Enjoy the cellar Davidson. Bonehead move #1 of your tenure. Should have cleaned house and started over from scratch while you had the chance.
If people aren't rioting in the streets by now I don't know what it will take them to riot in the streets. Granted, this isn't Chicago but they deserve a much higher standard in the front office.
Say what you want about the downtrodden Blues.....but you can't deny that they are accumulating a very impressive pool of prospects. If the season goes down the toilet again, like many here expect it to, Pleau should have no trouble getting more high draft picks and prospects for the likes of Guerin, Tkachuk, Brewer, Sanford, etc. In case you haven't noticed, the Blues have one of the better scouting departments in the NHL, and for all of Pleau's weaknesses he was smart enough to replace Ted Hampson with Jarmo Kekalainen....
Sure he got his *** handed to him in the Pronger trade....and he's made some questionable personnel decisions (at the mandate of the former owner), and gave out some pretty bad contracts.....but with Checketts and Davidson committing to building the nucleus with their young talent, the days of trading away prospects and draft picks appear to be over....which is a very good thing for the organization considering the collection of talent which is on its way (EJ, Oshie, Soderberg, Backes, Berglund, Polak, Lemtyugov, Birner, Jackson, etc.). It's simply looking as though the franchise has rewarded Pleau with the opportunity to see these kids make the NHL. While I would have been fine with firing Pleau and starting with a clean slate, Pleau is respected in USA hockey and across the league and there are far worse alternatives then keeping the guy who is most familiar with the franchise and its prospects. Pleau actually did a good job of building a young team that won the President's Trophy in 1999....it was only at the order of Bill Laurie was he forced to trade away youth for the likes of Tkachuk & Weight....setting the franchise on the course that led to last year's collapse....
We never should've given you guys 'Cash for Belle......man was that a flop. Although I guess Dallas' goalie pool is crowded enough with 3 potential backups fighting for a spot in training camp.
Say what you want about the downtrodden Blues.....but you can't deny that they are accumulating a very impressive pool of prospects. If the season goes down the toilet again, like many here expect it to, Pleau should have no trouble getting more high draft picks and prospects for the likes of Guerin, Tkachuk, Brewer, Sanford, etc. In case you haven't noticed, the Blues have one of the better scouting departments in the NHL, and for all of Pleau's weaknesses he was smart enough to replace Ted Hampson with Jarmo Kekalainen....
Sure he got his *** handed to him in the Pronger trade....and he's made some questionable personnel decisions (at the mandate of the former owner), and gave out some pretty bad contracts.....but with Checketts and Davidson committing to building the nucleus with their young talent, the days of trading away prospects and draft picks appear to be over....which is a very good thing for the organization considering the collection of talent which is on its way (EJ, Oshie, Soderberg, Backes, Berglund, Polak, Lemtyugov, Birner, Jackson, etc.). It's simply looking as though the franchise has rewarded Pleau with the opportunity to see these kids make the NHL. While I would have been fine with firing Pleau and starting with a clean slate, Pleau is respected in USA hockey and across the league and there are far worse alternatives then keeping the guy who is most familiar with the franchise and its prospects. Pleau actually did a good job of building a young team that won the President's Trophy in 1999....it was only at the order of Bill Laurie was he forced to trade away youth for the likes of Tkachuk & Weight....setting the franchise on the course that led to last year's collapse....
Bah! Davidson should have driven Pleau to the airport the moment he became his boss. No one is denying that the Blues have an impressive talent pool. Pleau should have not been given the opportunity to be a part of the new direction of the Blues. He had YEARS to build a cup champion it was time for him to move on and let someone else build a winner.
Huge mistake by the Blues keeping Pleau on. Let's just hope Davidson isn't the NHL equivelant of Matt Millen.
Jeremy Rutherford, the beat writer for the Blues with the St. Louis Post Dispatch, has not heard this. He is going to check with John Davidson directly for confirmation. Until it's reported, it's simply speculation.
The discussion was about the Leaf’s GM being a lame duck and the only GM, along with Pleau, to have no deal past this year. They said it was an “embarrassment” for GMs to work without a contract past their “lame duck year.”
Because Leaf's Lunch (radio program) said Pleau was on the last year of his deal and I pointed out what is below to them about the extension on June 30th. They even plugged my blog. Leaf's Lunch stated (reading my email word for word):
"According to reports in St. Louis, Pleau received a multi-year extension from John Davidson when ownership officially changed hands on June 30th."
The Blues' brass is assuring me that all hockey decisions will be funneled to JD.... Pleau won't be calling any shots.... this is their spin, anyway.
If so, then basically JD is the GM...
and Pleau is a glorified assistant GM...
JD will need loyal aides to do the legwork.
Pleau will certainly be grateful for this opportunity.
I am always on guard for spin -- but the way this is explained to me makes some sense, even if it'll result in an immediate PR hit for the new regime.
