Blues Discussion Thread 2018-2019 - Part IV

[ScratchCatFever]

Watching the Avs Preds game and I gotta say I'm not looking forward to facing either of these teams, coaching change or not. These two teams have things we simply do not. Tons of speed, tenacity, an overall drive to play the best game they possibly can and high IQ up and down each lineup. I've come close to turning it off a couple times because of how sickening it is to watch compared to the type of game we play night after night. Also on a side note-
Trading Cole for Bortuzzo is one of the worst and overlooked trades Army had made. Cole has really turned into a solid defenseman that would look great playing beside Parayko or Petro.

I think it's time to accept this team is going nowhere until more personnel changes are made and our front office learns how to properly identify talent that has what it takes to win.

 

[Xerloris]

At this point ownership has gone all in on the Blues and paying to get the best coach in the game currently ( Babs doesnt have the record ) is not something I think they would hesitate to do.

 

[wannabebluesplayer]

In all seriousness, can anyone give me a good reason why Yeo hasn't been fired? Stillman even looked disgusted. Even though the Blues won, they got heavily outplayed and out-coached by Carolina. Posts and Johnson being good for a night saved them. The Blues are basically in the same position when Payne was fired. Payne was fired after 13 games and the team had 12 points, 6-7. The Blues are 5-5-3, so 13 points, but if you look at it another way, they are 5-8, which is actually worse (thanks loser point). The Blues have actually looked good or as expected in roughly 3 of their games to me. That's it. I get that a lot of this can be attributed to veterans, Petro, Bouw, Allen, Schwartz (to a point), Tarasenko, etc., not playing well enough, but a lot of this also points to Yeo, and somewhat Van Ryn for an asinine man to man to zone to man to man system. Yeo's clearly not the right coach for this team, so I just don't see why he's still around. My only guesses at this point are Armstrong has reached out and been turned down by AV and Q already, whether they want to wait until the end of the year or just immediately told him no, OR Stillman and Co. don't want to pay Yeo and another coach.

 

[The Note]

In all seriousness, can anyone give me a good reason why Yeo hasn't been fired? Stillman even looked disgusted. Even though the Blues won, they got heavily outplayed and out-coached by Carolina. Posts and Johnson being good for a night saved them. The Blues are basically in the same position when Payne was fired. Payne was fired after 13 games and the team had 12 points, 6-7. The Blues are 5-5-3, so 13 points, but if you look at it another way, they are 5-8, which is actually worse (thanks loser point). The Blues have actually looked good or as expected in roughly 3 of their games to me. That's it. I get that a lot of this can be attributed to veterans, Petro, Bouw, Allen, Schwartz (to a point), Tarasenko, etc., not playing well enough, but a lot of this also points to Yeo, and somewhat Van Ryn for an asinine man to man to zone to man to man system. Yeo's clearly not the right coach for this team, so I just don't see why he's still around. My only guesses at this point are Armstrong has reached out and been turned down by AV and Q already, whether they want to wait until the end of the year or just immediately told him no, OR Stillman and Co. don't want to pay Yeo and another coach.

The only thing I can think of is they’re trying to straighten out what would happen after they fired him. Will AV or Q come here midseason or will they just put the interim tag on Berube and try during the summer? Or do they want someone else entirely? I mean the team has played, what, 2 or 3 good games in 13 tries? They regularly get outplayed especially in the 3rd period when they have a lead. It’s the same things over and over again. I can’t imagine (read:hope) the front office has any faith in Yeo to get this turned around.

 

[STL fan in MN]

In all seriousness, can anyone give me a good reason why Yeo hasn't been fired?

Because Army would need to have his replacement lined up first and perhaps the potential replacement he wants either isn’t interested in coaching the Blues, isn’t interested at this time, wants an exorbitant amount of $ or they’re still negotiating. We really have no idea what Army is doing behind the scenes but it takes two to tango. It’s not just all on Army.

 

[wannabebluesplayer]

Because Army would need to have his replacement lined up first and perhaps the potential replacement he wants either isn’t interested in coaching the Blues, isn’t interested at this time, wants an exorbitant amount of $ or they’re still negotiating. We really have no idea what Army is doing behind the scenes but it takes two to tango. It’s not just all on Army.

You don't necessarily have to have a replacement lined up as you could slap the interim tag on Berube or another coach. I get Army needs to negotiate and his hands are tied, but if they don't figure something out soon, the Blues have no shot of making the playoffs playing .500 hockey.

 

[Alklha]

Thinking that Yeo is about to be fired after winning 3 or the last 4 is wishful thinking. The noose loosened after last night

The noose has loosened in the sense that he is going to be the coach for the weekend games, but I wouldn't reach too much beyond that.

