2014-2015 Blues (Hockey) Season

[MrCrowesGarden]

Any chance Hitch gets fired out of this?

They don't have to, his contract is up. I suspect it won't get renewed.

[letsgocards89]

Any chance Hitch gets fired out of this?

They don't have to, his contract is up. I suspect it won't get renewed.

Is this a Hitch thing? I never got the impression the coaching was the issue with the performance.

[Myles]

It sucks that Blues fans have been so "conditioned" to losing in the playoffs. This loss sucked, but I'm not really taking it as hard as I usually would when a team I follow closely gets eliminated. I expected it. It really is a bummer to expect such a thing.

I don't think they should blow this team up at all. Despite the drive to win in the playoffs, this is a good team. Maybe they need to bring in motivational speakers when the playoffs start. Matt Foley, where are you?

[MrCrowesGarden]

Any chance Hitch gets fired out of this?

They don't have to, his contract is up. I suspect it won't get renewed.

Is this a Hitch thing? I never got the impression the coaching was the issue with the performance.

I have to think it is to some degree. Three straight 1st round exits is beyond disappointing.

[letsgocards89]

Any chance Hitch gets fired out of this?

They don't have to, his contract is up. I suspect it won't get renewed.

Is this a Hitch thing? I never got the impression the coaching was the issue with the performance.

I have to think it is to some degree. Three straight 1st round exits is beyond disappointing.

Maybe so. It looks to me more like key players disappearing at playoff time. AGAIN. On the flip side, there did seem to be a lack of ability to adjust the game plan to attack the middle and create space. There looked like a different approach in the 6-1 game than any other game in the series. Not to mention the most useless player on the team (Ott) continually getting significant ice time.

[Secret Weapon]

Our "top line" for the past few years has playoff stats as:

Oshie: 30gp 9 points -12 rating
Backes: 29gp 13 points -5 rating
Steen: 31gp 14 points -8 rating

We've had different goalies, different coaches, but the core has continued to fail in the postseason. They were overhyped as prospects, are decent in the regular season, but don't have that second gear for the postseason.

[Popeye_Card]

So I restrained myself from posting in this thread all year as a superstition. But that apparently did not work.

I have no idea what the problem is with the Blues and the playoffs. I feel like the players know that the early exit is coming, they begin pressing, and it of course happens all over again. To me, Backes' cheap-shot cross check at the end of Game 1 set the tone for the series. To have your captain take a penalty like that shows the type of character your team has. When it gets tough, we're just going to fold up and take a cheap shot.

Obviously some moves have to be made. Hitch is probably gone, as a symbolic move as much as anything. Do we bring Bylsma in? He turned down a couple HC opportunities last summer, but was that due more to a combination of not enough salary and too big of rebuilding effort? I would think the Blues roster would be attractive to any potential head coach.

As for the roster, all of the UFA's are probably gone (Jackman, Goc, Michalek, Porter, Butler, Jokinen--yep, I forgot we had him too). I'd trade Ott for a bag of pucks. You have to think long and hard about trading one or both of Oshie and Berglund. Though I think you're going to lose value on that trade.

Somehow we need to inject some guts into this team. I've always been a Backes fan, but that cross check has me questioning if he's the right captain moving forward. I don't know. I'm just at a loss to figure out why the [expletive] we can't make it out of the first round, while teams like Minnesota and Calgary with half the talent can move on with ease. We're not even the Sharks at this point--at least they could get past the first round.

[slide_into_first]

The press conference was disappointing. It seemed like they don't get it although they say they do. As if they could keep the same players and coach and get a different result next time.

[Popeye_Card]

The press conference was disappointing. It seemed like they don't get it although they say they do. As if they could keep the same players and coach and get a different result next time.

At the same time, what can you expect at this point? They could have publicly dismissed Hitchcock. Player moves can't be made yet, and I'm not sure why you would come out and say, "We're not going to resign players X and Y, and we are certain to be trading player Z." Fans want them to set a tone or something, but just as you probably can't just try again with the same roster and expect different results, you can also assume that come next spring when the Blues are in a tight playoff game, the players aren't going to think, "hey, remember that press conference last year? Army sounded mad! We better score some goals!", and they go score a bunch of goals.

[AJ]

I think we just need to move the goalposts, lets go all in next year on winning the President's trophy. I think that is within reach, keep the pedal to the metal in the regular season with the anticipation of forfeiting the first round of the playoffs, win the presidents trophy, and throw a parade.

I just feel like Charlie Brown kicking the football with this team (same feeling I have with the Bears in the NFL).

Again, I am just glad I have the Cardinals (and 90's Bulls memories) to wash away all the letdowns from my other favorite teams.