Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

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Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

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[
url]http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports ... enDocument[/url]

Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?
By Jeff Gordon
STLTODAY.COM SPORTS COLUMNIST
06/10/2010

Now that the Chicago Blackhhawks have finally won another Stanley Cup, perhaps the Blues can win one, too.

There are some interesting parallels. Both teams endured long playoff droughts. Both did heavy retooling through the draft, piling up lots of high draft picks.

Both teams lost or fired the executives and coaches who oversaw the organizational overhaul.

The Blackhawks cashiered general manager Dale Tallon, who assembled must of this team, before finally winning the NHL’s ultimate prize. Denis Savard, who coached up many of the key young Blackhawks in their early days, also got clipped along the trail.

General manager Stan Bowman, with some guidance from father Scotty Bowman, added the finishing roster touches. Coach Joel Quenneville took charge of this emerging team and guided it to the title.

The Windy City is probably still partying at full force today. Good for those folks, because only the old-time Blackhawk fans know what a real celebration feels like.

The Blues are hoping a new managerial/coaching cast can finish the job others started. GM Larry Pleau is sliding into an advisory role this summer, making way for Doug Armstrong to take over.

Scouting director Jarmo Kekalainen is moving back to Finland to run his own team, Jokerit. He will watch from afar as his many draft picks (including 2010-11 candidates Lars Eller and Ian Cole) try to step up this season.

Coach Andy Murray is long gone, off to Europe to help the Swiss national program. Murray did his part to help many youngsters mature, but he couldn’t get the group to take that Next Step.

That task falls to Davis Payne, who seemed to energize the group as an interim coach coming up from the Peoria Rivermen.

Can he do what Coach Q did? Probably not, but Payne should at least get this team back into the postseason bracket next spring. The Blues will have to take this one step at a time.

It took more than good drafting to get the Blackhawks their long-awaited Cup. Tallon’s clever trading added skill and depth. The addition of goaltender Antti Niemi, a free agent from Finland, proved to be a stroke of genius.

(The decision not to place him on waivers last autumn also proved wise. The team exposed Corey Crawford instead -– and Niemi became the team’s late season/playoff hero.)

After owner Bill Wirtz died, his successors opted to spend to the limit of the NHL’s salary cap. Pricey free agents Brian Campbell and Marian Hossa helped the cause.

The Blues won’t have a maximum budget moving forward, unless they attract a wealthy new ownership group willing to deficit spend. So this team will win or lose with player development and payroll management.

Here will be the keys to success:

* Erik Johnson must become the Next Duncan Keith. At age 26, Keith finally became an elite NHL defenseman -– arguably the very best in the league. It took time, something fans must remember with Johnson. Erik has the offensive skills needed for stardom, but he must become much steadier on the defensive side. Presumably that will come with experience.

* David Backes must become the Next Brenden Morrow. Now, Morrow doesn’t play for the Hawks. But he is the power forward/team captain prototype that winning teams need. Chicago had Dustin Byfuglien, who converted his unusual size (6-4, 257 pounds) into postseason domination around the goal. Backes should score 25 to 30 goals per year.

* Patrik Berglund must bounce back from his horrific sophomore slump. He looked like his promising rookie self after the Olympic break, but then he faded again during the season’s final weeks. Big forwards usually take longer to develop, since they must learn to MOVE THEIR FEET. They could dominate with the size as teenagers, but playing against men is different matter. Berglund should become a 65- to 70-point No. 2 center.

* T.J. Oshie must develop the offensive side of his game. The Blues need his energy on one of the top two lines. He probably won’t become a Patrick Kane-like scorer, but 25 to 30 goals per year is a reasonable expectation for somebody with his wheels, hands and energy.

* David Perron’s scoring progression must continue. Sure, he drove his coaches nuts the last three years. But his skill is obvious and he often plays with an edge. This offensively-challenged team is in no position to deal him to fill other needs. Give him a long-term deal and then get the most out of him. I’ll take swagger over indifference every time. He should score 30-plus goals per year.

* Given the limited options in the free-agent marketplace, the Blues must keep goaltender Chris Mason with a new multi-year deal. With Ty Conklin in place to back up another year, Armstrong must identify his goaltender of the future. Could it be junior star Jake Allen? Perhaps, but the team needs another candidate.

