Proposal: Bring back Coach Q

[GoldenSeal]

i weep for the kids who were assaulted, not the guys whose careers were harmed because they faced consequences for bad acts. sorrynotsorry.

Who said I was weeping over anything? I expect better out of people in general and it angers me that some of those folks prefer instead of going the right way to go the other way and prey on people. There’s so much energy and gifts that should be used for good and it gets used for evil.

I stand with Isaiah and all the others who are affected by this shit. No one deserves any of this.

 

[Xerloris]

Wait, is mitchell miller the kid that showed as picture of his girlfriends tits to his friends or who the f*** is he?

 

[joe galiba]

Wait, is mitchell miller the kid that showed as picture of his girlfriends tits to his friends or who the f*** is he?

Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist.

 

[Blueston]

Wait, is mitchell miller the kid that showed as picture of his girlfriends tits to his friends or who the f*** is he?

Logan Mailleux (sp?) was the player who shared sex pics of girl without her consent. Montreal picked him in 1st round anyway.

Mitch Miller is guy who over period of years tortured and abused a developmentally disabled black kid. Coyotes picked him and renounced his rights after blowback. Bruins signed him and Bergeron and Marchand basically led players in open revolt against the signing and Bruins then renounced him too.

 

[joe galiba]

Logan Mailleux (sp?) was the player who shared sex pics of girl without her consent. Montreal picked him in 1st round anyway.

Mitch Miller is guy who over period of years tortured and abused a developmentally disabled black kid. Coyotes picked him and renounced his rights after blowback. Bruins signed him and Bergeron and Marchand basically led player sin open revolt against the signing and Bruins then renounced him

I would rather have the Mitch Miller I referenced

 

[Blueston]

Did anyone who listened to the interview feel that Coach Q showed true remorse? Any significant personal growth? Because to me, he still sounds like a guy who still doesn't get it, who thinks he is victim, who feels like he is being unfairly punished rather than a guy who gets where he went wrong, has done his penance, and is deserving of a second chance.

 

[Cotton McKnight]

Q isn’t eligible to coach in league at present. Nor should he be. He has never taken any responsibility for his role in covering up sexual assault of one of his players. I don’t want anything to do with him.

Fully agreed, screw that coach who knew and turned a blind eye.

 

[kimzey59]

In his previous term as Blues HC; Q destroyed this teams confidence and threw the team under the bus in his last PO series and then proceeded to create a massive locker room divide between our star players on his way out the door(which played a part in Demitra deciding to walk as a UFA).

Even without the Aldrich nonsense, I would never want him back. He's in the same boat as Mike Keenan in my book just based on his antics on the way out the door.

With the Aldrich stuff; he should be permanently banned from the game. IF he does worm his way into getting another chance, I'll be beyond pissed if the Blues are the team to give him that chance.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

In his previous term as Blues HC; Q destroyed this teams confidence and threw the team under the bus in his last PO series and then proceeded to create a massive locker room divide between our star players on his way out the door(which played a part in Demitra deciding to walk as a UFA).

This should have its own thread, because few people know about any of this and it went unmentioned when it was going on.

 

[Blueston]

This should have its own thread, because few people know about any of this and it went unmentioned when it was going on.

i'd love to hear more about it. i'm not familiar with those stories.

 

[kimzey59]

i'd love to hear more about it. i'm not familiar with those stories.

You're talking 20 year old news stories. I really don't feel like digging through archives to dig them all back up.
At the time, they were discussed plenty. It's been largely forgotten since then(mostly because of the Walmart moron and his Lawyer doing their best to destroy the team on their way out the door the following year).

As a refresher, here's the highlights.
Before game 5 against Vancouver, he sent out a memo to the players telling them to have their bags packed before the game for the return trip to St. Louis for game 6(we proceeded to lose games 5, 6 and 7; blowing a 3-1 series advantage).
After the series; he put the blame exclusively on the players claiming that "I did everything I could."

The next year, he fanned a rift between Pronger and Weight. Tkachuk, Demitra and Mellanby tried to stay out of things, and their line got split up as a result; which lead to everybody in the room taking sides until Q got the boot.

The locker room stuff is largely forgotten because we didn't have a Brett Hull in the room giving us a play by play like Hull did with Keenan, but it was pretty ugly.

 

[Xerloris]

Before game 5 against Vancouver, he sent out a memo to the players telling them to have their bags packed before the game for the return trip to St. Louis for game 6(we proceeded to lose games 5, 6 and 7; blowing a 3-1 series advantage).
After the series; he put the blame exclusively on the players claiming that "I did everything I could."

Did JR write about this? Sounds like his thing.

 

[kimzey59]

Did JR write about this? Sounds like his thing.

IIRC JR, Strickland and Hadley all had it.
It wasn't exactly a secret.

