What do you expect today? (trade deadline day)

[glen a richter]

He may have been a fan before he bought the team but the bottom line is we're all fans and if we owned the team, any single one of us, we'd have grown tired of the routine playoff failures a lot quicker than Stillman has, if he really has at all. I mean I've lobbied hard for Dave Lowry to be HC but honestly, there are so many guys already in the organization who I'd trust to run a more dynamic team than what we've suffered through the past few years. Hull and MacInnis come to mind. Promote them to coach and GM, we can barely do any worse than routine 1st round exits. The player personnel on this team is too good to outright miss the playoffs no matter who the coach is.

[cardsfan04]

If we bow out in Rd. 1 again... at the very least, Hitchcock is gone. Stillman isn't stupid. He wants to win. And losing in the first round every year after having great regular seasons isn't going to cut it.
And they don't have to fire him...they just don't have to renew his contract.

Yeah, that's my take on what should and will happen. Another playoff flameout and gotta make changes.

However, I think the sky is falling mentality here is hugely exaggerated.

Army hasn't been perfect. I don't like how he's managed the cap and the impact it seemingly had on us at the trade deadline. But, as people have said many times, we have too much talent not to succeed. That's a pretty huge feather in Army's cap and points more toward Hitch as the scapegoat.

But, even with a boatload of injuries this year, we're near the top of the league in points. Like Army, I'm not saying Hitch has been perfect. Not playing Rattie and his system are valid criticisms of him. But, like I said, 4th in the league in points despite tons of injuries. Now isn't the time to fire him. Wanting him out last offseason was reasonable, but after retaining him, it doesn't make sense to fire him until the playoffs at this point.

[glen a richter]

Mismanagement of budgeted funds and mismanagement of player personnel is a gross dereliction of duty on Armstrong's and Hitchcock's part. Imagine if you were given a budget (salary cap) of X amount of dollars and wasted it on Commodore 64's and dot matrix printers. Do they work? Yes. Are they what you should be spending the money on? No. And, subsequently, I assume you'd be fired. Likewise, if you had state of the art calculating equipment but chose to use an abacus to do all your math, I assume you'd also be fired.

[cardsfan04]

Mismanagement of budgeted funds and mismanagement of player personnel is a gross dereliction of duty on Armstrong's and Hitchcock's part. Imagine if you were given a budget (salary cap) of X amount of dollars and wasted it on Commodore 64's and dot matrix printers. Do they work? Yes. Are they what you should be spending the money on? No. And, subsequently, I assume you'd be fired. Likewise, if you had state of the art calculating equipment but chose to use an abacus to do all your math, I assume you'd also be fired.

I mean, that's pretty black and white. Results have to count for something, which I know tees up a playoff failure argument pretty nicely. All I'm saying is, while there are things we all would like Hitch to do differently, there's nothing from this regular season that should cost him his job. If the argument for getting rid of him is that he can't win in the playoffs, we either should have fired him after last season or wait until after this one.

[ecbm]

The problem is the head coach being too involved in player personnel decisions. It's like Hitch is the GM and Armstrong does whatever Hitch tells him in terms of current roster.

This is pretty much it. I want to see both go after this season. The deadline I thought may have been a sign of willingness on Army's part to do his own thing because I'm sure Hitch would have been down with trading some picks/prospects for veterans. But then he sends down Rattie and we're back to glove-in-hand.

Factor in Tarasenko and Schwartz, Fabbri, Rattie, Blais, Gawdin

And you didn't even mention Barbashev...the talent to win is there in the organization and has been for a while. That's why many Blues fans feel being near the top of the league in points is unfulfilling. It's also why a new direction needs to be taken next season, barring a run to the finals. Hitch & Army have essentially gotten a giant share of the primes of Backes, Steen, Bouwmeester and Oshie and were allowed to dispose of Johnson, Stewart, Perron, Bishop, Russell and others. It's time to bring in new ideas to salvage the prime years of the young core and bring in the prospects to a more progressive system.

I have a lot of patience for Stillman as owner but yeah, if the Blues are bounced in the first again and these two are back he's a fool.

[theohall]

But, like I said, 4th in the league in points despite tons of injuries. Now isn't the time to fire him. Wanting him out last offseason was reasonable, but after retaining him, it doesn't make sense to fire him until the playoffs at this point.

Make that tied for 2nd in the league in points and tied for the Central lead. Agreed on waiting until the playoffs, but if Hitch is making similar decisions in the playoffs he is making now about who to play where and when - they are going to lose.

