It's now been 10 years since that awful 05-06 campaign

[dmiles2186]

21-46-15 for 57 points. Hard to believe we actually got 21 wins. And 15 OTL? I mean, all things considered, it's pretty incredible we were that close to several more wins.

If you need a refresher, this was our roster...

Jason Bacashihua G 19 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Christian Backman D 52 6 12 18 48 -15 3 0 1
Eric Boguniecki C 9 1 4 5 4 -1 1 0 0
Jesse Boulerice RW 12 0 0 0 13 -4 0 0 0
Eric Brewer D 32 6 3 9 45 -17 1 0 1
Petr Cajanek RW 71 10 31 41 54 -22 3 0 0
Kevin Dallman D 46 4 9 13 21 -15 3 0 0
Jon DiSalvatore RW 5 0 0 0 2 -1 0 0 0
Reinhard Divis G 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Aaron Downey RW 17 2 0 2 45 0 0 0 0
Dallas Drake RW 62 2 24 26 59 -13 1 0 1
Simon Gamache C 15 3 4 7 10 1 0 0 0
Mike Glumac RW 33 7 5 12 33 -8 5 0 0
Colin Hemingway RW 3 0 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0
Jeff Hoggan LW 52 2 6 8 34 -16 0 0 0
Barret Jackman D 63 4 6 10 156 -6 0 0 2
Ryan Johnson C 65 3 6 9 33 -21 1 1 0
Patrick Lalime G 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jamal Mayers RW 67 15 11 26 129 -22 0 2 1
Dean McAmmond C 78 15 22 37 32 -25 4 0 0
Jay McClement C 67 6 21 27 30 -23 1 0 2
Vladimir Orszagh RW 16 4 5 9 14 -2 1 0 0
Steve Poapst D 41 0 1 1 37 -21 0 0 0
Andy Roach D 5 1 2 3 10 0 1 0 0
Mark Rycroft RW 80 6 4 10 46 -14 0 1 2
Bryce Salvador D 46 1 4 5 26 -24 0 0 0
Curtis Sanford G 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Peter Sejna LW 6 1 1 2 4 1 0 0 0
Timofei Shishkanov LW 22 3 2 5 6 -1 0 0 0
Mike Sillinger C 48 22 19 41 49 -17 11 1 1
Lee Stempniak RW 57 14 13 27 22 -10 5 0 2
Mike Stuart D 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Keith Tkachuk LW 41 15 21 36 46 -15 10 0 1
Matt Walker D 54 0 2 2 79 -7 0 0 0
Doug Weight C 47 11 33 44 50 -11 7 0 1
Eric Weinrich D 59 1 16 17 44 -10 1 0 0
Trent Whitfield C 30 2 5 7 14 -3 1 0 0
Dennis Wideman D 67 8 16 24 83 -31 5 1 1
Jeff Woywitka D 26 0 2 2 25 -12 0 0 0
Scott Young RW 79 18 31 49 52 -32 10 0 1
Mike Zigomanis C 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

That season feels so distant now. I guess the deflating part of it all is it signified a rebirth that still hasn't yielded a Cup. Nonetheless, I became an even bigger Blues fan that season. This season solidified hockey as my #1 sport (I was 19 at the time, young buck).

And if it makes anyone feel better, on this date (Oct 3 years ago, we were already 0-3, with losses to Detroit (5-1, 4-3) and San Jose (7-6).

We've come a long way.

[ecbm]

Dag, that was a horrible squad. That really looks like an expansion's team's roster.

[glen a richter]

I've elected to forget most of the names on that roster. What a motley crew of garbage.

[cprice12]

God those days sucked. Never forget people.
No cup has been won since then, but this organization has taken leaps and bounds since then and we have been an elite team for 4 years now.
The rebuild really did go extremely well. They stuck to the plan and it worked. Most rebuilds do not go quite this well.
Now they just need to finish it off with a cup and then everyone can die happy.

[APOD]

Hey I see my cousin

[WaukeeBlues]

We've come really far.

We've won one playoff series since then! In 10 years!

Leaps and bounds, let me tell you...

[cprice12]

We've come really far.

We've won one playoff series since then! In 10 years!

Leaps and bounds, let me tell you...

You have obviously forgotten the 2005 era.

[dmiles2186]

We've come really far.

We've won one playoff series since then! In 10 years!

Leaps and bounds, let me tell you...

I'd rather be making the playoffs every year to get bounced in the first round as opposed to what I witnessed in 2005-2006, but cool....

