the most prepared had the most chance with the success rate ultimately. ... We feel as a group we've had guys here training, skating, ready for the start of the season. It can't take us 5-10 games to get into it because it's going to be a spring right to the finish and it's going to be tough playing division games every single night.
"As a group we feel ready. We've had guys in here training and skating and competing against one another. I think as a team we took a completely different approach just because we know there was going to be a 10-day training camp leading up to the season. Through Day 1 here, that was a good-paced practice and we feel ready."
Management and the coaching staff have done everything possible to give the players the proper guidance for what's to come. It was up to them to break the information down and go into camp the way they saw fit, and it's obvious they didn't like how they handled the lead-up to the Return to Play Plan in July.
The ending result spoke for itself, and after being the hunted, the Blues will play the role of hunter again.
"That was information we tried sharing with the guys coming into camp is that you're going to hear all sorts of things, talks are going to break off, talks are going to pick back up between the league, Return to Play is not going to happen, it's going to happen and then your phone's going to ring and say, 'OK, we're going to training camp in 10 days and we're going to play 10 days after that,'" Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. "That's basically what happened. I give our guys a lot of credit. We've had a large majority of guys here for the better part of a month skating in different groups and training and being prepared for today. We've done a study on how it looks in the shortened seasons before. The difference between those shortened seasons and this one is the number of teams we're playing is much less. We used to play in conference. Now we're playing in just division. The goals for, goals against, how special teams were tighter in those times and I think it's even going to be a smaller variance now. It was important for our guys to show up ready and they have."
That includes newcomers Torey Krug and wingers Mike Hoffman and Kyle Clifford.
Krug and Clifford signed when the free agency period began in October, and Hoffman is in camp on a professional tryout signed a week ago with the likelihood of earning a contract when the regular season begins.
They all have the challenge of packing in the information of their new team and new teammates.
"You get your reps in at practice and some of the intrasquads that we'll have coming up," said Hoffman, who skated on a line with Jaden Schwartz and Robert Thomas. "But other than that, just really time and experience. The chemistry isn't going to happen overnight. You can do a little bit after practice, before practice. But realistically, three pretty good players and we'll contribute to each other a lot. Obviously as time goes on, we'll just get better and better."
Krug, who's been in St. Louis since early December and was paired with Colton Parayko on Monday, said it's been a challenge, but one that's worked well.
"It's a different challenge, for sure, from a personal standpoint," Krug said. "I pretty much could have done a training camp in Boston blindfolded. Now I've got to come in here and learn a few staples of the drills that we're going to be doing all year long and also get integrated into the system. The chemistry on the ice will come. I want to get to a point where I don't have to think about the systems are to a game. I could just go out there and play. Just trying to learn and play and obviously communicate frequently and learn every thing. I came in here early specifically, that was by design so I could build some chemistry on the ice with these guys and get used to them and get used to the locker room.
"(But) it's great. It's a very welcoming group of guys. A lot of fun. I'm in a lot of the same age bracket with these guys. I spoke about how important that was to me before I got here. We have a lot of things in common and I'm very excited about this group. They've welcomed me with open arms and it's been fun to be on their side of things."
