Now that we’ve all had our little freak out moments, St. Louis Blues fans should calm down and take in some perspective of what really has happened.
All of St. Louis Blues fans have been confused, enraged or disappointed to some degree or another over the last week or so. Even yours truly had some moments where the gloom and doom mentality seeped in. However, when you really take the grand scheme into account, it’s not quite as terrible as any of us have made out.
Coming off the 2014-15 season, where the Blues – and their fans – were gutted by an opening round loss to the much less talented Minnesota Wild, the fan base wanted blood. They wanted new management, new coaches and to blow up the team. None of that happened and thank goodness, because the team (with a few tweaks) ended up making the Western Conference Finals.
We can all view things in hindsight and say what a fabulous team it was. However, when the offseason was going on, did anyone honestly think the Blues were talented enough to go that far? If we are honest, most people just wanted to get out of the first round and it would have been a great season.
While it feels like the 2016-17 team will be completely different due to how attached we got to the players that have left, how different will it really be on the ice? Sure, the locker room dynamic will be different without David Backes and Troy Brouwer – both leaders in their own right and ways. On the ice though, the team has a chance to be a bit faster and perhaps a bit more dynamic. Time will tell on that.
Going back to the offseason prior to 2015-16 though, think of how many changes were actually made. Uber popular T.J. Oshie was dealt to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Brouwer and that was about the only big move made.
The Blues let Zbynek Michalek walk, Olli Jokinen was not re-signed/sort of retired, Marcel Goc was let go and Barret Jackman was mercifully gone. The team signed Kyle Brodziak and Scottie Upshall, but they were somewhat tryout deals that were low in dollars to where the team could easily cut them if it did not pan out during training camp. Nobody expected much out of those guys in this town. There were some from their former cities that knew they were good role players, but nobody praised the heavens and said they were the missing piece.
Many fans considered it to be a step backward, the same as they are now. We had lost the speedy Oshie for a player that was a champion, but not a vast statistical improvement. We had lost several good role players and people considered to be good in the locker room. We had not brought in the players that fans wanted as improvements and the team was accused of being cheap.
Fast forward to this summer and it’s deja vu all over again as Yogi Berra once said. Backes is gone and his replacement is a former Blue, David Perron. Perron is not a vast statistical improvement, the same as Brouwer was not compared to Oshie. The team has room and will likely give some veterans a look during fall training came if they deem it necessary, the same as they did with the additions of Upshall and Brodziak a year prior.
There’s no doubt that not signing a suitable replacement for one of either Backes or Brouwer will leave a hole. At least during the Oshie trade, you knew you had a spot filled with a player. That’s the biggest difference.
The Blues are gambling on themselves. They’re going younger and trying to get faster. They’re hoping for something similar to what occurred this last season.
Outside of your hockey junkies and die-hards, very few people knew much about Robby Fabbri, much less that he would turn into the phenomenal rookie he was. Anyone who says they thought Colton Parayko or Joel Edmundson, much less both of them, would earn an NHL spot and end up playing in the top four at various times is probably lying. So, the Blues got surprises that ended up panning out.
This time, we are hoping for the same. The Blues are now telling guys like Ty Rattie, Ivan Barbashev, and their other prospects that it’s their time to grab the brass ring. They’re telling someone like Dmitrij Jaskin to live up to his potential and become a true top nine forward.
Yes, we’re all disappointed that the Blues didn’t make a splash. Too many of us got suckered into the hype of trades (which still might happen) and the idea of free agency. However, we should not be surprised.
The team took the exact same approach last offseason and was rewarded for it. Are they going to the well one too many times? Nobody can know that until we see the results.
Nobody wanted to lose Brouwer or Backes. Brouwer wanted to be closer to home though, so unless the Blues overpaid, he was likely to go. Backes got stuck on a certain amount of years and the Blues were not comfortable with that. As much as many of the fans have latched onto Backes as a person, national media are blasting Boston left and right for giving him the deal they did. It’s all about perspective.
It seems hard to believe the Blues will finish the season with Kevin Shattenkirk in the lineup. What they can get in return for him will be the big question. So, there remains the possibility of a good addition via a trade that could work out similar to the Oshie/Brouwer swap or better. Outside of that, fans should just take a deep breath.
Be upset if you want. Nobody is saying it’s wrong to miss a player who was here for a decade or it’s not right to have wanted some leadership to stay. However cursing and spitting at the team’s management and flailing around like a monkey in a cage is a bit over the top.
We don’t know what the future holds. Nobody, if they are honest, thought the changes made to last year’s team were going to end with a Western Conference Finals appearance. So, to say they’ll be lucky to make the playoffs this year is foolish.
It’s fine to keep rooting for Backes or Brouwer or Elliott. Yet, the teams that made the biggest splashes in free agency are all teams that missed the playoffs and gave out big money deals to appease the fans. The same is true of the huge trades (except Nashville). We can debate the contracts of current players at another time, but for the most part the Blues have been smart with term and dollars and that gives hope that they will continue to contend.
The Stars lost some key defenders on a team that already had trouble defending. The Blackhawks will be a different team than we saw last as well. Every team changes. Every fan base wants to get everything and lose nothing. Sometimes it’s harder to see because we have tunnel vision about our own clubs.
Next: Prospect Profile: Tage Thompson
Yes, it would have been great to add Taylor Hall in a big trade or sign one of the free agents that disappeared in the first 15 minutes of the signing period but just because the Blues did not does not spell their doom. So, get your frustrations out and then take a breath. It’s not nearly as bad as it seems. Who knows what surprises we are in for.