By Brad Lee
What will back-to-back demoralizing losses to the Nashville predators get you? Tied for four spots out of the playoffs.
Look, we know that the Blues were not an elite team coming into this year. And we pretty much knew that getting to the playoffs was going to be a long, difficult fight. But that's the problem, the Blues don't seem to have a whole lot of fight.
Let's face some facts.
Fact 1: When Manny Legace doesn't have a very high level of play, the Blues will likely struggle.
Fact 2: There is not enough reliable scoring depth on this team. Yes, we're looking at you Tkachuk, Backes, Perron, Stempniak et al.
Fact 3: There's still time. Two of the teams directly in front of the Blues are Nashville and Columbus, teams they still have games against.
Fact 4: This team could do something before the trade deadline. What that something is, we have no friggin' clue.
Fact 5: The fan base, even though we've lived through two years of shit, is impatient. Deserved or not, some fans are pushing the panic button.
Part of the problem is inconsistent effort. In the last two seasons, the Blues have gotten a jump from bringing up a couple of young players who have the incentive to impress the franchise. The Blues need to find some source of urgency. And the more they struggle, the more likely it is at least one or more free agents to be will be shipped out. Davidson's done it before, he'll do it again.
The Blues have some young guys read for a look with Charles Linglet and that one Russian dude who hates defensemen. Trent Whitfield or Glumac could do what Dan Hinote is doing. There are options.
So faithful reader, if you had the keys to this team, what would you do -- within reason. Anybody who says something absurd like, "I'd trade Ryan Johnson and a seventh round pick for Patrick Marleau" will be made fun of for a month.
UPDATE: Andy Murray is pissed. Here's what he told the Post-Dispatch after the game Monday:
"One thing I told them … I don't want to read in the paper tomorrow that you don't have confidence," Murray said. "You're in the National Hockey League and you're a part of the St. Louis Blues. You know how to play well. We need you to play well.
"If you don't have confidence, which I don't think that's a word … it's just an excuse word … if that's how you feel, then come and tell me before the game because then I won't play you. I put players on the ice in games that I believe in. I believe that our goalie is going to be good, I believe we're going to be good on the power play. I believe in every single player that we put on the ice.
"Don't give me an excuse word."