Especially if Magnus SUPER STAR SCORER Paajarvi is available for anyone else not named Steen, Backes, Schwartz, Tarasenko, or Stastny. Yes, I left a bunch of names on this list, because Paajarvi is getting ice time ahead of the rest.

[ecbm]

But, like I said, 4th in the league in points despite tons of injuries. Now isn't the time to fire him. Wanting him out last offseason was reasonable, but after retaining him, it doesn't make sense to fire him until the playoffs at this point.

Make that tied for 2nd in the league in points and tied for the Central lead. Agreed on waiting until the playoffs, but if Hitch is making similar decisions in the playoffs he is making now about who to play where and when - they are going to lose.

Especially if Magnus SUPER STAR SCORER Paajarvi is available for anyone else not named Steen, Backes, Schwartz, Tarasenko, or Stastny. Yes, I left a bunch of names on this list, because Paajarvi is getting ice time ahead of the rest.

Yeah, you wonder how great this very same squad could be with a different coach and system. Watching the Rangers transform overnight when Tortorella was replaced by Vigneault with no significant improvement to the squad has been a real eye-opener for me.

[Kerfuffle]

I don't know much about your owner - but is he generally a guy that allows his GM to make changes or is he one who holds the reins tight and Armstrong has to stay in line? I'm wondering if Armstrong is timid by nature or if his hands are tied based on what ownership's directives to him are. Years ago we had Bob Murray (now Anaheim's GM) as our GM and while he was a good guy he had no real power - every trade deal had to brought to ownership for approval. The Chicago Tribune had an excellent article with anonymous quotes from other GMs stating how frustrating it was to deal with the Hawks because their GM was powerless and every conversation was a "I'll get back to your" and "let me check on that". It's because Murray had to clear it with old man Wirtz and his sidekick Bob Puhlford - both of which valued 'loyalty' over winning. Some of the statements Armstrong makes at times reminds me of this (i.e taking any deal for Backes off the table due to his loyalty to the Blues).

[glen a richter]

I don't know what to think about Barbashev. His numbers are abysmal, but it could be the system down in the AHL. Maybe he's playing hurt? If it was just a lousy season and not indicative of how he'll perform at the NHL level then yeah, add him in too. The future is too bright to waste on Team ArmyHitch.

[tjk002]

Especially if Magnus SUPER STAR SCORER Paajarvi is available for anyone else not named Steen, Backes, Schwartz, Tarasenko, or Stastny. Yes, I left a bunch of names on this list, because Paajarvi is getting ice time ahead of the rest.

Last night while listening to the radio broadcast I almost ran my car off the road, when I heard Chase chastise Paajarvi stating that he just hasn't been good and has to be better if he expects to keep playing. First time i heard someone actually criticize Paarjarvi/Jaskin who actually worked for the Blues.

Maybe the coaching staff will finally catch on.

[glen a richter]

Especially if Magnus SUPER STAR SCORER Paajarvi is available for anyone else not named Steen, Backes, Schwartz, Tarasenko, or Stastny. Yes, I left a bunch of names on this list, because Paajarvi is getting ice time ahead of the rest.

Last night while listening to the radio broadcast I almost ran my car off the road, when I heard Chase chastise Paajarvi stating that he just hasn't been good and has to be better if he expects to keep playing. First time i heard someone actually criticize Paarjarvi/Jaskin who actually worked for the Blues.

Maybe the coaching staff will finally catch on.

In related news, Chaser will probably be fired by the end of the day.

[WaukeeBlues]

I would agree with Kerfuffle to a point: You don't want to over-do it when it comes to mortgaging the future (see, e.g. Rangers and Penguins) but at the same time you have to consistently add depth in the current salary cap era. Again, as I said before, there were inexpensive options out there and Armstrong just didn't pull the trigger.

It's a fine balance of keeping the pipeline flowing with cheap, inexpensive players but also bolstering the roster for a cup run when you need to. The Blackhawks have been virtually flawless in this arena and made more moves this deadline and the Stars too. Again: the teams around the Blues got unquestionably better at the deadline and the Blues did not. The questions about "well who would the new acquisition displace?" I think is the wrong one. What Hitch does or doesn't do with the new acquisitions isn't anything Armstrong has any control over. But it gives him more options and more depth when injuries inevitably occur instead of playing (Franking) Paajarvi on the first line...

[glen a richter]

How come a guy like Pat Cannone is languishing in Chicago and Paajarvi is getting unwarranted minutes at the NHL level? We have depth, it's not being taken advantage of.