The St. Louis Blues looked awful at home against the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs. They also looked pretty bad on the road against the New York Islanders and at home against the Florida Panthers. The club has dropped three straight. While that type of slump is expected over the course of an 82-game season, it’s the manner in which the Blues are losing and what they’re saying after the game which is so troubling.
Scoring just two total goals against Thomas Greiss and Garret Sparks is bad enough, but the manner in which the Blues are performing is sad. There’s no fire and no desire to win. It’s a lot of skating around without any clear direction or goal. Jake Allen has been mediocre at best of late and that can be said of most of the players on the team. Ken Hitchcock appears to have no answers and he isn’t hiding that fact.
Hitchcock, via St. Louis Game Time:
“It’s really disappointing to watch us go through it. I’m not sure what it’s going to take.”
That’s a pretty troubling comment. It has certainly appeared that Hitchcock has no idea what he’s doing (constant shifting and juggling of lines, pulling Allen to generate a timeout and then putting him back in), but it’s weird hearing it straight from the coach himself. Shouldn’t the coach have an idea of what to do to right the ship? Maybe some ideas on how to motivate?
Where have we heard this before? Comments like these from Hitchcock and his approach on the ice mixed with how the players are responding closely resemble some of the end-year collapses the Blues have placed in front of fans in previous years. Usually things don’t sound this bad this early in the season (it’s not even January yet!), but there are some trends worth grumbling about.
Fans are calling for Hitchcock to go and they may have a point. The Blues had a decision to make at the end of last season (change up the players or the coach) and Hitchcock kept his post. Plenty of players have been moved over the years and yet, here we are. The Blues could still gain from a bit more from their talent and another offensive weapon or two (who couldn’t?), but at some point the motivation has to be questioned.
Strap in Blues fans. This season, like every Blues season, is going to be one hell of a bumpy ride.
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