Poll: Should DA be fired?

[GoldenSeal]

Steen or Lucic - which would you rather have?

I want the Steen that kept defying physics and was scoring goals like an absolute madman. Do you know how he can be contacted?

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I just want a Steen that isn’t concussed. I really liked how he was playing in the last couple games right up until EJ’s elbow.

 

[larueskee]

If Armstrong has proven one thing it is that he can take a solid contender and turn them into a pathetic pretender. Why Stillman has given him 10 years or more is on Stillman. I hope the real owners ( the ones who actually own the largest % ) take the chairman position away from Tommy Boy.

 

[EurlichBachman]

From a guy with Brayden Schenn as his username. LOL! To me he is the first guy on this team that needs to go. Guys a complete whiner, shows up in about half of the games and doesn't like playing defense in those contests. He's not the goal machine on the PowerPlay that people thought he was either. You have to hit the net to score. Schenn is a okay player but I am starting to see the reasons Philadelphia was willing to give him up for Lehtera and a first.remember all the flyers fans that came here after that trade and said you were going to hate this guy? Just my opinion but I think he is one of the locker room problems. As far as Armstrong goes I would not fire him. It is not his fault this team fails to show up on many nights and is gutless when it comes to standing up for one another. It is his fault that the blues cut loose their glue players though. I think they really miss Ryan Reeves and Brodziak both. Just my opinion but that there is the number one problem on this team.

Yeah, the guy who is 4th on the team in points and just last year led the team in points is the issue. Do you have any facts to backup this "whiner" claim? Or any type of reason to believe he is causing an issue in the locker room?

 

[cardinalnation]

Yeah, the guy who is 4th on the team in points and just last year led the team in points is the issue. Do you have any facts to backup this "whiner" claim? Or any type of reason to believe he is causing an issue in the locker room?

What do you mean like him on tape saying something, or a written affidavit? This is 2018 facts are no longer facts anyway. All I can say is this. A couple of the local sports guys we're talking about it on the radio this week. Now this is not the first time I've heard that about him also. That was his reputation in Philly and some fans echoed that after his trade here. Now I am hearing it again. There are no facts to this it is just some peoples opinion. Short of him kicking a puppy on video tape I am not sure what proof you would be looking for anyway. Where there is smoke there is usually a fire but then again that is just my opinion. Let me say also I am not suggesting that this one guy is the entire problem, obviously it is deeper than that. I think most fans as well as the hockey pundits think the roster is in place for this team to do much much better than they are. To me this gives credence to the " Locker room" theory. There have been whispers for a while about a split in the locker room in St Louis. It's not just Schenn. They better figure it out quick or start thinking about next year.I don't think you can make "hockey trades" and get out of this either. Problem looks deeper to me and could require a trade of one or more of the core group.

 

[carter333167]

If we can find a great replacement, then yes.....he should be fired.

 

[Evocable Manager]

If we can find a great replacement, then yes.....he should be fired.

Mike Futa
Ron Hextall

Two guys that I really like. Hextall was doing a great job building Philly, Holmgren is an idiot who lacks patience.
Futa is widely regarded as a brilliant hockey mind.

 

[simon IC]

Dean Lombardi. I heard he was working for the Flyers, but I can't find a confirmation on that yet.

 

[Bluesguru]

No at least now.

I was one biggest Army basher, but he has done great job last couple off-season to make team better. Ofc it doesn't show in the standings, but get rid of Lehterä, Berglund and Sobotka was great moves. Upgrade them to Schenn and ROR.

Trade away Stastny when team didn't have change for deep playoff run.

Only negative thing what I see is if Army fails to get right coach for us.

I view Army has done mistakes, but his last couple year moves has showed he's very good GM.

Its not his fault players are playing badly.

Every lost will be on players when Yeo is gone.

But if there is locker room problem and two groups. Negative pkayers have to get fired away no matter what is their status on team.

He never should of signed Lehtera, Bergund and Sobotka to begin with. Same with Allen. And the love affair with Perron, go figure. His 2 best moves were moves to erase mistakes and it cost the organization draft picks and prospects. Roster construction is not Army's strength. This team lost leadership and physicality and it shows with this years roster. It's weak and inconsistent. This is all on Armstrong. Any GM who needs to be surrounded by a bunch of advisors does not know what he wants or what kind of team he wants to build. Armstrong was quoted last July saying there's a strong correlation between winning and spending to the Cap. That right there tells you that this man does not have a plan on building a team. Stillman needs to bring in someone new and fast. The core group needs modification.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Dean Lombardi. I heard he was working for the Flyers, but I can't find a confirmation on that yet.

Definitely with the Flyers. Look for something where he says he's pretty ironclad with the Flyers, I think it's through '20-21.

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

"Very" disappointing?

08-09, 2 points 4 games
11-12, 5 points 9 games
12-13, 2 points 6 games
14-15, 1 point 5 games
15-16, 3 points 6 games (ANA)
16-17, 1 point 11 games
17-18, 9 points 15 games (VGK)

A couple 'meh' times in the playoffs but I would not say

"Perron has been very disappointing overall in the playoffs in his career"

At all.

