I won't write a novel, but the Blues had a 3-year window where they were cup competitors - this opened around 2011. Armstrong was somehow able to extend that window to 5 years by some shrewd (**** lucky) trades and free agent signings. The Blues' problem was that they hired one of if not the worst possible coach for a young team trying to win a championship - Ken Hitchcock. The day his hiring was announced I predicted exactly what was going to happen over the next 3 (later 5) years.
Ken Hitchcock is not a terrible coach, he has the ability to elevate a team - but only if its the right team, and only in the regular season. "Right Team" being defined as stocked deep with future HOF veterans. He cannot coach young talent, and he cannot coach playoff hockey in the modern era. He has been irrelevant (and his postseason records prove as much) since the salary cap prevent teams from buying a cup. The only coach in the league with a worse playoff record than him was Todd Mclellan.
Hitch's defensive-minded technical execution is great for awhile, but it burns out players and it prevents offensive stars from shining (or developing) and most importantly it meant no team that he's coached since 2001 was able to elevate its play during the postseason. Grind all year, win division, be burned out, round 1 elimination - 6 games max.
The Blues compounded this boneheaded hiring by extending that senile old man, twice. Then hiring the 3rd worst coach in the NHL as his replacement (the guy that got the Mild into the postseason by getting fired). Now here they are. Their core crumbled, their window closed and they have the 3rd worst coach in the league and possibly the worst starting goaltender. Jay Bouwmeester was old 2 years ago and now he's eating up the most minutes on the team that was once touted for its great defence. They're literally the Red Wings post-Lidstrom retirement but with a much much much weaker core and no winning tradition.
This team has been in a 'rebuild' for 2 years and the GM is totally UNAWARE OF THAT FACT. Case in point - watch this video on Armstrong calling Ryan O'Reilly after the trade this summer:
Management is completely out of touch with reality and the best player on the team is a 20goals/60points center and the top goal scorer is one dimensional and lazy. (Seriously, watch Tarasenko closely during games, not just his goal highlights. He sucks. If the GM wasn't a ******, he would trade him for a king's ransom before the rest of the league finds out what garbage he is.)
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