St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Holiday Blues

Good morning Blues fans! I hope Santa Claus brought you all the things you asked for, unless you’re a Jake Allen hater. Then you can have some coal.

Well fans, the St. Louis Blues still have a day off and we are in the holiday doldrums. Personally, this is one of the worst times of the year.

Kudos to those that enjoy it, but the days following Christmas and leading up to New Years just never brought much to me. I suppose it is because I enjoy the time leading up so much that once it is come and gone, the rest of the holidays are just meh.

So it has been with the Blues this year. Just when you think they have it figured out, they manage to muck it up.

It has been that way for most of the season. Clearly, the mathematics tell us there have been more good nights than not.

The Blues are 18-12-5 coming out of the holiday break. Even if you count the OT losses as losses, the Blues have won a game more than they have lost.

For some reason that doesn’t soothe our anxiety regarding this team. The pieces are there. There is no doubt of that.

The Blues are getting sporadic scoring from David Perron, but more than we expected. Robby Fabbri used his benching as motivation and has re-emerged as one of the team’s key pieces.

The Blues still have the same defensive group from last year that was one of the better units in the league. It has been anything but this year.

But, there is no need to fret. We can’t let the post-holiday depression cloud our judgement.

The doomsayers think otherwise, but the Blues would have to really fall apart to miss the playoffs. This entire season has been a quirky one for almost all the teams. We just see our particular team day in and out.

Most thought Nashville would top the Central Division. They actually have to worry about making the playoffs.

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The same is true of the Dallas Stars. A title contender last season, they can’t keep anyone from scoring and their high powered offense has dried up.

There are obviously good teams below. Still, there is no team poised to make a charge to threaten the Blues yet.

That gives the team more time to figure out their issues. Unfortunately, we have been saying they better get things figured out soon for a long time.

Clearly, we have not seen them do that yet. Perhaps they won’t.

Here are your St. Louis Blues Morning Links to get your day started off right.

As fans we are obsessed with what happens on the ice. We let it affect how we feel and act at times. Many of us take it a little too seriously. As a fan, I’m glad the players don’t let it into their holiday plans. When hockey is literally your life, taking a break and just being around family is important. (Post-Dispatch)

It used to be that a referee was not supposed to officiate in a city he had an affiliation with. If for no other reaosn than the optics of it all. That has gone by the wayside as a man from Liverpool officiated the Liverpool vs. Everton game and now a St. Louis resident will officiate the Winter Classic. Tim Peel is not a native, but has picked up on Midwestern sensibilities quickly. (STLToday)

Ken Hitchcock has a knack for driving us crazy. He plays favorites, like most managers, tinkers too much and can just make odd decisions. The actual man behind the position is quite the intriguing fellow. Even though he’s never played at a high level, hockey was in his blood early on. (STLToday)

With the World Junior Championships underway, there are many St. Louis ties going on. The city has several players on the USA team and the Blues have Tage Thompson (USA), Nikolaj Krag Christensen (Denmark) and Adam Musil (Czech). Things got off to a good start for the Americans with four points from St. Louis tied players in their opening game. (USA Today)

They are far from what the Red Wings were in the late 90’s and early 2000’s right now. However, with former players and coaches in charge from that stock, the Maple Leafs are trying to get themselves to where Dettroit was in those days. (NHL)

Have a great day Blues fans. Hockey returns tomorrow!

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