The blues missed the playoffs the season prior but were seen as underachievers. They traded for Ryan O’Rielly offseason and I think expectations were a bounce back season but I don’t think anyone had them had them cup contenders and Mike Yeo was their coach who is one of the worst head coaches ever, at least in the salary cap era.
The cup favorites heading into that season was a mix of Tampa,Winnipeg,Nashville, San Jose, and Toronto due to the Tavares signing effect and the core not having that can’t compete in playoffs reputation yet.
I do get the similarities though. They were a decent cup favorite heading into the playoffs but not a safe lock. Tampa was expected to kill the field out east and Calgary, San Jose, Vegas was a common pick to be the western rep. They were slight favorites their first series rounds but Sharks were supposed to end it for them. They still won and but were underdogs to Boston.
I think the Blues turnaround was more impressive. They’re turn around started much later in the season, they didn’t really have any superstars like Oilers as Ryan O’Rielly, Petro, Taresnko were borderline star players at best. Binnington was a rookie goalie with no experience. I also think the league was more competitive that season, as the teams that year were better than the teams this year.