What to make of Pronger's comments on 101 Espn

[Harry S Deals]

Basically Pronger says the team has "no identity" and they have to re establish it every year. Im not sure Im buying that although Prongs is one of the voices i would lend most credence too. The core of the team has been here, why would they need to relearn habits and an identity every year? Does Colorado, Dallas, Vegas, Florida, Tampa, Winnepeg, LA? Those teams for instance and others seem to play the same way every night.

Are we saying then that the core of this team needs complete buy in to compete? The Blues have guys with proven track records of NHL production, the Blues could hardly be beat after the 4 Nations tourney, winning in all different ways, but most importantly, playing the right way.

How is it that a veteran group forgets then how to play the right way.


Granted, a key factor in STL now is

Dvorsky 2 NHL Games
Holloway 202 NHL Games
Snuggerud 24 NHL Games
Broberg 186 NHL Games
Mailloux 15 NHL Games
Kessel 73 NHL Games
Hofer 73 NHL Games
Tucker 103 NHL Games


But shouldnt the Blues have enough veteran presence to show the way?

[gpe13579]

Maybe it's not the individual players that don't have an identity but the collective as a team.

Meaning, are the BUILT to be a heavy forecheck team?

Are they BUILT to be a puck possession cycle team?

Are they BUILT to be a fast transition team?

I'm not actually sure. It seems to me you find a style and then build your team around players that actually play that style.

[Harry S Deals]

Maybe it's not the individual players that don't have an identity but the collective as a team.

Meaning, are the BUILT to be a heavy forecheck team?

Are they BUILT to be a puck possession cycle team?

Are they BUILT to be a fast transition team?

I'm not actually sure. It seems to me you find a style and then build your team around players that actually play that style.

Interesting stat during the game the other night, the Blues are last in board battles won. this makes sense with half you top 6 being Kyrou, Buch, Thomas but what about the rest of the team? That speaks to "want to" for me. Maybe too many long term deals, too comfortable? Idk its mystifying

[ratonmono2]

What's the veteran core? Thomas, Parayko, Schenn, Kyrou, Faulk? Out of that crew only Thomas is a standout at his position. Long story short; this squad just lacks high end skill at every position, but there is a good amount of decent players still around too. So if adhering to a gameplan and motivated yes this squad can string together great stretches. But so can any team in the league outside of the absolute worst teams. There isn't an identity because there's nothing about the team that stands out except its mediocre composition.

[BalotelliMassive]

Basically Pronger says the team has "no identity" and they have to re establish it every year.

That's a coaching issue - he's the one with the gameplan and he's the one that constructs the lines to whatever identity they're trying to establish.

[theograce]

Hairy … you need to listen better. I’ve tried to help you for a while now

viewtopic.php?p=13172638&hilit=What+is+ ... #p13172638

[Harry S Deals]

Basically Pronger says the team has "no identity" and they have to re establish it every year.

That's a coaching issue - he's the one with the gameplan and he's the one that constructs the lines to whatever identity they're trying to establish.

But the same core, minus certainly a few guys, a few really green guys could do it the right way for what, 35 games last year but now a Top 10 NHL coach cant get them to do it with a full camp? I dont man, im stymied. For me its the mix of guys, a lot of pass first finesse guys maybe and the tougher guys coming along arent quite snipers ala Neighbours.
Lets hope we see something different tonight

[theograce]

Basically Pronger says the team has "no identity" and they have to re establish it every year.

That's a coaching issue - he's the one with the gameplan and he's the one that constructs the lines to whatever identity they're trying to establish.

Identity is so much more complex than a single variable.

[BalotelliMassive]

Basically Pronger says the team has "no identity" and they have to re establish it every year.

That's a coaching issue - he's the one with the gameplan and he's the one that constructs the lines to whatever identity they're trying to establish.

But the same core, minus certainly a few guys, a few really green guys could do it the right way for what, 35 games last year but now a Top 10 NHL coach cant get them to do it with a full camp? I dont man, im stymied. For me its the mix of guys, a lot of pass first finesse guys maybe and the tougher guys coming along arent quite snipers ala Neighbours.
Lets hope we see something different tonight

Against the Penguins Montgomery started Hofer and then he put the fourth line against Crosby's line to start the game. I believe he rolled the third pair defense after that immediate goal which turned into a 2-0 deficit less than a minute into the game.

I'm not saying he's a bad coach but that's three terrible decisions in a row that made digging out of that hole a lot harder than it had to be. I've seen more terrible coaching decisions in the past three years (all from Chicago) than I have watching for 30+ years so they're easy for me to notice these days.