The Blues had many high draft picks in recent years, but they never located a goaltender to build around. The fact the league is awash in quality young netminders makes that failure all the more disappointing.

* Payne must do a better job integrating young players. The Blues suffered from major offensive deficiencies on the blue line, yet the team never took a good look at AHL all-star Jonas Junland. Could he have accelerated his game pace at the NHL level? He has returned to Europe, so we’ll never know.

The team jacked around Alex Pietrangelo the past two seasons, forcing him to spend way too much time in NHL press boxes. Moving forward, how will the team handle Pietrangelo, Lars Eller and Ian Cole? Will the Blues develop them into difference-makers sooner rather than later?

* The Blues need to spend their money wisely. The Jay McKee and Paul Kariya free-agent signings proved disastrous. Injury-plagued captain Eric Brewer hasn’t come close to earning his generous ($4.25 million) salary. Brad Boyes (two years, $8 million left) went the wrong direction as well. Andy McDonald has done OK, but didn’t live up to his full No. 1 center potential.

This team may never spend to the salary cap again, so it certainly can’t make contract mistakes. Other teams will offer high-salaried guys to the Blues this summer, but Armstrong must shop carefully.

* The Blues need to draft better. The team whiffed completely on some pretty high picks during the previous decade. The franchise hasn’t drafted a true No. 1 center, a high-scoring winger or a quality goaltender in ages. What’s the point of missing the playoffs year after year if you don’t get some young superstars in return?

This franchise believed it was poised to break out last season. It didn’t happen. Now a new leadership team takes over, trying to move the Blues back into Cup contention.

It can be done. The blueprint is in place. Many of the pieces are in place, too. Now the Blues have to finish the job, just as the Blackhawks finally did in Chicago.
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

Post by WaukeeBlues »

Of anything on that list holding back the Blues- it's ownership. That's one major, glaring difference between the Chicago's of the world and the Blues. Rocky Wirtz came in and opened the cash purse and unlike the Blues of the early 2000's, did it well and won a cup.

The thing that bothers me the most with all our first round picks is that- at least of right now, only EJ looks like he will be a star. The rest (maybe with the exception of Perron) just look good/decent. Granted that's not shocking considering they are all mid level first rounders. There are no stars amongst the forwards we drafted, none of that electrify and you build a team around in quite the same way as like Kane and Toews.

Backes could develop into that role of electric leader and he's a fan favorite and my candidate as the next captain of this team and I really want to see it happen- I think that comment was dead on. I just hope he will. If he becomes a Morrow-type leader on this team I will be nothing short of pleased.

And for the love of God can we please trade Brewer and Jackman? The way it's looking their salary cap space is more valuable than their presence on the ice for us.
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

Post by kodos »

This article is a bunch of crap. The 2009-2010 Blackhawks have at least 6 or 7 players on their team all of whom are better then the best player on the Blues. Up and down the roster the Hawks are so far ahead of the Blues in every single category that it's like comparing a jar of soggy limp cocktail weenies to filet mignon.
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

Post by Nyghtewynd »

The difference, of course, is that Rocky Wirtz seems to know what he's doing. :facepalm:
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

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kodos wrote:This article is a bunch of crap. The 2009-2010 Blackhawks have at least 6 or 7 players on their team all of whom are better then the best player on the Blues. Up and down the roster the Hawks are so far ahead of the Blues in every single category that it's like comparing a jar of soggy limp cocktail weenies to filet mignon.
The Hawks are ahead of the Blues in development because they sucked for a lot longer than the Blues did, had better players available when they drafted, and spent more money on the right free agents.

If the Blues are ever going to be successful, they need to supplement their on ice talent with impact free agents, which they have NEVER done.
Our biggest free agent signing ever (coming from another team) was a past-his-prime Paul Kariya, and he was a disappointment.
That line of thinking is what needs to change more than anything.
If you lack superstar talent, you need to make a serious effort to sign superstars when they become available.

This team should improve by leaps and bounds if they were to sign Kovalchuk. Sooner or later they need to sign a player or two like him. He's young, they might as well go for him now...sign him for 7 years at around $7 million per. Nobody on the current roster is at Kovalchuk's level, nobody in the organization shows any signs of being close to Kovalchuk's level, and we won't be drafting anyone this year that is at Kovalchuk's level. If we need a player like him to get to the next level, then why wouldn't we go after him?

