May 12: Blues Still Chasing Blackhawks
The Blues player-development project delivered a 92-point season and a ticket to the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Blues provided entertainment and excitement and revived the franchise.
But there is still work to do. This is still a process. The construction isn’t complete. The Blues were swept out of the first round by Vancouver. The kids (and veterans) fumbled on the power play and never sufficiently buzzed the net to disrupt Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo.
The Chicago Blackhawks’ youth brigade had no such problem. They met Vancouver in the second round and banished Luongo and the Canucks in six games. The Blackhawks broke Luongo down by getting him moving. He didn’t seem sharp enough to match the Blackhawks’ quickness down low. They attacked the net and he faltered, with a terrible .879 save percentage in the series. This was the Blues’ plan, but they couldn’t execute it. And the Blues’ primary kids — T.J. Oshie, David Perron and Patrik Berglund — didn’t reach postseason tempo and elevate their game until late in the four-game sweep. Only Perron scored a goal. David Backes, a huge part of the Blues young nucleus, was also held to one goal in the VAN series.
It’s bad enough to have to chase Detroit in the same division. But if you’re a Blues fan, it’s probably a little frustrating to come to grips with the reality that the The Note is running behind Chicago in the youth cycle. The Blackhawks are further along in the process. Now they’ll play in the Western Conference Final, which will be a valuable experience for a young Chicago roster that has an average age of about 25, not counting the goaltenders.
I love what the Blues are doing. I love the way they went after it in 2008-2009. They’re going to be fun to watch for years to come. And in Dec. 2008, the website hockeysfuture.com ranked them as the NHL’s No. 1 organization (in terms of their quality of prospects).
The Blues will need to keep the talented kids coming if they’re to keep pace and overtake Chicago.
The Blackhawks are ahead at this point because they hit bottom before the Blues did, and got an earlier start on a massive franchise overhaul.
I did a rundown of the CHI roster, and the Blackhawks got 158 goals and 216 assists this season from forwards age 25 or younger.
The Blues? 101 goals and 139 assists from players 25 or younger. (That includes a couple of goals that Alex Steen scored for Toronto before being traded to STL.)
Chicago got 23 goals and 90 assists from defensemen age 25 or younger.
The Blues: 4 goals and 59 assists from d-men age 25 or younger. That total would have been much higher but of course top defenseman Erik Johnson missed the entire season after knee surgery.
That’s only part of the equation. Chicago’s young players (U-25) have shined during the playoffs, scoring 25 goals in two series so far.
The Blues finished 12 points behind the Blackhawks in the regular season despite dominating Chicago in head-to-head matchups. But the Chicago kids went to another level this spring.
Forwards Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Kris Versteeg, Dave Bolland, Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd and defensemen Duncan Keith and Cam Barker have come up big in the postseason. The confidence that’s expanded and reinforced by postseason success will only make the Blackhawks tougher to deal with next season and beyond.
Chicago ownership is also willing to throw around the big dollars for free agents, as was the case last summer when defenseman Brian Campbell signed on for $56 million. Blackhawks ownership, led by Rocky Wirtz, has more resources than the Blues’ Dave Checketts and partners. Unlike his late father, the young Wirtz wants to win. And he’ll be gunning for a Stanley Cup.
To close the gap, the Blues just have to hope that Alex Pietrangelo, Lars Eller, Phil McRae, Aaron Palushaj, Ian Cole, Jake Allen, Ben Bishop and others are as good as touted. They also have to get a little lucky and have some unexpected surpises develop; perhaps center prospect Anthony Nigro will become one of those guys.
It’s going to be fun watching the Blues and the Blackhawks battle over the next several seasons.
Even if the Blackhawks do have a head start.
-B
Don’t forget that the Blackhawks have Joel Quenneville….as much as I appreciate what Andy Murray has done for the Blues, I don’t know if there is a better hockey coach out there than Joel.
Of course the Blues are behind the ‘hawks in the rebuilding process……they’ve been “rebuilding” for a decade.
While the Blues were still pretending to be Stanley Cup contenders during the 2 or 3 seasons prior to the lockout, the ‘hawks were terrible and piling up high picks.
My concern with the 2010 Blues is the same thing that so many Blues fans seem to take comfort in. No one doubts EJ’s talent and potential to help the team especially on the power play, but he’s coming off major knee surgery which was preceded by a rookie year that was far from spectacular. Will he be an improvement over what we already have in 2010? Probably, but who really knows? I mean, he didn’t play a single shift last year as is only entering his sophomore season as a pro. Hardly a layup as far as adding a quality threat from the point in my opinion. I hope he lives up to his huge potential next year, but I won’t be surprised at all if it takes another few years until he blossoms. It seems to me that too many Blues fans are already marking him down for a huge year in 2010 and acting as if that hole is already filled.
I agree with staed. We just aren’t ready defensively to compete with the best teams in the NHL. We have some of the best young defensive prospects in the NHL, but they aren’t ready to be really good defensemen in only their first and second seasons. Maybe in another 2-3 years they’ll be where they need to be, but not yet. Also, we won’t be able to afford a big UFA to quickly upgrade the defensive corps considering we’re already wasting about $12MM next season on Brewer, McKee, and Jackman. Chicago didn’t have any bad contracts that they couldn’t unload to make room. Chicago’s top 4 are Keith, Seabrook, Campbell, and Barker. The Blues don’t have a single defenseman that would crack their top 4 right now.
Also, Kane and Toewes were top 3 picks on offense. Our highest draft pick on offense was Eller at #13. It takes longer for guys drafted late in the 1st round to develop than guys take in the top 5, and it takes defensemen longer to develop than forwards. I think this city needs to continue to be patient with the youth movement and not expect too much too soon just because of the wonderful run this team went on at the end of the season. I’m afraid that expectations will be too high. I think the best the Blues can hope for next season is 3rd in their divison and 5th-6th in the conference.
Fun times………now if only we could play a throw back home and home at the Arena and Old Chicago Stadium. Hockey is fun again. How about thAT Pittsburg / Washington series?
Who cares if it takes two or three years for the Blues? I can wait. Just three years ago we were in 30th place. Wasn’t that long ago. Success isn’t that far away. The bigger story is the whole Central Division. Undeniably the best division in the league, top to bottom. Nashville had 40 wins and 90 points and were on the driving range the day after the regular season. But that is how it is in the NHL. The other 29 teams are not going to sink to mediocrity about the time you make your move. There will always be great teams out there. Our work will never be done.
Hey Bernie, Blues will close the gap on Chicago by next spring. Provided the Blues are healthy, they’ll be better prepared for the post-season next year. It was obvious that adding some muscle to the forward lines was a plus in Crombeen and Winchester. But the Blues would be better served if they had a couple of power forwards who could actually score. Get some skill out there on defense, couple power fwds, a strong very capable backup goalie would be a good start. I’d imagine the power fwds (Knuble?) would have to be achieved thru free agency. Thanks - Have a good week !