2014-2015 Post Mortem

[glen a richter]

May as well get this thing rolling right away.

#1, even though I have him on foe, I just wish Curt would ban the crap out of JNE because every time I see his handle, even though I don't see his posts anymore, I get agitated.

That said, I am righteously pissed. Not Nyghtwynd pissed, not that level. I don't pin this teams entire history on why they lost this series. It's ridiculous to blame nearly 50 years of failure for this core's inability to get it done. The blame falls squarely on the fact that this team and these players (for the most part) have no heart. They've been through multiple coaches and came out smelling like shit on the other end each time. I'm not saying retain Hitchcock and give him a different cast of characters, though that seems to be a pretty good option. I'm in favor of blowing the whole cast up and starting over.

The only players on this team who absolutely deserve to be retained are the entire STL line, Pie, Shatty and I'm giving Allen another chance. Elliott is as good as gone, he'll beg for a trade after the way this season ended up for him. Stastny gets a pass and one more chance but a short leash and should be shopped if his second season goes as his first did. Bortuzzo should have been playing over Gunnarsson and that shortsightedness by management and Hitchcock to put him up in the press box the entire series is ultimately why Hitch and Armstrong should both be shown the door. Gunnarsson is pointless to this team and his legacy in St. Louis will be that he's the guy who cost us Roman Polak who plays with more heart than 95% of this roster.

I'd obviously also retain Jaskin. He hasn't sucked long enough to piss me off yet. And since it's hard to justify dumping that many players off the active roster and literally starting over, I'll also support the retention of Oshie because we'll need someone to win those shootouts and Berglund because unlike the rest of these slobs he actually showed up in the playoffs.

Backes, Steen, Gunnarsson, Old Man Jackman, Bouwmeester, Elliott, the entire 4th line, all gone as far as I'm concerned. Our 4th line doesn't pass muster with the way the 4th line model is trending in this league. Our 4th line sucks. They can't produce shit offensively and Minnesota is right: Ott is nothing but a rodeo clown out there. His act wore thin a long time ago. I feel bad for Reaves, I like Reaves and I think he could do a lot more offensively but that's not the role he's been given and he'd be better off playing elsewhere.

Next season I want to see a number of guys get their shot: Barbashev, Fabbri, Parayko, Lindbohm on a more permanent basis, and Rattie also on a more permanent basis. It may be dangerous having so many rookies on the active roster at one time but they can't suck worse than this group does in the playoffs year in and year out.

I specifically want to see the entire coaching staff revamped: Bylsma as head coach is critical. Who joins him is up to him. I wonder what would be the likelihood of getting CuJo to join the team as goalie coach--he's currently coaching in Ontario Juniors, and also I'd like to see Al MacInnis join the coaching staff. Not for nostalgic reasons but I think the players as a whole group would learn a lot about how to have heart and play with purpose from guys who played in a different era on teams that actually advanced past the 1st round.

Edit: Todd McLellan I see was mentioned in the GDT. It couldn't hurt, I guess, but he has a pretty long history of playoff failures himself.

[cardsfan04]

Yeah, I posted the McLellan thing. STL Game Time retweeted it, so I just took it at face value even though I've never heard of that Kaplan guy. He got the Blues Twitter handle wrong. He said fired instead of not retained (which is whatever, point is the same). And he suggested a coach with a history of playoff failure. I wonder if it was meant as a joke that I missed initially.

[WaukeeBlues]

Hitchcock is gone. There's no way he's still our coach by the end of this week.

Mostly agree with you on dumping/trading the core. It's time. Backes, Steen, Ott, Berglund, Elliott... I'd trade them all.

I'd mostly agree with who you'd keep, but I'd keep Oshie too. But Backes, Steen and Berglund I think are critical. I like Backes, I like Steen, but we can't keep doing this... they're the player leadership on this team and that leadership clearly needs to change.

Defense is a bit of a cluster. Shatty is our guy. Pietro is too talented to trade IMO. I think Michalek played well for us. I'd keep him over the other pieces we've picked up and I like Bortuzzo. Jackman is gone.

It was monstrously unfair to start Allen over Elliott. Even without hindsight you HAVE to be nervous starting a (for all intents and purposes) rookie goalie for your supposed Stanley Cup run. Didn't necessarily agree with the decision then and certainly don't agree with it now. Allen wasn't ready. This team didn't do him any favors on his confidence by throwing him in the fire.

