{"time":1776837739221,"blocks":[{"id":"M0ptVOeN-0","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"ST.\nLOUIS – The\nSt. Louis Blues tried their darndest. Oh, did they ever."}},{"id":"aFt6BFJNhy","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nThey\ntried to overcome near impossible odds\nto break the door down to the Western Conference playoff race for a\nsecond straight season."}},{"id":"woNV0Rrw3w","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nBut\nin the end, it was just too much to overcome this year. Living on the\nedge, in the end, is not the way to go, to be honest."}},{"id":"-wyW50hJUD","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nThe\nBlues got into the tournament as the second wild card in large part\nto a franchise-record 12-game winning streak, and even then, they\nsqueaked in past the Calgary Flames by winning on the final day of\nthe regular season and getting in on the first tiebreaker with one\nmore regulation win (32-31)."}},{"id":"xE5ojZjjqr","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nThey\nwere 14 points out of the wild card heading into the Olympic break\nbut were able to get as close as three points as late as April 5 but\nfinally ran out of steam, before finishing this season 37-33-12, four\npoints behind the Los Angeles Kings."}},{"id":"mo9naz5e","type":"video","data":{"url":"https://us-central1-deweb-519a7.cloudfunctions.net/mediaService-api/videos/9424adff-4ec1-4121-8e4e-add60455e182/mp4","caption":"","autoplay":false,"controls":true,"muted":false,"stretched":true,"width":0,"height":0,"image":{"url":"https://us-central1-deweb-519a7.cloudfunctions.net/mediaService-api/videos/9424adff-4ec1-4121-8e4e-add60455e182/thumbnail"},"cdn":{"videoId":"9424adff-4ec1-4121-8e4e-add60455e182","libraryId":"372172","collectionId":"30032062-eefd-4041-a355-12ad05bc987b","cdnBaseUrl":"https://vz-052fc010-b27.b-cdn.net","mp4Url":"https://us-central1-deweb-519a7.cloudfunctions.net/mediaService-api/videos/9424adff-4ec1-4121-8e4e-add60455e182/mp4","thumbnailUrl":"https://us-central1-deweb-519a7.cloudfunctions.net/mediaService-api/videos/9424adff-4ec1-4121-8e4e-add60455e182/thumbnail","previewAnimationUrl":"https://vz-052fc010-b27.b-cdn.net/9424adff-4ec1-4121-8e4e-add60455e182/preview.webp"}}},{"id":"E_Y6nbl3M9","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nSo\nwhy are the Blues of the past two seasons so good late but so poor\nearly?"}},{"id":"4-lGuxOD1R","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“It’s\nkind of hard to say what really caused it,” Blues\nforward Jordan Kyrou said.\n“I think that’s something as a team internally, we’ve got to\ntalk to each other about and find out as a group and then obviously\ndown the stretch after the break, we kind of found our footing a\nlittle bit. We started to play kind of how we wanted as a team and\nkind of to our identity.”"}},{"id":"X61ytcC16m","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nLet’s\nlook at the numbers by month of the past two seasons:"}},{"id":"eBv1b0gl2C","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n*\nOctober – 8-13-2"}},{"id":"-wi6RAYXVn","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n*\nNovember – 12-10-5"}},{"id":"cHlPvAdjOe","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n*\nDecember – 13-12-3"}},{"id":"T84lfdfXQs","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n*\nJanuary – 9-16-1"}},{"id":"y1yC2QyOhr","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n*\nFebruary – 7-4-2"}},{"id":"16uO8zAWO6","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n*\nMarch – 22-4-3"}},{"id":"mBRXhACjtD","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n*\nApril – 9-4-2"}},{"id":"VLcop7IaBU","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nSo\nOctober-January, the team is 42-51-11, and once the clock turns and\nthey go to February-April, the Blues are 38-12-7."}},{"id":"uLHZCMI7c7","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nAnd\nafter bulldozing their way into the playoffs last season and\nexpectations rising to a level of at least competing for the playoffs\nonce again. And losing in the fashion that they did in Game 7 of the\nfirst round against the Winnipeg Jets, there should have been a\nsummer’s worth of motivation to come in with their skates on fire."}},{"id":"OOT9aQOdrf","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nIt\nnever happened."}},{"id":"MolybemMcj","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“Disappointing\nI would say,” Blues\ngeneral manager Doug Armstrong said.\n“I thought we were, based on the second half of last season and\nthen the playoffs, I thought we had progressed to a spot where we\nwould be more competitive out of the gate. Obviously our first half\nof the season was not to the standard that we had hoped for, made us\nre-assess our short term and maybe medium-term plans, not our\nlong-term plans. I would say that I thought that we would be a better\nteam.”"