Still pretenders

[abc789987]

Yup guys all get upset way too easily... I'd read his posts and scroll on by most of the time... I saw nothing posted publicly that I thought warranted him getting his torch extinguished... But whatevers...

The internet is a serious place.

[ecbm]

Yup guys all get upset way too easily... I'd read his posts and scroll on by most of the time... I saw nothing posted publicly that I thought warranted him getting his torch extinguished... But whatevers...

The internet is a serious place.

He contributed nothing. Ergo, he's here to irritate people-perfectly clear from his provocative behavior, starting with his choice of handle. Would you tolerate that sort of presence at your house for a dinner party? Why should it be tolerated here?

[STLADOGG]

Thanks Curt, the guy needed to go.

[cprice12]

LMAO!

Did Flyingnote just OWN dmiles or what? Not only did the Blues lose to the Wild but I think we all agree that the Preds would have likely beaten the Blues in a 7 game series too.

Seriously is this kid like 13 years old?

"LMAO Dmiles Got REKT!!!11!!"

Seriously over 1000 posts and he isn't banned yet.

Please foe this kid and stop quoting him, if you have questions about how to do this just ask me.

Tell me how to do this, please. I assume foe is some sort of ignore function.

No need to foe him. He has been voted off the island.

You're doing God's work, Cprice.
I wonder how quickly he'll make another account, though. He has to be a troll.

I'm pretty sure we'd be able to tell it was him.

[Portland Blues]

How will the JNE area be remembered?

[STLADOGG]

How will the JNE area be remembered?

[flyingnote38]

and now?

Yeah, good call. Had you kept this in the back of your mind for 3 months? If so, kudos.

That said, the Wild still have a shot to win the Stanley Cup. Also note, I said that before the Wild turned into the best team in hockey for the last 30 games of the season. Nonetheless, it's a crushing blow and I'm not happy and I'm wanting changes for the Blues pronto, just like everyone else. That work?[/quote]

A) yes, to both your questions.

B) I didn't feel like reposting what I'd said after losing to the Kings 2 years ago, or after losing to the Hawks last year, because its a broken resord and the same as I posted last December. This core has proven its not good enough to win the Cup. Record when facing elimination? 0-5
Record following a playoff loss 3-13

We can't keep saying this team will be judged solely on how deep it goes into the playoffs, then give them a pass because they ran into a 'hot team,' 'hot goalie,' had back luck to face a real cup contender in the first round, etc. Hopefully this time people will be held accountable, but I'm not so sure. Already the beat writers are suggesting a 'tweak' is more likely than an overhaul because of the cap situation.

Hitch being gone is a given. I still think Armstrong should be fired. This is more for his abysmal Miller acquisition than what he did per se this season. I thought getting Stastny and Michalek were the right moves to make, so I can't fault him for those. Resigning Ott was a waste of roster space and money. His seeming refusal to use advanced metrics should be enough to make an ownership group that is interested in winning want him gone. He has a marked tendency to waste prospects and picks acquiring garbage (Ott, Jokinen), has done a Pleau like job of spending to the max of his budget, and has largely put together a roster that looks, well, slow.

This team has a new core ready to ascend (Tarasenko, Scwartz, Piet, Shatt, ? Allen) with some near ready talent (Fabbri, Pochiro, Vanelli etc). Will Armstrong be able to figure out who among the vets to keep and who to move and for what? I'm not so sure. When he took over the Stars, they'd won a Cup and he quickly turned them into lottery contenders.

[WaukeeBlues]

and now?

... Record when facing elimination? 0-5
Record following a playoff loss 3-13...

That makes me want to vomit.

[cardsfan04]

Yup guys all get upset way too easily... I'd read his posts and scroll on by most of the time... I saw nothing posted publicly that I thought warranted him getting his torch extinguished... But whatevers...

The internet is a serious place.