This organization has treating Brian Elliott like dog sh*t. I feel legitimately bad for the guy.

Other than all that... I'm just speechless anymore. This team has surpassed the Sharks in terms of playoff ineptitude. Pathetic. Totally pathetic.

[Oaklandblue]

Mismanaged team. All there is to it.

[glen a richter]

I'm going back to the fight between Tarasenko and Backes. Now we all blew it off as nothing major, Hitch blew it off, they blew it off, but let's be honest with ourselves: Backes is jealous that Tarasenko is getting all the attention? He's getting all the attention because he's GOOD. He plays with heart, he plays his brains out every shift, he's the (Franking) boss. If Backes is jealous that an extremely talented player is getting all the attention, perhaps he should focus himself, and his teammates of rising up to Tarasenko's level instead of having fisticuffs at a goddam practice. Nut up and play the (Franking) game like a (Franking) professional or take a goddam walk. Even if Backes stays, which he shouldn't, he shouldn't be the captain anymore. Tarasenko should. He's the face of the franchise, if he chooses to stay which, at the moment, I wouldn't blame him if he took his services elsewhere.

[Oaklandblue]

I'm going back to the fight between Tarasenko and Backes. Now we all blew it off as nothing major, Hitch blew it off, they blew it off, but let's be honest with ourselves: Backes is jealous that Tarasenko is getting all the attention? He's getting all the attention because he's GOOD. He plays with heart, he plays his brains out every shift, he's the (Franking) boss. If Backes is jealous that an extremely talented player is getting all the attention, perhaps he should focus himself, and his teammates of rising up to Tarasenko's level instead of having fisticuffs at a goddam practice. Nut up and play the (Franking) game like a (Franking) professional or take a goddam walk. Even if Backes stays, which he shouldn't, he shouldn't be the captain anymore. Tarasenko should. He's the face of the franchise, if he chooses to stay which, at the moment, I wouldn't blame him if he took his services elsewhere.

Backes + Osh + Steen to pretty much any team with exception would return us pretty much whatever we asked for.

[glen a richter]

I'm going back to the fight between Tarasenko and Backes. Now we all blew it off as nothing major, Hitch blew it off, they blew it off, but let's be honest with ourselves: Backes is jealous that Tarasenko is getting all the attention? He's getting all the attention because he's GOOD. He plays with heart, he plays his brains out every shift, he's the (Franking) boss. If Backes is jealous that an extremely talented player is getting all the attention, perhaps he should focus himself, and his teammates of rising up to Tarasenko's level instead of having fisticuffs at a goddam practice. Nut up and play the (Franking) game like a (Franking) professional or take a goddam walk. Even if Backes stays, which he shouldn't, he shouldn't be the captain anymore. Tarasenko should. He's the face of the franchise, if he chooses to stay which, at the moment, I wouldn't blame him if he took his services elsewhere.

Backes + Osh + Steen to pretty much any team with exception would return us pretty much whatever we asked for.

Do you package them all up or divide them up into separate deals? Also Elliott. I'd reckon Elliott should be traded separately. Edmonton surely would give up something for a goalie without having to sweeten the pot too much.

[JCShutout]

I'm going back to the fight between Tarasenko and Backes. Now we all blew it off as nothing major, Hitch blew it off, they blew it off, but let's be honest with ourselves: Backes is jealous that Tarasenko is getting all the attention? He's getting all the attention because he's GOOD. He plays with heart, he plays his brains out every shift, he's the (Franking) boss. If Backes is jealous that an extremely talented player is getting all the attention, perhaps he should focus himself, and his teammates of rising up to Tarasenko's level instead of having fisticuffs at a goddam practice. Nut up and play the (Franking) game like a (Franking) professional or take a goddam walk. Even if Backes stays, which he shouldn't, he shouldn't be the captain anymore. Tarasenko should. He's the face of the franchise, if he chooses to stay which, at the moment, I wouldn't blame him if he took his services elsewhere.

Backes + Osh + Steen to pretty much any team with exception would return us pretty much whatever we asked for.

I'd be down with trading our entire second line for someone else's. As long as the Stastny, Jaskin, Berglund line isn't our new second line, I can give it a shot.

