Sakic to St. Louis?

Now, here is fair warning to the rest of the NHL. There is a growing suspicion that next summer the St. Louis Blues are going to sign Joe Sakic as an unrestricted free agent. The Blues are not going to get very deep into the chase for Eric Lindros – who would play for the Blues, because they believe they have a very good chance at landing Sakic in the summer. Remember, Blues coach Joel Quenneville was an assistant in Colorado. – Al Morganti

Everybody talks about how good the St. Louis Blues are. But true greatness is judged by winning Stanley Cups. And for all the success the Blues have had in the recent past, the most memorable games are the ones they lost – last spring against the Sharks in the first round of the playoffs.

Did they gain enough playoff experience to build upon and move forward?

Many times in pro sports, especially in hockey, teams move toward a championship in stages. Make the playoffs. Win a round. Make the finals and lose. Win the Stanley Cup. Look at the great Islanders and Oilers teams; that's how they did it. Of course, it's not always such a clear progression, but few teams come from nowhere to win it all in the NHL.

"I don't think we took a step backward," said coach Joel Quenneville about the impact of the early exit last spring. "It was a change with regards to what our expectations were … It's not an easy road to win it."

Regardless of whether or not it was a step backward, there's no way to know the effect of last year's first-round loss until this year's playoffs. However, there are some things general manager Larry Pleau can specifically evaluate – and even take action on: his roster. Which begs the question: What needs to be added or subtracted from that roster to go all the way.

"There are 15-20 teams in this league who want to improve on defense in their top six," said Pleau, who wouldn't mind upgrading on defense despite having Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger. "Everyone is looking for a power forward. Those things are hard to come by. You might pluck something, but you might not help yourself either."

It appears Pavol Demitra will be OK after his scary eye injury. But Pleau thinks the team's potential success or failure could ride on whether the role players he has right now continue to improve. If they are as good as they will ever be, St. Louis is in trouble. But if guys like Michal Handzus, Jochen Hecht, Lubos Bartecko and Bryce Salvador get better as the season goes on, the odds are in St. Louis' favor.

	Coach Joel Quenneville is aiming for deeper in the playoffs this season.

"The next step for us, to really be better, we need certain players (Bartecko, Hecht, Demitra, Handzus) and young guys like Salvador to get better," Pleau said. "The only way we prove we're better is in the playoffs. I think we probably have a little better depth than last year. Do they (players mentioned) keep growing? If they don't keep growing, they're still good players in this league. But we need to find out if they're B or A players."

Don't forget that, last year, Demitra missed all seven playoff games due to post-concussion syndrome, and Pierre Turgeon missed 30 games in the regular season. Potentially more important – and certainly more overlooked – is that veteran forward Geoff Courtnall, a leader and precious on-ice presence because of his grit and offense, had to retire last season because of post-concussion syndrome. All three impacted the Blues in the playoffs, and there's no doubt that if Demitra and Courtnall were healthy, the Sharks series would have been different.

According to Quenneville, he and Pleau are scheduled to discuss players they might like to have come this spring. The Blues might not be able to add the power forward they want or that top-six defenseman, but Pleau will acquire someone – you can count on that.

One position where he's unlikely to make a move is in net. Pleau will ride the Roman Turek-Brent Johnson tandem as far as he can. And although their numbers are great, the Blues play such incredible team defense and allow so few shots on goal that sometimes it's difficult to determine how good these two guys are.

Come playoff time, the general pressure will be on the Blues to win at least a series – many think they have to make the finals. Specifically, pressure will be on Turek to steal a game the Blues might not otherwise win.

So, as good as the Blues are, Pleau steadfastly asserts that the Cup is what the franchise is after. In that sense, the Blues aren't that good. Yet.

"We're hoping sometime in the next couple of years to win a championship," Pleau said.

Brian A. Shactman covers the NHL for ESPN.com. He can be reached at brian.shactman@espn.com.