The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Andy Strickland on Blues’ Identity Crisis, Injuries & Western Pressures

Starting point is 00:00:00 Okay, here we go. We got them all lined up. He is in Ottawa. St. Louis Blues coming off a tough loss against the Boston Bruins. Andy Strickland joins me on the sheet, someone we haven't had on for a while. But let's remedy that now. Andy, how are you, pal? What's going on there, Jevi?

Starting point is 00:00:15 All as well, man. You're right. Tough loss last night. And they're on the ice here today in Ottawa. I feel like every time they're playing, it's always three games and four nights. The schedule's been crazy. So Ottawa tomorrow, then Sunday in Montreal. does it kind of it's funny too you know uh every team right now you know with uh with a condensed

Starting point is 00:00:35 schedule Olympic break and and such like normally like four game weeks are usually a freak around the energy like oh yeah we got a four gamer this we got like every team has like four gamers like almost every week it almost feels like this year and maybe this is why we see more injuries it feels like this is closer to an American hockey league schedule than we've seen I don't know maybe since sochi yeah but at least in the America league for the most part they get off during the week you know they play like three and three or whatever it is or they play a lot of weekend games but you know i was talking to brian burke about that this morning i mean he thinks for sure it's led to the injuries and listen you have some freak injuries you know

Starting point is 00:01:12 the blues were in boston you know obviously they didn't have um you know charlie mackam boy uh in that game i think he took a puck to the face so maybe that's a little bit of a freak situation but you know they didn't have posture knack he wasn't playing i mean i just feel like every time there's a game there's some significant players who are missing who aren't playing And the blues are no different. You know, I mean, sure you have the all-byte situation with Alexei Torevchenko, so that's a freak incident. Nothing crazy happened, but total random accident that led to his injury.

Starting point is 00:01:41 But, you know, Nathan Walker, I mean, that's wear and tear. I mean, he's out for eight months or eight weeks, I should say. Jimmy Snuggiero, six-week injury. And you can say, well, Nathan Walker, a fourth-line guy. But, you know what? He's one of the more physical players that the blues have on their roster. and Torvchenko is a physical player. That's two-thirds of their fourth line,

Starting point is 00:02:03 which kind of helps create that identity for this team. That's not a very physical team. They don't play overly hard. And so when you miss those players, it takes a toll, man. I mean, it's hard to replace some of those guys, even though they're fourth-liners. Yeah, it is.

Starting point is 00:02:18 And listen, it doesn't help the St. Louis-Lews cause when all of a sudden, like, Alex Stevens, is just, like, going on, like, this massive heater now. For the Boston Bruins, it was, like, a total castaway with the Toronto Maple Leafs, like living life at Coca-Cola Coliseum playing with the Marleys and he's up with the Boston moves in the Boston Bruins and now it's like what is the five goals and five games for Steve's like just popping and the Morgan Geeky story continues to be one of the best stories

Starting point is 00:02:42 in the in the entire NHL but circling back to St. Louis I think the question that a lot of us are sort of wondering here is so so what happens now right like it's it's a team that we thought was going to I don't think a lot of us hoped was going to carry that momentum from last season, you know, the surge at the end, get into that first round series against the Winnipeg Jets, totally stretch them, totally scare them, take it to a game seven, we thought, okay, you know what, the blues are back, they're going to bring this into this season, and bam, hit a wall right away. So what's next for this team?

Starting point is 00:03:20 You know, it's a good question. And listen, that's why I think this season in general, Jeff, I feel like the organization is almost in a state of shock right now that they're in this spot because of how they play last year after Jim Montgomery took over. I know there's a lot of focus on how they played coming out of the Four Nations, but it really

Starting point is 00:03:38 began when he took over. It's always interesting. You see coaching changes and how well teams tend to play nowadays when that in that initial phase of a coaching change. I was talking to Jim Montgomery about this the other day because you know, Boston's similar situation. They had a historic season

Starting point is 00:03:54 and all that. And then fast forward. a little while later he's he's fired and he's out of a job but they had a lot of turnover on that roster this one's hard to explain because they've had very little turnover I think they they have everybody back except three players from last year's roster so this one is is tough to explain but what's next I think everyone's is kind of sitting and waiting to see how that plays out you know I think with the