[Oaklandblue]

I'm going back to the fight between Tarasenko and Backes. Now we all blew it off as nothing major, Hitch blew it off, they blew it off, but let's be honest with ourselves: Backes is jealous that Tarasenko is getting all the attention? He's getting all the attention because he's GOOD. He plays with heart, he plays his brains out every shift, he's the (Franking) boss. If Backes is jealous that an extremely talented player is getting all the attention, perhaps he should focus himself, and his teammates of rising up to Tarasenko's level instead of having fisticuffs at a goddam practice. Nut up and play the (Franking) game like a (Franking) professional or take a goddam walk. Even if Backes stays, which he shouldn't, he shouldn't be the captain anymore. Tarasenko should. He's the face of the franchise, if he chooses to stay which, at the moment, I wouldn't blame him if he took his services elsewhere.

Backes + Osh + Steen to pretty much any team with exception would return us pretty much whatever we asked for.

Do you package them all up or divide them up into separate deals? Also Elliott. I'd reckon Elliott should be traded separately. Edmonton surely would give up something for a goalie without having to sweeten the pot too much.

We need great, not good. We have tried with these guys and they aren't the ones. We send them off for one or two players who are. We don't need more than that. We are fortunate to have skill and talent on all four lines, what we don't have are tireless catalysts who can help focus that talent and skill. Tank is one of those kind of guys, but the makeup of the team has to be really defeating for him. Jaden, I hate to say, MAY become more and more like Berglund in a couple of years. Right now alot of people may seriously question that, but mind how many other players we've had who come out like a top line ball of fire only to fizzle out and earn the ire of the fanbase.

[glen a richter]

I'm going back to the fight between Tarasenko and Backes. Now we all blew it off as nothing major, Hitch blew it off, they blew it off, but let's be honest with ourselves: Backes is jealous that Tarasenko is getting all the attention? He's getting all the attention because he's GOOD. He plays with heart, he plays his brains out every shift, he's the (Franking) boss. If Backes is jealous that an extremely talented player is getting all the attention, perhaps he should focus himself, and his teammates of rising up to Tarasenko's level instead of having fisticuffs at a goddam practice. Nut up and play the (Franking) game like a (Franking) professional or take a goddam walk. Even if Backes stays, which he shouldn't, he shouldn't be the captain anymore. Tarasenko should. He's the face of the franchise, if he chooses to stay which, at the moment, I wouldn't blame him if he took his services elsewhere.

Backes + Osh + Steen to pretty much any team with exception would return us pretty much whatever we asked for.

Do you package them all up or divide them up into separate deals? Also Elliott. I'd reckon Elliott should be traded separately. Edmonton surely would give up something for a goalie without having to sweeten the pot too much.

We need great, not good. We have tried with these guys and they aren't the ones. We send them off for one or two players who are. We don't need more than that. We are fortunate to have skill and talent on all four lines, what we don't have are tireless catalysts who can help focus that talent and skill. Tank is one of those kind of guys, but the makeup of the team has to be really defeating for him. Jaden, I hate to say, MAY become more and more like Berglund in a couple of years. Right now alot of people may seriously question that, but mind how many other players we've had who come out like a top line ball of fire only to fizzle out and earn the ire of the fanbase.

Jaden Schwartz is no Berglund. Keep him with Tarasenko, that's all. That's why it's so important to keep that line together. They get each other, they click. They deserve to stay together.

As far as catalysts, the optimist in me hopes Barbashev and Fabbri will be two of those guys, from in house, so they don't have to spend the entire offseason trying to trade for every component.

A lot of shit will probably go down at the draft too. Backes, Steen and Oshie for all their playoff shortcomings, can still demand live bodies and picks.

[Oaklandblue]

I'm going back to the fight between Tarasenko and Backes. Now we all blew it off as nothing major, Hitch blew it off, they blew it off, but let's be honest with ourselves: Backes is jealous that Tarasenko is getting all the attention? He's getting all the attention because he's GOOD. He plays with heart, he plays his brains out every shift, he's the (Franking) boss. If Backes is jealous that an extremely talented player is getting all the attention, perhaps he should focus himself, and his teammates of rising up to Tarasenko's level instead of having fisticuffs at a goddam practice. Nut up and play the (Franking) game like a (Franking) professional or take a goddam walk. Even if Backes stays, which he shouldn't, he shouldn't be the captain anymore. Tarasenko should. He's the face of the franchise, if he chooses to stay which, at the moment, I wouldn't blame him if he took his services elsewhere.

