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Another one bites the dust. We now have our third culprit to enter the gallow: Blues have canned head coach Craig Berube on Tuesday; causin' some outrage across Blues Nation and a series of headlines inside camp. We check that; have a hefty suspension to view; and some other headlines. Whistle has been blown; into the Sin-Bin we go.
Blues GM Doug Armstrong felt there wasn't time to waste as he has replaced Craig Berube after the coach led the Blues to their only Stanley Cup win in franchise history in 2018-19. St. Louis is currently 6th in the Central and 9th in the Western Conference after missing the playoffs last season. Blues had lost 7 of their last 10 games; 4 of 6; and rode a 4-game losing skid up to the decision to can Berube. Despite the poor play, a high percentage of Blues Nation had spoke outrage over losing their Cup winnin' coach.
St Louis waited 50 years for their first Cup win after Berube took over the club (Yeo coached first 19 games) in '18. I am not surprised the fans are upset to lose the man who helped orchestrate the only Cup win. However, outside of winnin' Lord Stanley, the Berube coached Blues got upset in the first round of the playoffs the following year; finished 3rd and 4th with back-to-back quick playoff exits; and now are just 51-52-8 since the start of the 2022-23 campaign. I am also not surprised by the GM's decision, nor am I outraged over it. It can be a tough pill fans, but the decision may have been the right one. Ask Edmonton and Minnesota for clarity. Blues are 26th in goals-for per game; 27th in total assists; 27th in total points; and 31st in power-play percentage (8.4%). Change is pivotal.
I just question how the players will respond to the attempt for change; as I did for the Oilers and Wild after they canned their coaches. We see those results. Blues players have been vocal... and NOT vocal regarding Berube's exit. Goalie Jordan Binnington had the firing hit home as he had a great relationship with coach Berube:
Binnington spoke positive things along with other Blues on coach Berube; Craig doesn't seem like he lost the locker room. Same thing Connor McDavid stated on his former coach Jay Woodcroft. The players' vibes rang the same tone as the Blues' faithful's vibes, which made star Jordan Kyrou's statement strike a lot of nerves. Kyrou gave a stone-cold response after being asked about the fire of Berube: "I've got no comment. He's not my coach anymore." Kyrou went on to praise the new interim coach in attempt to look forward. Fans were quick to react instead of taking time to understand his intent. That led to things gettin' a bit messy as fans responded to Kyrou in the only way they could that would make impact:
video via MDeFranks//X
Fans also occasionally booed whenever the winger touched the puck... that sure tells you their loyalty to Berube. The boos sure made an impact; striking headlines across Chel and impact on Kyrou who got emotional after being pressed by the media about the boos:
video via BrookeGrimsley//X
I am unaware on what goes down inside their camp; I am unaware on how the relationship was between Kyrou and Berube, but I am confident that Kyrou attempted to speak as a leader rather than in degrade towards his former coach. A leader would direct things towards the future, towards the change. That was his intent; he just delivered it quite poorly. Ease up on him. This does make the question of how the players will respond to change very interesting. Very interesting. Some of Kyrou's teammates may have felt the same hurt that the fans felt, which could affect the team chemistry and morale.
Newly appointed interim head coach Drew Bannister has some work to do as he looks to change things around in quest to secure the job full-time. This is his interview. The best type of interview you can get. Blues snapped the losing streak in his first game beatin' the Senators while showin' feistiness and pure anger. Blues players were in a MOOD. Bannister couldn't have received a better start from his new squad. Blues have a trifecta of fist fights coming up on the schedj as they look to duke it out with the Stars; Lightning; and Panthers. A golden chance for the Blues to get back on a winning track and follow the footsteps of the red-hot Oilers.
I recommend all warships take an alternative route; do not enter the Pacific unless you are willing to get capsized by two monsters beneath the surface. Vancouver and Vegas are Pacific Powers who are beginning to enter themselves in a tier of their own atop the West. Both squads are tearin' up the ice in December with a combined 10-1-1 record thus far. Knights have outscored their opps 27-15 in the month with the Canucks outscoring their opps 23-14 with two huge shutouts over the Panthers & Wild. I don't sugarcoat them being Pacific Powers.
The two West leaders are a combined 16-6-2 against the Pacific division... THEIR Pacific division. The Sharks are already 0-3 versus Vegas & the Oilers are 0-3 against the Canucks. The third place Kings are the only Pacific team that hasn't felt the wrath of the Pacific Powers. Not because they are superior, but because they have "smartly" avoided the Pacific waters to start things off- they will enter soon when they are ready and able. The fact that the Pacific has twice the water as the Atlantic is also a fact in Chel. The Powers have smashed and stacked the Atlantic division going a combined 7-2 thus far. Canucks have won back-to-back games versus Atlantic squads with a combined score of 8-1. I know what you're thinking- No... the Bruins have not played one of the Pacific Powers; not until January 11th. The rest of the conference has faced their fury & I am sure that they would tell Boston to tread lightly.
The Powers sit one and two atop the West with the Canucks just a point away of the Bruins for placing the Powers one and two atop the entire league. Not many would have predicted them to be atop the league together. Maybe the defending champion Knights; but not BOTH the Knights and Canucks. Expect them to remain in the highest echelon for the entirety of the campaign. I can't wait until the second meeting between the Powers in March. All out warfare is all I expect.
The Department of Player Safety aka the Parros Kangaroo Court (shoutout to Allan Walsh for that one) dropped a wicked 6-game suspension on Red Wings' winger David Perron for his cross-check on Senators' defenseman Artem Zub. Perron was responding to a hit that left the Wings' captain Dylan Larkin face first and motionless on the ice. The action:
video via B/R Open Ice//X
First and foremost, any teammate is going to act the way Perron acted after seeing his teammate and captain lay motionless in that way. Perron attacking the wrong guy was a big oops, but I understand his motives. The biggest thing to take note on? The cross-check in no way created an injury; caused blood; or took Zub off the ice for concussion protocol. Droppin' Perron with a 6-gamer is ABSURD. Did he earn a fat fine and possibly a one game suspension for intent? Sure, but SIX GAMES!? Get out of here with that nonsense. Perron has no history of dirty or ill-will play in his 1,081 NHL games; yet you give him that large of a suspension? It marks the largest suspension of the season for an in-game fault (largest is 41 games due to gambling), surpassing D-men Charles McAvoy (BOS) and Rasmus Andersson's (CGY) 4-game suspensions.
Perron will forfeit just under $150K as he will not receive pay on the suspension. I think this is despicable and you already know Perron's agent Allan Walsh is in unison with me on that and then some. Walsh posted outrage on X in a serious of posts that had many points, here was the first one he sent out:
I'm right there with them, six games is just ridic. The Department of Player Safety never stays true to guidelines; just so inconsistent. With the cross-check not hittin' flush as well as not causing an injury or any blood, they should have suspended him one game for disobeying the Aggressor Rule. The exact one game suspension they just recently handed down to Blue Jackets' defenseman Erik Gudbranson who was Derrick Lewis punchin' the back of Nick Cousins head (revenge is a beaut). Not that I think Gudbranson deserved a heftier punishment, but I sure won't sit here and tell you that what Perron did was worse. Gudbranson's actions take the cake there, but he receives five less games? Hmm. See what I am getting at? They are just so damn inconsistent with the handling of their punishments and follwing their "guidelines". Get it together NHL.
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