Let's Go Blues

1) Pens fire Shero; a GM taking the fall for repeated playoff failures (even though they won a Cup with him as GM just 5 years ago).

2) Wolves eliminated from playoffs 4-0 to complete getting swept

3) Ducks opt for Gibson in game 7 (over potential Blues savior Hiller) who gets yanked after giving up 4 goals on 18 shots...any concern that the Ducks really seemed to not want to play Hiller at all in the playoffs?

4) Hockey Future's organizational rankings are out and the Blues are ranked dead last.

Link to rankings?

Thanks dude. I tried to google it and kept getting the fall 2013-2014 rankings.

the various Pens blogs have been predicting both the Pens playoff failure and Shero's subsequent firing for months. This one for instance

http://thepensblog.com/2014-archives/sh ... piece.html

which was from March around the deadline. What is curious is that the focus of their enmity involves the Pens draft record during Shero's tenure.................which I wouldn't expect to be in the GM's job description. I would think the usual demarkation of responsibilities has the President negotiate contracts, the GM construct the roster including trades, waiver acquisitions, promotions/demotions, and the draft being conducted by the VP of player personnel or director of scouting or similarly titled person who is in charge of amateur scouting.

Certainly when we talk about the Blues' draft history, we aren't usually talking about the GM (anybody not think of the relevent years as Jarmo's drafts?).

This seems to be the most relevent comment from the "In Summary" section, both regarding Shero's failings and to the Blues' current situation.

"Trading draft picks year after year is like not paying your credit-card bill but still taking out more credit. It is going to catch up to you, and we’re beginning to see it with Ray Shero. Wasting third-round picks on third-line potential rent-a-players just doesn’t seem logical."

Armies draft pick trades have been more concentrated and top heavy. Less mid round picks for depth guys than a 1st and a mid round pick in a major deal. But this leads to another point they make

"We’ve been discussing Rounds 2-7 of the Entry Draft in this post. Statistically, only about 12% of players selected in those rounds go on to play 200 games or more in the NHL, so the odds aren’t good."

This is more an argument against annually dealing your #1 pick. Which to extend their credit card analogy is like taking out cash on your credit card at the casino because you've had a run of bad luck and need to win back your mortgage money. It also argues against dealing a 3rd and 2 4ths to move up in the 2nd round.

Found elsewhere, this should resonate with Blues fans

"Who could possibly forget the whirlwind trade deadline of 2013? After a lockout-shortened season, the Penguins went "all-in" by acquiring a rugged defenseman in Douglas Murray, the Dallas Stars captain in Brenden Morrow, Jussi Jokinen from Carolina, and the prize of the 2013 deadline in Jarome Iginla. (While) the Penguins ultimately went on to the Eastern Conference Finals and were swept by the Bruins."

GM describes a big deadline trade as going "All in." Team doesn't perform to expected level. Moves by GM have depleted both depth and prospect pools. Team fails again next season; GM fired.

Hopefully Shero's firing will be a wake up call for Armstrong. And hopefully he doesn't dig the hole deeper for the next guy.

Hockey's Future ranking the Blues dead last doesn't seem to bode well for the future.

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:Hockey's Future ranking the Blues dead last doesn't seem to bode well for the future.

That's deep, man.

gaijin wrote:

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:Hockey's Future ranking the Blues dead last doesn't seem to bode well for the future.

That's deep, man.

LOL...Just thought maybe it would start a discussion on it.

It wasn't long ago we were #1 on HF. Our team isn't old by any measure, but we've got guys starting to crest the 30 mark, so it's time to start replenishing the farm system. I know that will be hard to do after trading some picks away, but we've gotta hit on some mid round picks and we've gotta stop trading away our top picks.

dmiles2186 wrote:It wasn't long ago we were #1 on HF. Our team isn't old by any measure, but we've got guys starting to crest the 30 mark, so it's time to start replenishing the farm system. I know that will be hard to do after trading some picks away, but we've gotta hit on some mid round picks and we've gotta stop trading away our top picks.

