I shared this on Twitter the morning of the trade deadline, and a number of people seemed shocked.
@NHL TRADE DEADLINE PSA
The #STLBlues' cumulative stats under GM Doug Armstrong (who was hired in 2010):
-1st in the West in points
-1st in the West in GF
-2nd in the West in GA
-2nd in the West in PP%
-1st in the West in PK%
-10 playoff appearances
-2019 Stanley Cup
There's no question that the mess with this defense is his doing. His hands are tied a bit with all of the NTC's & the length of the contracts. But I think he has more than earned the chance to work through it.
But... in the end... it's quite likely that we're stuck with the NTC's on defense for a while. I think the best we can hope for is for Van Ryn to be fired and to bring in a new voice, a new system, etc and hope they quite simply just... improve.
I'm not sold on Van Ryn being the issue since he's been here for a quite a bit of the success. The new coaching voice in the room is MacTavish and his coaching track record is so hit or miss I'd rather see him gone before Van Ryn and see what happens with someone who has a more similar mindset to Montgomery. Defense isn't played in a vacuum and assistants changing how forwards play can impact defense in huge ways. It happened before with Yeo.
Official LGB sponsor of Robert Thomas 2022-2023 Season
There's zero question losing Monty was a huge effing deal. Just look no further than Boston's unreal record this season, dude can coach. MacTavish is a number of steps down but most coaches would be. Who out there, realistically, would be Montgomery-like as a good replacement?
@NHL TRADE DEADLINE PSA
@NHL TRADE DEADLINE PSA
