"Doug Armstrong is getting ready to Unload his roster and locker room issues"

[Itsnotatrap]

Overall on locker room issues I think a lot of things get blown out of proportion, especially in today’s social media content driven media world where “locker room problem” headlines generate clicks. I think as in a group, and one made up of all highly competitive people like an NHL locker room is, sometimes an argument or moment of confrontation gets misconstrued as a locker room issue. When in reality there’s nothing to it more than just that moment.

I have no doubt the Blues locker room has been no exception to having moments of tension between teammates but that doesn’t mean there’s a true locker room problem.

The Cup season I recall JR going on the airwaves talking about this kind of thing and Miklasz was getting on Steen specifically as an issue. I don’t buy for a second that Steen was a truly an issue, but when you are losing regularly things aren’t going to be gumdrops and lollipops. Maybe Steen had some bad moments that got whispered out when they were taking L after L. Does that make him a locker room problem? Not really.

So it becomes a what came first kind of thing when the team sucks, and it’s easy to call out. It’s not going to take the right blend of try hards to fix this. It will take talent, especially a revamp of the blue line.

 

[TurgPavs]

can't see Perron or Krug or Schenn (maybe him telling someone to suck it up and put in the effort, but that isn't anything unusual in a locker room) being locker room problems
they are known quantities as people
sounds like people looking at 1+1 and trying to find a way to say it equals 3

The more I think about it, gotta wonder if the issue was between Binny and Husso.

 

[Xerloris]

This sounds like an enormous amount of speculation based on either nothing or third hand sources.

I'm always weary of "league sources" who claim to know about the locker room dynamics of a specific team because the absolute best-case scenario for their 'knowledge' is that they got their info from a player who demands anonymity. In that circumstance, the league source is (best case scenario) hearing a disgruntled player's biased version of what is going on. Worst case scenario, the player is using the source to further his own interests by fabricating something.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is division in the room. I would be stunned if a league source can accurately gauge who the organization views as the 'problem' players. Army has no incentive to leak that info now and our front office is tight enough that this type of info isn't getting leaked without his permission.

Given all that, I take all this with an enormous grain of salt and don't see much value in speculating about the source (or perceived solution) to locker room issues. With that said, I don't really care all that much about the locker room at the moment. If it is truly a problem, then let's do some major surgery. If it isn't a major problem, then let's do the retool.

No matter what, I'm 100% in favor of figuring out which of the NTC holders want to be here for the next 3+ years. No one on this team is an untouchable like McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, Makar, etc. Thomas and Kyrou aren't moving because no one will offer a return to make it worthwhile. But everyone else should have a selling price that is within the realm of possibility and those markets should be explored over the next 5 months.

I want to add to this that when I played we always had guys screaming at each other in the locker room or on the ice and even during games. It was emotions and had nothing to do with actual animosity towards each other. We were all the best of friends. Hell, it even happens on construction sites and then guys go out for beer after work. Sports and physical labor jobs are a completely different world compared to an office job and 99.9% of the "problems" are never problems and are only considered problems by outsiders. Such as JR.

 

[TruBlu]

And my bigger thinking is basically don't repeat Shattenkirk, which at the time did make sense to hold since we were competing, but with this current team, we aren't reasonably contending next season and a lot would have to go right to contend in 24/25.

Agreed. We just lost a big part of our offense and are most likely going to be losing more key players. You can't make up that kind of production with some offseason pickups without overpayment. That would make no sense if we're stockpiling picks. I think we could sniff the playoffs in a couple of years but, if we play our cards right, we have a wide open window starting in 2026. A core in their prime, cap to spend, and hopefully a solid coaching staff.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Agreed. We just lost a big part of our offense and are most likely going to be losing more key players. You can't make up that kind of production with some offseason pickups without overpayment. That would make no sense if we're stockpiling picks. I think we could sniff the playoffs in a couple of years but, if we play our cards right, we have a wide open window starting in 2026. A core in their prime, cap to spend, and hopefully a solid coaching staff.

I think we can easily make the playoffs next season or the one after. No matter how good ROR and Tarasenko were in the past, they were not those players this year. I think with some coaching adjustments, certain players having bounce back years, and maybe some young players performing above expectations, and we can be an actual bubble team.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

I think we can easily make the playoffs next season or the one after. No matter how good ROR and Tarasenko were in the past, they were not those players this year. I think with some coaching adjustments, certain players having bounce back years, and maybe some young players performing above expectations, and we can be an actual bubble team.

Yup!

Last year's playoff ROR was last year. He will start to exponentially decline.

This is why I'd like to see him with Boston. He can learn a lot from Bergeron when it comes to longevity and tweaking even more his fitness levels and nutrition behaviors.