Getting credited with a couple secondary assists does not make up for 22 mins of being invisible on the ice. His best numbers year was with Vegas last year and most of that was early on.

Would have been better off saving the cap space and bringing in Potus Aberg.

 

[Reality Czech]

If Armstrong has proven one thing it is that he can take a solid contender and turn them into a pathetic pretender. Why Stillman has given him 10 years or more is on Stillman. I hope the real owners ( the ones who actually own the largest % ) take the chairman position away from Tommy Boy.

Armstrong took over a solid contender? Reality disagrees. The Blues missed the playoffs and finished 2nd to last in the West the year before Army joined the team. We finished 9th in the conference the year before he took over as GM. Facts are hard, aren't they? You do know this information is easily available online, don't you?

 

[BlueDream]

What do you mean like him on tape saying something, or a written affidavit? This is 2018 facts are no longer facts anyway. All I can say is this. A couple of the local sports guys we're talking about it on the radio this week. Now this is not the first time I've heard that about him also. That was his reputation in Philly and some fans echoed that after his trade here. Now I am hearing it again. There are no facts to this it is just some peoples opinion. Short of him kicking a puppy on video tape I am not sure what proof you would be looking for anyway. Where there is smoke there is usually a fire but then again that is just my opinion. Let me say also I am not suggesting that this one guy is the entire problem, obviously it is deeper than that. I think most fans as well as the hockey pundits think the roster is in place for this team to do much much better than they are. To me this gives credence to the " Locker room" theory. There have been whispers for a while about a split in the locker room in St Louis. It's not just Schenn. They better figure it out quick or start thinking about next year.I don't think you can make "hockey trades" and get out of this either. Problem looks deeper to me and could require a trade of one or more of the core group.

Good grief.

I love how you complain about the Blues being gutless and not standing up for each other and your solution, apparently, is to trade Brayden Schenn.

Your point makes no sense. And he wasn't traded from Philly because he was a locker room issue.

 

[KingBran]

Getting credited with a couple secondary assists does not make up for 22 mins of being invisible on the ice. His best numbers year was with Vegas last year and most of that was early on.

Would have been better off saving the cap space and bringing in Potus Aberg.

Exactly how many of all those are secondary assists?

 

[Majorityof1]

Exactly how many of all those are secondary assists?

As I said in my post, 57% of his playoff points are secondary assists, or 13 of his 23 play-off points. Someone else may want to repeat this in case I am on his ignore.

Compared to his regular season #s, his playoff #s are poor. .62 P/G career regular season v .40 P/G in playoffs. That is only 2/3rds of his usual production. He has primarily secondary assists in the playoffs. 57% of his playoff pts are 2nd As vs 21% in the regular season. Primary P/G he is .48 in the regular season v. .18 in playoffs. Obviously, his goal-scoring drops considerably, .25 G/g v. .07 in playoffs. His best playoffs point-wise was last year and he ended up a healthy scratch, due to poor performance and penalties. So whether you think the "very" tag applies or not, I do think it is fair to say Perron has been disappointing in the playoffs relative to regular season expectations. To what degree he has been disappointing is semantics.

 

[Celtic Note]

Are secondary assists not valuable? If someone doesn’t make that pass, does the goal still he scored?

 

[Majorityof1]

Are secondary assists not valuable? If someone doesn’t make that pass, does the goal still he scored?

It depends on the play. Obviously, if the player never makes the pass, the goal doesn't get scored. But is the pass special? Could a replacement level player make the same play? Those are the questions. Sometimes the secondary assist is the driving force behind creating the goal. Sometimes its the primary assist, sometimes its the shot and sometimes its all of them. Hell, sometimes even, its a guy who doesn't even get credit for a point that made the goal happen, either with a nice defensive play, screen, drawing coverage or a tertiary assist. As a general rule though, secondary assists are less often the offensive drivers than the other two. If someone has a lot of secondary assists and not so much primary points, especially from a forward, they may be riding coattails a bit and not driving the offense. Its far from a sure thing, but there is no really good statistical measure for determining if someone drives the play.

To me, secondary assists were worth noting in Perron's case given the great disparity between his regular season and playoff numbers, and the reputation he has from going "casper" in the playoffs. His secondary assist numbers shouldn't be persuasive alone, but they do provide a potential explanation for how his poor-playoff reputation exists despite ok playoff total point production. Obviously the poor playoff reputation could be complete mularky. Most likely, the truth is somewhere in the middle as always, exaggerated but with a kernel of truth.

 

[cardinalnation]

Good grief.

I love how you complain about the Blues being gutless and not standing up for each other and your solution, apparently, is to trade Brayden Schenn.

Your point makes no sense. And he wasn't traded from Philly because he was a locker room issue.