Starting point is 00:04:20 change in the CBA Jeff with you know the inability to just bury players a long-term injury and then put back on the roster when you come to the playoffs and now you're playing with a hundred million dollar plus payroll. I think, listen, that's out the window now. So you're going to see more and more teams really get out in front of the trade deadline because that's no longer as much of an issue as maybe as it was before. And I've talked to a lot of people about that. I mean, I would assume that teams are going to want to get a lot of deals done sooner than later. You've got the whole month off of February. If you can get some of those deals done before then and allow

Starting point is 00:04:56 that time for players to adjust and move and get kids schools and stuff like that in the event you want to move your family i mean you're going to have that opportunity to do so listen we all know the names on the roster that have been rumored to be moved from st louis we'll see how it plays out a lot of these guys have some no trade protection and whatnot and they're going to be able to dictate where it goes um but i'm like you i think a lot of people are anticipating what that next move is going to be when will it be yeah i know there's been a lot of focus on Jordan Bennington and Edmonton. Listen, I think Edmonton's on Bennington's no trade list. It's got a limited no trade list.

Starting point is 00:05:32 So I know they scored nine goals last night, but again, their defense really hasn't been much better than St. Louis. And so I don't think he's jumping to go to Evanton right now, even though they've got the two-headed monster and they've been to the Stanley Cup final the last couple of years. But we all know the names that are interested to all the teams around the league here in St. Louis. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. So let me get even, as we like to do, Andy, when you and I get together, Let me get even further ahead of ourselves here and talk about next year and the plan for, you know, the passing of the torch from Doug Armstrong to Alex Steen. And the belief was always, you know, Doug Armstrong is going to leave this organization in a great spot.

Starting point is 00:06:12 So the transition for Steen is going to be like an Olympic diver into the pool, no ripple, nice and smooth, everything's clean, Alex Dean takes over. Has this season complicated that at all? given the struggles out of the gate? Like, could we see maybe, you know what, maybe Doug Armstrong, he said, you know what, maybe one more year as the general manager before he hands it over? Like, how do you read this?

Starting point is 00:06:40 Well, I don't think you'll see that happen. But this is what people need to understand, Jeff. I didn't expect just a drastic transition. This isn't a, you know, a new president-elect who's moving into the White House and the old president is moving out. Okay, this is a situation where Doug Armstrong has it in his contract. He's under contract for two more years as the president of the Blues. So you have Alexander Steen, yeah, his title is changing and he's going to be the general manager,

Starting point is 00:07:09 but he's still going to be working side by side with Doug Armstrong over the course of the next couple of years. So I think initially people see that and you're thinking, okay, well, this is going to just quickly turn over to Alexander Steen's theme, but they're still going to be working together, much like they are right now. you know, Alexander Sina's on the trip right now. This guy's heavily involved and will be heavily involved in any type of decision that is going to be made. Like, I'm really excited about him taking over eventually. I think he's going to do a hell of a job, Jeff.

Starting point is 00:07:37 Like, he's such an intelligent hockey person. You know, he's been around the game for so long. He just kind of has that calm demeanor about him where he just makes you kind of feel like everything's going to be okay or he's in full command. So, yeah, you're going to see some moves and whatnot. But again, you know, as somebody told me a long time ago, Jeffrey, it's like any general manager can make a bad trade. Making bad trades is pretty easy to be able to make.

Starting point is 00:08:05 But, you know, make it a good trade. I think that's the challenge. And so, yeah, you have some pieces that, like I said, other teams have interest in that you can move on from. But you're going to really want to make sure that whatever decision you make, if you move on from some of these guys who are character players who have a lot of success and I've been a big part of the organization for a long time, you're going to move these guys. you're going to want to make sure you're making the right move and the best move that's really going to set you up moving forward. You know, and there's, you know, listen, he's a second generation guy. His father, of course, legendary Winnipeg, Jet Thomas Thien,

