What It Means:

He missed the last three games of the regular season with a lower-body injury and it's unclear if he'll be ready to play against the Chicago Blackhawks when the playoffs begin on Wednesday. If he gets back on the ice on Tuesday then we could get a clearer picture on his status.

Backes tallied 45 points (21 goals, 24 assists) in 79 games played this season. His Corsi For Percentage of 51.1 and his Relative Corsi For at Even Strength of -1.9 were both worse than his career averages (52.5 and 0.5 respectively). We currently give the Blues a 6.52 percent chance of winning the Stanley Cup, which is 7th highest among the playoff teams.