Hockey season is set to resume after a year's hiatus. As if things weren't rough enough for the average NHL team after the strike/lockout, the St. Louis Blues are without their two All-Star defensemen. Chris Pronger is now in Edmonton, and Al McKinnis retired. Pronger could make some dumb mistakes and take some stupid penalties, but when his head was in the game he was the best, and his passes to the forwards were things of beauty. McKinnis was just an awesome defensive player, and had a slapshot that could dent a battleship. He's a Hall-of-Famer for sure.
We also lost forward Pavel Dimitra, who always showed tons of potential but never quite lived up to it.
Those of us who bleed Blue now have to pin all our hopes on Doug Weight and Keith Tkachuk, two high-priced players who have yet to string together several good games in a row. I think I'd have been tempted to dump most of the veterans and go with a bunch of younger players, but the team is for sale and a commitment from Bill Laurie to the future of the team is about as secure as a Wal-Mart employee's pension. Oh well, maybe the new owners will dump GM Larry Pleau and finally bring a real hockey mind to lead the Blue Note. How I long for the days when enforcer Tony Twist would skate out to beat the opposing team's goon into a bloody pulp, or mighty mite Kelly Chase would fight a player twice his size to protect his teamates. Twister and Kelly, wherever you are, this Bud Light's for you!
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Who needs hockey when you have the Cards and da Rams? Particularly since they both have championship teams once in a while, unlike the Blue Notes.
I think the biggest thing in the way is that I can't stand the attitude of self-anointed Blues fanatics towards us casual fans. I mean, you don't see people who are really into baseball or football going off on fellow St. Louis fans who aren't deemed enthusiastic enough.
And the attitude also comes from NHL players who have some sort of chip on their shoulders because they only make a few million, unlike baseball, football, and basketball players who make many millions. And don't forget those NASCAR guys!
So, we'll have to see. I think that unless the NHL improves itself an insane amount, it's not going to pull people like me back into the picture. And hey, if it does, great.
Oh, and if Bill Laurie does get an NBA team to St. Louis, can we get Shaq?
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