[cprice12]

We've come really far.

We've won one playoff series since then! In 10 years!

Leaps and bounds, let me tell you...

I'd rather be making the playoffs every year to get bounced in the first round as opposed to what I witnessed in 2005-2006, but cool....

Neither are good options. But yes...I am with you. No doubt.
The only thing good that comes from sucking is higher quality draft picks...but even that can be a crap shoot unless you get a top 3 pick usually...and even then, nothing is guaranteed.
For example...
Our #1 overall pick from that era was Erik Johnson. Whoopee. He kind of flopped based on the hype. He did bring us Shattenkirk in a trade though, so there is that I guess. But I like to think McClement was the prize for Colorado in that deal.

[dmiles2186]

We've come really far.

We've won one playoff series since then! In 10 years!

Leaps and bounds, let me tell you...

I'd rather be making the playoffs every year to get bounced in the first round as opposed to what I witnessed in 2005-2006, but cool....

Neither are good options. But yes...I am with you. No doubt.
The only thing good that comes from sucking is higher quality draft picks...but even that can be a crap shoot unless you get a top 3 pick usually...and even then, nothing is guaranteed.
For example...
Our #1 overall pick from that era was Erik Johnson. Whoopee. He kind of flopped based on the hype. He did bring us Shattenkirk in a trade though, so there is that I guess. But I like to think McClement was the prize for Colorado in that deal.

I agree that neither are good options, but I'd rather the first 6 months of the season be fun. 2005-2006 was just tough the entire year. And we had one season of that. I look at a team like Carolina that it always terrible, I don't know how I could stand that. I've already dealt with that too much as a Rams fan.

As for the top 3 pick, that 2006 draft did have one guarantee in the top 3. Unfortunately we guessed wrong on that and the actual guarantee is a 3 time Stanley Cup winning Captain.

[Kerfuffle]

We've come really far.

We've won one playoff series since then! In 10 years!

Leaps and bounds, let me tell you...

I agree wholeheartedly. It all comes down to how you do in the playoffs. Right now I'm dealing with Cubs mania up here and it's annoying as hell. I have to watch the media and news showing champagne celebrations just for a wild car play-in game win - and I'm thinking that unless this team actually wins the NCLS then it's another failed season. I could care less that the team had 97 wins. If you can't win in the playoffs the team still sux IMO. I feel that way about hockey too - no one cares about the President's trophy or finishing first in the regular season - you have to actually do something when you get there. I need the Blackhawks to teach the Cubs about playoffs and you guys need the Cardinals to teach the Blues a few things about playoffs. So same problem in both cities but with different clubs.

[cprice12]

We've come really far.

We've won one playoff series since then! In 10 years!

Leaps and bounds, let me tell you...

I agree wholeheartedly. It all comes down to how you do in the playoffs. Right now I'm dealing with Cubs mania up here and it's annoying as hell. I have to watch the media and news showing champagne celebrations just for a wild car play-in game win - and I'm thinking that unless this team actually wins the NCLS then it's another failed season. I could care less that the team had 97 wins. If you can't win in the playoffs the team still sux IMO. I feel that way about hockey too - no one cares about the President's trophy or finishing first in the regular season - you have to actually do something when you get there. I need the Blackhawks to teach the Cubs about playoffs and you guys need the Cardinals to teach the Blues a few things about playoffs. So same problem in both cities but with different clubs.

When your franchise has won a championship, the feelings tend to change about what is a failed season and what isn't.
As a Cardinals fan, yes, to me it is a failed season if we do not reach the world series because the bar has been set with this team.

As a Blues fan, while the cup is the goal, to me it is not necessarily a failed season if we don't win a cup. I think getting to the finals or conference finals would absolutely be considered a successful season since we have rarely gotten to that level. But of course, various factors along the way could play into my decision on what is a successful season and what isn't. But generally speaking, that is how I feel right now.

Cubs fans should absolutely consider the mere fact that they beat Pittsburgh in the WC play-in game and are in the NLDS a hugely successful season. Are you kidding me? They weren't supposed to be quite this good this fast. The thinking around baseball circles was that next year would be the year where they would start to challenge for the division. But they have been great this year...especially in the 2nd half. How could anyone say the Cubs haven't had a successful season if they were to lose to the Cardinals in the NLDS?

[WaukeeBlues]

We've come really far.

We've won one playoff series since then! In 10 years!

Leaps and bounds, let me tell you...

I'd rather be making the playoffs every year to get bounced in the first round as opposed to what I witnessed in 2005-2006, but cool....

