Bruins and Blues have shattered idea of Stanley Cup blueprint

And to think that in early January the Rangers’ interest was piqued indeed by chatter out of St. Louis that Vladimir Tarasenko would become available if the Blues were to put out their own version of The Letter and proceed with a facelift.

Two weeks into 2019, the Rangers were ahead of St. Louis in the overall standings and, somewhat off topic, so much for the canard that games in October, November and December are critical in the playoff race. Let’s just put that one away forever, can we please?

But before Blues general manager Doug Armstrong could line up his veterans the way Blueshirts general manager Jeff Gorton had a year earlier, St. Louis won three straight, then went 4-2-1 over seven, then reeled off 11 straight victories. Tarasenko was most certainly not available, and the Blues were no longer in the demolition mode.

The lesson from this intriguing Boston-St. Louis Cup Final matchup is there is no cookie cutter approach for building a finalist. The lesson is: No, teams do not have to bottom out in order to climb the mountain to the top — the Blues’ last top-five pick coming in 2008, the Bruins’ in 2010.

There has been an absence of sentiment to Armstrong’s approach running the Blues since he was appointed GM by then-team president John Davidson in 2010. He traded T.J. Oshie at age 29 to the Capitals after seven seasons as a linchpin in St. Louis. He allowed David Backes, team captain, to go to the Bruins via free agency in 2016 at age 32 after 10 years wearing the blue note. He traded Kevin Shattenkirk at age 28 for futures after seven years on the Blues’ blue line.

Maybe that’s the lesson that can be applied: Regardless of how meritorious, you don’t pay for past service. Maybe the Blues are kind of what the Rangers might have become if they hadn’t extended Dan Girardi in 2014 and instead of trading Ryan Callahan (plus a pair of firsts) to Tampa Bay for Martin St. Louis at the deadline, had traded No. 24 to San Jose for a couple of draft picks.

Of course, doing it their way got the Rangers to the Final, which is where the Blues are now. Doing it their way got the Blues to last overall at midseason — after a coaching change from Mike Yeo to Craig Berube but before the promotion of 25-year-old rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington, who could either become Ken Dryden or Steve Penney.

So, the lesson: Don’t be sentimental and hope a last-ditch, midseason move to summon the goaltender who’d been fourth on the organizational depth chart works?

The Blues’ last top-five selection was Alex Pietrangelo, fourth-overall in 2008. The Bruins’ last was Tyler Seguin, second-overall behind Taylor Hall in 2010. Boston hit it big on David Pastrnak at No. 25 in 2014, did reasonably well with Jake DeBrusk at No. 14 in 2015 though missing both Mat Barzal and Kyle Connor, and struck it rich with Charlie McAvoy at No. 14 in 2016.

But the Bruins, a collaborative effort constructed over time by GMs Mike O’Connell, Peter Chiarelli and current occupant Don Sweeney, plus interim GM Jeff Gorton for a critical stretch in 2006, are largely a creation of Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Tuukka Rask, Brad Marchand and David Krejci. It is a veteran operation.

The lessons from Boston, then, are to pull off the best free-agent signing of the cap era in Chara, draft a Hall of Fame center 45th overall in Bergeron and have good goaltending.

There is skill and a physical element on both sides. There is nothing new about teams needing to win pucks to win playoff games. The Bruins and Blues are not necessarily new-era teams. Their presence in the Final, however, is evidence there are more ways than one to get there — more ways than sinking to the bottom, missing the tournament for years at a time then proclaiming there’s a right way to do it after making the playoffs or winning a round for the first time in a decade.

The right way is whichever way works.

St. Louis is the, uh, sentimental favorite in this series, never having won the Cup since joining the NHL in 1967-68. But unless the Blues come up with a way to undermine Rask’s supreme confidence, the rest of the continent will have to suffer through yet another championship parade through Boston.

Bruins in seven.

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