Army Fulfilling His Promise

[BobbyBlue]

Army always said that he wanted to leave the Blues in a better state than when he first took over control of the GM position. Well…he’s got them currently sitting with the #2 pick in the draft…with a 50 goal differential…and a stock pile of players who just can’t score…or defend or better yet…put the puck in the Ocean…or keep the puck out of their net. Yup…he seems to have fulfilled his promise just fine!

[stlblue06]

Right now it feels like Army has decided to tank. When the list of players that could potentially be traded keep getting tons of ice time no matter how bad they’ve been playing you have to wonder. Binnington getting so many non back to back starts pretty much seals it.

I would love to get Otto’s brother as much as the next guy but it’s far from a lock, even if you finish bottom 5.

[aslord]

oh, good. Another I love Armstrong thread, Just what we needed. Why not just pile onto one of the dozen others?

[DawgDad]

oh, good. Another I love Armstrong thread, Just what we needed. Why not just pile onto one of the dozen others?

He's doing this in multiple threads.

[callitwhatyouwant]

oh, good. Another I love Armstrong thread, Just what we needed. Why not just pile onto one of the dozen others?

it's getting tiresome. people want the tank. we are playing a TON of young guys because of injury. Yet we get the same post over and over? the Blues are the 9th youngest roster in the league. They are the most injured team in the league. Their forward group has had over 12 guys go down for multiple games. I really want to know what is going to make these posters happy. It's clearly not continually posting. Because at no point does it seem like they have gotten anything out of it. Some life.

[BalotelliMassive]

oh, good. Another I love Armstrong thread, Just what we needed. Why not just pile onto one of the dozen others?

it's getting tiresome. people want the tank. we are playing a TON of young guys because of injury. Yet we get the same post over and over? the Blues are the 9th youngest roster in the league. They are the most injured team in the league. Their forward group has had over 12 guys go down for multiple games. I really want to know what is going to make these posters happy. It's clearly not continually posting. Because at no point does it seem like they have gotten anything out of it. Some life.

I wouldn't blame injuries on this team's demise - when they were healthy they were still trash. If anything it's a blessing to get prospects some reps in the NHL because they've been better than the established core.

[callitwhatyouwant]

oh, good. Another I love Armstrong thread, Just what we needed. Why not just pile onto one of the dozen others?

it's getting tiresome. people want the tank. we are playing a TON of young guys because of injury. Yet we get the same post over and over? the Blues are the 9th youngest roster in the league. They are the most injured team in the league. Their forward group has had over 12 guys go down for multiple games. I really want to know what is going to make these posters happy. It's clearly not continually posting. Because at no point does it seem like they have gotten anything out of it. Some life.

I wouldn't blame injuries on this team's demise - when they were healthy they were still trash. If anything it's a blessing to get prospects some reps in the NHL because they've been better than the established core.

I'm not blaming injuries. I'm saying you are getting exactly what a tanked season would look like. The young guys are playing meaningful minutes and they are up the lineup. The only line they kept in tact yesterday that wasn't young guns was the 4th line. Every other line had a young guy promoted. Stenberg first line, they moved Buchy out of position to let the young guys move up lines on the wing. It's literally exactly what a tank would look like for this team.

NHL rosters can't go full 23 year old and younger. They wouldn't get better. They just aren't grown enough to be able to skate with the older guys. The Blues average age is 27.27. The Ducks is 27.22 The sharks 26.56. The Hawks 26.26. Those are the West young teams. Compare that to the Stanley cup favorites. The Avs are 29.32 and the 4th oldest team. They just skated against the oldest team in the Jets who are 29.73.

I bring these stats up because I think some posters make arguments or complain about something, but they don't even know what they are complaining about. They don't have a reality of what something actually looks like. There is no average age 24 year old hockey team. I'm not directing this at you, but the board in general. You are literally seeing what a tanking team looks like if it was intentional. The best case scenario is that it keeps up, they move 1 core piece to reshuffle the deck, they get the high draft pick, and the guys get plausible deniability for their ego's and can chalk the season up as an injury filled season and come back hungrier next year to get better.

[Jeff Goldblum]

oh, good. Another I love Armstrong thread, Just what we needed. Why not just pile onto one of the dozen others?

it's getting tiresome. people want the tank. we are playing a TON of young guys because of injury. Yet we get the same post over and over? the Blues are the 9th youngest roster in the league. They are the most injured team in the league. Their forward group has had over 12 guys go down for multiple games. I really want to know what is going to make these posters happy. It's clearly not continually posting. Because at no point does it seem like they have gotten anything out of it. Some life.

They want attention.

[a smell of green grass]

The promise that concerns me the most is the upcoming one, that the next GM (hand-picked Steen) is going to continue the "Blues way".

I don't want the Blues way. I want the Colorado, Washington, Edmonton, Florida, Dallas way. I want more elite talent than everyone else, not ZERO. I definitely don't want the long shadow of Army hanging over the future.

My hope is that Army and Steen and the scouts that they rode in on are all thrown out. The Blues have gotten ALMOST ZERO benefit from the NHL draft across 20 years.

[Jeff Goldblum]

oh, good. Another I love Armstrong thread, Just what we needed. Why not just pile onto one of the dozen others?

it's getting tiresome. people want the tank. we are playing a TON of young guys because of injury. Yet we get the same post over and over? the Blues are the 9th youngest roster in the league. They are the most injured team in the league. Their forward group has had over 12 guys go down for multiple games. I really want to know what is going to make these posters happy. It's clearly not continually posting. Because at no point does it seem like they have gotten anything out of it. Some life.

I wouldn't blame injuries on this team's demise - when they were healthy they were still trash. If anything it's a blessing to get prospects some reps in the NHL because they've been better than the established core.

That was the plan the entire season. The established core was like 10 players, max.

[stlblue06]

oh, good. Another I love Armstrong thread, Just what we needed. Why not just pile onto one of the dozen others?

it's getting tiresome. people want the tank. we are playing a TON of young guys because of injury. Yet we get the same post over and over? the Blues are the 9th youngest roster in the league. They are the most injured team in the league. Their forward group has had over 12 guys go down for multiple games. I really want to know what is going to make these posters happy. It's clearly not continually posting. Because at no point does it seem like they have gotten anything out of it. Some life.

I wouldn't blame injuries on this team's demise - when they were healthy they were still trash. If anything it's a blessing to get prospects some reps in the NHL because they've been better than the established core.

They were getting disturbingly bad goaltending from both goalies when they were healthy. Not many teams could overcome that.

Hofer started to come into form right when the injuries started.