Post Presser Thoughts

[Blue Sabbath]

My take on the press conference.

- The interviewers would ask the same questions in the same way to a 5th-grade pom-pom squad that lost on the last pom-pom throw. Don't want to offend any girl/Mom is more important than getting answers that people want to know. It's BluesTalk on youtube. I can see now that I will never be out there firing questions.

- Love Cam Fowler. He is as intelligent, committed, and confident in the interview as he was on the ice. If they could somehow find a young Fowler, I would be the happiest guy in the world. If I'm going to lose a high draft pick because of a veteran that fixes holes, I'm glad it is Fowler.

- Love Binnington. He is as much St Louis as Toasted Ravioli. We need to get back to the Cup because we have a goalie gem.

- I thought that Schenn sounded like he knows that he won't be coming back. Kinda sad, but I hope that it is for the best for everyone. I can see where Schenn could be relied on for good kick in whoever's A___ was needed. I later noticed that Army didn't say that Schenn will be back as Captain. Schenn is gone.

- Monty/Army said that major planned success is getting 5% better in 2025/6 ?!!!! Wow, that's reassuring! On the comedy side, it does jive with my stance that there is not much difference in win % between the winningest and the losingest team. Make a note everyone. "Tanking" henceforth means getting about 10% worse.

- I want to see a small leash on Armstrong to avoid his big mistakes. Armstrong needs the tight leash a lot more than Bolduc.

- Armstrong is still selling his snake oil. He wants to be critiqued only about wins/losses, not the overall health of the roster. Can't believe that the interviewers let him skate that way. Next year, just ask him if we improved 5% on winning meaningless regular season games. So infuriating. Armstrong is who he is because the St Louis Media enables the sissified handling of our GM. I wish that I could tear into his hide.

- Per Armstrong, ratchet down your Dvorsky expectations, folks. He's looking more like Perunovich than Ovechkin now. Disappointing. The longer it takes for a player to make it to the NHL, the less of an impact he will have when/if he gets there.

Good stuff. Nothing unexpected except Schenn and your opinion on Dvorsky. What kind of return can Schenn bring?

[STL fan in MN]

After the presser, Army went on the radio as well:
https://www.youtube.com/live/FYn0xfLxv ... n9VfAeQcN

-Said a lot of the same things. Wants to go out and find another 200 ft scoring forward. My interpretation is he wants a 2C…or at least a 3C.

-Wouldn’t trade a prospect for a 1 year player. Would need to be someone that’d be here at least a few years.

-Aim for next year is to be in the top half of the middle third of the league. My take: they finished 14th out of 32 teams this season so top half of the middle third is when they’re at already.

-Talked about progression. Had 16th overall pick last year, 19th this year. Goal of course is to have the 32nd overall pick but he’d be happy if we had the 24th overall next season. My take: that’d be the 9th best team in the league…which is better than top half of the middle third. Guy needs to verify his math before spitting out these talking points but overall, what he says makes sense.

Sounds like we’re likely to return with mostly the same group but he’s going to try to make a couple adds. I forget which player said it this morning but they talked about this run making STL a higher consideration for UFAs and that’s true.

[Blue Sabbath]

I thought it was a good presser.

-Said Holloway had surgery but didn’t say exactly what it was but that he’d be ready for camp.

-Said Tucker’s injury was non-surgical in nature but that he would’ve been out for the entire playoffs.

-Both Army and Monty kept talking about the team getting 5% better. How we went from a 92 pt team last year to a 96 pt team this year and next year they need to do another 5%. Sounds like the internal goal is to be about a 100 pt team next season.

-Army talked of having already having a discussion with Faksa. Said a good team needs to retain good players. But also talked about having a number of guys coming up. Sounds like he’d like to re-sign Faksa but we’ll see.

-Fowler loves it here and found the system Monty uses fits his game to a T. Loves how Monty has the D play. Would absolutely be open to an extension.

-Said he doesn’t expect Krug to ever play again. Then gave the curtesy response that both he and Krug hope he’s wrong but that’s the expectation as of today.

-Said he was happy with Bolduc. Bolduc worked through some typical rookie mistakes but he was given a leash. That leash will get shorter next season and he won’t be afforded as many of those types of mistakes. Said that Snuggerud would have the sort of leash next season that Bolduc had this season.

-Said they’re looking to improve their 200 ft offensive game. Not sure if that means internally improve or bring someone else in. Probably both but obviously he doesn’t even know what all outside players will be available via trade or last to UFA status.