Damn, you should see the pessimism on the PD forum. Some people are saying there isn't a single team in the west the Blues could beat in a 7 game series! They say the only team they have beaten in over a decade is a team with a worse playoff record than them, the Sharks.

dmiles2186 wrote:It wasn't long ago we were #1 on HF. Our team isn't old by any measure, but we've got guys starting to crest the 30 mark, so it's time to start replenishing the farm system. I know that will be hard to do after trading some picks away, but we've gotta hit on some mid round picks and we've gotta stop trading away our top picks.

In 18 months we've gone from #7 to #30. Losses from graduation (Schwartz and Tarasenko), trades(Carrier, Fairchild, Berra, etc) and failing to restock has depleted the system.

Organizational strengths are in goal and defense. Beyond Jaskin and Rattie, wings are weak. Center is abysmal.

Our top center prospect is a guy who registered 1 point in 22 games in the NCAAs as a 23 year old. After him comes Evgeny Grachev, Pat Cannone and two guys who grade out as 6 Ds.

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:Damn, you should see the pessimism on the PD forum. Some people are saying there isn't a single team in the west the Blues could beat in a 7 game series! They say the only team they have beaten in over a decade is a team with a worse playoff record than them, the Sharks.

Ducks are in a similar situation with regard to high end regular season success and playoff flopping. Gotta question the decision not to play Hiller. Sharks? Nothing better than getting to listen to Drew Remenda as the Sharks snatch failure from the jaws of success.

That said, this is a critical off-season. The Blues could retool and find the elusive playoff success, or, they could turn into a middle of the pack western conference team that struggles to make the playoffs. Arguably the team's biggest strength the past 3 years has been its goaltending (a point underlined by their struggles when the goalies were hurt last season). If we turn goalie into an 'average' asset rather than a plus, we are likely to struggle given that almost every western team can boast of higher end offensive talent.

But at least the Ducks won a cup in 2008 and went to another cup in 2003. If the Blues had 2 cup appearances and won 1 in the last 10 years I think many fans would be satisfied for LIFE!

dmiles2186 wrote:It wasn't long ago we were #1 on HF. Our team isn't old by any measure, but we've got guys starting to crest the 30 mark, so it's time to start replenishing the farm system. I know that will be hard to do after trading some picks away, but we've gotta hit on some mid round picks and we've gotta stop trading away our top picks.

Agreed. I'm worried where we'll be 5-6 years from now. I like where we are right now, but I'm worried we're gonna have to go through a rebuilding phase again. Not as bad as the last one, but a minor rebuild. That's a ways off though, so things could change.

cardsfan04 wrote:

dmiles2186 wrote:It wasn't long ago we were #1 on HF. Our team isn't old by any measure, but we've got guys starting to crest the 30 mark, so it's time to start replenishing the farm system. I know that will be hard to do after trading some picks away, but we've gotta hit on some mid round picks and we've gotta stop trading away our top picks.

Agreed. I'm worried where we'll be 5-6 years from now. I like where we are right now, but I'm worried we're gonna have to go through a rebuilding phase again. Not as bad as the last one, but a minor rebuild. That's a ways off though, so things could change.

I'd imagine it'd be something similar to what the Flames are recently going through. Not a torrential "blow up the thing" like the Oilers have done (are still doing?) but more of an "alright, stockpile time"

flyingnote38 wrote:

dmiles2186 wrote:It wasn't long ago we were #1 on HF. Our team isn't old by any measure, but we've got guys starting to crest the 30 mark, so it's time to start replenishing the farm system. I know that will be hard to do after trading some picks away, but we've gotta hit on some mid round picks and we've gotta stop trading away our top picks.

In 18 months we've gone from #7 to #30. Losses from graduation (Schwartz and Tarasenko), trades(Carrier, Fairchild, Berra, etc) and failing to restock has depleted the system.

Organizational strengths are in goal and defense. Beyond Jaskin and Rattie, wings are weak. Center is abysmal.

Our top center prospect is a guy who registered 1 point in 22 games in the NCAAs as a 23 year old. After him comes Evgeny Grachev, Pat Cannone and two guys who grade out as 6 Ds.

They still consider Evgeny Grachev a prospect? Wow.