Blues News #4

By Andrew Allsman| Posted: November 9th, 2011| Contact 

Photo by: TSNPhotography

Time for another edition of "Blues news"...talking Hitchcock, team sale, injuries, and more.

"Hitch" makes an immediate impact

Everyone had their own opinion of the new Blues coach: Ken Hitchcock when it was announced Sunday that Davis Payne had been relieved of his head coaching duties, but regardless of of opinions, Hitchcock seems to have had quite an impact on the young Blues team.

Obviously teams seem to always play well for a while when a new coach takes over, so is the 3-0 win against the Blackhawks something to get excited about?

I think so and here's why...

I saw some things in Tuesday night's game that I didnt think I was ever going to see with the Notes.

No dump and Chase??

The Blues surprised me on Tuesday night because they actually got creative with the puck.  Shattenkirk had several nifty passes at the blue line that assisted in several Blues goals where normally the Blues would be trying to gain control of the puck after dumping it in....creativity pays off.

Backchecking

I cannot recall a time when I saw the Blues play a more sound defensive game.  The first two periods it seemed like nothing was getting by the Blues defense and then in the 3rd, under pressure, the Blues were able to hold off the Hawks....which brings me to my next point.

Halak got a shutout??

Obviously the defense played outstandingly,(as mentioned above) which helps out goaltenders dramatically, but I saw a different Halak in that game.  Is this because of the accountability Armstronf was emphasizing for team to take, or was this a fluke...hopefully not the latter of the two.

Needless to say, I hope we see more of this style of Blues hockey...Keep it up "Hitch"


Injuries

Scott Nichol- After leaving Tuesday's game early with an upper-body injury, it appears Nichol is OK and is expected to participate in Thursday night's game against the Maple Leafs.

Andy McDonald- Andy Strickland wrote an article earlier on truehockey.com that said McDonald is slowly progressing, but as we all know, it could be a while before McDonald is back with the Blues

David Perron- Still practicing with the "no contact" red jersey...if all goes as planned, I would expect him back in late November-early December.

Kent Huskins- Huskins has now missed 4 games with a bruised ankle....his status is expected to be updated soon.


Chorney

The Blues placed Taylor Chorney on waivers today.  The Blues have to wait 48 hrs to see if Chorney is claimed by another NHL team.  If he clears Waivers (highly unlikely) he will be sent to the minors.


Cole Impresses Hitchcock

Cole played his first game with the Blues this season on Tuesday night after being called up Sunday.  This game just so happened to be Hitchcock's fist game coaching as well...here's what he had to say about Cole:

"I didn't know anything about him and he just looked like an NHL player. To me, we've got to go further and deeper with it. But he was strong and won a lot of one-on-ones. I liked that he was comfortable moving the puck in the middle of the ice, rather than just banging it off the boards and getting it out. He made plays that really got us out of trouble. That was good stuff."

Pretty flattering statement coming from a guy who has coached a lot of great players if I may say so myself


Note: Not much new news on the ownership front, will update on Twitter when there is something substantial to share....for more news follow @andystrickland


Quotes taken from STLtoday article: link