-Kerber asked him about Stenberg, Kaskimaki and Peterson. He praised all 3. Said Stenberg came in and did excellent for a 19 yr old in a man’s league. Said the pro schedule was eye opening for him as the travel just isn’t that intense in Sweden (which makes sense as a lot of the teams over there aren’t too far apart from each other). He really praised Kaskimaki. Basically said he’s one of his favorites. Compared him to Steen without the top offensive ability. Really likes Kaskimaki’s ability to understand the game. Said he could absolutely get games with the Blues next season if he does what he needs to (I took this to mean working on his game and doing his offseason training as he’s been instructed). He praised Peterson as well. Said Chris Thorburn has been in his corner from the beginning. Compared him to Torpo which I agree with. Said he’s a guy they could likely throw into the lineup and he likely wouldn’t look out of place. Kerbs then asked about Buchinger. Army tried to be polite and say it’s tough for a rookie d-man. Said the jury is still out on Buchinger. My take: Buchinger had a rough rookie season to the level that I now question if he has much of an NHL future. This summer and next season will be huge for him if he wants to make it.

I must admit I'm disappointed the media didn't ask about my Oreo prospects, specifically Stancl, Pecarcik (?), Jiricek, and Dean. I don't understand how Kaskimaki and Buchinger are hit topics.

[Bluesfan1978]

After the presser, Army went on the radio as well:
https://www.youtube.com/live/FYn0xfLxv ... n9VfAeQcN

-Said a lot of the same things. Wants to go out and find another 200 ft scoring forward. My interpretation is he wants a 2C…or at least a 3C.

-Wouldn’t trade a prospect for a 1 year player. Would need to be someone that’d be here at least a few years.

-Aim for next year is to be in the top half of the middle third of the league. My take: they finished 14th out of 32 teams this season so top half of the middle third is when they’re at already.

-Talked about progression. Had 16th overall pick last year, 19th this year. Goal of course is to have the 32nd overall pick but he’d be happy if we had the 24th overall next season. My take: that’d be the 9th best team in the league…which is better than top half of the middle third. Guy needs to verify his math before spitting out these talking points but overall, what he says makes sense.

Sounds like we’re likely to return with mostly the same group but he’s going to try to make a couple adds. I forget which player said it this morning but they talked about this run making STL a higher consideration for UFAs and that’s true.

Buch and Thomas talked about the winning making the team a more desirable place to play.

[STL fan in MN]

I thought it was a good presser.

-Said Holloway had surgery but didn’t say exactly what it was but that he’d be ready for camp.

-Said Tucker’s injury was non-surgical in nature but that he would’ve been out for the entire playoffs.

-Both Army and Monty kept talking about the team getting 5% better. How we went from a 92 pt team last year to a 96 pt team this year and next year they need to do another 5%. Sounds like the internal goal is to be about a 100 pt team next season.

-Army talked of having already having a discussion with Faksa. Said a good team needs to retain good players. But also talked about having a number of guys coming up. Sounds like he’d like to re-sign Faksa but we’ll see.

-Fowler loves it here and found the system Monty uses fits his game to a T. Loves how Monty has the D play. Would absolutely be open to an extension.

-Said he doesn’t expect Krug to ever play again. Then gave the curtesy response that both he and Krug hope he’s wrong but that’s the expectation as of today.

-Said he was happy with Bolduc. Bolduc worked through some typical rookie mistakes but he was given a leash. That leash will get shorter next season and he won’t be afforded as many of those types of mistakes. Said that Snuggerud would have the sort of leash next season that Bolduc had this season.

-Said they’re looking to improve their 200 ft offensive game. Not sure if that means internally improve or bring someone else in. Probably both but obviously he doesn’t even know what all outside players will be available via trade or last to UFA status.

-Kerber asked him about Stenberg, Kaskimaki and Peterson. He praised all 3. Said Stenberg came in and did excellent for a 19 yr old in a man’s league. Said the pro schedule was eye opening for him as the travel just isn’t that intense in Sweden (which makes sense as a lot of the teams over there aren’t too far apart from each other). He really praised Kaskimaki. Basically said he’s one of his favorites. Compared him to Steen without the top offensive ability. Really likes Kaskimaki’s ability to understand the game. Said he could absolutely get games with the Blues next season if he does what he needs to (I took this to mean working on his game and doing his offseason training as he’s been instructed). He praised Peterson as well. Said Chris Thorburn has been in his corner from the beginning. Compared him to Torpo which I agree with. Said he’s a guy they could likely throw into the lineup and he likely wouldn’t look out of place. Kerbs then asked about Buchinger. Army tried to be polite and say it’s tough for a rookie d-man. Said the jury is still out on Buchinger. My take: Buchinger had a rough rookie season to the level that I now question if he has much of an NHL future. This summer and next season will be huge for him if he wants to make it.

