Which of the league's worst teams could recreate the Blues' worst-to-first miracle?

Happy anniversary, Blues fans.

Five years ago today, your team woke up in the NHL basement. Not near the basement, or closer to it than you might have hoped – you were there, all alone, dead last in the entire NHL in total points on the morning of January 3, 2019.

We all know what happened next. The Blues turned it all around, going on an unprecedented second-half run and then winning the franchise’s first and only Stanley Cup.

Here’s the question I pitched to my editors: Can any of the teams that are in the mix for last place right now pull off the same miracle?

And here’s the answer: No. What the Blues did in 2019 was a cautionary warning from the hockey gods, meant to remind us of how random this sport can be, and will never come close to being repeated.

Cool, good post. See you all in a few days.

(Editor’s note: Uh, when we greenlit this idea we kind of assumed you’d be doing more than 150 words on it.)

Huh. Weird. OK, in that case let’s see if we can dig a little deeper. Let’s look at the league’s eight worst teams, the ones that went into last night's action below .500, and see if any of them have what it takes to serve up a repeat of the 2019 Blues. We’ll judge them based on five criteria that, in hindsight, could have tipped us off to what that Blues team was really capable of.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

(Want to read this post on The Athletic for free? Sign up for a free trial.)