Too bad rumors are leaning away from Boston as a landing spot.

 

[TruBlu]

I think we can easily make the playoffs next season or the one after. No matter how good ROR and Tarasenko were in the past, they were not those players this year. I think with some coaching adjustments, certain players having bounce back years, and maybe some young players performing above expectations, and we can be an actual bubble team.

Your original post alluded to contending. Yes, I think this team can possibly squeak in a couple of years from now, but we are nowhere near contending without major improvements pretty much all over the roster at this point.

 

[Thallis]

Always remember that rumors of locker room issues are easy spread, virtually impossible to disprove, and is intriguing enough that it will drive engagement. Not saying they never happen, but when things go wrong on the ice these rumors always pop up, particularly from people who aren't good at xs and os and don't know how to pinpoint what's going wrong on the ice.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Your original post alluded to contending. Yes, I think this team can possibly squeak in a couple of years from now, but we are nowhere near contending without major improvements pretty much all over the roster at this point.

Maybe I'm just confused by your word choice. I agree we won't be contending, but I think we can squeak into the playoffs as soon as next season.

 

[Louie the Blue]

This team could contend as early as 24-25.

23-24 they should be a playoff team (third in the Central or WC) barring moves made by Armstrong.

 

[Thallis]

This team could contend as early as 24-25.

23-24 they should be a playoff team (third in the Central or WC) barring moves made by Armstrong.

We have no money to improve the roster this offseason. Moving ROR and Tarasenko just pays for the Kyrou and Thomas extensions. We have $14M to fill 11 roster spots. Next year will likely be worse than this.

 

[Mike Liut]

We have no money to improve the roster this offseason. Moving ROR and Tarasenko just pays for the Kyrou and Thomas extensions. We have $14M to fill 11 roster spots. Next year will likely be worse than this.

we’ll be picking in the top 10 again next year. No biggie. Let’s load up these next 2 drafts and then start our ascend

 

[ChicagoBlues]

we’ll be picking in the top 10 again next year. No biggie. Let’s load up these next 2 drafts and then start our ascend

My overall view of this situation is that DA made several losing hedges, one of which being the somewhat safe expectation that we'd win more than one Cup with the recent overloaded roster construction.

And then JayBo went down, the plandemic hit and the League went to shit for a couple seasons.

DA made a bet and lost, but I love his recovery power.

 

[Xerloris]

My overall view of this situation is that DA made several losing hedges, one of which being the somewhat safe expectation that we'd win more than one Cup with the recent overloaded roster construction.

And then JayBo went down, the plandemic hit and the League went to shit for a couple seasons.

DA made a bet and lost, but I love his recovery power.

It's true. We never even got a legitimate chance to repeat and we were very good the season after the cup. Armstrong got dicked hard by the flat cap and covid and losing Jbo was devastating.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

It's true. We never even got a legitimate chance to repeat and we were very good the season after the cup. Armstrong got dicked hard by the flat cap and covid and losing Jbo was devastating.

Yes, we were jammin' during the Cup-defense season, contrary to @Ted Hoffman's contention that the Blues were over-performing.

 

[oPlaiD]

We have no money to improve the roster this offseason. Moving ROR and Tarasenko just pays for the Kyrou and Thomas extensions. We have $14M to fill 11 roster spots. Next year will likely be worse than this.

The defense is still the defense, too. Last year seems like basically the peak of what we could possibly expect from this top four, and they're going to be years older. And we're seeing what the valley looks like with them this year, and it might grow deeper. Even if we could spend the money to say re-sign O'Reilly or something, it feels like the upside would be sneaking into the playoffs, not feeling like we could win a Cup.

I guess if we somehow got Bedard to slot in, though, all bets are off. But the looming question is still how we work around the defense.

It sounds like Armstrong is trying to move guys with term and likely wants to shake things up with the D, but he's really dug a hole for himself there and it's going to be hard to climb out of it.

 

[Louie the Blue]

We have no money to improve the roster this offseason. Moving ROR and Tarasenko just pays for the Kyrou and Thomas extensions. We have $14M to fill 11 roster spots. Next year will likely be worse than this.

Depends on what Armstrong does.

He was able to launch Lehtera’s contract into the sun as well as Berglund’s.

Would have to move 2 of the following at least:Scandella(which is possible), Krug (possible but would have to take on some cap in return), and Leddy for immediate relief.

Schenn is virtually immovable. I like Saad but could probably return younger players for less cap if the goal is to compete long-term over a desperate attempt to make POs.

I don’t think everything’s doom and gloom here, but that also heavily depends on Thomas and Kyrou continuing to perform at a high level.

 

[TheDizee]

We have no money to improve the roster this offseason. Moving ROR and Tarasenko just pays for the Kyrou and Thomas extensions. We have $14M to fill 11 roster spots. Next year will likely be worse than this.