 

[larueskee]

Armstrong took over a solid contender? Reality disagrees. The Blues missed the playoffs and finished 2nd to last in the West the year before Army joined the team. We finished 9th in the conference the year before he took over as GM. Facts are hard, aren't they? You do know this information is easily available online, don't you?

They were on their way to a playoff spot when Army was the GM in waiting. Several first rounders were in the organization thanks to Davidson and Army did a good job of clearing them out. Heck I saw two of them playing some solid d while getting first pairing minutes in a 2-0 shut out for the Avs just last night.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

If Armstrong has proven one thing it is that he can take a solid contender and turn them into a pathetic pretender. Why Stillman has given him 10 years or more is on Stillman. I hope the real owners ( the ones who actually own the largest % ) take the chairman position away from Tommy Boy.

Yeah, that's going to help. Let's remove the owner who is a diehard hockey fan and bleeds for this team as a fan. I'm sure whoever they replace him with is going to be more likely to do a good job.

You realize Stillman didn't hire Armstrong, right? Are you aware of how long he's been the owner? He has not given Armstrong '10 years'.

 

[mk80]

I have been a long time Armstrong critic. Lately though I do give him credit for the moves he's made to bring in guys like Schenn and ROR. But despite those moves, I don't think we are going to win a cup with him at the helm, and the end of his last contract was the time we should of moved on from him, but we didn't and got the results this season and last.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Yeah, that's going to help. Let's remove the owner who is a diehard hockey fan and bleeds for this team as a fan. I'm sure whoever they replace him with is going to be more likely to do a good job.

You realize Stillman didn't hire Armstrong, right? Are you aware of how long he's been the owner? He has not given Armstrong '10 years'.

This. The only way you get to "10 years" is if you jump off of Armstrong's hire date (May 29, 2008) and assume that it's about then when he took over as GM ignoring that Pleau was still the GM until July 1, 2010. [Though it's generally assumed Armstrong took over duties around April or May, 2010 and the Halak trade was his first as GM.]

I don't get the hatred for Stillman, either. Kind of like Bettman as commissioner, he's the front guy for the organization; he's the face of ownership. He doesn't make all decisions on his own, he does it in consultation with the other owners [who might defer decision-making authority to Stillman, but that's a different item]. If the rest of ownership decided DA needed to go, Stillman would pull the trigger - but I think the bigger stumbling block there is like I think it is with making major changes like going out and finding a big-dollar head coach: there are no more dollars available to be spent on this year. I don't think it precludes a firing in the offseason, but right now if you really decide you gotta fire DA then those duties fall to either Kevin McDonald [longtime AGM; might be capable short-term, but also might not be interested] or Bill Armstrong [see my previous comments on this] unless you're moving Dave Taylor into that position near-term.

I do think that there are going to be serious discussions on what the front office looks like for '19-20 and there's going to be serious discussions about how much money the ownership group is going to be willing to pony up for a couple years in the absence of on-ice results, but that's probably worth its own topic.

 

[Ranksu]

Fix our assistant coaches. I miss Kirk Muller and Brad Shaw.

 

[larueskee]

Yeah, that's going to help. Let's remove the owner who is a diehard hockey fan and bleeds for this team as a fan. I'm sure whoever they replace him with is going to be more likely to do a good job.

You realize Stillman didn't hire Armstrong, right? Are you aware of how long he's been the owner? He has not given Armstrong '10 years'.

Ah yes but Army has basically been running the player side for 10 years. It went like this . On May 29, 2008, the St. Louis Blues announced they have named Armstrong as the club's director of player personnel after signing him to a two-year contract. When the two years were to expire, Armstrong was to assume the general manager position after incumbent

to be beneficial for Dallas' offence.
St. Louis Blues[edit]

On May 29, 2008, the St. Louis Blues announced they have named Armstrong as the club's director of player personnel after signing him to a two-year contract. When the two years were to expire, Armstrong was to assume the general manager position after incumbent Larry Pleau's retirement;[2] Pleau was to stay on with the team in another capacity. You got that ?

 

[Peasy]

Keefe, ... someone elsewhere brought up a good point. Remember when Dallas Eakins was the hot name on the market because of his success with the Marlies? Then he went to Edmonton and ... well, he's not nearly the hot name he used to be. The thought is that Keefe looks great because it's the Marlies and Toronto can plow all kinds of resources into hockey ops; if you put him somewhere that can't freely lob those $, is he going to still look that good? I'm lobbing it out as food for thought, not to argue that he's not a guy to be considered.

The teams that Eakins and Keefe have coached in the Marlies are polar opposites of each other. Eakins team was heavily reliant on veterans, while Keefe has had to deal with much younger players. Keefe has done an exceptional job helping to develop several players for the Leafs. Something that Eakins failed to ever do his time in Toronto. He was famously known for ridiculing Kadri at training camp telling the media how out of shape he was. Also, Keefe has had to benefit to learn straight from Babcock implementing similar strategies. For every Eakins theres a Jon Cooper.