}},{"id":"3LbcQookME","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nCoach\nJim Montgomery added, “Poor start, and then I would say not being\nable to find solutions early enough to be able to get on the right\npath was very frustrating, for everybody involved, and we all need to\nbe significantly better. We all need to change and affect change\nwithin ourselves, and that’s not easy to do, whether it’s your\ntraining habits, it’s your attitude, it’s your mindset. All of\nthose things need to be different for us to get off to a better\nstart. It’s two years in a row that I’ve been accustomed to\nwhat’s happened here. I don’t know what happened in the two years\nprior to that, but they were non-playoff years as well. Getting off\nto a better start and trying to find the attitudes and the mindsets\nthat we’ve had in the last two months of the season in the last two\nyears, not because of results, but because the mindsets and the\nattitudes were significantly different.”"}},{"id":"A7ralcO4Mv","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nMontgomery\nused a word there that’s key to everything: attitude."}},{"id":"r_G8HNd8Pq","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nWhy\nis it that this particular group, and it likely won’t look exactly\nthe same as the one that ended the season against the Utah Mammoth,\ndoesn’t view October-January games like it does February-April?"}},{"id":"puNv6SJ5eg","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nThose\ngames mean the same on Oct. 28 mean exactly the same as the ones\nplayed on April 5, and that’s attitude, and until that changes, the\nBlues are going to be the same group that disappoints early, gets the\nfans’ hopes up late, only to more times than not, come up short."}},{"id":"g3LDM_9oby","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“Attitude’s\nthe most important thing,” Montgomery said. “All of us have to be\nwilling to do the right things on a consistent level and it’s got\nto be an attitude of, I believe it’s a Truman quote that it’s not\nwho gets the praise but it’s the common good of the group that\nsucceeds. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit for the success. It\nmatters who’s doing the work together to create the success, and\nthat needs to be the attitude by everybody, and I’m not just\ntalking players."}},{"id":"Zts8sR1wRH","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“I\ndon’t care of you drive the Zamboni. Drive the Zamboni the best way\nthat you can and make sure you don’t miss a line. Those are the\nkind of attitudes that we’ve got to make sure everyone’s having.”"}},{"id":"e1nghGkREw","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nArmstrong\nagreed."}},{"id":"X0YTEvjBW1","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“Yeah,\nthere has to be a reckoning of what happened and how it happened and\nmake sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “I’m not talking\nabout the wins and losses, it’s just our attitude of how we came to\nwork every day. I shared with some people today, the groups that I\nhave worked with that have had success loved the grind. They loved\nthe challenge. They loved the adversity. They couldn’t wait for it.\nThey thrived under it. They wanted someone to punch them in the mouth\nso they could respond. That’s what you’re seeing (from) 16 teams\nplaying now that had that and we are not one of them today.”"}},{"id":"dt6fTTc7QT","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nSo\nhow do they change it?"}},{"id":"A5kDweJ15j","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“I\nthink it’s preparation, but I think guys got to truly sink into\nthat,” said Blues forward Dylan Holloway, who ripped off 34 points\n(14 goals, 20 assists) the final 25 games of the season. “It’s\nnot that guys aren’t prepared, per se. Everybody’s working all\nsummer, everyone’s training hard, but I think more mentally, it’s\nkind of like, ‘OK, we start on this day’ like mentally. I think\nmentally we’ve got to take it back a little bit and truly like be\nmentally prepared for the season because like you said, we got off to\ntwo slow starts. But for me, it’s not like this team doesn’t have\nthe capability to be an elite team, to be a playoff team. It’s just\nkind of finding that consistency more and the start’s huge.”"}},{"id":"EcE8LJ2YW3","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nThe\nBlues never had more than a four-game winning streak this past\nseason. That’s part of the consistency that was missing for large\nswaths. Last season, they were the last team to reel off a three-game\nwinning streak. This season, they never won more than two games in a\nrow until the first of three four-game streaks starting March 1-6."}},{"id":"fzBCT7A4Kj","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nThe\nharsh reality of having to sit at Enterprise Center this past\nSaturday and think about why they failed really set in."}},{"id":"4AhVAs2VzA","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“I\nthink it starts with training camp,” Armstrong\nsaid.