He contributed nothing. Ergo, he's here to irritate people-perfectly clear from his provocative behavior, starting with his choice of handle. Would you tolerate that sort of presence at your house for a dinner party? Why should it be tolerated here?

Bolded is the key to me. There was almost never anything he posted of any value. It was almost always provocative. Most of the time I just scrolled by his posts too, but the gloating about the Blues getting knocked out pissed me off.

I didn't really care whether he got banned or not, but he won't be missed.

[glen a richter]

I hadn't considered Pochiro a big time up and comer. If we're talking about him, there's a lot of other guys to talk about too--Kurker, Gardiner, Descheneau. Yet you don't mention Barbashev who's a lock to be a regular on this team soon? I took a look at Pochiro's stats... pedestrian for his level.

[WaukeeBlues]

Good article on NHL.com...

Five Reasons Blues were Eliminated from the Playoffs

Hint: It's the same 5 reasons that we had the last year... and the year before that.

[gaijin]

Was there a post-elimination Eulogy? I must have missed it. As much as they pick at those still-open wounds, they are usually amusing.

[Kerfuffle]

Good article on NHL.com...

Five Reasons Blues were Eliminated from the Playoffs

Hint: It's the same 5 reasons that we had the last year... and the year before that.

Agree with the article - especially #4. No disrespect but it was the reason I picked the Wild over the Blues in the first round - I wasn't convinced that the Blues could handle the playoffs with basically the same roster as last year.

[cprice12]

Good article on NHL.com...

Five Reasons Blues were Eliminated from the Playoffs

Hint: It's the same 5 reasons that we had the last year... and the year before that.

Agree with the article - especially #4. No disrespect but it was the reason I picked the Wild over the Blues in the first round - I wasn't convinced that the Blues could handle the playoffs with basically the same roster as last year.

But it wasn't the same roster as the year before. There were quite a few changes.

Allen
Stastny
Lehtera
Jaskin
Gunnarson
Michalek
Goc
Bortuzzo (didn't play)
Jokinen (didn't play)

None of those guys were on the team last year.

Plus...
A healthy Oshie
A healthy Backes
Schwartz had his breakout season.
Tarasenko had his breakout season.

Saying we had basically the same roster as last year isn't accurate at all. 9 guys were new (2 didn't play though), we were 100% healthy (or so we were told) going into the playoffs, and Schwartz and Tarasenko made huge leaps this year and were much improved players over last year. Petro's game also improved greatly this season...and Shattenkirk was a Norris trophy candidate until he got hurt.

Our roster was significantly better than last year. But when push came to shove, they folded AGAIN like a styrofoam cup. And that is a huge, huge problem.

They need to replace Hitchcock, tweak the roster (move a core guy or two, beef up the defense) and come back at it next season. I do NOT want a complete overhaul. I think that would be a mistake. This team is very close...they just need team confidence, and a core shakeup and a new head coach might be the way to do that.

But what do I know?

[WaukeeBlues]

Even the Minnesota announcers, when the Blues were going through the handshake with the Wild commented on it.

"You look at this St. Louis Blues roster... and it's hard to say what they need."

I agree. On paper, this team is stacked. Allen isn't there yet but other than that we're supposed to be killing it. At this point it's moving players for the sake of moving them to get new faces in the locker room and on the ice. You never do that unless you're facing the problem the Blues are: a team culture of let-downs and inferiority in the postseason.

Said it before, I'll say it again: I like Backes, Oshie and Steen. I don't like Berglund necessarily but he's there. I would be surprised but not upset if the Blues traded 2-3 of them or all of them. Yea we may not get the "best" or "equal" return for these guys but what the hell else is this team supposed to do? Just keep beating their heads against the proverbial brick wall that is the playoffs?

The entire leadership needs to change. Not just behind the bench. Our captain and alternates are not doing it on the ice and in the locker room either. It's not all on Hitch. If Pietrangelo wasn't as good a player as he was... hell I'd advocate trading him too.

