In order to answer this question, I need to break it down into two parts and keep it as real as possible.
1) Would missing the playoffs wake up the Blues?
2) If the Blues missed the playoffs, would Doug Armstrong make the necessary moves to change the culture?
But before I answer No. 1, let's make sure we're on the same page. When someone asks me whether missing the playoffs would “wake up” the Blues, give them a “gut check” and put them “on a mission,” I take that to mean you're asking about the players. You might be referring to the organization from top to bottom, but I prefer to focus my answer from a players' perspective. And my answer is “no,” it would not wake up them any more than losing in the second round woke them up last season. Would they be disappointed? Certainly. Would they tell media and fans that it's unacceptable? More times than you want to hear. But would they do any more self-examination than they did any other year or talk more amongst themselves about why they're so inconsistent? No and no. Some of you might be asking why nothing would change. I'm not saying nothing would change. I'm just saying I don't believe the Blues missing the playoffs by three points is going to put a more determined, ticked off team on the ice next season. Call me fatigued on the end-of-the-season post-mortem interviews. Every May, I see a despondent group of players and every October-April I see the same group making the same mistakes and excuses.
Now No. 2, what could be a benefit of missing the playoffs: changing the culture. Whether the Blues make the playoffs or not, I think they have to address this issue. Listen, the Blues obviously have talented players and they have good people in their locker room. But I think they have a roster that has too many players who just brush everything off. Nothing is ever a major deal in their eyes. Yeah, they might get mad at times, but there's always another game tomorrow, there's always a chance to fix things. I understand that. It's a long season and you're not going to play well every night. You lose a game, you regroup and play better next time. But I believe, if they had more players who got pissed off in the moment, like let's turn this game around now, let's not wait for the next game, they'd have a better record. I think that part of the reason we don't see this is because they don't pull together like they should. I'm not saying these guys don't like playing together, but they don't pull together.
This is the part of my answer where I'll try to keep it as real as possible. I think some players resent that Vladimir Tarasenko doesn't work as hard as he should. I think some players who think that about Tarasenko aren't working as hard as they should be. I don't think the leaders are doing a good enough job of taking the different personalities in the locker room and making everybody feel like one. Is Dmitrij Jaskin a bit of a loner? Yeah. Have the Blues tried to make him feel like them? Maybe more than I know. But has it been enough? No. Not just with Jaskin, but others, too, whether it's been this year or in the past. That translates on the ice. Guys are just playing hockey, many of them not playing FOR EACH OTHER. And I haven't even mentioned the guys who are just playing for the paycheck or the lifestyle, which in this case I'm not going to name names, but they know who they are.
I truly believe that whether the Blues make the playoffs or not, Armstrong is going to have to address the attitude of this team. If I know it's a problem, he has to know. It will be hard to change the culture — it's hard to move contracts in the NHL — but I believe it's necessary. I don't believe the team's problems can be found in analyzing a bad goal, a bad loss or a bad homestand. I believe they're tied to the fact that it's a group of players who are passing the puck to each other because they were either drafted or signed contracts to play for the Blues and they happen to be wearing the same crest on their sweater — not because they're going to go to the front of the net, take a slash to the leg, absorb the pain and score a goal, because that's what you do for your teammates and your coach and your fans. When you can show me that that's how much these guys care, then I'll show you a team that doesn't poop its pants on the ice and then repeat the same B.S. to reporters game after game after game. Does that answer your question?