\n“And it’s going to be interesting because we’re all going into\na new training camp format. We’re down to four (preseason)\ngames,\nit’s two weeks, there’s a lot of pressure on the players to show\nup in great shape. The nagging training camp injuries you see are\ngoing to bleed into the first and second week of the season now. So\nplayers are going to have to skate harder in the summer, they’re\ngoing to have to take care of themselves, they’re going to have to\nhave leadership practices that are almost NHL practices. You can’t\nhave sore groins and sore backs like you could when Bernie [Federko]\nwas playing. You have to show up ready, so I think that’s going to\nbe a main focus and then I think respecting the league. Understand\nthat it’s a very difficult league and if you’re not prepared\nmentally and physically to play, you’re going to fall back and I\nthink our mental toughness has to improve. Our ability to turn the\npage quickly, I think we hung onto things organizationally too long\nand they dragged into the second game, the third game, and then I\nthink we didn’t get grounded quick enough after a couple of wins.\nIt felt like it took us five years to win multiple games in a row\nthere for a while. We didn’t have that mental resolve that\nplayoff-caliber teams have.”"}},{"id":"wcmGIzXFVX","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nMontgomery\nwasn’t around for the off-season going into the 2024-25 season but\nwas last year. It was his first full camp as the coach and\nunderstands when players report, there will be no easing into camp."}},{"id":"EPTB9AKOzk","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“There’s\na couple of things you can do. I’ve always been a coach that looks\nto get the team off to a … pace is really important in camp, I’m\njust talking about training camp,” Montgomery\nsaid.\n“I think training camp bleeds into … players got to do their work\nto be in great shape and be ready to go and having done improvements\nin their games on their own in the summer because they’re not under\nour guide at that time. When you start the year, training camp, I\nalways believe you build the whole, which means five-man groups and\nyou get off to pace and you start to build the details and habits\nwithin that. The finer points, they have to teach individuals. You\nbuild that as you go along. So you start with a whole, then you build\nthe small parts, and then you go back to the whole. That has usually\ndriven a lot of success, but I would say my last two training camps,\nthat hasn’t happened. So now I’m going to be looking at those\nhabits and details starting with the small parts and that requires a\nlot more gruntwork, a lot more grind on the players. It means camp’s\ngoing to be harder, but that’s the way it needs to be. We need to\nchange things in order … to affect change, you need to change. So\nthat’s the things I’m looking at to affect change."}},{"id":"WT1Lci8zAG","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“After\nbeing done with the year-end meetings with the players and getting\ntheir perspective on some of the questions that you guys are asking,\nI’m asking them pointedly, ‘What will they do to affect change?’\nI told you guys that. Then I’ve got to start looking for assistant\ncoaches. Then it’s going to be working a lot with ‘Steener’ on\nhow we see the team, not only playing, how we’re going to make our\nteam have a better camp. All those things, him and I need to discuss\nad nauseum because it’s really important that we have a great\nsummer. In order to have a great start, you have to have a great\nsummer. It starts right away. For us, that’s this week.”"}},{"id":"vKuqJSqBfk","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nThe\nplayers get the long off-season to reflect but they’ve really got\nto dig into it and understand that the status quo isn’t nearly good\nenough."}},{"id":"vUfdlgecNJ","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“I\nthink we’ve all got to really reflect on it,” said\nBlues forward Robert Thomas, who also ended the season on fire with\n31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in 22 games.\n“Obviously it’s been something that’s happened the last two\nyears in a row. I think a lot of opinions and stuff should be kept\nprivate and handled inside. After those conversations happen, I think\nwe can all come together and kind of voice our opinions and plans on\nhow we’re going to change that.”"}},{"id":"Pvv75MjnNd","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nAnd\njust just change one thing, it’s change plenty, because early this\nseason, goaltending was poor, defensive play was poor, the offense\nwas lacking consistency and special teams were bad."}},{"id":"wWdKOYoxUt","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“Obviously\neverybody strives to get into the playoffs and go for a run,” Blues\ndefenseman Philip Broberg said. “Obviously sitting here, it’s\ndisappointing. We didn’t get (off) to a good start to the season\nand then we kind of got going. But I think it was pretty\ndisappointing to not make the playoffs for sure.”"}},{"id":"V0UG10TtCi","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\nBut\nas much as the Blues need to change with their attitude towards Game\n1 to 84 – yes, 84 next season, Holloway wants to make one thing\nclear."