[Frank Barone]

Basically Pronger says the team has "no identity" and they have to re establish it every year. Im not sure Im buying that although Prongs is one of the voices i would lend most credence too. The core of the team has been here, why would they need to relearn habits and an identity every year? Does Colorado, Dallas, Vegas, Florida, Tampa, Winnepeg, LA? Those teams for instance and others seem to play the same way every night.

Are we saying then that the core of this team needs complete buy in to compete? The Blues have guys with proven track records of NHL production, the Blues could hardly be beat after the 4 Nations tourney, winning in all different ways, but most importantly, playing the right way.

How is it that a veteran group forgets then how to play the right way.


Granted, a key factor in STL now is

Dvorsky 2 NHL Games
Holloway 202 NHL Games
Snuggerud 24 NHL Games
Broberg 186 NHL Games
Mailloux 15 NHL Games
Kessel 73 NHL Games
Hofer 73 NHL Games
Tucker 103 NHL Games


But shouldnt the Blues have enough veteran presence to show the way?

Did Pronger say what he thinks the identity should be?

[Harry S Deals]

Basically Pronger says the team has "no identity" and they have to re establish it every year. Im not sure Im buying that although Prongs is one of the voices i would lend most credence too. The core of the team has been here, why would they need to relearn habits and an identity every year? Does Colorado, Dallas, Vegas, Florida, Tampa, Winnepeg, LA? Those teams for instance and others seem to play the same way every night.

Are we saying then that the core of this team needs complete buy in to compete? The Blues have guys with proven track records of NHL production, the Blues could hardly be beat after the 4 Nations tourney, winning in all different ways, but most importantly, playing the right way.

How is it that a veteran group forgets then how to play the right way.


Granted, a key factor in STL now is

Dvorsky 2 NHL Games
Holloway 202 NHL Games
Snuggerud 24 NHL Games
Broberg 186 NHL Games
Mailloux 15 NHL Games
Kessel 73 NHL Games
Hofer 73 NHL Games
Tucker 103 NHL Games


But shouldnt the Blues have enough veteran presence to show the way?

Did Pronger say what he thinks the identity should be?

They are supposed to be a forechecking, skilled team

[dhsux]

I did not hear his comments, so there's that.

But I would think "identity" covers multiple necessary facets of the game that this team is presently not performing. He's simply stating the obvious about this team right now, in my view.

The teams you referenced as teams with identity....of course they have to come out and reestablish those work habits each and every year, right? It's not automatically gonna happen.

Maybe I'm missing some hidden messages here but to me he's stating hockey 101.

[a smell of green grass]

Teams that are on their way up exhibit improvement next season. The young guys mature and get stronger etc. Players develop more rapport. That is how teams get continually better. It's as simple as that.

I don't buy this Army (and now Pronger) story about each year the team needs to re-learn how to win. That some sort of "identity revival" is needed.

This explanation sounds like something a salesman would try to sell to 6th-grade girls. How stupid do they think we are?

[LGB73]

Thomas and Kyrou are supposed to the be our top forwards but lets be honest, neither is that tough to play against. Buch floats in and out of being tough to play against, but his offensive contribution always seems lacking although he gets points. Schenn used to have the combo of skill and grit to be tough to play against. Holloway of last year was the kind of player we need a lot more of with the combo of skill, speed and tough to play against. The forwards are a collection of guys who are either grit(physicality+compete level) with little skill or skill with little grit. Need more guys in the top 6 that are both.

[seattleblue]

These are comments by Pronger about the core performers of the team, and all the athletes know it. He's just saying what we don't want to hear.

There is no support beam performer on this club. These are the kinds of players who could be part of a winning team, provided they are following others' lead and others' establishing of momentum.

When your reaction is to get caved over and over again there is something hollow in you

[Mr.Snuggleupagus]

The Blues should be a hardworking, mucking & grinding team that is hard to play against and plays blue collar hockey. Night in and night out, opponents know they're in for a tough matchup and fans are gonna get their monies worth.

Keeping O'Reilly and trading Kyrou for JT Miller would've been a good start reestablishing that identity. Also keeping Barbashev and trading Buchnevich instead for like a Nick Roy and/or some picks to grab another young, skilled mucker (like another Carbonneau). Instead they keep Buch, Kyrou, acquire Faulk, sign Krug and try to force Perunovich into regular duty. Thomas would be alright to keep (I guess).