Starting point is 00:08:36 and he's sort of grown up in and around hockey. I think that Alex Thien was, you know, one of those, always like one of those like underground sort of stealthy, salky candidates every year. It wasn't at like that, that high end, like, oh, Uri Lennettin wins this thing again. And then, you know, Patrice Bergeron goes on his run, et cetera. Louis Erickson deserves. But the way that you mentioned trades, like the way that deals are done now. And this is like, when you think of like what the art of the general manager is now,

Starting point is 00:09:04 it's having enough relationships, positive relationships. You can have the conversation, you mentioned Brian Burk a second ago. I'll tell you a quick Berkey story in a second. You know, you can have the conversations where it's like you know what someone else needs and you can sort of massage in your version of what they need based on your relationship. but it's almost as if Andy like general managers don't want to burn each other anymore because they always want to be able to do business

Starting point is 00:09:33 I'll tell you know Brian Burke I remember I asked him like what was it like when he first started like in Hartford when he was a GM there he said you know how we would you know how we would evaluate trades I said how's that Burke he goes we would evaluate trades like this if the guy that you made a trade with got fired

Starting point is 00:09:51 it was a good trade you really got that guy oh yeah like how many like how many notches do you have on your belt like that's how you and that those days are gone right like now it's like what do you need what can I help you with what are you looking for what's this down the road and everybody wants to sort of keep their relationships really nice and friendly which is why and this is where I'll circle it back to Doug Armstrong which is why a lot of guys don't like offer sheeting each other because they don't want to shut down a relationship that somewhere down the road could pay off for them. And that's, I'll be honest with Andy, that's why I applaud what happened two summers ago with

Starting point is 00:10:32 Doug Armstrong. He just said like, F it. I got a chance of bringing in two quality players at low cost. I'm going to do it. If I'm going to scotch a relationship, so be it. It's in the CBA. Hey, but you know what? Yeah. And I, and I hear you on that. And you know what's interesting about those offer sheets was that that completely, uh, changed the, trajectory of where this organization thought that they were going. You know how general managers meet with owners, and they map out the three-year plan, the five-year plan. This is where we're going to be two years from now, a year from now, three years, four-year,

Starting point is 00:11:05 five years. This was the season, Jeff, that Doug Armstrong told ownership, we're not going to be very good, and we're going to be struggling, but it's a part of the bigger picture in our rebuild or retool or whatever term you want to use. but the offer sheets changed everything. They weren't anticipating signing these two players to an offer sheet and getting a Philip Broberg who's been, this guy's unbelievable, Jeff.

Starting point is 00:11:31 I think he's going to make Team Sweden. I know they're loaded on the left side on their D, but from what I understand, he is right there. This guy's been an absolute horse. He can play big minutes, and he is really good. I mean, you watch the blues. I don't know how many teams are really watching them, but he is so good.

Starting point is 00:11:44 Again, I hate to always bring it up. I can't believe Evan Tim will move on from them. And Dylan Holloway, obviously. We all know what he can bring to the table. And his season, you know, has been a little bit slow here at the start. You know, he had the injury, the core injury at the end of last year. It wasn't available in the playoffs. So maybe it's taking him a little bit of time.

Starting point is 00:12:00 But this guy is a legit player, too. So you get two first round picks. So that completely changed everything. All of a sudden you get Philip Roberg. And now it's like, whoa, now we're competitive all of a sudden. They made the coaching change. Then they go out and get camp power. They make that trade for camp power last year.

Starting point is 00:12:14 They don't ever make that deal if they don't sign those two players to the offer sheets. And I think this is the expectation coming into this year. Hey, we're not going to be very good. Well, then they've got ahead of schedule, right? Make the trade. Now you extend Cam Fowler coming into this year. They fully expected to be a team that would surely compete, not just for the playoffs, but maybe slide into a top three spot into Central

Starting point is 00:12:35 where it wouldn't be a stressful season. You know, last year it was like, hey, can we play meaningful games down the stretch and compete for a playoff spot? Maybe get into a wildcard spot and compete down the stretch and play meaningful games into April. I think this year the mentality was, hey, And we truly have a chance to get into that top three when you get into April. And it's so interesting outside of Colorado and maybe a couple of other teams.