I'm beyond exasperated with this team. The STL line, Shatty, maybe Allen, are my only TRUE untouchables on this roster. Maybe Stastny too because I think he has the right mindset and hasn't been ruined by our team yet. Everyone else: offer me a trade. I'll entertain offers.

But what do I know?

[glen a richter]

It's not hard at all to pinpoint what this team needs. I've said it 1000 times so far, and I'll keep saying it until it's addressed by management:

Speed.

[cardsfan04]

I've been thinking about something. I don't think many of you will agree with it, and I'm not sure that I do myself, but something has crossed my mind lately.

The West is very good top to bottom and we said repeatedly during the season that there would be no easy matchups. Going into the series, how big of favorites were we percentage-wise? 55-60% at most? If we were roughly 50/50 to win all 5 of the series under Hitch, it's not super crazy to lose 4 of 5. Go flip a coin 100 times. You'll have a few streaks of 1 side coming up 4 of 5 times.

I don't want to diminish the playoffs to chance like flipping a coin and Army obviously can't adopt that viewpoint and decide to stand pat this offseason. That would be a foolish cop out. It's something that crossed my mind though.

[WaukeeBlues]

It's not hard at all to pinpoint what this team needs. I've said it 1000 times so far, and I'll keep saying it until it's addressed by management:

Speed.

And there's a more practical reason to be considering moving some core pieces... age.

Nobody is getting any younger but some of our core forwards are at least approaching the age where forward production begins to decline.

Backes and Steen both are 31 now.

If we assume the "prime" of an NHL forward's career is roughly age 24-32, they're entering the end of their prime time. Now I think they're both relative late bloomers as far as the NHL goes but if speed is a concern, two of our top core guys closing in on age 32 isn't comforting.

[dmiles2186]

Since it's been a week and change, I've cooled off on my whole 'trade everyone but Shatty, STL, and Allen.' But I'm still okay with making some trades and I would start with #74. Solid player, a lot of effort, great in the shootout, marketable. But does he offer anything completely untouchable?

At least with Steen, even though he is 31, he excels and leads during 5 on 5 play, during the kill, and during the PP. He's everywhere. Backes is our Captain. I'm not in the room so I can't really comment on what type of leader he is, but can he get the most out of his teammates? Maybe he has and maybe he is. I'm not sure, but I look at a Jonathan Toews who scores at will in the playoffs and then I look at Backes who can barely muster a goal per round. Sure, being Captain isn't all about scoring goals, but it's stepping up and making key plays at the right time. Backes hasn't done that for us in the postseason.

I agree with glen. We need to rid our team of some of the guys who rely on the heavy checking (but slower skating) game. We need speed. I'm not asking for an entire team of The Flash, but I want a few at our disposal. Is it that our lines are too redundant? They all play the same style? Wouldn't it be nice to have a line with straight lightning, then counter w/ the forechecking/scoring touch of the STL line, followed by the heavy hitting of a line similar to our SOB line now?

I don't know, just spitballing. All I will say is that this offseason better bring a little change. It doesn't have to be an entire overhaul, but some significant pieces re-tooled slightly. If we go into next season with a similar core and coaching philosophy, then I'll go ahead and starting planning for more heartache in April 2016.

[glen a richter]

That's exactly it, dmiles. One of the major drawbacks of this team is all the lines do the same exact thing. There's no surprises, and it's very easy to coach against that. Why can't four lines do four or eight different things, mix it up and make the other coach have to actually earn his pay? Yeo is not a good coach, he has a good team to work with and his job was made easier by the fact that St. Louis is easy to coach against. It just becomes more evident in a 7 game series (or as the case apparently is, a 6 game series). What if we played every team 7 times in a row in the regular season? Would the regular season winning percentage mirror the playoff winning percentage? There's no element of surprise because, other than the STL line, we employ lumbering sloths who couldn't outskate a one legged geriatric.