Edit; Actually, it might have been Derrick Goold at that point. My mind is a little fuzzy on when JR took over the Blues beat.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

I thought the playoff loss thing included him screaming at them before Game 5 saying "you guys are going to lose this series, and when we do it's all on you - I'm not going down for it." Keep in mind, we were up 3-1 and had won both games at home without MacInnis, and Q is yelling at them about how they were going to lose the series. And then after each of the losses in Games 5 and 6 he'd berate them and remind them "I told you guys, you're going to lose the series" and after Game 7 he rips them all one final time.

The locker room thing in 2003-04: I always heard it was simmering from the 2003 playoffs and who'd done what (or not done what) to help the team win. [Weight had a monster 5-8-13 series, Pronger was 1-3-4 but scoreless in the final 3 games.] At some point - the early December near-loss to Detroit? - Weight and Pronger really get into it again, and at some point Q tells everyone ""I'm not fixing anything, this is all your fault" and brings up the 2003 playoffs again, berates everyone with 'pathetic' and 'losers' and other such words, concludes with "so you all figure out who you're supporting, this is all on you guys - I'm done with this shit" and goes back to his office. From there until he got fired, most of his time around the team he spent in his office, only associating with the players when he had to.

I don't care if he won 3 Cups with Chicago. I wouldn't care if he'd won a dozen there. I've got zero use for him here.

 

[kimzey59]

I thought the playoff loss thing included him screaming at them before Game 5 saying "you guys are going to lose this series, and when we do it's all on you - I'm not going down for it." Keep in mind, we were up 3-1 and had won both games at home without MacInnis, and Q is yelling at them about how they were going to lose the series. And then after each of the losses in Games 5 and 6 he'd berate them and remind them "I told you guys, you're going to lose the series" and after Game 7 he rips them all one final time.

The locker room thing in 2003-04: I always heard it was simmering from the 2003 playoffs and who'd done what (or not done what) to help the team win. [Weight had a monster 5-8-13 series, Pronger was 1-3-4 but scoreless in the final 3 games.] At some point - the early December near-loss to Detroit? - Weight and Pronger really get into it again, and at some point Q tells everyone ""I'm not fixing anything, this is all your fault" and brings up the 2003 playoffs again, berates everyone with 'pathetic' and 'losers' and other such words, concludes with "so you all figure out who you're supporting, this is all on you guys - I'm done with this shit" and goes back to his office. From there until he got fired, most of his time around the team he spent in his office, only associating with the players when he had to.

I don't care if he won 3 Cups with Chicago. I wouldn't care if he'd won a dozen there. I've got zero use for him here.

I was going for a cliff notes version.

Like I said; it got really ugly in the last few months of Q. There's absolutely no way I'd want him back after his antics on the way out the door. It was Keenan level nonsense.

 

[TheOrganist]

That 2003 playoff ouster was so depressing. That was a really good team on paper, Chris Osbad be damned. Detroit and Colorado both got upset in the first round and Dallas in the 2nd. The West was there for the taking. What a brutal choke that was. I was at Game 6 against Vancouver. They were done after that L. I was so pissed leaving the rink that night. Ahh the old days when the Blues routinely broke our
playoff hearts.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I was 11 when the whole Q thing went down, I didn't realize it was that bad.

 

[kimzey59]

I was 11 when the whole Q thing went down, I didn't realize it was that bad.

1- There was no twitter back then. Facebook hadn't even started at that point.

2- Back then, the players largely still held to the rule of "what happens in the room, stays in the room." Even the concept of "Behind the Glass" would have been frowned on(meaning "unofficially blacklisted from NHL access for a number of years").

And like I said, that team didn't have a personality like Brett Hull who was prepared to go to war through the media. The fact that anything was heard at all meant it was bad, and the fact that details like Hoffman described are known at all tells you how brutal it really was.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

There's a series of steps from there that get you to why Doug Weight became persona non grata in the Blues organization with A LOT of people.

Anyone who remembers the the trade with Anaheim in 2007 that brought in Andy McDonald got snippets of this.

 

[kimzey59]

There's a series of steps from there that get you to why Doug Weight became persona non grata in the Blues organization with A LOT of people.

Anyone who remembers the the trade with Anaheim in 2007 that brought in Andy McDonald got snippets of this.

Exactly.
He did everything he could to undermine Pronger.
Thought he was going to be the next Captain and then pouted when it went to Dallas Drake.
Then had a minor tiff with Walt as his performance dropped off a cliff(Weight basically claimed to be the Star of the team; and Walt told him that a last place team didn't have any "Stars" so shut up).
And finally had to be forced into waiving his NTC to kick him to the curb.
(again, cliff notes version)
He came out of that whole affair looking like a petulant child.

