Hey, Andy Murray, Come On In, We Need To Talk.

If Murray gets fired……Who would take his place…and is qualified to take his place…?

1. They just picked up his option for next year right before the season started. You think they’ve changed their mind on him that quickly? Granted, a one year option isn’t exactly a huge vote of confidence, but it’s still something that says they think he’s earned a season beyond this one.

2. I’m still of the belief that the team isn’t in a great position to pay a fired coach the rest of this year and next plus his assistants (if they make changes) and a new coach and his assistants. That’s still a concern, me thinks.

Wait until Christmas/New Years. If we aren’t four games above .500 and scoring with more consistency by then, then we need to make a move. That’s a twelve game trial; if things don’t improve and drop off significantly, shit goes down, and by shit, I mean the Green Goblin.
If we win tonight, we’ll be tied for 4th in our division, with a game in hand on Detroit and only a win behind them. I doubt we’ll move up too much in 12 games, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we were in a playoff position (8th or so in the West) by then.

We’re on the brink – a competent offense and we have a very good shot at making the western conference playoffs.

But right now we don’t have a competent offense, and an abyssmal PP.

I just can’t help but notice. I’ve seen all but about 4 of the Blues games this year, and in almost every one, something sticks in my mind: our offense looks spastic, unorganized, talentless, inconsisent, and ineffective compared to almost every other team we play. It always looks like nothing is set up – we’re just scrambling around trying to grab a dumped puck, throwing some bad-angle shot on goal (or missing the goal entirely)…while the other team has good motion, good cycling, one-timers with people to clean-up teh rebounds, effective screens, etc.

I just refuse to believe that’s ALL the players’ fault. Something ain’t right.

Almost brought a tear to my eye… poor kids.

john stevens, we have the players to play physical, and i think a 2nd chance for stevens would get him into shape with focusing on offense that and CAM SMASH would get more then 2 seconds of ice time

GameFace represent

AM will get the axe for the same reason Coach Q did. The whole team is underperforming. And you can’t fire the whole team.

Trust me on this one. Murray is going no where. Berglund gets moved before AM.

I’m not saying this is all your fault. In fact, most of it is me.

It’s not you, it’s me. - Brilliant!

This will be all over the soaps, y’know.

- Willem Dafoe totally into it, check.
- Players into it, check.
- Players looking tired, check.
- Teen girls enjoying Dippin’ Dots. DOUBLE CHECK.

Welcome to St. Louis BLUUUUUUUUES Hockey.

AM just needs to realize that after you teach responsability you have to show faith. He taught the kids to take care of their own end now let them perform. It’s frustrating to see creative and talented players standing flat-footed in the neutral zone. They are at their best when they are down a goal and have nothing to lose. Up a goal it’s a whole different team. That’s why we can’t close out a game. And can we please put a leash on the goalies so that they stay in the net. I can’t count how many times the D-man gets cut-off 2 feet from the puck and it creates confusion.

After that it’s mutiny in the stands. His strawberries will be the least of Capt. Quig’s worries.

I don’t know anything about coaching a hockey club. So I’m hesitant to call for AM to get he axe.

Furthermore, I’m generally a fan of his. I like him, for what that’s worth, from seeing him on TV and running into him in the real world twice (once in Sweden, once in St. Louis).

Is there anything actually wrong with him or his coaching? Or are we just searching for something, anything to change out of frustration that something isn’t clicking? Sure, maybe that “something” is the coaching, but maybe that’s just where we’ve gotten because we can’t single out one single player to blame, can’t figure out how to blame everyone and get anything to go better, and can’t figure out a trade that would seem to help things.

Maybe that’s just the way it goes, if you feel you’ve got the right pieces but aren’t getting the results, can the coach. I dunno, I haven’t followed the coaching side of things too closely in the past.

So anyway, I share frustration and feel something needs to be done, especially after Checketts’ come-to-Jesus talk didn’t seem to get them there. But I’m not sold that calling the headsman for AM is the answer.

So in summary – I love Andy Murray but I’m not sure I’m in love with him anymore?

I think that Andy sees his success with the style of hockey we played at the end of the season. It is logical to try to continue that and succeed as a team the way they were able to. However, that was when our young players were overly “green”. there is no arguing that they are still young, not strong as most, and going through a learning process. This “learning process” is pivotal to my point. Do we want these kids to learn dump and chase hockey, I know it is effective to get behind the defensemen, when you have a slightly unskilled team in terms of offense. It is time to shift the system to a more aggressive style, too many players seem complacent on putting the puck into their end and getting fresh legs out there. There is no hunger, there is no thirst for blood. We need to play, not only 60 minutes of hockey, but 60 minutes of playing to win, instead of playing not to lose. Sorry for the long post, just a thought ive had for some time now and this seemed like a good time to spout out

and he seemed to have the same arc as we’re looking at here. Takes a young team with some leadership that couldn’t get shit done on the ice. After a year or two with AM, they rise to the challenge, make a little of themselves (the playoffs) and then drop right back off. I kind of hoped this wasn’t going to happen here.

I would give AM longer than New Year’s. I didn’t see the Avalanche game at all, but up until then, we’d been playing a fairly decent stretch of hockey. Maybe not great. But, as Special Agent Dale Cooper might say, “Damn good!”

There has not really been a hammer dropped this year, you know. Maybe Technoviking needs to go to Peoria for a stint so we can give Technoviking 2 (Lars Eller) more than one game to make an impression.

I do agree with Gallgher’s comment that the kids need consistency. AM’s not shuffling the lines on a game-by-game basis. It’s shift by shift! Nobody can learn where anyone will be without regular, consistent time together. Leave them be and realize that no one ends a cold streak in two shifts.