Backes + Osh + Steen to pretty much any team with exception would return us pretty much whatever we asked for.

Do you package them all up or divide them up into separate deals? Also Elliott. I'd reckon Elliott should be traded separately. Edmonton surely would give up something for a goalie without having to sweeten the pot too much.

We need great, not good. We have tried with these guys and they aren't the ones. We send them off for one or two players who are. We don't need more than that. We are fortunate to have skill and talent on all four lines, what we don't have are tireless catalysts who can help focus that talent and skill. Tank is one of those kind of guys, but the makeup of the team has to be really defeating for him. Jaden, I hate to say, MAY become more and more like Berglund in a couple of years. Right now alot of people may seriously question that, but mind how many other players we've had who come out like a top line ball of fire only to fizzle out and earn the ire of the fanbase.

Jaden Schwartz is no Berglund. Keep him with Tarasenko, that's all. That's why it's so important to keep that line together. They get each other, they click. They deserve to stay together.

As far as catalysts, the optimist in me hopes Barbashev and Fabbri will be two of those guys, from in house, so they don't have to spend the entire offseason trying to trade for every component.

A lot of shit will probably go down at the draft too. Backes, Steen and Oshie for all their playoff shortcomings, can still demand live bodies and picks.

Barbashev and Fabbri will be beastly. I would have loved to see them run Bortuzzo and Lindbolm and IF we keep Gunnar, BIG FUGGIN IF on my part, he needs to roll with Shatt as together they tend to do some occasionally badass stuff.

I would cash in as many of the players as possible for high value and put things together around Frank/Lehtera. Go after TOP END talent first and then build around depth. Totally remake the culture of the club. And for fucks sake, LEAVE TODD IN SAN JOSE.

Frank/Lehtera MUST be inseperable. Jaden clicks with them, but honestly I think you can almost put anyone with them and they'll roll hard.

[WaukeeBlues]

I'm going back to the fight between Tarasenko and Backes. Now we all blew it off as nothing major, Hitch blew it off, they blew it off, but let's be honest with ourselves: Backes is jealous that Tarasenko is getting all the attention? He's getting all the attention because he's GOOD. He plays with heart, he plays his brains out every shift, he's the (Franking) boss. If Backes is jealous that an extremely talented player is getting all the attention, perhaps he should focus himself, and his teammates of rising up to Tarasenko's level instead of having fisticuffs at a goddam practice. Nut up and play the (Franking) game like a (Franking) professional or take a goddam walk. Even if Backes stays, which he shouldn't, he shouldn't be the captain anymore. Tarasenko should. He's the face of the franchise, if he chooses to stay which, at the moment, I wouldn't blame him if he took his services elsewhere.

Backes + Osh + Steen to pretty much any team with exception would return us pretty much whatever we asked for.

Nobody is going to want them all together. The reason is pretty obvious.

Like someone else: Trade for some comparable talent/picks to replace these guys. But it's time to deal that line, or at least Backes/Steen/Berglund

Oshie is still very dynamic and a great player. I'd keep him.

Changing a team's culture is very difficult to do. Shaking up the core is a great start.

[glen a richter]

I had a little tweet session with Miklasz about a half hour ago. He doesn't like Bortuzzo. I disagree. We do agree on Gunnarsson though.

Pie, Shatty, Bortuzzo, Lindbohm, Parayko, UFA... it's pretty green but that's better than Gunnarsson playing like ass and Jackman slowing down the works. Yeah he's been loyally Blue his entire career but he ain't getting any younger and he ain't getting any faster. This team is slow as all shit and speed is the factor that absolutely killed us against Minnesota. They're fast, we're not. It negates whatever talent you have on your team when you're always getting beaten to the puck.

[Nyghtewynd]

May as well get this thing rolling right away.


That said, I am righteously pissed. Not Nyghtwynd pissed, not that level. I don't pin this teams entire history on why they lost this series. It's ridiculous to blame nearly 50 years of failure for this core's inability to get it done.

I find it amusing that you still bring me up considering that you've been wrong about nearly everything you don't like that I say.

