Bluenotes 1-26-11: Tarasenko Injured

A daily dose of news and views from around St. Louis Blues Nation.

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Tarasenko Injured

When the injury bug hits the St. Louis Blues it doesn’t just stop in at 14th and Clark. It takes a course covering the whole organization.

First man down was Canadian and Colorado College forward Jaden Schwartz. Looks like the bug followed fellow WJC competitor Vladimir Tarasenko to Russia.

Reports Tuesday afternoon
(originally mentioned on HF Boards) made their way to
STLToday.com’s Blues Talk forum. All that was known didn’t sound promising. The injury appeared to be a separated shoulder.

Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog author Dmitry Chesnokov confirmed as such on Twitter.

For more info, please check out Randall’s write up from last night.

Identity Crisis & Questioning Payne

Bob Ramsey had a good point during Tom Casey’s Ice Report on101.1 FM ESPN’s Fast Lane yesterday.

In a nut shell he qusetioned, “who is this Blues team”?

Are the an offensive team flying up and down the ice? Are they a defensive juggernaut locking other teams down. Are they a bunch of agitating pests getting
under opponets skin? Are they a special teams dynamo?

The answer, at least he contended since Soccergate, was basically “none of the above”.

In reality the question goes back further than 2010-11. The identity created by the mad dash to the 2009 playoffs evaporated with the four game sweep. The hard hitting, blue collar mantra never really returned to form under Andy Murray or Davis Payne in 2009-10. It came in fleeting moments with the Mur and was a
little more prominent with Payne’s installation, but not as consistent as it was from February to April 2009.

For the first 12 games the identity appeared to be from the backend out. Much like Nashville, a suffocating five man unit would outwork opponents in all three
zones. In turn reducing chances against and giving the netminder a chance to win games.

From November 11th foward, evaporation and inconsistency once again.

Leading to what should be an obvious question. Is this lineup too young? Have they learned how to win games yet? Given what we’ve seen so far this season, the answers are yes and no. The youthful locker room composition doesn’t have the
requiste experience to sustain defeat, analyze, adapt and apply changes. For all the hard losses that have come to this core unit, the lessons just aren’t sinking in.

I’ve steared away from criticism of Payne most of this season. Mainly because it has not been warranted. He’s done a pretty good job of keeping the Blues in the Western Conference race despite legitimate personnel shortcomings.

He’s on the clock now. His one year deal is closer to it’s end than it’s beginning. No excuses in the self termed “toughest stretch of the season”. Find a way to rally the troops back to a battle ready status. Because right now, they’re AWOL.

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