Starting point is 00:12:58 Nobody's really pulled away. Certainly not the Eastern Conference. And Dallas is obviously a great team. But the Western Conference, so the Blues won a couple of games over the weekend after Thanksgiving. And all of a sudden, they felt great about their game. Now they lose a couple of games. And it's interesting. It's like Toronto, man.

Starting point is 00:13:13 They wanted to fire chief a couple weeks ago. And now all of a sudden, all of well in Toronto. Oh, I know. And Matthew Nyes is the new Cam Neely in the NHL. I know, I know. I've heard it before. Okay, before I let you go, I do have to ask about your jacket. St. Louis, the St. Louis AAA Blues.

Starting point is 00:13:33 Now, when I think about youth hockey in St. Louis, you know what I think about? I think about your podcast, your podcast co-host, Cam Jansen. And I remember when Cam came into the OHL coming out. Like there's always been a really good pipeline between St. Louis and a couple of teams specifically, probably most known will be the London Knights. But I remember when your co-host came into the OHL and he took on all comers and didn't bend a knee and it was like, holy smokes. But there's always been a great pipeline of talent that's gone through St. Louis to the OHL. What is that program like now? Because it was, say, the St. Louis AAA program was always considered elite.

Starting point is 00:14:16 from all of us up here in Canada. Yeah. You know, our midget minor team right now, they're ranked number two in the country, which is the most heavily recruited birth year, really, or age group, right? Midget minor, I mean, sure, now, you know, Banna Major and Banna Minor,

Starting point is 00:14:31 I mean, kids are getting scouted at a much younger, earlier age, and getting a lot more exposure and attention, whether you like it or not, that's happening, but still midget minor. I mean, that's the cream of the crop. That's the best, you know, amateur hockey at the youth level here in the States. It's minor level, obviously, in Canada.

Starting point is 00:14:47 And, you know, so we're ranked number two in the Tucker. We've got a really good team. We're going to have a player on the World Junior Team for Team USA, Shane Bansagi, who was a draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers. So, no, we continue to pump them out, pump them out. You know, it's interesting, I'm here in Ottawa. So Brady Kachuk, obviously, I mean, one of the pillars of St. Louis hockey. Yes, of course.

Starting point is 00:15:05 And we'll go down as one of the greatest players to ever come out of St. Louis. Clayton, Keller, Matthew, Cichuk. I mean, you've got so many, Paul Stasney, I mean, Ben Bishop, but you can go on and on and on, Patrick Maroon. And there's so many great players that have come out of St. Louis. And we continue to put him, pump him out. And now my kid, it's interesting. I've been involved with the program for so long.

Starting point is 00:15:22 And now my kid is his first year. He's a 2016. He's young. He was up in WIPPy last weekend. I know playing in the Silver Sticks last year. Last weekend, I'm sorry, last weekend up in Toronto, up in Whippy. So now he's part of the program, which is great, man. It's always been so close to my heart, man.

Starting point is 00:15:42 I love the program, love the history. and hopefully we can continue it. So at the U-16 level that you're talking about, you know, and this is the first time it's ever happened at the Silver Scygling, this is a big deal. So the final was Upper Canada College, which was kind of a shock, but like, great program. But you know who won the whole thing?

Starting point is 00:16:00 Little Sears, maybe? Who won it? No, Little Sears got knocked off. Honeybeak. Little Seasers got knocked off by UCC. Honey-Baked. Yeah. First time ever.

Starting point is 00:16:11 You know, HoneyBake is making a resurgence. You know, back when I was younger, I mean, Honeybake was a great program. And they were for several years, and not that far back either, but Bell Tire had a great program. Oh, yeah. Compuare was just a great program coming out of Detroit. And then Little Caesars, you know, it's kind of had the pipeline the last several years. A lot of former NHLers have been a part of that program. And you're seeing even at the younger age, Nathan Kirby, he's done a great job with his 2016 group, which is my son's age.

Starting point is 00:16:41 I mean, they are an absolute wagon. That's great. But, you know, Matt Cullen, you know, he brought his son and a few other kids down to HoneyBake. And now, you know, that program is turning around. And at our age group, too, with the 2016, it's at the younger age groups, you're seeing a very competitive HoneyBake team, too. So, you know, Cesar's kind of control that area the last few years, but now you're seeing some of these other programs step up. I'll tell you what. You mentioned Pat Ruin a second ago.