I must admit I'm disappointed the media didn't ask about my Oreo prospects, specifically Stancl, Pecarcik (?), Jiricek, and Dean. I don't understand how Kaskimaki and Buchinger are hit topics.

I found it a little odd those were the 4 he was asked about. Army simply answered the questions he was asked. Then again, I’m sure the end of the NHL season was mainly what was on the mind of the media so not surprised they didn’t ask my prospect questions. He’ll get a ton of prospect questions when they do their prospect camp in July.

[DawgDad]

I thought it was a good presser.

-Said Holloway had surgery but didn’t say exactly what it was but that he’d be ready for camp.

-Said Tucker’s injury was non-surgical in nature but that he would’ve been out for the entire playoffs.

-Both Army and Monty kept talking about the team getting 5% better. How we went from a 92 pt team last year to a 96 pt team this year and next year they need to do another 5%. Sounds like the internal goal is to be about a 100 pt team next season.

-Army talked of having already having a discussion with Faksa. Said a good team needs to retain good players. But also talked about having a number of guys coming up. Sounds like he’d like to re-sign Faksa but we’ll see.

-Fowler loves it here and found the system Monty uses fits his game to a T. Loves how Monty has the D play. Would absolutely be open to an extension.

-Said he doesn’t expect Krug to ever play again. Then gave the curtesy response that both he and Krug hope he’s wrong but that’s the expectation as of today.

-Said he was happy with Bolduc. Bolduc worked through some typical rookie mistakes but he was given a leash. That leash will get shorter next season and he won’t be afforded as many of those types of mistakes. Said that Snuggerud would have the sort of leash next season that Bolduc had this season.

-Said they’re looking to improve their 200 ft offensive game. Not sure if that means internally improve or bring someone else in. Probably both but obviously he doesn’t even know what all outside players will be available via trade or last to UFA status.

-Kerber asked him about Stenberg, Kaskimaki and Peterson. He praised all 3. Said Stenberg came in and did excellent for a 19 yr old in a man’s league. Said the pro schedule was eye opening for him as the travel just isn’t that intense in Sweden (which makes sense as a lot of the teams over there aren’t too far apart from each other). He really praised Kaskimaki. Basically said he’s one of his favorites. Compared him to Steen without the top offensive ability. Really likes Kaskimaki’s ability to understand the game. Said he could absolutely get games with the Blues next season if he does what he needs to (I took this to mean working on his game and doing his offseason training as he’s been instructed). He praised Peterson as well. Said Chris Thorburn has been in his corner from the beginning. Compared him to Torpo which I agree with. Said he’s a guy they could likely throw into the lineup and he likely wouldn’t look out of place. Kerbs then asked about Buchinger. Army tried to be polite and say it’s tough for a rookie d-man. Said the jury is still out on Buchinger. My take: Buchinger had a rough rookie season to the level that I now question if he has much of an NHL future. This summer and next season will be huge for him if he wants to make it.

I must admit I'm disappointed the media didn't ask about my Oreo prospects, specifically Stancl, Pecarcik (?), Jiricek, and Dean. I don't understand how Kaskimaki and Buchinger are hit topics.

I found it a little odd those were the 4 he was asked about. Army simply answered the questions he was asked. Then again, I’m sure the end of the NHL season was mainly what was on the mind of the media so not surprised they didn’t ask my prospect questions. He’ll get a ton of prospect questions when they do their prospect camp in July.

Really, though, the media guy probably doesn't consider Stancl, Pecarcik. Jiricek, or even Dean on the cusp of the NHL.

[STL fan in MN]

I thought it was a good presser.

-Said Holloway had surgery but didn’t say exactly what it was but that he’d be ready for camp.

-Said Tucker’s injury was non-surgical in nature but that he would’ve been out for the entire playoffs.

-Both Army and Monty kept talking about the team getting 5% better. How we went from a 92 pt team last year to a 96 pt team this year and next year they need to do another 5%. Sounds like the internal goal is to be about a 100 pt team next season.

