St. Louis Blues: Blow It Up Argument Blowing Up In Faces

The St. Louis Blues have a cavalcade of different ideas coming from fans each year when they do not win. One that has gained steam on social media is blowing up the team. For differing reasons, that idea looks pretty foolish now.

The St. Louis Blues are near and dear to our hearts. That’s why we want them to win the big one so badly. Fans all react differently to the disappointment though.

Some go and sulk. Some yell and scream. Others get on with their lives. Still others try to play armchair general manager and say how differently they would do it. It is those that often come up with the strangest ideas.

This past offseason was no different. I would be lying if I did not say that I was hoping for one more addition other than Brayden Schenn, but I was happy with that alone. That deal was not enough for some, but we are in wait and see mode for how that all plays out.

Hitting the rewind button just a moment, we go back to this past offseason right when the playoffs ended for the Blues. You could also go back to just about any offseason with the exception of the one following the Western Conference Finals trip.

You often get a group of hardcore fans that want to essentially blow up the team and start from scratch. Get rid of the general manager, clean house behind the bench. Bring in an entirely new group of players.

If we are all honest with ourselves, there has to be a moment where we all thought those same things. Voicing them so vehemently, or not, is the difference.

There are many problems with the “blow it up” argument. One it is short sighted.

You would think that argument would be thinking about the long-term since you have to be smart enough to realize you’re going to have some lean years before you can attack the league again. The opposite is true though.

People think you just blow things up and then get that one or two draft picks and it all comes together. It takes some serious time.

The Pittsburgh Penguins missed the playoffs four seasons in a row and were only winning 20 games or so that entire time until it finally clicked.

The New Jersey Devils were always competitive in the 2000’s until they decided to clean house and make some changes to the personnel and the front office. They have not been in the playoffs since 2012 and their most wins in a season was 38. The Devils also regressed in 2016-17 before catching some fire to open 2017-18.

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Then there is the ever-popular Edmonton Oilers example. That is about as bad an example of how to do it as you can find.

Jeff Gordon of the Post-Dispatch discussed that very thing in one of his columns. Despite all their high draft picks, they aren’t all that much more talented as a whole than the Blues.

Yes, you have Connor McDavid looking like he truly could be the next face of the NHL. Is there really anyone else on the Oilers you would value higher than Vladimir Tarasenko or Jaden Schwartz?

We talked all offseason and during last year’s trade deadline about picking up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. I’d still love to have him on the team, but even at 24 he’d likely be the third line center at best.

Then there is the Edmonton front office. With that many high draft picks, you should have done something by now. The last time the Oilers were in the playoffs prior to 2017 was 2006. In case you forgot, that was when Chris Pronger was there and the team played in the final.

While Edmonton showed some promise last year in the postseason, they have taken serious steps back this year. They are last in the league in goals scored after the first month. The Oilers were supposed to be built around offense and now they cannot score.

They have traded away talented players in an attempt to get more role/depth players. The Blues have done the same, but it worked for St. Louis. So far, all the deals the Oilers have made the last couple years have not panned out. For example, Taylor Hall is leading the Devils in points and Adam Larsson has been a disappointment.

On the flip side, the Blues have the the fourth longest playoff streak in the NHL right now, making the postseason for six years straight. There have been plenty of missteps along the way, but they keep supplementing their roster instead of throwing it all in the garbage and hoping draft picks will work.

The Blues have first hand experience how the Oilers’ experiment does not work out. Nail Yakupov had the talent to be something special, but could not put it together even when given a new location to showcase himself.

We all have short memories when it comes to our favorite teams. We all want a Stanley Cup and we want it yesterday.

Not all of us are willing to sacrifice the enjoyment of having a good team year after year in the hope that one will be great years from now. Personally, I lived through those teams of the mid-2000’s and not even having a hope of the playoffs was extremely depressing.

Other fans lived through those dry times in the 70’s. I’m sure they don’t want to see a return to that.

Beyond just what fans want, you cannot waste the prime years of Tarasenko’s career. If the Blues ever blew up the team, they’d likely want to keep him, but he might be 30 or over by the time the Blues were competitive again.

It is painful for some to come to grips with, but sometimes the “idiot” GMs and owners do have our best interests at heart. Sometimes, just sometimes, they actually did make the right decisions.

Next: Despite Injuries, Blues Turn Lemons To Lemonade

The Blues are off to one of their best starts in team history despite missing almost half their forwards to start the season. Wouldn’t you rather be experiencing this surge than whatever would be on the ice if the Blues blew up their lineup?

Maybe there will come a time when blowing it up is literally the only option. Hopefully not. As Gordon pointed out in his article, there is enough talent here to keep on supplementing it. We have players in the pipeline that are going to keep this team afloat for a long time. With any luck, there will be a shiny cup in town one day soon as well. That’s the thing though. You can draft as well as anyone, but there is some luck involved. It is not simply the teams willing to start from square one that get the spoils.

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