There just aren’t any bright spots for the Blues these days.
They have lost five of their past six games, and now one of their best players to date this season is again making headlines for the wrong reasons.
Jordan Binnington received a 10-minute penalty for “inciting” in the team’s 6-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday after he was pulled from the game, took off his mask and had a few words for the Penguins’ bench on his way off the ice.
Actually, his night wasn't over just yet. First, Binnington got a 10-minute misconduct. Now his night is over.
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) December 4, 2022
It’s certainly not the first time we’ve seen this from Binnington, even this season. Back on Nov. 3, the frustrated goalie purposely bumped into Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin after giving up four goals in the second period of a 5-2 loss. Of course, you can trace it back even further, including incidents with former Sharks goalie Devan Dubnyk and ex-Stars goalie Ben Bishop.
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In September, Binnington told The Athletic, “I’m good with how other people want to view it. It’s part of the game. It’s how I play the game.”
But Blues coach Craig Berube is growing old of the antics, especially during a stretch when Binnington has gone 0-5 with a 4.84 goals-against average and an .841 save percentage.
“It’s got to stop,” Berube said after Saturday’s episode in Pittsburgh. “That doesn’t help anything. It doesn’t help anything. Just play goal. Stop the puck.”
There just aren’t any bright spots, which means there are plenty of questions, so let’s get to the mailbag. Here is part 1 of 2.
(Note: Some questions have been edited for length and clarity.)
Why doesn’t anyone on this team protect Binnington? When Robert Bortuzzo was pushed into Tampa Bay’s goalie, there were four players on him in seconds. Our guys just look the other way. No wonder Binnington has to take matters into his own hands. — Tracy H.
Well, other than the Nazem Kadri collision in last year’s playoffs, I can’t think of an egregious play by an opponent that required a response by the Blues.
In the Carolina game, Binnington was the one who went out of his way to collide with Jordan Staal. Andrei Svechnikov bumped into Binnington on the Brent Burns power-play goal, but Berube said afterward that, if reviewed, it wouldn’t have been called goalie interference. And in the Pittsburgh game, Binnington was the one who stuck his glove out on Jason Zucker.
So I get the question, but unless I’m forgetting a play, Binnington has been the initiator.
Can we just admit the Blues aren’t very good? Who would have thought the minor tweaks and losing David Perron would be this devastating? — Max H.
They’re not very good. They could win another seven in a row, and I’d say the same thing. The flaws are the flaws, and they’re not going away without changes. I think the decision to let Perron walk has had a real effect on the roster, but that’s not a surprise to anyone. Fan-favorite and dressing-room stuff aside, he was one of this team’s best players and brought elements — puck protection and a power-play shot — that the Blues don’t have.
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Hard decisions have to be made all the time, and if Perron slows down in the next year or two, perhaps this proves to be the right one in the long run. But this team this season misses Perron.
I was at the games in Philadelphia (5-1 loss) and Denver (3-2 win) and saw two completely different teams. Is there any way to know what it may be on a given night? — Daniel G.
So you saw their eighth straight loss and their second win in the seven-game winning streak. Yeah, those were two different teams.
I don’t have a great answer for you, but here’s what I think: For starters, as mentioned above, I don’t think they’re a good team. I thought they could be a good team, but they’re not. Specifically, I think the defense is soft; Vladimir Tarasenko had a good season last year, and the thought was in a contract year he’d be on a mission again, but that hasn’t been the case on many nights; Ryan O’Reilly hasn’t been good and has slowed down a bit; and early on, I think the contract extension for Jordan Kyrou, coupled with his poor play, was an issue.
Then big picture, I think it’s pretty obvious that this team lacks an identity. Are they heavy? Are they going to play a quick transition game? It doesn’t look like they know, and I think their indecisiveness leads to a lot of misplays and turnovers.
At the same time, though, there is a lot of talent on the roster, and they’re a proud group. So when you saw them against Philadelphia, they were in a rut and couldn’t get out. Then they showed some pride in beating Vegas 3-2 on Nov. 12 and carried that into their win in Denver. They’re obviously capable of playing that way, but big picture, I think the issues I mentioned are why they’re going to look like a bad team a lot of nights, and you’re going to see those big swings in their play.
It's been a topsy-turvy start to the season for a Blues team that survived an eight-game losing streak to remain in the playoff picture.
Who has kept them in the hunt? @jprutherford has one thought on each player that has suited up this season.
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) November 28, 2022
Is there any past Blues team this year’s squad reminds you of? — Craig C.
No. Some might say the first half of the 2018-19 season, but that team had more talent, especially on the back end, and more experience, which allowed the Blues to better deal with the season hitting rock bottom. Yeah this year’s team rattled off seven straight wins, and we can’t take that away, but there were several beatable teams in that run, and the response since things took another turn for the worse hasn’t been good. So no, I haven’t seen anything like this.
