When The Athletic conducted a Q&A with Blues owner Tom Stillman in July, he thought the club’s best chance for winning a Stanley Cup was not last season, but in 2019-20 or 2020-21.



Well, the Blues can still win a championship in those years, but after their surprising worst-to-first run in 2018-19, it’s going to be more difficult.



“No one is taking us lightly. No one is letting us off the hook,” said center Ryan O’Reilly, the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner. “It’s going to be tough. We’re just going to have to find a way to bear down and find new ways to win games.”



The Blues need only to look across the ice in Wednesday’s regular-season opener to realize how tough a Cup defense can be. On the night they’ll raise their first Stanley Cup banner, their opponent will be the Washington Capitals, which won its first Cup in 2017-18. The Capitals’ encore performance last season saw them...