These obviously are just my thoughts....
1. Do the Blues miss David Backes? Just watch his play on the B's GW goal last night after erasing a 2 goal deficit in Edmonton on the second of B2B and 3rd game in 4 nights.
100% absolutely. Not only do they miss his leadership.....they do not have a single player that is willing to pay the price for a goal like Backes did for us and now does for the Bruins. Now, the Blues have had scoring issues for a LONG time....even when he was around but his leadership is sorely missed, no doubt about it.
2. Is Mike Yeo the right guy? He strikes me as more of a College or AHL level coach.
I'm not sold on him, at all. I'd agree he's an AHL level guy. We went from a stickler (Hitchcock) to Yeo, who comes across entirely too soft IMO. I don't think he has command of the Blues right now. IF....and that's a big if, Quennville were to get canned by the Hawks I'd dump Yeo and hire him at all costs if I were the Blues. I just don't see him as 'the' coach that gets us there. Especially after the consistent comments from the Minnesota fans in the articles on in the ATHLETIC all year. They've all but verified the issues 'we' are seeing now plagued the Wild why he was there.
3. Should they have kept Shattenkirk and moved on from Pietrangelo instead?
Nope. Pietrangelo is a far superior D Man than Shattenkirk. The issue is, he's just not Captain material IMO. I don't think he has the right personality for it. You need a gritty, hard nosed....no BS type of person to be a Captain IMO and Petro just isn't that guy. Heck of a player, just isn't getting the job done as a Captain.
In fact, my question for this weeks mailbag for Rutherford will be if he agrees with me and that I think in order to begin the culture change in the locker room I'd strip all A's from the Alternate Captains and the C from Petro.....right now....to let it be known that what's going on is unacceptable. But, when it comes to things like that....I get a bit extreme. Just ask my kids. They lost their PS4 for 6 months last year because I got sick of their disrespectful attitudes....when I hinted that I'd take it away the rest of the year I was 'challenged' per say with a "you can't do that".
Umm...yeah I can
Anyway....to change the culture in that locker room some drastic measures need to take place.
I'd also bench a few of the vets for a game or two across the board and call up some youngsters and let them play a bit. But that's tougher to do given roster spots and how difficult it is to bring up/send down folks.