}},{"id":"buqj1VeRHW","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"\n\n“Our\nculture in the room is amazing,” he\nsaid.\n“I feel like everybody’s friends with everybody, everybody talks\nto everybody. The guys go for dinner with everybody. It’s a rare\nthing to have as tight of a group as we do. It was weird like that to\nstart. I feel like everybody thought that we were going to get off to\na hot start and it was just going to continue from where we were last\nyear and then when that didn’t happen, it was kind of a shock to\neveryone. It took us a little bit to get it back together and then\nwhen we did, you can see how good hockey that we did play. I think\nthe goal going into next season is to find that right away.”"}},{"id":"kMybuIgRNG","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/players/jordan-kyrous-down-season-raises-trade-questions-again-should-two-sides-seek-fresh-start-or-refocus-on-coming-back-better-stronger","meta":{"title":"Jordan Kyrou's Down Season Raises Trade Questions Again; Should Two Sides Seek Fresh Start Or Refocus On Coming Back Better, Stronger?","site_name":"The Hockey News","url":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/players/jordan-kyrous-down-season-raises-trade-questions-again-should-two-sides-seek-fresh-start-or-refocus-on-coming-back-better-stronger","description":"Forward had lowest output in goals, points since 2020-21, remains committed to St. Louis; team also remains committed -- for now","image":{"url":"https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/af726337-de0e-409e-9719-971c655209d6.jpeg","type":"jpeg"}}}},{"id":"xtHrPJSYIV","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/players/if-robert-thomas-was-available-for-trade-before-he-shouldnt-have-been-nor-should-be-moving-forward","meta":{"title":"If Robert Thomas Was Available For Trade Before, He Shouldn't Have Been, Nor Should Be Moving Forward","site_name":"The Hockey News","url":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/players/if-robert-thomas-was-available-for-trade-before-he-shouldnt-have-been-nor-should-be-moving-forward","description":"St. Louis Blues' No. 1 center found game again down stretch for second straight season, formulated team's No. 1 line with play with Dylan Holloway, Jimmy Snuggerud; but 26-year-old wants to hear management's plans moving forward despite four years left on contract","image":{"url":"https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/280d3354-1090-49ee-ade9-e36d94f1540c.jpeg","type":"jpeg"}}}},{"id":"RuXINzLd2t","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/players/what-does-dylan-holloways-next-contract-look-like-for-st-louis-blues","meta":{"title":"What Does Dylan Holloway's Next Contract Look Like For St. Louis Blues?","site_name":"The Hockey News","url":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/players/what-does-dylan-holloways-next-contract-look-like-for-st-louis-blues","description":"Forward who overcame torn abductor muscle, high ankle sprain within past year, set to become restricted free agent July 1, but unlike Philip Broberg, Doug Armstrong more open-ended regarding 24-year-old's contract","image":{"url":"https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/b727a054-7db4-4883-a10c-b7f818573cd6.jpeg","type":"jpeg"}}}},{"id":"_CzJ6S9_Ej","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/players/jordan-binnington-keeping-open-mind-regarding-future","meta":{"title":"Jordan Binnington Keeping Open Mind Regarding Future","site_name":"The Hockey News","url":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/players/jordan-binnington-keeping-open-mind-regarding-future","description":"St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup-winning goalie wants to discuss future team plans with GM-in-waiting Alexander Steen, management team with one year remaining on current contract","image":{"url":"https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/000e56c3-e4e0-4907-b106-85586f9517c8.jpeg","type":"jpeg"}}}},{"id":"K6ANpifTfh","type":"linkTool","data":{"link":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/blues-ahl-affiliate-goes-from-awful-start-to-calder-cup-playoffs","meta":{"title":"Blues' AHL Affiliate Goes From Awful Start To Calder Cup Playoffs","site_name":"The Hockey News","url":"https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/blues-ahl-affiliate-goes-from-awful-start-to-calder-cup-playoffs","description":"From tough beginning to coaching change to Steve Ott, Springfield Thunderbirds to face Charlotte in best-of-3 series starting Wednesday","image":{"url":"https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/c4f8ea23-017f-4eb8-8ba2-bf5b99982652.jpeg","type":"jpeg"}}}},{"id":"bOjntm036A","type":"image","data":{"caption":"","withBorder":false,"withBackground":false,"size":"full","alignment":"center","linkUrl":"THN.com/FREE ","file":{"url":"https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/db2afbdd-de2e-4416-aa9d-cd79717363c6.jpeg","width":1920,"height":1080}}},{"id":"r8iMrHcRx8","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum."}}],"version":"2.31.5"}

Blues Earn Top 10 Spot In The Athletic's Prospect Pool Rankings