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Who are your blunt, honest, top-five underachievers on this team? — S.K.
I think you ask this every year, S.K., but I’ll play along again.
O’Reilly: He’s picked it up lately, but it was a very slow start.
Nick Leddy: He’s been OK but hasn’t done anything to silence the critics of his four-year, $16 million contract.
Tarasenko: He’s got 18 points in 22 games, which isn’t too shabby, but he’s been too inconsistent.
Colton Parayko: He’s a good player — just not the force the Blues need him to be in his role.
Torey Krug: If he’s playing hurt, that would explain it. He’s been beaten a lot and doesn’t look like himself when things are good.
Has Berube lost the room? — Brent R.
I don’t have any knowledge of group discontent with Berube. I’m sure there are individual players who aren’t happy all the time. But I covered a lot of teams over the years where many of the one-on-one conversations with players in the locker room were about the coach being the problem, and I’ve not had any of those conversations this season.
Could it come to that? Yeah. Losing does that. But right now, I think most people see that the roster construction and players not performing are the bigger issues. A general manager might contend that if the players are performing, the roster construction isn’t a problem, but I think there were legitimate question marks surrounding several players entering the season, which makes both of those issues valid.
How does Blues general manager Doug Armstrong watch this team daily and think, “Yep, I’ve got the correct coaching staff for the team I’ve built?” — Mark M.
I understand the question, but let me ask this: Can coaching staffs not adapt to the players they have? Are GMs supposed to fire successful coaches when the game evolves the slightest bit and a new type of talent comes in? Or should we look at it and conversely question why the Blues would draft Robert Thomas or Jordan Kyrou because they didn’t fit Berube’s style?
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The way I see it, you judge your coaching staff based on its track record and, when things don’t go well, are they the reason for that? Armstrong has said Berube isn’t the problem, and I agree with him. Whether Armstrong thinks the same about the rest of the staff, I don’t know. The Blues have struggled defensively and on special teams, so perhaps changes could be made to the coaches who are in charge of those areas.
The bottom line is I don’t think Armstrong is saying to himself: “Heavy team, Berube’s our guy. Now we’re more of a transition team, need a new coach.”
Do you think we see a shakeup before the end of 2022? Or does Armstrong keep still until February and March? — Connor V.
At some point, Armstrong has to do something. But he’s said in the past that it’s difficult to make a “shakeup” trade before the deadline, or even in-season. Teams aren’t going to help the Blues out and make a deal in December if it doesn’t make sense for them, and it may not make sense for the Blues right now, either. In other words, if the Blues wait until closer to the NHL trade deadline on March 3, 2023, perhaps they can get more for their assets.
In 2018, Armstrong traded Paul Stastny because the team wasn’t going anywhere. Any idea if Armstrong would be open to doing something similar with Tarasenko or O’Reilly? — Craig R.
Yes, and I would venture to say that Armstrong might have less faith in this team than he did in 2018 when he sent Stastny to Winnipeg. So yes, there’s a good chance that’s what Armstrong is thinking, and it’s just a matter of time.
I could still see the Blues re-signing O’Reilly and keeping him as a middle-six forward for the next two or three years, but that’s going to depend on whether he prioritizes being paid or staying put. But if re-signing him doesn’t look likely, I can see the Blues moving him near the deadline, as well as Tarasenko.
Some people have asked what the Blues could get in return for those players. It’s a little early, but based on past deadlines, I think a package that included a first- or second-round pick would be reasonable for each.
If Armstrong could turn back time, would he keep Joel Edmundson and Alex Pietrangelo instead of Justin Faulk and Torey Krug? Or did the defense fall apart when Jay Bouwmeester was forced to retire? — Raghav H.
Here’s how I see this one: Edmundson went to Carolina in the Faulk deal and subsequently went to Montreal and has missed a lot of time with injuries. So because of that, if the choice for Armstrong is Edmundson-Pietrangelo or Faulk-Krug, I think he’d have to take Faulk-Krug.
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But getting to the point of your question, I’ll say this: Armstrong is a proud guy, as he should be, and therefore I don’t think he has any strong regrets about how he handled the Pietrangelo situation. I do think that’s where the dominos started falling, though, and why the Blues’ defense isn’t as good today as it once was. Yes, losing Bouwmeester hurt, but he probably wasn’t going to play too much longer anyway.
But when Pietrangelo walked, the Blues promoted Parayko to No. 1, and Parayko is not Pietrangelo. Not only that, but the Blues used Pietrangelo’s money to sign Krug, and while viewed as a masterful response at the time, Krug hasn’t played well this season, and his contract — he’s 31 and has four more years remaining — doesn’t look like it’s going to age well.