It begins and ends with Doug Armstrong. Again: he has been flat-out wrong on nearly every player decision he has made for the past two years. If you're going to let him make the decisions, the decisions will be wrong. Nothing else matters until this problem is solved.

[glen a richter]

May as well get this thing rolling right away.


That said, I am righteously pissed. Not Nyghtwynd pissed, not that level. I don't pin this teams entire history on why they lost this series. It's ridiculous to blame nearly 50 years of failure for this core's inability to get it done.

I find it amusing that you still bring me up considering that you've been wrong about nearly everything you don't like that I say.

It begins and ends with Doug Armstrong. Again: he has been flat-out wrong on nearly every player decision he has made for the past two years. If you're going to let him make the decisions, the decisions will be wrong. Nothing else matters until this problem is solved.

It's not about being right and wrong, it's about blaming this years team on things that happened in 1967. Ineptitude doesn't cross generations. Just because the physical team choked in other playoff runs doesn't equate to this cores history of choking. If they blow the whole thing up, new coach, a bunch of new players, and everything pretty much changes, they get off to a crazy start and win the Presidents Trophy, and slaughter every opponent in the playoffs, will you still say they can't possibly win?

[KrustyKevo]

May as well get this thing rolling right away.


That said, I am righteously pissed. Not Nyghtwynd pissed, not that level. I don't pin this teams entire history on why they lost this series. It's ridiculous to blame nearly 50 years of failure for this core's inability to get it done.

I find it amusing that you still bring me up considering that you've been wrong about nearly everything you don't like that I say.

It begins and ends with Doug Armstrong. Again: he has been flat-out wrong on nearly every player decision he has made for the past two years. If you're going to let him make the decisions, the decisions will be wrong. Nothing else matters until this problem is solved.

Armstrong NEVER existed

[Oaklandblue]

Army has succeeded in building a core that can make it to the playoffs. We have depth, we have skill and talent and the goaltending is 1A 1B good. He's gotten us halfway there.

At this point, Army now needs to make the moves that brings us to the next level. If he can't or won't do that, then he needs to go. Simple as that. We have a window right now and the more we sit and hope he can get it done, the smaller it gets. We may have one shot at tossing out a stack of cards and getting some more in our hand without risking not making the playoffs. Our losing this season shouldn't be what we focus the most on, it should be how the Organization reacts to it. If they do little to nothing, then we have our answer. With Stillman at the helm, I am expecting Army to really make the moves we need to make.

Those who are against Army will see in a few months just what our GM is made of and how he responds will answer the age old question of should he stay or go. Right now it's just speculation.

[glen a richter]

True or false: teams out of the playoffs can trade with other teams out of the playoffs even if the playoffs are still going on.

I think they can, I seem to remember some trades happening in the past between other teams, but it may have just been farm players. If they can start wheeling and dealing now, do it.

[Nyghtewynd]

Nice strawman. So, if they destroyed everything that the franchise was, and then won, it would be obvious that they did the right thing. Well duh. And, frankly, they ought to do that. I'd even consider changing the logo and colors. Anything to get rid of the loser status of this franchise.

Blow up the team? Absolutely. After all, what's the worst thing that happens? You don't make the playoffs? So what? Prove that this isn't good enough. And, frankly, start tomorrow. Fire Armstrong tomorrow, announce that Hitch isn't coming back, and let Stillman make a fired-up public statement. "I'm embarrassed. This isn't good enough. We're getting rid of these losers because I'm not going to tolerate this." If you did that in this town, people would tear down the door to buy tickets. But if you do this stupid "retooling", "we'll have exit interviews first" thing, forget it. You've been a failure for almost 50 years now. Maybe try something different.

Yes, they'll sell some tickets. Especially when the Rams officially become lame-duck, you'll sell them. Heck, they should just get it over with and make the year's slogan "Where Else Are You Going To Have An Excuse To Get Drunk Indoors In The Winter?". That'll get you 15k every night in this town. I think very little of the self-respect of those people, but hey--you do you. It's called disposable income for a reason.

In the end, you can shift the chairs around on the Titanic if you want. But the best approach would be to sink the crappy ship and build a new one.

[glen a richter]

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2015 ... /#comments

Oshie doesn't think the current core is the problem? You been drinking again, TJ? Reading that entire quote from TJ makes me wonder if he's right in the head. Were we watching the same game you were seeing from ice level? You guys looked like shit. Pure shit.