Winning 3 of the last 4 looks good, but lose the next game and it is suddenly lost 2 of the last 3. 13 points from 14 games, 10 of them at home.

In the scenario of losing the next game then if we're being optimistic then we've won 3 of the last 5, "improving" to 1.2PPG pace. Continue that and we'd finish the season ~95 points, not certain to make the playoffs.

Even if we win the next one and lose to Minnesota, then we're in a situation where it is having won 2 of the last 4, having had 3 of them at home and sitting on 15 points after 15 games.

We can pick over small sample sizes to say whatever. If we have ambitions for this season, then we are getting to a point where there needs to be a very clear improvement in both results and performance for Yeo to have any job security.

I really dont get the feeling he is in any hurry to take another job. Why not wait until the end of the season, have your pick of the litter? He gets paid either way.

He gets paid, but he still has to work for his salary. He hasn't been fired, he has been relieved of his coaching duties. At some point the Blackhawks are going to assign him other duties, and he might want nothing to do with the role that he is given. Like scouting in the arse end of nowhere.

 

[STL fan in MN]

You don't necessarily have to have a replacement lined up as you could slap the interim tag on Berube or another coach. I get Army needs to negotiate and his hands are tied, but if they don't figure something out soon, the Blues have no shot of making the playoffs playing .500 hockey.

That’d only make sense IMO if Army felt Berube or someone else internal was a likely longterm answer. If he thinks Berube is part of the problem, what exactly would making him interim HC help?

 

[Dbrownss]

Watching the Avs Preds game and I gotta say I'm not looking forward to facing either of these teams, coaching change or not. These two teams have things we simply do not. Tons of speed, tenacity, an overall drive to play the best game they possibly can and high IQ up and down each lineup. I've come close to turning it off a couple times because of how sickening it is to watch compared to the type of game we play night after night. Also on a side note-
Trading Cole for Bortuzzo is one of the worst and overlooked trades Army had made. Cole has really turned into a solid defenseman that would look great playing beside Parayko or Petro.

I think it's time to accept this team is going nowhere until more personnel changes are made and our front office learns how to properly identify talent that has what it takes to win.

Cole was what he was here. I would not take him over Eddy or Dunn personally.


As for how those teams play vs how our guys play. It's the tenacity. They look so much faster because they are confident in what they are doing, they are proactive and look to impose their will. If they make a mistake, they dont shift their philosophy, they keep pressing. It takes alot to rattle them. I'd bet foot speed wise, they are no faster then comparable Blues.....minus MacKinnon

 

[carter333167]

In all seriousness, can anyone give me a good reason why Yeo hasn't been fired? Stillman even looked disgusted. Even though the Blues won, they got heavily outplayed and out-coached by Carolina. Posts and Johnson being good for a night saved them.

The Blues are basically in the same position when Payne was fired. Payne was fired after 13 games and the team had 12 points, 6-7. The Blues are 5-5-3, so 13 points, but if you look at it another way, they are 5-8, which is actually worse (thanks loser point). The Blues have actually looked good or as expected in roughly 3 of their games to me. That's it. I get that a lot of this can be attributed to veterans, Petro, Bouw, Allen, Schwartz (to a point), Tarasenko, etc., not playing well enough, but a lot of this also points to Yeo, and somewhat Van Ryn for an asinine man to man to zone to man to man system. Yeo's clearly not the right coach for this team, so I just don't see why he's still around. My only guesses at this point are Armstrong has reached out and been turned down by AV and Q already, whether they want to wait until the end of the year or just immediately told him no, OR Stillman and Co. don't want to pay Yeo and another coach.

I heard someone theorize that this is a political decision for DA....basically a save his own ass political decision.

To wit, if he fires Yeo, and then things don't work out and we still miss the PO's, DA might be in an even more vulnerable position than if he rides Yeo for a while longer.

In any case, I think fans are losing interest in a Yeo-led team. If that is the case, ownership will probably force the issue.

 

[carter333167]

That’d only make sense IMO if Army felt Berube or someone else internal was a likely longterm answer. If he thinks Berube is part of the problem, what exactly would making him interim HC help?

Are you sure that DA has come to the point of believing there is a problem? He hasn't taken any actions to suggest he believes there is a problem.

 

[Dbrownss]

Are you sure that DA has come to the point of believing there is a problem? He hasn't taken any actions to suggest he believes there is a problem.

I would have a hard time believing he doesnt think there's a problem. He's not going to publically throw Yeo under the bus.

 

[Dbrownss]

Paryako isnt on the is and Boumeester is on the 2nd pairing...Yeo just cant help himself. I get it...Parayko is probably sick and you have to use Boumeester, but he's already back in the top 4.

