Let's Go Blues

Honestly? I'm disappointed.

So assume Ott will be re-signed for about 5 mil a year. Rattie will rot another year in Chicago or be traded for a 7th round pick... the Blues got where they got this year in spite of Hitch. One could actually argue they got where they got because of Muller and Hitch was just in the way.

I'm not sure what people expected...I mean the guy steered the Blues to within 2 games of a Stanley Cup Final appearance. The only way he wasn't coming back was if he decided to retire.

I'm split...I wanted him gone last year after the Minnesota series, because I thought that was inexcusable. But pair the postseason run with the point total he helped the Blues achieve while half of his players were on IR...this had to be expected.

Still hate him.
He's holding this crazy talented team back

Sent from my R2 unit

dmiles2186 wrote:I'm not sure what people expected...I mean the guy steered the Blues to within 2 games of a Stanley Cup Final appearance. The only way he wasn't coming back was if he decided to retire.

I'm split...I wanted him gone last year after the Minnesota series, because I thought that was inexcusable. But pair the postseason run with the point total he helped the Blues achieve while half of his players were on IR...this had to be expected.

I expected change. We're doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Nothing against how far we made it this year, but it's not enough for me anymore. We're not a team that consistently makes the Cup Finals or even Conference Finals to where we can say the status quo will work again and the Cup will be ours. I don't think Hitch is the guy who can put us over the top- we get to the playoffs and we don't have the ability to make whomever we are playing react to our game. Every series, we're letting our opponent dictate the game and we have to adjust and overcome. I believe that's on the coaching. Granted, we did a better job of it this year than the last couple years, but I'm personally tired of it.

If Muller (presumably) didn't have his ear to let the offense loose a bit, we'd still be a defense-only team making 1st round exits. We're not where we are because of Hitch. He's a good enough coach who was finally surrounded by the right people, which enabled the team to make it 10 wins deep in the postseason. Unfortunately, good enough isn't good enough. 10 wins isn't 16, and Hitch probably isn't getting us there.

Well he said in today's presser that next year is his last. I can wait that out.

Toasted Oates wrote:Well he said in today's presser that next year is his last. I can wait that out.

I love your new avatar.

https://twitter.com/jprutherford/status/737675461950464001

glen a richter wrote:

So assume Ott will be re-signed for about 5 mil a year. Rattie will rot another year in Chicago or be traded for a 7th round pick... the Blues got where they got this year in spite of Hitch. One could actually argue they got where they got because of Muller and Hitch was just in the way.

Offseason talk, sure, but Armstrong addressed Rattie today:
https://twitter.com/tomtimm/status/737677805836591105

As a strange aside, didn't Hitch take Dallas to the WCF and lose the year before they won the Cup? Strange Jinx-ness stuff like that seems to follow us, maybe it works out for a change next year?

Beyond that, I have zero interest watching this team next season. It's as if they want to keep Hitch on long enough to put this team into the ground and when we get someone in who can use the assets we have to make them move forward, those assets will be gone or on the decline. IF Army was smart (And I'm beginning to believe with each new day passing that he's anything but) he would keep hitch as A coach - our D coach, and hire someone in who can unlock the offense Something signifigant has to change fundamentally to move us forward, otherwise this year wasn't a step forward, it was just a fluke. If anything this postseason proves without a shadow of a doubt that Elliott should be our starter, Shatt should never play on his off-side and Boomer needs to go.

I'll save my outrage for something, well, outrageous.

This isn't it.

One thing about Armstrong is that he continues to be predictable. He's definitely a guy that prefers the status quo and puts loyalty first. We saw plenty of this in Chicago with the old man and his minion who for years liked the status quo. I've yet to see Armstrong go all out or make a balsy move. Trade deadline this year - did nothing as well. I believe that some coaches can only take a team so far and although they got you from point A to B - you need somebody else to take you from point B to C. Hence it falls to the GM to recognize this and say his team is ready and to go get the guy to take the team to the next level.

Kerfuffle wrote:One thing about Armstrong is that he continues to be predictable. He's definitely a guy that prefers the status quo and puts loyalty first. We saw plenty of this in Chicago with the old man and his minion who for years liked the status quo. I've yet to see Armstrong go all out or make a balsy move. Trade deadline this year - did nothing as well. I believe that some coaches can only take a team so far and although they got you from point A to B - you need somebody else to take you from point B to C. Hence it falls to the GM to recognize this and say his team is ready and to go get the guy to take the team to the next level.

I don't think Army's way of handling things as a norm are bad (resigning Hitch I am really on the fence on, with the better side of me saying "NO"). It's really hard to blame a guy because he doesn't want to hand out a huge paycheck and have it hamstring the team, at the same token you can't pay bargain basement for everything, yet he has gotten us and for the most part maintained fairly good value cheap, with exception. The big question is, what do we really need to go to the next level for a team whose players we value higher than other teams and fans do, a coach whose system is proven to work yet the team lacks offense and the offense we sign hasn't, won't or can't shown up as a rule and the team leadership who bond well enough in the locker room but on the ice look at times bipolar and uninspired.

Kerfuffle wrote:One thing about Armstrong is that he continues to be predictable. He's definitely a guy that prefers the status quo and puts loyalty first. We saw plenty of this in Chicago with the old man and his minion who for years liked the status quo. I've yet to see Armstrong go all out or make a balsy move. Trade deadline this year - did nothing as well. I believe that some coaches can only take a team so far and although they got you from point A to B - you need somebody else to take you from point B to C. Hence it falls to the GM to recognize this and say his team is ready and to go get the guy to take the team to the next level.

I have to disagree on the "balsy trades." I'm no lover of Armstrong and I've hated many of the moves he's made but he HAS made some. The two that jump out to me were Shattenkirk/Stewart for EJ and then the deal for Ryan Miller.

Now I think we vastly overpayed for both trades but they were, as you say, "ballsy."

As far as the Hitch re-signing... Meh.

Honestly my first reaction was "oh good, only one year!" because I was afraid we'd be talking multi-year deal here.

I still don't think Hitch is that amazing of a coach but he was the guy behind the bench that guided this team to the conference finals. He's going to get re-signed. Which is understandable.