Blues offense is slowly waking up.

A complaint of late regarding the Blues is that the firepower that everyone expected at the start of the season was missing.  Where’s Backes?  Where’s Kariya?  Whither TJ?  Why is the only person scoring David Perron?

Backes’s back, all right – or at least working on it.  Kariya’s trying to get back to the form he was showing in Sweden.  Oshie, while not himself-ing anyone in Monday’s loss to Columbus, is showing signs of picking up his game.  So far, the only high scorer from last season not pushing for a repeat performance is Patrik Berglund, who was a healthy scratch in 2 games before Monday night, and who many assume has taken Perron’s place in Andy Murray’s proverbial doghouse.

The team “believes in themselves,” or something.  So what is still the issue?  the Blues are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.  Not abysmal, but also not how you propel yourself up the rankings in the conference, where they still sit at 12th.  The fickle finger of blame (fate hasn’t hit here quite yet) is floating about.  First it was to the layabout offense, who wasn’t producing.  Now it’s floating to the defense, who some people are calling “green.” Our defensive corps isn’t a bunch of 10 year olds.  Brewer, Jackman, and Sydor are all competent vets.  Weaver’s been playing in this league for a while, as have Colaiacovo and Polak.  This is Erik Johnson’s second full season in the NHL, but seeing as how he is leading the Blues in scoring with 18 points and is a +6, I don’t see how he’s having problems.

The greenest member, Alex Pieterangelo, has been a healthy scratch for six games in a row, still sitting on that “9th game played” bubble.  One more, and the contract starts ticking.  The Blues aren’t fully sure what to do with him.  In his nine games played he’s a -9, yes.  But how do you learn to improve if your butt is on the bench?  How is he staying sharp when the organization doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing with him?  He’s one of the top up and coming defensive prospects in the league – are we running the risk of stunting his development?

And is the defense even that soft to begin with, where the addition of Petro will cause everything to go to hell in a giant flaming handbasket?  Let’s look at James Mirtle’s list of top NHL defensive-defensemen.  Roman Polak’s number four.  Mike Weaver’s number 10 (!).  Darryl Sydor is number 21.  That boils down to basically half of our defensemen being in the top 25 in the league at being stay at home guys.  That’s good.  Toss in EJ’s offensive firepower along with defensive responsibility, and you’re solid.  Jackman’s got grit and is a role model.  Brewer’s… um… Brewer’s hurt.

Generally speaking, I don’t see much wrong with the defense.

If you don’t look at the defense, and feel that the offense is coming around, then your line of sight falls on the coach.  Andy Murray’s been rumored to be on the hot seat with the team’s tepid start.  The Ottawa Sun is even bandying about the suggestion that Murray is on his way out, soon to be replaced with Bob Hartley.  No.  No no… a thousand times NO.  I live in Atlanta.  I am a  fan of the Thrashers as well as the Blues, and have seen lots of similarities between the two teams.  They’re both youth based.  Hartley is atrocious with young players, and if people are complaining about Andy Murray mis-managing Patrik Berglund, Hartley benched Ilya Kovalchuk to teach him a lesson.  Hartley’d be a disaster here.

Honestly, the problem isn’t with managing the young kids.  Yes, I’m sure that Murray’s intimidating.  But it’s the system, stupid.  The fact that the media asked Murray about Tkachuk’s comment regarding the change in system during the 3rd period of Monday’s loss – well, that shows that people are finally starting to see it as a problem.  Murray brushed it off as just a commentary of the game in general.  It could have very well been.  But the fact that two of the goals scored on us were empty netters leads me to question why Mason was pulled twice.  The fact that Cam Janssen played less than 3 minutes makes me wonder why he was even dressed to begin with – Murray was basically running 11 forwards, mixing the lines throughout the game.  I’ve complained that the guys have no time to gel as far as lines go, and I still feel that’s true.  But to roll 11… that makes it even worse.  That, and Janssen’s becoming more of an intelligent player and a lot more than a fighter.  When you stifle his ice time, hit holds him back.  Stop treating him like Derek Boogaard.  He’s not him, that’s not his role.  He’s a one man energy source for the team.  When we look sluggish, put him out there.

The issue with the Blues is multifaceted, and you can throw blame and point fingers all that you want to.  Unless you have the separate parts of the issue coming together at once, nothing’s going to get done.  Blame needs to stop being tossed around and some soul searching needs to be done instead, before this season becomes a total wash.

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