Conversely, my opinion of Walt skyrocketed because of that whole mess. Walt had the mindset of "everybody just shut up and play the game". He could have easily made a case for the C(or cause a big stink over not getting it) but he honestly didn't care about it. He was a complete Professional about the whole thing and it's a big part of the reason he's still in the organization. As much flack as he got for being immature in his younger days, he completely changed his reputation during the Weight fiasco. Probably the most "mature" voice in the room during those days. Things could have easily escalated beyond "Bortuzzo vs Sanford" levels if Walt had wanted to go that route.

 

[Blueston]

Exactly.
He did everything he could to undermine Pronger.
Thought he was going to be the next Captain and then pouted when it went to Dallas Drake.
Then had a minor tiff with Walt as his performance dropped off a cliff(Weight basically claimed to be the Star of the team; and Walt told him that a last place team didn't have any "Stars" so shut up).
And finally had to be forced into waiving his NTC to kick him to the curb.
(again, cliff notes version)
He came out of that whole affair looking like a petulant child.

Conversely, my opinion of Walt skyrocketed because of that whole mess. Walt had the mindset of "everybody just shut up and play the game". He could have easily made a case for the C(or cause a big stink over not getting it) but he honestly didn't care about it. He was a complete Professional about the whole thing and it's a big part of the reason he's still in the organization. As much flack as he got for being immature in his younger days, he completely changed his reputation during the Weight fiasco. Probably the most "mature" voice in the room during those days. Things could have easily escalated beyond "Bortuzzo vs Sanford" levels if Walt had wanted to go that route.

I appreciate you guys filling in details. I've been fan for 40+ years, but the period roughly from 2002-12 is a bit of a blind spot for me, with where I was personally and professionally I couldn't follow as closely that period in the years before or since.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Exactly.
He did everything he could to undermine Pronger.
Thought he was going to be the next Captain and then pouted when it went to Dallas Drake.
Then had a minor tiff with Walt as his performance dropped off a cliff(Weight basically claimed to be the Star of the team; and Walt told him that a last place team didn't have any "Stars" so shut up).
And finally had to be forced into waiving his NTC to kick him to the curb.
(again, cliff notes version)
He came out of that whole affair looking like a petulant child.

Conversely, my opinion of Walt skyrocketed because of that whole mess. Walt had the mindset of "everybody just shut up and play the game". He could have easily made a case for the C(or cause a big stink over not getting it) but he honestly didn't care about it. He was a complete Professional about the whole thing and it's a big part of the reason he's still in the organization. As much flack as he got for being immature in his younger days, he completely changed his reputation during the Weight fiasco. Probably the most "mature" voice in the room during those days. Things could have easily escalated beyond "Bortuzzo vs Sanford" levels if Walt had wanted to go that route.

The Blues traded Weight at the ‘06 deadline. Pronger was already gone by then. If Weight was such a problem, why did they re-sign him that summer? Only to trade him again a year and a half later to Anaheim.

I mean, they got both Berglund and McDonald by trading this guy twice but I’m curious why if he was such a cancer in the liver room why they’d sign him again after reading him away to the Canes.

 

[kimzey59]

The Blues traded Weight at the ‘06 deadline. Pronger was already gone by then. If Weight was such a problem, why did they re-sign him that summer? Only to trade him again a year and a half later to Anaheim.

I mean, they got both Berglund and McDonald by trading this guy twice but I’m curious why if he was such a cancer in the liver room why they’d sign him again after reading him away to the Canes.

1- Weight dropped a lot of his "I'm the Star" attitude after him and Walt got into it.
Once he realized Walt was done listening to it, he toned it down a lot(when Walt tells somebody to shut it, it's not a request; and Weight knew it).

2- Nobody else was offering him a #1 center spot.
Weight sold Pleau on his show of contrition, and played the role of good little soldier until Brewer was given the C. Then the tantrums started again and Pleau couldn't jettison him fast enough.

3- At the time, Weight was legitimately our best player(or at least in the conversation for it).
And given the financial problems we had at the time, we needed every "fan favorite" we could get our hands on.

 

[BlueDream]

Lol. Half of what is being written is probably not true because there’s zero way you guys know all the details of this, but we got 2 posters acting like they were in the locker room. Good stuff.

 

[STL fan in MN]

1- Weight dropped a lot of his "I'm the Star" attitude after him and Walt got into it.
Once he realized Walt was done listening to it, he toned it down a lot(when Walt tells somebody to shut it, it's not a request; and Weight knew it).

2- Nobody else was offering him a #1 center spot.
Weight sold Pleau on his show of contrition, and played the role of good little soldier until Brewer was given the C. Then the tantrums started again and Pleau couldn't jettison him fast enough.

3- At the time, Weight was legitimately our best player(or at least in the conversation for it).
And given the financial problems we had at the time, we needed every "fan favorite" we could get our hands on.

Fair enough. I don’t really remember this behind the scenes stuff at the time.

This would’ve been back in the Derrick Gould days. JR took on the beat during the disastrous 2005-06 season.