With the St. Louis Blues having been knocked out of the playoffs by some of the best teams in hockey the past few springs, the theory went like this: Coach Ken Hitchcock would measure the progress of the Blues during this regular season on how they did against the best teams in the league.

All 82 games were important, or course, but he wanted to see something extra against the NHL’s elite.

This theory was shared with forward David Backes during a Sunday afternoon phone conversation, and he pointed out one small flaw.

"I don’t know how he’s going to quantify who the 'good' teams are and who the 'not good' teams are," Backes said. "There are 10 teams in the West very capable of getting hot and finding their way to being a conference champion. For me, that’s a tough way to evaluate."

OK, that's fair.

Does a game against the Nashville Predators -- currently in first place in the Central Division -- count as an evaluation game? What about the Canadiens? The Capitals? The Sharks?

This much we know for sure: One team that will always be seen as a measuring stick for St. Louis is the Chicago Blackhawks.