Another shocking news hit the St. Louis Blues: The irreplaceable star player has been sacked first thing today.
The St. Louis Blues received further startling news today when their indispensable star player was let go.
I can still clearly recall, just eighteen days ago, when the St. Louis Blues were leading the Western Conference by four points for the second wild card. ‘Even as flawed as this roster is, it can truly have a bit of a stranglehold on this slot and make many doubters, myself included, into believers,’ I kept telling myself while I sat in my living room.
I’ve been doing this long enough to know what a Stanley Cup contender is, not just a playoff roster, so I still had my reservations. But the Blues would have been six points ahead with two games in hand if they had defeated the Nashville Predators in regulation on February 17—at home, mind you. Sixth. And it would have been quite an accomplishment to have the opportunity to raise it to ten if they had won their current games.
A 6–10 point lead would have put the Predators on a massive mission of having to play some serious winning hockey and hope that the Blues would falter, probably in the 70 percentile winning percentage, give or take, without doing the math. I understand there would still be roughly two months left to play, and anything can happen—we all know that by the 2019 Blues.
The Blues went from possibly being six points up, and maybe more, to now being six back in just eighteen days, following that 5-2 loss against a Nashville team that had just been embarrassed on home ice, 9-2 against the Dallas Stars, in which their general manager, Barry Trotz, canceled a team function to go see U2 in concert in Las Vegas.
Since then, Nashville has taken command and seized the bull by the horns. The Blues are 3-5-1 after blowing their second two-goal lead on the road in less than a week, losing to the New York Islanders 4-2 on Tuesday, while the Predators have a nine-game point streak after reeling off eight straight victories, starting with battering the Blues until tonight when they lost in overtime. Not exactly a team exhibiting any postseason readiness.
Joel Hofer’s play aside, this Blues team most likely wouldn’t be all that different from the 37-38-7 squad from last year. They might perhaps end up in that neighborhood this season. Twenty games remain, but even if they do any better, it won’t be a big improvement.
I recall when the coaching change was announced and Doug Armstrong fired Craig Berube. It’s the roster, not the coach, as I said then, and I’ll say it again.
Everything comes down to the fact that, while nobody doubts this group’s will to win, there are just too many guys who must play too high up in the lineup. Just that easy.
Who else here is a top-line forward, save Robert Thomas, who is still developing and not yet at his best? Though, in my opinion, those two are second-line wingers on a championship-caliber squad, Pavel Buchnevich—the focus of numerous trade rumors—can be when called upon. Third-line players playing the second line include the excellent Brandon Saad and the offensively declining Brayden Schenn. And even though I think Jake Neighbours is playing great, at his best, he should be a terrific third-line winger who can eventually routinely play second-line.
On Tuesday, though, the trio was a second line for the Blues.
The third line—let’s just leave Zack Bolduc out of this. He’s just a pup making his NHL start. On him, the verdict is still out. That was the third line on Tuesday that most likely resembles more of a fourth line; Kevin Hayes hasn’t even come close to matching the production of the player he supposedly replaced (Ryan O’Reilly, who by the way is thriving quite nicely in Nashville); Kasperi Kapanen is nothing more than a defensive checker with limited to little offense in his game. Not less than two of them.
Oskar Sundqvist, Nathan Walker, and Alexey Toropchenko—God love that guy and the way he plays—fit right in the parts they play. Because they’ve been so short-changed up there, the Blues have occasionally been forced to move ideally fourth-line players up the lineup out of need.
Regarding the defensemen, Colton Parayko has shown he can play No. 1 defenseman minutes this season—in fact, he has played most of them. But ideally, consider how good the Blues would be if he were your No. 2 behind someone who was already an established No. 1 (I can’t imagine who that once was here not too long ago… hm). Currently playing for a Cup-contending team, Nick Leddy is a second-pair d-man at best, preferably your third option from the left side, but compelled to play top-end minutes because the Blues lack a real No. 1 from that side. The most recent genuine left-handed No. 1-type d-man they have was when? Out of the blue, was it Chris Pronger? He came to me in my thoughts; maybe I overlooked someone. Perhaps there was another; if I come up with one, I will edit this. Marco Scandella is what he is, a third-pair d-man, and I’ll be stunned if he’s here past Friday. If not, he’ll move on this summer as an unrestricted free agent. Justin Faulk and Torey Krug are what they are, and that’s no better than where they’re playing in the lineup.
Jordan Binnington is a real No. 1 goalkeeper for the Blues, so they do have a spine. Since he declined to play after winning the Cup in 2019, I know the so-called stat geeks like to whip out their little hand-held robots or whatever it is they use to calculate numbers and minimize how good this guy has been for the Blues. But if these goalies hadn’t played so well this season, I truly believe we would be talking about the Blues being another lottery team. And looking back to the 2022 postseason, Binnington’s play has improved since then, in my opinion.
One of the team’s fundamental components is Blues center Robert Thomas. With Friday’s NHL Trade Deadline fast approaching, the center is one of the few untouchables on the St. Louis roster.
One of the team’s fundamental components is Blues center Robert Thomas. With Friday’s NHL Trade Deadline fast approaching, the center is one of the few untouchables on the St. Louis roster.
Dennis Schneidler, USA Today Sports
Armstrong should have a ‘For Sale’ sign-up now following his most recent loss on Tuesday, if it wasn’t there after that Nashville setback less than three weeks ago. Thursday’s game against the New Jersey Devils is the last one left before trades must be completed by Friday at 2 p.m. CT. To be really honest, though, Armstrong has driven himself into a hole with all these no-trade clauses that he can’t get rid of now—at least not until the summer of 2025 when full NTCs become restricted NTCs—as I noted in the piece I wrote when Berube was sacked.
I therefore question again: are you, Blues supporters, prepared to put up with another year of mediocrity if Armstrong is unable to change this team this off-season or now? With another showpiece game versus the Blackhawks scheduled for next season, I’m not so sure you are, and I’m not so sure ownership would be either.
I think I’m listening to everyone on the roster right now but Thomas and Neighbors. I’m listening, but I’m not trading Parayko. While I’m listening, I’m not trading Binnington. Of course I’m listening to Buchnevich, and I’m sure Armstrong has as well, but to be honest, I’m not trading him either. If the opportunity arises, I’ll explain why in a piece.
There are a lot of burners going beneath the skillets starting on Friday, I’ve heard. For the time being, let’s see where this all leads. Armstrong has his hands full. It will be interesting to watch how he handles this roster, but he most certainly shouldn’t be adding to it because this isn’t even close to a Cup contender.