The roster is not nearly as bad as they have shown this year, simply have alot of dead weight and people not living up to their capability. Also, injuries.

They could be a playoff team next year with the proper moves, specifically on the back end.

 

[Louie the Blue]

The roster is not nearly as bad as they have shown this year, simply have alot of dead weight and people not living up to their capability. Also, injuries.

They could be a playoff team next year with the proper moves, specifically on the back end.

That’s more or less what I’m getting at.

Kyrou and Thomas are a nice core to build around with Buchnevich, Saad (if not traded), Faulk, and Parayko being nice ancillary pieces.

I like Krug, but I am beginning to believe his contract is a hinderance based on Parayko not developing beyond being a good second pairing defenseman as well as Perunovich not holding his own defensively/injuries.

The right moves make this team a fringe WC team next year. 2 years from now is when I anticipate to think about a deep playoff run.

 

[Thallis]

Depends on what Armstrong does.

He was able to launch Lehtera’s contract into the sun as well as Berglund’s.

Would have to move 2 of the following at least:Scandella(which is possible), Krug (possible but would have to take on some cap in return), and Leddy for immediate relief.

Schenn is virtually immovable. I like Saad but could probably return younger players for less cap if the goal is to compete long-term over a desperate attempt to make POs.

I don’t think everything’s doom and gloom here, but that also heavily depends on Thomas and Kyrou continuing to perform at a high level.

Subtraction is much easier than addition. We need to add multiple major pieces to be playoff contenders.

 

[Louie the Blue]

Subtraction is much easier than addition. We need to add multiple major pieces to be playoff contenders.

And hasn’t Armstrong shown that he’s capable of doing that since he’s been calling the shots since 2010-2011?

He acquired Bouwmeester, Schenn, ROR, Faulk, and Buchnevich for basically Thompson, Edmundson, and picks.

Why doesn’t he deserve the benefit of the doubt to improve the team?

I don’t expect the Blues to win a playoff round next season. But in a league/conference in which half the teams make the playoffs and the other half don’t, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think with the right moves as well as some players performing at normal levels for them to make the POs.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

And hasn’t Armstrong shown that he’s capable of doing that since he’s been calling the shots since 2010-2011?

He acquired Bouwmeester, Schenn, ROR, Faulk, and Buchnevich for basically Thompson, Edmundson, and picks.

Why doesn’t he deserve the benefit of the doubt to improve the team?

I don’t expect the Blues to win a playoff round next season. But in a league/conference in which half the teams make the playoffs and the other half don’t, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think with the right moves as well as some players performing at normal levels for them to make the POs.

I absolutely believe he can get us turned around, but as we are counting on guys like neighbours and snuggy and bolduc and this year's pick to help move us forward it's not realistic to expect those guys to make major impact next year. So we are gonna be short of skilled forwards next year. but as those guys grow it's why i think we could potentially contend for playoff spot in 24-25 and be actually good again as soon as the following year.

 

[Louie the Blue]

I absolutely believe he can get us turn around, but as we are counting on guys like neighbours and snuggy and bolduc and this year's pick to help move us forward it's not realistic to expect those guys to make major impact next year. So we are gonna be short of skilled forwards next year. but as those guys grow it's why i think we could potentially contend for playoff spot in 24-25 and be actually good again as soon as the following year.

I don’t think my view is too far from yours other than maybe a year ahead of schedule on my end.

It all depends on how Armstrong approaches his decisions.

The defense needs to be reconstructed with Leddy, Scandella, and Krug as they inhibit any improvement collectively on the top 4. Somehow move two of those contracts and acquire an upgrade and we have a different story.

If Armstrong thinks the team needs another year rebuilding, aka doing something like trading Saad, then yeah, I don’t think the Blues would be a playoff team either.

We also don’t know if Armstrong has an edict or not with regards to contending for the playoffs in 2024 or not. The Blues depend on PO revenue to be anything above break even. I don’t know how ownership feels about a mini rebuild at the risk of missing the POs for consecutive seasons.

 

[Mike Liut]

I absolutely believe he can get us turn around, but as we are counting on guys like neighbours and snuggy and bolduc and this year's pick to help move us forward it's not realistic to expect those guys to make major impact next year. So we are gonna be short of skilled forwards next year. but as those guys grow it's why i think we could potentially contend for playoff spot in 24-25 and be actually good again as soon as the following year.

thats why we need a top 8 pick this year and a top 5-6 next year. And then add all those pieces to what we are getting from our trades. We could be locked and loaded for a 2025 playoff run with a 5+ yr window.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Way too many pieces from our top 4 moving at once.

Funny. I was going to say it’s still needs to be one lol