St. Louis' offense has mustered a league-worst 22 goals-for under Craig Berube and they sit middle of the pack in goals-against. Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk lead the team with ten points apiece, and Jordan Kyrou - who signed a $64 million extension earlier this year - only has 4 points through 11 games.
The Blues famously went from dead last in the NHL to winning the Stanley Cup within six months of each other in 2019, but that isn't this - and this isn't that. Berube's Blues are just playing poorly and they are not getting the goaltending to supplement.
Elliotte Friedman said on 32 Thoughts recently that Blues GM Doug Armstrong is a very patient man who is not apt to overreact. He said the Blues' manager considered blowing it up in 2019 but resisted the urge, suggesting he could do the show the same restraint this time around.
However, I find the notion that Armstrong will simply stand pat hard to buy. Nothing is going right, and the Blues have an aging core. With where they are in the standings and the talent in this summer's draft, they could land a top draft selection while also flipping some of their veterans for something, anything. Possibly doing a quick re-tooling all in one season.
I also think Craig Berube gets canned by the weekend. There are still a bunch of fun, fresh NHL coaching options on the free agent list right now (especially Barry Trotz, although I question a fit here), and Berube just isn't getting it done. Could be easier to replace one guy for now and see what happens.
POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 7 | 174 ANSWERS St. Louis Blues Lose Seventh In a Row & It Feels Like Something Big Is Coming Will the Blues fire Craig Berube this season? | ||
Yes | 106 | 60.9 % |
No | 68 | 39.1 % |
LIST OF POLLS |
G | A | PTS | ||
Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
Conference | Cumulative |