Tony Palazzolo wrote: ↑05 Dec 2025 07:47 am
They have the talent to have a far better record.
Do they really though? The Blues are not a particularly talented team by NHL standards.
The one thing they are lacking is the superstar. It's not a prerequisite for a winning, competitive team. When you look at the lines it's still a deep team. I'm not saying this is a SC roster, but certainly one that should make the playoffs. They aren't playing like it. Scoring just isn't skill related. It's getting to the front of the net.
Kind of hard to get a superstar when you are middle of the road competitive year after year. You want a superstar, you need to blow it up and hold on for 3-5 years.
Eichel.
Marner.
Matt Tkachuk
Rantanen.
Tkachuk is the one we missed out on but we weren’t getting Eichel, Marner or Rantanen for numerous reasons. We are at the point where we have to draft one or trade a good piece to acquire someone that “might” have superstar potential…better yet that team has to be desperate enough to give up that piece.
And I'd agree that Tkachuk isn't a true "superstar" but he has the exact swagger that is completely missing from this team. He absolutely changed the Panthers immediately and was the key to getting them over the playoff hump the first year they made a run.
Army whiffed so bad trying to lowball the Flames. A true miscalculation by him about how important it was to get that particular player.
I didn't get all the love for Monty after he got fired in Boston. He looked good after he got hired last season and still has a chance to right the ship this season. We shall see. But it doesn't look likely with this team's lack of scoring punch. Fewer than 3 goals per game is not going to cut it and is extremely boring hockey. Kyrou, the leading goal scorer, is on pace to score about 23 goals. Hooray!
bgwinn01 wrote: ↑05 Dec 2025 11:43 am
The core of this group has managed to get 3 coaches fired. Working on their 4th. The problem is not the coaching. There is rot at the core.
Right? For the people who don't understand it let me break it down in simple terms. You have a light fixture at home that wont light, you've replaced the bulb 3x and none of them lit up. Guess what, the bulb isn't burnt out, its something else causing the issue.
Backesdraft wrote: ↑05 Dec 2025 07:32 am
For better or worse, Monty isnt going anywhere. The Blues can’t pay two coaches NOT to coach. Monty’s contract has too many years left on it too.
Agree to first sentence, and fairly certain Blues are off the off the hook for Berube's contract
They may be at the point where they need to trade Thomas for a significant return which it would be despite his struggles. That would be definitive. Right now it's wait and hope on these guys, and honestly they are not likable as players enough to want to wait on them in the first place. We're doing it because we have no choice and we're stuck with them.
seattleblue wrote: ↑05 Dec 2025 12:49 pm
They may be at the point where they need to trade Thomas for a significant return which it would be despite his struggles. That would be definitive. Right now it's wait and hope on these guys, and honestly they are not likable as players enough to want to wait on them in the first place. We're doing it because we have no choice and we're stuck with them.
Thats a little extreme at this point. For me guys i would look to keep and continue to build around would be
Thomas
Neighbours
Holloway
Snuggerud
Dvorsky
Broberg
Mailloux
Kaskimaki
Hofer
ghostlyshark008 wrote: ↑05 Dec 2025 12:41 pm
They're still paying Bannister, so if they were to fire Monty this season, they would then be paying two coaches to not coach.
For better or worse, Monty ain't going anywhere. This is on Army and the players to get right. And Army isn't going anywhere (yet).
These players are the next shoe to drop.
"The coaching is no longer in question... he's a hell of a coach... if there was any question marks about that, that is gone now. Now... Monty has lobbed the ball back to myself and all the players to do our jobs better because we know we got a hell of a coach".
icon wrote: ↑05 Dec 2025 11:49 am
I didn't get all the love for Monty after he got fired in Boston. He looked good after he got hired last season and still has a chance to right the ship this season. We shall see. But it doesn't look likely with this team's lack of scoring punch. Fewer than 3 goals per game is not going to cut it and is extremely boring hockey. Kyrou, the leading goal scorer, is on pace to score about 23 goals. Hooray!
