Blues fans were focused on one man and one man alone heading into the 2013 season: Vladimir Tarasenko. Believed to be the best prospect the organization has had in years, Tarasenko entered the year with enormous expectations. Did he live up to all of the hype? What should we expect from the youngster in 2013-14?

Before diving into the discussion that is the goaltending situation in St. Louis, let's stop and think back to Fall of 2012. During those few months we were focusing all of our anger and hatred towards the NHL lockout and those responsible for putting our favorite sport on hold. We all just wanted to see the St. Louis Blues play, especially considering they would enter the year with large expectations.

If you were to ask a fan of the Blues what the team's strength was, they probably would have mentioned the team's goaltending. Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott combined to post the best GAA in the NHL in 2011-12 and appeared ready to back the Blues to big things in 2012-13. 

It's amazing how much can change after just one abbreviated season. Halak was bit by the injury bug. Elliott was bit by the "I forgot how to play goalie" bug before redeeming himself later in the year. Jake Allen made his NHL debut and for the most part played well, placing plenty of pressure on the two men in front of him. 

Once the playoffs wrapped, we learned of a verbal altercation between Halak and coach Ken Hitchcock, indicating the angry body language we saw from Halak in the playoffs represented some very real resentment and unhappiness. 

Heading into 2013-14, what should be made of the situation in the St. Louis crease? 

What should the Blues do with Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund? I recently touched on this topic when I outlined all of the restricted and unrestricted free agents the Blues have to address prior to the 2013-14 season, but I was curious what fans thought about the situation.

There's really no easy way to answer this question as there's a number of ways you could approach it. You could keep both players, you could keep one and let the other go, or you could allow both players to leave either through a trade or free agency. 

The Blues are just days removed from a disappointing playoff exit. Though the pain is still fresh, it's never too early to start planning for the future. It's never too early to start examining what went wrong and what can be improved to secure the elusive Stanley Cup. Now is as good a time as any to start discussing player contracts.

This summer is going to be an extremely interesting one. The Blues have some key contracts expiring and will have to be make some very difficult decisions when it comes to which players stay in St. Louis and which will be allowed to test the open market. 

With that, here's a list of all of the NHL and AHL free agents in the St. Louis organization.

As if the Blues departing from the playoffs in the first round wasn't disappointing enough, here's some more bad news. According to Jeremy Rutherford, the Blues failed to sell out any of their three home playoff games against the Los Angeles Kings. 

The news about playoff attendance comes after a regular season where the Blues finished 18th in the NHL in average attendance (17,263) and 26th in the NHL in average capacity (90.1%), as reported by ESPN. 

What's behind the failed sell outs? 

The rumors are true. Jeremy Rutherford confirms that Jaroslav Halak and Ken Hitchcock had a "heated disagreement" prior to Game 4 in Los Angeles. The argument took place outside of the team's locker room and was evidently started due to the fact Halak was late for a team meeting. Halak argued with Hitchcock about his lack of playing time at the end of the regular season. 

Suspicions were raised about Halak's attitude in Game 2 when Brian Elliott appeared to suffer a leg injury. As Elliott tried to collect himself on the ice, Halak remained motionless on the bench. Normally, the backup would start stretching and getting ready in case the starter has to be pulled. Halak was a statue, rooted to his spot on the bench. Fans noticed. So too did team personnel as it was "discussed for several days within the organization," according to Rutherford.

 What should we make of this whole situation?

Game 6 was more of the same for the St. Louis Blues. The Blues controlled a large chunk of the game, working hard and creating numerous chances in LA's zone. Like we've seen in the last three games, it was all for naught as no one could put a puck on a collision course with the net. On the defensive side of things, the Blues made a handful of major mistakes and the Kings pounced. 

Need a microcosm of this series and the Blues' season? Look at how the second period ended. The Blues had several opportunities to skate the puck out of their zone and end the period tied 1-1. Instead, they gave it away a couple times, ultimately handing it to Dustin Penner who fired a puck from the blueline past Brian Elliott with 0.2 left on the clock. The Blues were halfway to the dressing room while Penner was winding up and giving LA a 2-1 lead. The Blues quit with time left on the clock and they paid dearly for it. 

The Blues lose this series 4-2 and the long summer questioning what went wrong and what needs to be fixed for 2013-14 begins. 

Numerous reports and rumors have surfaced over the last few days that the St. Louis Blues are having some issues in their locker room. These reports range from Jaroslav Halak having a shouting match with Ken Hitchcock to there just being some mostly harmless division in the dressing room.

It's unclear where the truth lies, but Jeremy Rutherford confirms that the St. Louis locker room is a "disjointed" one.

If you've followed the first five games of the St. Louis Blues-Los Angeles Kings series, you're aware that several noteworthy players on the St. Louis roster have yet to show up for the playoffs. Key players, ones that are major components to the team's offense, have yet to make an impression in the postseason. 

You can pin the Blues' offensive woes on plenty of players. You could blame maybe 15 players for their inability to hit the net when the goaltender is down on the ice. There's lots of blame that can be spread across the roster. However, two players stick out for their inability to contribute - Andy McDonald and Chris Stewart.

The St. Louis Blues are one game away from starting their summer. Based on how several skaters have played the last few games, some might have big summer plans they can't wait to start. 

What's there to say? If you've been around here or if you've been a Blues fan for any period of time you should know what to expect by now. The Blues will raise your expectations and give you hope only to crush them when it matters most. 

In Game 5 the Blues battled back to tie the game 1-1 after allowing an early goal to start the second period. After giving up a goal in the first minute of the third period, the team appeared to have packed it in and called it a night. Not so fast. Alex Pietrangelo tied the contest with the goalie pulled and less than a minute to go in the contest. 

Bring on OT. Blues brought the pressure, but were caught on a 3-on-2 and Brian Elliott lifted his leg over Slava Voynov's shot. Game over.