At least back then I was excited for our future.

[cprice12]

We've come really far.

We've won one playoff series since then! In 10 years!

Leaps and bounds, let me tell you...

I'd rather be making the playoffs every year to get bounced in the first round as opposed to what I witnessed in 2005-2006, but cool....

At least back then I was excited for our future.

So you're saying you preferred those days?

You need to snap out of it. You're going to pout and moan and miss a great season.
So...at what point do you snap out of it?
What if we get to the 2nd round? Will you be optimistic then? Conference finals? Finals?
By then it will be too late. The bus will have left without you.

[ecbm]

no one cares about the President's trophy

So true. Fitting that the actual trophy itself is a flimsy piece of junk.

[cprice12]

no one cares about the President's trophy

So true. Fitting that the actual trophy itself is a flimsy piece of junk.

But players do care about it. They'll say they don't, but they do. It's a great accomplishment and players should be proud of it. It's obviously just not what they want most.

To say they don't care at all about finishing first overall and having home ice advantage throughout the playoffs? Nah...I'm not buying that at all.

Anyone who says they don't care the slightest about winning the President's trophy, didn't actually win it.

[Kerfuffle]

no one cares about the President's trophy

So true. Fitting that the actual trophy itself is a flimsy piece of junk.

But players do care about it. They'll say they don't, but they do. It's a great accomplishment and players should be proud of it. It's obviously just not what they want most.

To say they don't care at all about finishing first overall and having home ice advantage throughout the playoffs? Nah...I'm not buying that at all.

Anyone who says they don't care the slightest about winning the President's trophy, didn't actually win it.

Think back to the season the Blues won the President's Trophy and lost in the first round of the playoffs - I believe it was around the year 2000 and Quenville was the coach too. Did you feel that was a great accomplishment winning that trophy? Or would you say you felt it was a total failure of a season? I would have to say the latter. We did the same thing in 1990-1991 and got wiped out in the first round against Minnesota. No one cared about that dang trophy - we were all hugely ticked off at the Hawks for collapsing in the playoffs.

[cprice12]

no one cares about the President's trophy

So true. Fitting that the actual trophy itself is a flimsy piece of junk.

But players do care about it. They'll say they don't, but they do. It's a great accomplishment and players should be proud of it. It's obviously just not what they want most.

To say they don't care at all about finishing first overall and having home ice advantage throughout the playoffs? Nah...I'm not buying that at all.

Anyone who says they don't care the slightest about winning the President's trophy, didn't actually win it.

Think back to the season the Blues won the President's Trophy and lost in the first round of the playoffs - I believe it was around the year 2000 and Quenville was the coach too. Did you feel that was a great accomplishment winning that trophy? Or would you say you felt it was a total failure of a season? I would have to say the latter. We did the same thing in 1990-1991 and got wiped out in the first round against Minnesota. No one cared about that dang trophy - we were all hugely ticked off at the Hawks for collapsing in the playoffs.

Why does it have to be one or the other?
Winning the President's Trophy was a great accomplishment that the players should have been proud of...AND...it was a failure of a season because of losing to the Sharks in the first round.
One is not exclusive to the other. And I never said that winning the President's Trophy automatically make the season a success.

[Robb_K]

I ALWAYS want The Blues to win The President's trophy, so they can have the extra home game and last shift change in one more game against ANY team. Sometimes teams are so evenly matched that that makes the difference. When it comes to big stakes like The Stanley Cup, that slight edge is nice to have. I just wouldn't want winning that trophy to give The Blues a false swagger and false sense of security, that would make them less hungry, and prepare less. But, given The Blues' recent experience of high regular season finishes and poor playoff results, I can't imagine that problem occurring.

[theohall]

I'd rather see a team which has locked up a playoff spot and at least 1st round home ice get into the playoffs healthy and let the stars rest some down the stretch than put a bunch of effort into the President's Trophy and come out flat or tired in the playoffs. We've seen it more than once.


Yes, it's nice to have both. But the goal should be the Stanley Cup first and foremost and having the best available rested line up on the ice for the playoffs. Not kill the team for another division title or a President's Trophy, which is nice to have, but becoming more and more meaningless in relation to winning the Cup.

Home ice hasn't mattered significantly in the playoffs since the lockout and the rules changes which followed.

Advanced metrics are also indicating that matching lines isn't as important as ensuring your best players get the ice time they need, regardless of the opposition. Which, other than the home crowd intangible factor, has been the only reason for home ice.