What was once thought to only be a crossroad of the 2022-23 season now may have quickly developed into a much larger problem for the St. Louis Blues. As the team is currently regrouping and planning new schemes to break themselves out of a five-game losing skid, general manager Doug Armstrong took to the stage and addressed the media regarding the state of the franchise.
After Blues head coach Craig Berube and the team exited their high-intensity practice at Centene Center in Maryland Heights, the time had come for Armstrong to address the media and deliver his opinion and concerns regarding his NHL squad. One thing that was made clear early in the press conference was a reiteration and belief in not only the system that the team is delivering but in Berube as well.
“I believe in the coach, I believe in the system,” Armstrong said. “This isn’t a system issue, it’s a competitive issue. We have to rectify that. I told the players the coach is not going anywhere because the coach came from the American Hockey League where he coached young players and made them better and he coached veteran players and made them win here. So he can do both.”
Before the press conference, Armstrong met with the players and delivered a reality check, reiterating the state of the club in comparison to the rest of the NHL.
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“We’re in the bottom quartile of anything that matters in the NHL right now and that’s the best we are, is in the bottom quartile. We’re in the bottom 10 percent in quite a few areas too. You look at goals-for, goals-against average, we’re in the bottom. You look at goal differential, we’re in the bottom. Our special teams are not special and so we need to make sure this is ground zero and start making our way up.”
The Blues have currently played 10 percent of their season as of Tuesday night’s (Nov. 1) loss to the Los Angeles Kings. While the season has barely begun, history has shown us that it becomes increasingly difficult to reach the playoffs if a team is not in playoff contention come American Thanksgiving. And though some fans are making comparisons to the Stanley Cup-winning season that saw the team go from last place to champions, this has a different feeling about it.
State of the Blues
It has only been eight games, and the season is still young, but the team has some serious work to do. The Blues currently has four players…
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