This team has a nice foundation of good talent and has invested a lot of time and money so far into this rebuilding plan. But they have one glaring weakness that vastly overshadows any other weakness...we lack a superstar player or two on offense.

Kovalchuk is a superstar...Kovalchuk is available. It's not rocket surgery.
Saying they won't even make him an offer is a slap in the face to loyal Blues fans who spend their hard earned money each year to watch this team, get behind this team, support this team and live and die with this team. This team needs Kovalchuk.

If Kovalchuk doesn't accept a serious offer from the Blues, then fine...but you have to at least make him a serious offer.

But if the Blues ownership group doesn't give the ok to make him a serious offer, then they just aren't serious about winning.
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

Post by Nyghtewynd »

Which is exactly why I haven't reupped my season tickets yet. They aren't automatically getting my money any more. Either act like you're going to win and make some moves to better the team, or I'll just buy the half-price deals when the team's out of the playoff chase.
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

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kodos wrote:This article is a bunch of crap. The 2009-2010 Blackhawks have at least 6 or 7 players on their team all of whom are better then the best player on the Blues. Up and down the roster the Hawks are so far ahead of the Blues in every single category that it's like comparing a jar of soggy limp cocktail weenies to filet mignon.
Didn't we beat them in the season series? If we didn't we were close, I know that.

What about Boston's first round pick this year?

It's one of those rare draft day situations where the team with the 2nd overall pick doesn't NEED it quite the same way as Edmonton, etc. Tyler Seguin is a f*cking stud and I wouldn't hesitate one iota to go after him. I would make a serious run at acquiring that pick. Hand the Bruins a copy of the Blues roster with EJ off it, say "pick two," our first rounder this year and first rounder next year? I think that's a legit offer, the only question would be what the Bruins are looking at- one electric player or depth. In any event, they'd be more willing to compromise with that pick than Edmonton/Florida, etc would on theirs.
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

Post by kodos »

WaukeeBlues wrote:Didn't we beat them in the season series? If we didn't we were close, I know that.
If we did I'm pretty sure that means that the Blues actually should be awarded the cup this year.

EDIT: Blues went 2 for 6 against the Hawks this year.
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

Post by the knob »

kodos wrote:
WaukeeBlues wrote:Didn't we beat them in the season series? If we didn't we were close, I know that.
If we did I'm pretty sure that means that the Blues actually should be awarded the cup this year.

EDIT: Blues went 2 for 6 against the Hawks this year.
What hardware is that good for?

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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

Post by kodos »

That gives them the right to hoist Toews solid silver butt plug.
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

Post by deadphish »

kodos wrote:That gives them the right to hoist Toews solid silver butt plug.
As long as they don't drink out of it (the butt plug, not John's ass).
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Re: Jeff Gordon: Blackhawks got it done — are the Blues next?

Post by Ruutu15 »

One major misconception that has been mentioned in this thread is that Rocky Wirtz started spending money, while Bill Wirtz counted his entire fortune by hand every day. I didn't like Bill Wirtz either, but to say that he didn't spend money is inaccurate. A lot of the current Hawks are there because of Dale Tallon, who's tenure stretched over both owners. The problem with Bill Wirtz is that he trusted too many of his friends who were just as far from reality as he was. He kept Pulford around for decades, and that was a huge problem. Same thing with Tommy Ivan (RIP). A cheap owner doesn't go out immediately after the lockout and authorize a max contract to Nikolai Khabibulin, a recent Cup winning goalie. He wasn't cheap, he just surrounded himself with people who had no idea how to run a team under the dynamics of a changing league.

It should also be noted that Bill Wirtz was the one owner who didn't want a salary cap. I was shocked to learn that.

Rocky has done a ton of things to help the franchise turn a corner, but if he doesn't watch, he's going to end up in the same predicament. He's trusting John McDonnough way too much, who is nothing more than a marketing man. Tallon ultimately got the axe, but word on the street says that McDonnough forced him to sign Huet and Campbell because they were marketable at the time.

With today's trade for Halak, which made me almost crash my car when I heard about it, is one hell of a start for the Blues to get back on track. I really do hope it works out for you guys. It would be nothing short of awesome to see both of our teams fighting it out for 1st in the conference soon.
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