REPORT: Western Conference Teams General Manager Held a Closed Door Meeting to Address his Team's Downfall
St. Louis Blues general manager, Doug Armstrong has never seen his team lose five consecutive games during his tenure dating back to 2010.
He's witnessed his team win their first three games this new 2022-23 season, only to drop the next five games. In those losses they were outscored 25-8.
For the entire season thus far they have been outscored 30-19. Something has to change, and Armstrong held a closed door meeting with the press to cover his observations and concerns.
In this five-game funk the Blues lost by three or more goals except for one contest that they lost to the Edmonton Oilers 3-1.
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What he seems most upset about is the compete level of his squad.
What I said to the players obviously we're in the winning business, but what we need to see is a competitive level that is higher than what we have now.
It seems like the defense is way off kilter and the offense is non-existent. Three star players show a not-too impressive +/- statistic. Jordan Kyrou is -13, Torey Krug is at 10, while team captain Ryan O'Reilly is -11. While this stat is a bit deceiving, it does show that the leaders of the team are not playing that well.
As is the case when your team is losing, it seems to get worse as time goes by. The Blues are scheduled to face the red-hot New York Islanders who have won four straight.
In the net, it shows the team is in trouble. Their starter Jordan Binnington has a 3-3 record with a 3.28 goals-against-average, and an .882 save percentage.
Usually when a team starts a downward trend, the head coach can be blamed. Armstrong made it clear, that is not the case with Craig Berube.
One of the things I told the players is that if this continues, in my 30 years of watching the NHL, it's going to be OK, well then what happens - the coach? I told the players the coach is not going anywhere because the coach came from the American Hockey League, where he coached young players and made them better. And he coached veteran players and made them win here, so he can do both. So he's going to be here I believe in the coach, I believe in the system. This isn't a system issue, it's a competitive issue.
Here's Armstrong's presser:
| POLL | ||
3 NOVEMBRE | 53 ANSWERS REPORT: Western Conference Teams General Manager Held a Closed Door Meeting to Address his Team's Downfall Are the St. Louis Blues crashing and burning? | ||
| They seem to be, but it's early | 18 | 34 % |
| They have lost their desire, better find it | 8 | 15.1 % |
| They may be, but if it continues we'll see | 14 | 26.4 % |
| Armstrong won't have it, heads will roll! | 13 | 24.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
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