-Army talked of having already having a discussion with Faksa. Said a good team needs to retain good players. But also talked about having a number of guys coming up. Sounds like he’d like to re-sign Faksa but we’ll see.

-Fowler loves it here and found the system Monty uses fits his game to a T. Loves how Monty has the D play. Would absolutely be open to an extension.

-Said he doesn’t expect Krug to ever play again. Then gave the curtesy response that both he and Krug hope he’s wrong but that’s the expectation as of today.

-Said he was happy with Bolduc. Bolduc worked through some typical rookie mistakes but he was given a leash. That leash will get shorter next season and he won’t be afforded as many of those types of mistakes. Said that Snuggerud would have the sort of leash next season that Bolduc had this season.

-Said they’re looking to improve their 200 ft offensive game. Not sure if that means internally improve or bring someone else in. Probably both but obviously he doesn’t even know what all outside players will be available via trade or last to UFA status.

-Kerber asked him about Stenberg, Kaskimaki and Peterson. He praised all 3. Said Stenberg came in and did excellent for a 19 yr old in a man’s league. Said the pro schedule was eye opening for him as the travel just isn’t that intense in Sweden (which makes sense as a lot of the teams over there aren’t too far apart from each other). He really praised Kaskimaki. Basically said he’s one of his favorites. Compared him to Steen without the top offensive ability. Really likes Kaskimaki’s ability to understand the game. Said he could absolutely get games with the Blues next season if he does what he needs to (I took this to mean working on his game and doing his offseason training as he’s been instructed). He praised Peterson as well. Said Chris Thorburn has been in his corner from the beginning. Compared him to Torpo which I agree with. Said he’s a guy they could likely throw into the lineup and he likely wouldn’t look out of place. Kerbs then asked about Buchinger. Army tried to be polite and say it’s tough for a rookie d-man. Said the jury is still out on Buchinger. My take: Buchinger had a rough rookie season to the level that I now question if he has much of an NHL future. This summer and next season will be huge for him if he wants to make it.

I must admit I'm disappointed the media didn't ask about my Oreo prospects, specifically Stancl, Pecarcik (?), Jiricek, and Dean. I don't understand how Kaskimaki and Buchinger are hit topics.

I found it a little odd those were the 4 he was asked about. Army simply answered the questions he was asked. Then again, I’m sure the end of the NHL season was mainly what was on the mind of the media so not surprised they didn’t ask my prospect questions. He’ll get a ton of prospect questions when they do their prospect camp in July.

Really, though, the media guy probably doesn't consider Stancl, Pecarcik. Jiricek, or even Dean on the cusp of the NHL.

To clarify, it was Chris Kerber asking that particular question. I have no idea what angle he was getting at but you could very well be right in that he was specifically asking about guys he considered more likely to step into the NHL lineup sooner than later and not necessarily the top ones.

[FunSeeker]

My question is WHEN did Holloway have surgery? And surgery for WHAT?
The big secret of the playoffs keeping people guessing is over. Tell us some details on him. Tucker too.

[stryker16]

After the presser, Army went on the radio as well:
https://www.youtube.com/live/FYn0xfLxv ... n9VfAeQcN

-Aim for next year is to be in the top half of the middle third of the league. My take: they finished 14th out of 32 teams this season so top half of the middle third is when they’re at already.

-Talked about progression. Had 16th overall pick last year, 19th this year. Goal of course is to have the 32nd overall pick but he’d be happy if we had the 24th overall next season. My take: that’d be the 9th best team in the league…which is better than top half of the middle third. Guy needs to verify his math before spitting out these talking points but overall, what he says makes sense.

Sounds like we’re likely to return with mostly the same group but he’s going to try to make a couple adds. I forget which player said it this morning but they talked about this run making STL a higher consideration for UFAs and that’s true.

Wouldn’t that just mean he wants /expects a similar or slightly improved regular season record and advancing a round or two in playoffs?

[JoshInFenton]

So while not very forthcoming, i would wager the following on the injuries:

Tuckers injury is either an ACL strain, Torn Meniscus that still has good blood flow, or PCL tear from what was said. those range from 1-2 months to 3-4 months and do not require surgery. This assumes the knee was the issue, which is what it looked like live.

Holloway my guess would be if it was surgery and it was in his side, it was a Torn Oblique, usual recovery time would be 2-4 months pending severity and exact location. There are some other things it could be, but that'd be near the top of my list given how he was looking going off the ice and where he pointed.