When you put that with the signing of Marco Scandella, along with injuries to Scandella and Scott Perunovich, your defensive roster is nowhere close to what it looked like in 2018-19. In hindsight, which is always 20/20, re-signing Pietrangelo, not signing Krug, trading Parayko and having Faulk as your No. 2 behind Pietrangelo might’ve worked out the best. You would have needed some help on the left side, but perhaps the return for Parayko could’ve accounted for that.
Hockey Santa is taking notes. Every team has one big item on their wish list.@domluszczyszyn and @seangentille rank all 32 teams and concoct everyone's ideal present this holiday season.
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) December 2, 2022
How could the Blues have kept both Perron and Nick Leddy? It seems that’s the route Armstrong should have gone. Trade Barbashev? — Gregg S.
It was probably harder to keep both than we think, because moving money in the NHL is no picnic these days, but there were contracts like Scandella’s that came back to bite the Blues. I still contend that his four-year, $13.1 million contract, which was signed during the pandemic, has affected what the Blues could have done in a few situations more than any deal on the books. He’s got a modified no-trade list (can say “no” to seven teams) that doesn’t help either.
So if the Blues wanted to bring back Perron and Leddy, their options were limited. Ivan Barbashev was one of them, but mapping out the payroll for the next couple of years, they may not have wanted to add Perron’s salary for two or three more years while losing a player like Barbashev with a team-friendly, $2.25 million salary-cap hit in his final year.
How often do the Blues practice and work on defense, specifically defensive-zone exits and outlets, etc? It’s a disaster watching this team try to exit its zone. — Shawn G.
Every day. There are a few passes that miss the mark in practice, but nothing like you’re seeing in the games. The pressure is a little less intense, and it’s easier than in the games, where the opponent is unpredictable and also makes adjustments on the fly. That said, there’s not near the level of discombobulated play coming out of their own zone in their practices.
With our defense lacking the physical shutdown defenseman, it seems like Luke Schenn was recently available for next to nothing. That ship has sailed, but do you know if Blues thought about him at all when he was available? — Rhonda H.
If I’m not mistaken, Schenn (Brayden’s brother) has been on waivers a couple of times in the past few years on a reasonable salary and cleared, so I don’t think the Blues have had any interest.
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Any chance the Blues could add some muscle on the fourth line? I felt like it might be a good move to add Ryan Reaves since he was benched in New York, and then Minnesota got him on the cheap. — Scott C.
Possibly, but I doubt it. Armstrong brought in a bunch of fourth-line guys like Noel Acciari, Tyler Pitlick and Martin Frk to compete with Alexey Toropchenko, Nathan Walker and Klim Kostin (who was then traded to Edmonton) for a spot on that line.
Acciari has been great, but the rest of the group hasn’t done much. But they’re all on one-way contracts, so if the Blues bring anybody in, they’d have to bury those contracts in the minors. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think with Acciari playing the way he is, and when Toropchenko is back to 100 percent, they’ll have two-thirds of that line and then hope that someone gives them some consistent play as the third member.
What is the biggest difference between this year’s special teams compared to last year’s? I know Jim Montgomery and Perron are gone, but the PK is porous and the PP is not very threatening without a one-time option. How do the Blues fix this? — Todd L.
I think you nailed it. On the penalty kill, Montgomery has been a huge loss. He had a unit in the top five last season, and when he left for the Bruins, the Blues lost a detailed X’s and O’s guy who always stayed a step ahead of opposing power plays. That job went to new assistant coach Craig MacTavish this season, and after a nice start, things slipped so much that the Blues gave the duties to assistant Mike Van Ryn — and the unit is still struggling. On the power play, Perron’s shot is sorely missed. Nothing else you can say.
How do they fix it? On the PK, they’ve got to get back to being confident in their reads and playing aggressively. On the PP, Kyrou has to continue to develop his one-timer from Perron’s old spot.
As the Blues face Jim Montgomery tonight in Boston:
– How texting in Russian brought him closer to the Blues' Russian players?
– What's the No. 1 thing he learned from Craig Berube?
– What does Pavel Buchnevich hope Blues will do against Monty's team?— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) November 7, 2022
Can you speak to what the absence of Montgomery has meant to the Blues? Did he provide more to the team than is publicly known? Seeing the success he’s having in Boston, with the Blues’ current struggles, makes me think so. — Stephen S.
Touching on Montgomery again, as we wrap up the first part of this mailbag, yes, a lot of players said they really miss him. He was a coach who was able to keep things even-keel when times were tough. The Blues have gone through a lot of adversity this season, and having him around would’ve helped. But as I’ve written in the past, we can’t pin all of the team’s problems on his absence. There would still be a lot of holes to fill, some in areas Montgomery didn’t touch. But every little piece gone takes away from what the Blues had, and he was one of those pieces.
(Top photo of Jordan Binnington: Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)
