The Blues' recent play has people wondering if a major "shake-up" is needed.
The Blues have not been playing the kind of hockey that should be associated with a team of this caliber. Yes, injuries do seem to plague this team, but regardless, this team is not performing.
If you have been following the team via Twitter, than you know that fans are disappointed in this team and the majority of blame is being placed on the coaching staff.
Should fans blame the coaching staff?
I think fans have every right to blame the coaches. GM Doug Armstrong did a fantastic job in the offseason of putting together the best team the Blues have had in a while. Obviously the coaches cant play the game for the players, but they certainly are a huge part of what happens on and off the ice.
Special Teams are a major area of concern
Obviously the special teams are the biggest concern for the team right now. It is hard to win if your special teams fail you and right now that is a problem the Blues are facing. The Blues are dead last in the league with a pitiful 8.3% conversion rating on the PP. The PK for the Blues holds the 28th spot, killing only 72.2% of opponents powerplays.
So whats going on with the PK?
I have noticed the Blues have broken the #1 rule for a good PK....Don't take penalties!!! This year the Blues have taken a lot of stupid, and unnecessary penalties, and its killed them. It is a given that a team will take penalties, but the Blues need to become more disciplined and take fewer unnecessary penalties.
My next observation about the PK is that its often unable to get the puck out of the zone, which is obviously a key when a team is on the penalty kill. Obviously once you get on the PK, you have to be able to get the puck out of your zone. This is something the Blues haven't quite mastered this year to say the least.
On to the PP...
The powerplay for the Blues, is probably the most agitating for Blues fans. Yes, even more so than Halak. Ive already given the stats for the PP, so what are the coaches doing to fix it?
Everyone I talk to says that the Blues spend a vast amount of time in practice working on the PP. The last few games, it looked a little bit better, but they have to get the conversion rate up.
Who is to blame for the Special teams?
The majority of the Blues losses have come due to their disappointing special teams numbers. I really don't want to point fingers, because I'm not at practices or in the locker room, so I'm going to just throw out a name...Ray Bennett. Bennett is (from what I understand) the architect of the PP. Obviously Payne has a say in it, but I don't believe he is the cause of the problem. Not to say that I think Bennett is the problem, but whenever you are in charge of a certain group its your job to accomplish a certain task, and if you don't, then the blame falls on you.
So will we see some dismissals?
Its honestly too early to jump to a conclusion of that sort, but with the team not playing to their full potential, it is certainly something that could happen. Obviously Payne is the head coach and he will receive a majority of the blame, but I'm not so sure he deserves it. I don't mean to say that its any one person's fault, and obviously I don't want to see anyone fired, but the team is not producing like they were expected to and change may be needed.
What effect does Hulsizer add?
Hulsizer is a man that is very knowledgeable when it comes to hockey (see full article on Hulsizer here), so if/when he takes over, he will have an idea of whats not "clicking" and will make the changes necessary. So it is definitely something the coaching staff (and players) will be thinking about.
This upcoming homestand will be a big one for the Blues and especially for the coaching staff, so lets see what happens before we single out someone to assign the blame to.