As far as everything else, i'm mostly ok with what was said/asked, though some of the questions i would've asked were not brought up

[STL fan in MN]

So while not very forthcoming, i would wager the following on the injuries:

Tuckers injury is either an ACL strain, Torn Meniscus that still has good blood flow, or PCL tear from what was said. those range from 1-2 months to 3-4 months and do not require surgery. This assumes the knee was the issue, which is what it looked like live.

Holloway my guess would be if it was surgery and it was in his side, it was a Torn Oblique, usual recovery time would be 2-4 months pending severity and exact location. There are some other things it could be, but that'd be near the top of my list given how he was looking going off the ice and where he pointed.

As far as everything else, i'm mostly ok with what was said/asked, though some of the questions i would've asked were not brought up

Sounds reasonable for Tucker. But Strick and Korac have both said it was Hollway’s left hip now. Exactly what procedure he had done on his left hip idk but that’s what’s being reported.

[a smell of green grass]

Good stuff. Nothing unexpected except Schenn and your opinion on Dvorsky. What kind of return can Schenn bring?

I could be wrong on Schenn and Armstrong, but I sensed a mutual falling out between he and Armstrong during both of their comments.

Regarding value of Schenn, I don't know. For a playoff team needing grit, determination and the willingness to hit anything that moves, Schenn would be a great add. Mostly, I feel sorry for Schenn. Armstrong treated him dirty IMO. Asking a guy to release on his NTC is a Jackax move, and I couldn't look him in the face either. I don't think Schenn appreciate Armstrong's epic "results aren't changing" comments. If he went to the press before asking the Captain his thoughts, that would be super irritating as well.

I hope too that I read Armstrong wrong on Dvorsky, but I'm not going pretend that I didn't hear a "problem". Armstrong said NOTHING about Dvorsky being close to ready, and the fact that we need a 2C badly, it all stinks.

Over and above everything, I'm just 10000% disgusted with Army. All he is promising is that we are moving to "5% better", and "hosting a playoff game". Wow. Just wow. That means that he knows that the holes in the roster are way too big too fill to compete for a Cup any time soon, and his grand solution is to just "get into the playoffs every year" and then constantly check the trade wires. Just absolutely disgusting.

What Army should have said...

Dvorsky is great and ready, and we are going to plug him into 2C next year, and I think we are going to win a Cup because that was a key missing piece. He didn't say 1 of those 20 simple words.

[sdaltons]

Dvorsky is great and ready, and we are going to plug him into 2C next year, and I think we are going to win a Cup because that was a key missing piece. He didn't say 1 of those 20 simple words.

Yep it's always good to put as much pressure as possible on your 19 year old prospect. Especially while guaranteeing him a spot on the roster, which potentially gives him less motivation to work hard this summer.

[a smell of green grass]

Dvorsky is great and ready, and we are going to plug him into 2C next year, and I think we are going to win a Cup because that was a key missing piece. He didn't say 1 of those 20 simple words.

Yep it's always good to put as much pressure as possible on your 19 year old prospect. Especially while guaranteeing him a spot on the roster, which potentially gives him less motivation to work hard this summer.

Oh, I didn't know Dvorsky's mom was on here. Sorry, mam.

Let's do it this way instead. Let's dust off the old "welcome to the NHL manual - Scott Perunovich". Let's wait 8 years to find out what we have, and then if it doesn't work out, let's arrange a presser to blow kisses to the leaving train.

[Bubble4427]

Dvorsky is great and ready, and we are going to plug him into 2C next year, and I think we are going to win a Cup because that was a key missing piece. He didn't say 1 of those 20 simple words.

Yep it's always good to put as much pressure as possible on your 19 year old prospect. Especially while guaranteeing him a spot on the roster, which potentially gives him less motivation to work hard this summer.

Oh, I didn't know Dvorsky's mom was on here. Sorry, mam.

Let's do it this way instead. Let's dust off the old "welcome to the NHL manual - Scott Perunovich". Let's wait 8 years to find out what we have, and then if it doesn't work out, let's arrange a presser to blow kisses to the leaving train.

Bomac, is that you?
DA broke you long ago.
Too funny.

[sdaltons]

Welp I tried to help it understand how these things actually work but I can see it didn't take. Oh well.

Wonder how long until it quits and then comes back right away again. It has no integrity but can't understand why people won't take it seriously.