Don't get the love for Monty? Monty won at Denver, Won at Dallas, Helped elevate the Blues, Broke a record at Boston, got fired while the team was .500 early, came to STL and got them to the playoffs in the same season. Everywhere the guy has gone he has won. And his playoff record is just a shade under .500 which is respectable for HC's.
Monty isn't the problem. I'm not one to vehemently defend someone, but in this case it is warranted. People who blame the coach here are delusional fans and it probably points to your own life where no matter what it is always someone else's fault.
seattleblue wrote: ↑05 Dec 2025 12:49 pm
They may be at the point where they need to trade Thomas for a significant return which it would be despite his struggles. That would be definitive. Right now it's wait and hope on these guys, and honestly they are not likable as players enough to want to wait on them in the first place. We're doing it because we have no choice and we're stuck with them.
Thats a little extreme at this point. For me guys i would look to keep and continue to build around would be
Thomas
Neighbours
Holloway
Snuggerud
Dvorsky
Broberg
Mailloux
Kaskimaki
Hofer
Guys that really need to go soon
Schenn
Binnington
Buch
Kyrou
Fowler
If you really want to tank this to the studs
Parayko
Faulk
Just based off contracts, you hold Faulk unless someone is banging on the door with high value. Parayko you need him until his last year of his contract. Buch and Fowler you are stuck with for a few years here. I love the idea of Schenn just hanging 3rd line but if you can move him for something relative to a young ready to go prospect you do it.
Kyrou needs to go. Binner can go but that leaves serious problems because there is no backup. And Thomas can be thrown in for value.
callitwhatyouwant wrote: ↑05 Dec 2025 09:42 am
If you think this is a Monty problem, you are insane. The definition of insanity mantra of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. You are delusional if you think a Stanley cup winning coach who had the locker room until the young guys got their contracts, an AHL feeder system coach who coached the young guys to get to the big leagues both get fired... and firing Monty who everyone liked before in his 1 stint during the the last core, would be the answer.
Last year i strayed away because it looked like Kyrou and Thomas were both trending in the right direction. But 1 one has got to go. None of the players had problems when Thomas signed his contract. The minute Kyrou signed his contract, this team has been up and down non stop. Correlation doesn't mean causation but all signs points towards that one moment being the franchise defining move. Kyrou has got to be one of the most polarizing figures in St. Louis hockey history.
Thomas signed in July and Kyrou in September of same year, right?
Lower the hyper-boil please!
yes and for a couple months there was 0 noise. whether that was because the players were away or not that was the truth. AS SOON as the Kyrou contract was signed, there were player rumblings that were being reported by Rivers and crew that behind the scenes a couple vets were unhappy that some people got money before they thought they deserved it. This isn't the quote but Rivers and I can't remember which outside source said that a couple players thought that their contracts should have been addressed first. So you know that was coming from either Tarasenko/ROR/Barbs/etc.
I will counter that with some context that after Tarasenko was traded, ROR had quoted that they felt like some of the locker room drama was gone. ROR promptly got traded a little bit later as did Barbs. Barbs from all indication wasn't going to be resigning here but I'm not positive about that. Anyways, Schenn didn't say until about the last couple weeks of that season that the team finally started to come together as a new unit. Who is the constant in all of this since? Kyrou.
I know you are a Kyrou stan, I'm not putting all the blame on him. I'm saying that this core is seemingly defunct, and you need your best players to be your best players. Kyrou and Thomas are supposed to be the best players. They are playing like 3rd line guys on Stanley Cup teams at the moment. That is a massive regression this season. Vitale talked about it this morning. Thomas is on a 50 point pace. Kyrou is on a 26 goal pace. That's a 30+ who we thought should be exceeding 40 goal guy that is doing what guys like Saad have done here. You think Kyrou isn't part of the problem?
Yes.
PART of the problem. Along with what appears to be a score of other problems.
But JK is not "polarizing" beyond this board imo, most fans in general love the guy and his offense and I really do seriously doubt he's a problem with his mates. That's just me, I don't care to argue about it really, these are opinions without proof for both of us.
When the team is playing like this there's no question posters here want answers and most think they have them, I get that. I certainly agree it's in the vet group of players that are failing this team right now.