 

[ManyIdeas]

Paryako isnt on the is and Boumeester is on the 2nd pairing...Yeo just cant help himself. I get it...Parayko is probably sick and you have to use Boumeester, but he's already back in the top 4.

I would assume it's a placeholder until noted otherwise. Parayko missed a practice last week(this week?) and still played

 

[Dbrownss]

I would assume it's a placeholder until noted otherwise. Parayko missed a practice last week(this week?) and still played

Hopefully......

 

[Brian39]

I don't think that winning 3 out of 4 has loosened the noose at all.

Our corsi for percentage in those 4 games is below 40. Shot attempts were 71-36 in favor of Carolina in our last win, which is almost identical to the shot attempts against Minnesota (72-38). We got doubled up in shot attempts, shots, high danger shots and medium danger shots. If you don't like advanced stats, the eye test made it blatantly clear that Carolina controlled that game. We won because Johnson had some post luck and played out of his mind while McElhinney posted a sub-.850 SV%. None of that is related to the head coach.

While not as glaring, shot attempts against Vegas were 72-45 in favor of the Knights and actual shots were 34-26 Knights. Luckily Fleury was little overaggressive at times and we capitalized. You aren't going to have too many nights where the opposing goalie rocks an .808 SV% over 60 minutes.

Everyone agrees that Minnesota was a dumpster fire of a game.

We outplayed the Hawks, but going 3-1 while getting badly out-chanced in 75% of the games is absolutely not sustainable. I don't think there is any chance that management watched those games and came away with any type of confidence moving forward. I'm happy we banked points and stopped digging the hole, but I firmly believe that's all we accomplished over the last 4 games.

 

[tomin]

Was hoping after yesterday’s mental break/no practice that todays practice would be ran by a hodge podge of blues alumni while Q rides in on a Clydesdale drawn chariot.

I’ll resort to practice line updates and empty analysis.

 

[Dbrownss]

On a positive note....Maroon might be a scratch.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Yeo citing winning 3 of the last 4 seems like a guy trying to put together exhibits for the jury in a case he knows he is going to lose. I'd rather have lost those games but show the ability to control the game, out chance (and outwork) the opponent. Nothing has happened, other than the Toronto game, that made me think this team could play a different way. I don't see any evidence that Yeo has instituted some different structure or is able to instill the structure he wants. The team plays soft, period. I'm not talking about clearing the crease (although that's not a strength). I mean that they are easy to play against.

Its easy to carry the puck in the Blues' zone. Its easy to deny them entry. Its easy to get the puck back from the Blues. They are soft. No opponent is feeling stressed out in a game vs St Louis right now. Maybe frustrated at their puck luck, but not stressed by what their opponent is doing.

 

[Dbrownss]

Yeo citing winning 3 of the last 4 seems like a guy trying to put together exhibits for the jury in a case he knows he is going to lose. I'd rather have lost those games but show the ability to control the game, out chance (and outwork) the opponent. Nothing has happened, other than the Toronto game, that made me think this team could play a different way. I don't see any evidence that Yeo has instituted some different structure or is able to instill the structure he wants. The team plays soft, period. I'm not talking about clearing the crease (although that's not a strength). I mean that they are easy to play against.

Its easy to carry the puck in the Blues' zone. Its easy to deny them entry. Its easy to get the puck back from the Blues. They are soft. No opponent is feeling stressed out in a game vs St Louis right now. Maybe frustrated at their puck luck, but not stressed by what their opponent is doing.

I honestly dont see it that way. He immediately said it doesnt feel like it. I don't think he's trying to build a case when he admits the team looks lik crap even when winning

 

[Quaz]

IMO Barbashev deserves to play before Maroon. Same with Sanford, Thomas, and maybe even Sundqvist.

 

[stlbluz]

I don't buy that as a reason. They would have made arrangements well in advance if that were the case, even if the team practiced elsewhere.

Is there a source for this rumor of practice being canceled?

Blues host military servicemen and women for lunch

I meant to respond yesterday.

 

[Halak Ness Monster]

I don't even have to look at the stats. We looked like poop vs. Carolina. Not much better than we did vs. Minnesota the game before.

This team is not playing good hockey. They haven't all year.

Reminder: Carolina and Minnesota aren't even elite teams. They are decent but maybe borderline playoff teams IMO. Certainly not up with the likes of Nashville.

 

[Ranksu]

On a positive note....Maroon might be a scratch.

I don't believe Yeo will healthy scratch his powerplay man.

 

[Dbrownss]

I don't believe Yeo will healthy scratch his powerplay man.

Korac indicated as much. As irritated as I am with Yeo, his opinion of Maroon is reflected in his rapidly diminishing ice time.