St. Louis Blues: Blue Year’s Resolutions
The New Year is a time of reflection. That being said, remember that we are fortunate fans here in St. Louis. Sure, 2015 had its fair share of disappointments, but this year has heralded a changing of the guard for the St. Louis Blues.
Vladimir Tarasenko ripped through the league all year long. Jake Allen emerged last spring as a bona-fide #1 goaltender. Over the summer, Colton Parayko came out of nowhere to become a fixture on the St. Louis Blueline. Since December started, Robby Fabbri has been scoring like nobody’s business and he isn’t old enough for me to buy him a drink for that legally.
As the Blues step forward into a bright future, 2016 also provides ample opportunity for the Blues to take a massive (arguably, patented) step back. I may be an amateur blogger, but if I were the St. Louis Blues, I’d hold onto these New Year’s resolutions:
- Keep beating other playoff teams
Though the eastern conference and atrocious teams have baffled us, the Blues have found themselves doing something this year that has eluded them in years past: we are beating the teams we are (hopefully) going to face in April. Including Dallas, who are statistically a playoff lock, the Blues have a combined record of 16-6-4 against teams that made the playoffs last year.
Compare that to last year, where the Blues were a paltry 22-16-4 throughout the regular season against playoff teams. This year, the Blues are saving their best play for when they need it.
Though I hate seeing a wimpy loss to the Maple Leafs as much as the next guy, it’s a huge confidence boost for the team and for the fans to see the Blues wipe the floor with the Stars, or to come from behind to beat the Blackhawks on the road, or to have the mental toughness to pull out a win after blowing a two goal lead to the Predators.
If anything seems to indicate a change for the Blues’ spring plans, this is it. Keep it up.
- Make a move using our forward logjam
One month from now, Jaden Schwartz and Patrik Berglund will return to the lineup and force good players like Magnus Paajarvi and Scottie Upshall out of the lineup or onto waivers. Logic dictates that the Blues would be loath to miss this opportunity to improve. It’s like a game of Settlers of Cataan. If you can make a trade to win, do that before you buy a resource card.
Anyway, sure, I wrote about it, but I’m not saying we should trade Shattenkirk and Berglund for Malkin or any foolish nonsense like that. But if you look at our UFA players, Gunnarsson and Brouwer would be highly coveted by playoff bubble teams, and if you packaged something like that with Ty Rattie, you could go out there and snag Jordan Eberle to stick on the right wing of Fabbri and Lehtera. You could go to Anaheim with less and maybe pull Andrew Cogliano (who I’ve coveted for years).
Those kinds of moves wouldn’t implode hockey trade forums. No shock and awe. But it would improve the team incrementally, while also maintaining an area of strength. Bring it on.
- Do something smart with David Backes and Jaden Schwartz
David Backes is the heart and soul of our team, but he also turned down a 5.5 million dollar contract extension earlier this year, according to a chat with Jeremy Rutherford on STLtoday. Uh oh. I wouldn’t want to lose him, but if Backes is seeking Ryan Kesler money (which he could probably garner), then I’m concerned the Blues won’t be able to bring him back (and in all reality, probably shouldn’t).
So, GM Doug Armstrong: do something smart with David. Talk to him. If he is asking for more than we can give him, ask him to give you a list of teams he’d be willing to join for a few months. If he doesn’t, then wipe your hands clean and hope Backes takes a hometown discount this summer. If Backes gives you a list and trading him garners a king’s ransom, give Pietrangelo the C, give Tarasenko an A and cross your fingers come April.
Speaking of the summer, for the love of god, make a resolution to sign Jaden Schwartz. The fact that he has barely played this year makes me positively giddy to see him back on the ice. He’s a restricted free agent, so we will have a better chance of signing him. Although no one likes injuries, Schwartz’s injury could bring down his asking price. A forward core consisting of Fabbri, Tarasenko and Schwartz bodes well for our scoring in the future.
- Make a rational decision regarding Ken Hitchcock after the season.
A simple resolution: If Hitchcock brings us deep into springtime hockey, bring him back. If Hitch fails again, let him go. Immediately. The dog and pony show after six-game first round exits was old four years ago, and the Blues are too good of a team to be held back by dead puck era coaching anymore.
- Develop line chemistry
So, Mr. Hitchcock, have you noticed how Fabbri, Lehtera and Jaskin have been scoring nearly a goal per game for the last two weeks? See, it’s this thing called line chemistry. They’ve been playing together, practicing together, and I imagine they may go out to eat together “Sex in the City” style and sip appletinis and gossip. Okay, maybe that last one is a bit over the top.
So Ken: This is called line chemistry. Introduce your talented players to their line mates. Keep them together for more than a few minutes at a time, and watch how our offense blossoms.
- If we’re going to win a Cup, please beat the following teams on the way there: Chicago, Minnesota, LA and Detroit.
I have this serious fantasy when I need a break from reality.
We steal some games from the Hawks late. There are fights in the Scottrade stands after Jaskin or some other unheralded hero smacks the puck past Crawford (we all know Hawks fans are sore losers). We lose a couple and everyone starts to panic, but we rout the Hawks at home and take game six on the road. The boys wipe Brent Seabrook’s handshake grease off their mitts.
Minnesota doesn’t stand a chance. Hitch puts Ott in the lineup just to troll. The ‘State of Hockey’ is a sad one after we complete the sweep in their barn. We all learn that Zach Parise is an ugly crier.
Seven hard fought games against the Kings. The home team wins every game, and thankfully we have home-ice advantage. No one scores more than three goals in a game until game seven, where we turn Jonathan Quick into a sieve. Doc Emerick squawks approvingly at the buzzer. Lots of confetti.
Before game one of the finals start, NBC won’t stop playing “Gretzky had it…lost it…” in the pregame and everyone on r/stlouisblues complains. The teams go back and forth through the first six games, lots of scoring.
Game seven at home. I have a bottle of Maalox sitting next to me and I can feel my heart pounding in my chest from the moment I wake up in the morning. I have bought a pair of Red Wing shoes I’ve sworn to burn if we lose. We’re down 1-0 going into the last minute of the third and I can feel my heart palpitating, I’ve sprung a nosebleed and I’m fear-farting. With six attackers, Tarasenko fires from the right circle. It hits Mrazek’s pad and dribbles right to Backes’ stick. Loud horn, crying fans. I’ve jumped off my couch and sprained my ankle on the landing.
Four minutes into OT, Blues on the power play. Steen to Shattenkirk, Shattenkirk to Steen. Emerick sounds like a castrated gargoyle as I ice my ankle. Suddenly, Steen pivots to Tarasenko, far circle. He pivots to pass back, hesitates and Kronwall buckles, wires a wrister, then gloves and sticks and helmets are in the air.
Happy New Years.