St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Questions Everywhere, Few Answers
Good morning Blues fans! Sadly we have gotten to the point where mornings with no game are preferable because there seems to be little hope of wins these days. Hopefully that changes soon.
The St. Louis Blues continued their run of poor play with a rather disappointing performance over the weekend against the Winnipeg Jets. It was a decent effort, but not that complete 60 minute game the team needed to pull off a win.
There were bright spots. That can’t be denied, even by those that want to blow up the team right now.
The Blues continue to get good offensive production out of Kevin Shattenkirk. Whether you want to think that is simply good for the team or good for his potential trade value, at least it is something positive to focus on.
Shattenkirk is basically the main name floating around in the hockeysphere, so the higher his value is to others the better off the team is. Whether the Blues actually get a proven commodity in return remains to be seen. We all hope, but NHL GM’s are not as foolish as we would all hope.
Additionally, Pheonix Copley played pretty well in his first ever NHL start. The stats don’t bare that out since he has a sub-.900 save percentage and an unworldly high goals against. That can all be attributed to the poor defensive play in front of him.
Also, it seems to pretty much prove that goaltending is not the Blues main issue. As I’ve stated several times, Jake Allen and Carter Hutton have not been solutions to the problem, but they have not been the problem despite what the vocal minority wants to think.
Sadly, we have reached a point in the season where you have to legitimately wonder if the Blues will make the postseason. The Blues have fallen all the way into the Wild Card slot and are only one point from being out of the playoff picture entirely.
Fortunately the season still has plenty of time left. We have not yet hit the All-Star break and perhaps a mental break for everyone except Vladimir Tarasenko would be good. Just sit back, don’t think about hockey for a couple days and see where it takes them.
From an organizational standpoint, the Blues are in a tough way. Changes need to be made, but the question of what impact it will have is real.
Trading for a goaltender would be absolutely stupid right now. No goalie can be the savior when the team won’t defend for them.
Trading for a defenseman might help, but the Blues have a ton of them. Trading Shattenkirk is preferable, but do you really want a defenseman in return instead of allowing your prospects to fill the void?
Picking up a center should be priority one. However, with the team’s defensive lapses, are the Blues going to get the full benefit even if they could land a true number one center?
There’s all sorts of things floating around out there and each one makes no more sense than the last. It would help if the team would just play to their capabilities, but that doesn’t seem likely.
Here are your St. Louis Blues Morning Links to get your day started off right.
Speaking of trade possibilities, NHL Rumors had a few linked on their page. This particular article is merely a congregation of news, so no issues with the author. However, the rumors listed are about as dumb as you can get. One has the awful idea of the Blues picking up Corey Schneider for Jaden Schwartz. The other has Shattenkirk heading out west. (My NHL Trade Rumors)
Despite the focus on the goaltending, even the sharpest tongued hater has to realize the Blues need other players to step up. It falls now to their young core to become leaders themselves. (Inquisitr)
Staying on the goaltending issue, plenty of fans have lost faith or never had any in Jake Allen. Plenty of them have never played the position. One man has and though he is currently the Blues assistant GM and you could say he is going to support a current player, one of the best goaltenders of all time still has faith in the Blues’ starter. (STLToday)
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Somewhat damaging to the previous argument, players sometimes show they should not be left in charge of what is best for the game. While old-school people like myself don’t like the idea of bigger nets, it seems to be gaining traction among those that actually play, with some other changes mixed in too. (ESPN)
January 23 was a busy day in hockey history. One of the most interesting things that happened was Mike Gartner becoming the first player to score 30 goals in 14 consecutive seasons. Given some of the giants that have played the game, for him to be the only one to do so is amazing. (NHL)
Have a great day Blues fans!
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