Starting point is 00:17:06 I'll end on this one. I remember watching Pat play with the London Knights. And honestly, nothing like you saw in the NHL. I got so much respect for Pat for how he realized. Like, you know what? The way that I play, and he was a great roller hockey player. So I remember I used to go to the NARCH tournament every year, that great roller hockey tournament in St. Louis.

Starting point is 00:17:25 But Pat, when he played with the London Knights, if you looked at him play in London and looked at him play in the NHL, you'd be like, that that's not the same guy. He was like so, his hands in the OHL level, and he were filthy. Like some of the best hands in the OHL could breeze. through guys. It was like night and day. So when I think of Pat Maroon

Starting point is 00:17:45 playing youth hockey in St. Louis, I'm like, I bet he was the same way there. I just bet he was the same. He was dominating. I was talking to Jim Montgomery yesterday about players who are great picking the puck up off the wall. Hard of skill. Hard a skill. He says Bradmore.

Starting point is 00:18:01 Shann is one of the best he's ever seen to it. Obviously is. But, you know, Pat Maroon came into the conversation too. And I'll give a shout out to Anthony Maroon, his son, who just committed to Western Michigan. again, he's playing in the OASO, yeah, he's committed to Western Michigan. So, yeah, the pipeline continues.

Starting point is 00:18:19 And it's funny because I broadcasted a high school hockey game when Pat Maroon was a freshman at Elfville High School, in St. Louis. And I knew who he was much prior to that. You know, he's playing under Jeff Brown, part of that great 1988 birthday of here at St. Louis. But it's just funny, I did the game with Tony Twist. And I just be like, this guy's a man child.

Starting point is 00:18:38 He's a man child. He was a freshman. You know, but you couldn't get the puck away from him. So, yeah, I mean, unbelievable hands. You know, and he played with Connor McDavid. Like, he always had the ability to play up the lineup. But I think he had a season there in Evanton where he scored 28 goals, something like that. Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:57 So he could play, man. I mean, he didn't have the quickest boots, but, you know, you look at Matthew Kuchuk and some of these guys, they're not the fastest players, but they're so smart. And all the St. Louis kids, I mean, Luke Cunton is another one. I don't want to leave anybody out, man. There's been so many great players that have come out of some. St. Louis and Dakota Murmiss, who plays in the least right now. One of my favorite kids to ever come out of St. Louis. His dad was a coach. Joseph Wool,

Starting point is 00:19:18 who's obviously a goaltender for Toronto. Like, all these guys kind of had the same mentality. You saw Murmish throw down a few weeks ago. Like against, uh, on the weekend you did. On the weekend, Florian Jockey. Look, what are you doing? By the Wi-Fi's brother. Yeah. Yeah. But these guy, everyone, you know, from Luke Cunning on down, Brady, Pat Maroon, all these guys, They have that same mentality when you come out of St. Louis. Cam Jansen, he's the first one to ever make it to the national hockey they got to St. Louis. They're tough in St. Louis, Jeffie. Dude, he's terrified guys in the Ontario League.

Starting point is 00:19:52 They were terrified of Cam Janssen. All right, you'd be good. Enjoy the game against the Ottawa Senators. Cam's, he's just a gentle teddy bearer. Don't let him scary a Jeffie. He's just a night. I'm scared just watching them on your pod. I'm terrified.

Starting point is 00:20:08 I know. Just Cam Jansen. Jesus' Cam Jansen. Keep your head off. Thanks, Pat. You'd be good. That's so funny. You're the best, Jeff.

Starting point is 00:20:14 Take care. Thanks, man. mad he tried to give me a little medicine I'm like nah man that's fine I'm not against those methods but new it's me and myself and how this is going to be fixing my mind

Starting point is 00:20:53 I do want to break I turned on the music I do want to bang it I turn on the music It's an up yeah, I don't get you sometimes you Have been on the days that we're wrong

The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Andy Strickland on Blues’ Identity Crisis, Injuries & Western Pressures

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