Five Playoff Questions With BluesRants.com’s James Barry
5 years ago
It only feels like it was a few weeks ago we were talking with James Barry of BluesRants.com about the upcoming season and what we could expect from the St. Louis Blues, but it’s been an entire season and a crazy ride for both the Jets and Blues that has ended up with both teams facing off in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.
So with that in mind, we once again went to James to answer some questions we had about this past season in St. Louis and what to expect over the next seven (or less) games… Make sure you give him a follow on Twitter @JBarry89 and throw a follow at @BluesRantscom on Twitter as well.
JetsNation – November 20, 2018 the Blues fired Mike Yeo and brought on Craig Berube who had at best two years of somewhat mediocre success in Philadelphia. When the Blues brought him on, what was the reaction of St. Louis fans? Even with the turnaround, the Blues haven’t removed the “interm” tag from his title, so is it just a mere formality that he’ll remain after this past season and how much of the turnaround can be credited to him?
James Barry – The reaction was pretty subdued, the vast majority of vocal fans were clamoring for Quenneville to come back to the Blues. Berube seemed to be destined to be an answer to a difficult trivia question in a few years. What he has brought has been an obvious focus on execution and puck possession. His mannerisms behind the bench show equal parts desperation and expectation. Berube is the coach of the Blues for the foreseeable future and I expect his interim tag to be removed after the season. His contribution toward the turnaround? Hard to say, he hasn’t been out-coached in the second half, and his dedication to playing the guys who give the team the best chance to win can’t be overlooked.
JN – The Blues were 15-18-4 and sharing the basement of the NHL with the Ottawa Senators as the calendar flipped into 2019 and on a two game losing slide including a particularly ugly looking 6-1 loss to Pittsburgh. Were Blues fans done with the season at that point or was there still hope as the team was only 11 points out of a playoff spot?
JB – The sports radio jocks in St. Louis had written the team off. The Bluesrants.com staff was pretty close to writing the season off as another disappointment. The turnaround had no warning, but everything we expected to see after this offseason’s move suddenly happened. It was unreal.
JN – Jordan Binnington has been a remarkable story this season. Do you get the sense the Blues are ready to stick with him for the playoffs, or if they happen to get into trouble will Jake Allen be called into action in short order?
JB – I think he gets two clunkers in a row before they even think of removing him. Not because Binnington doesn’t deserve the starting gig, but Allen is a different goalie in the playoffs for his career. He has shown that he can win a series basically himself.
JN – How confident are Blues fans right now in their team going into the playoffs? Right now it sure seems like a lot of media and fans are leaning towards picking St. Louis in the series, are Blues fans good with those expectations or would they have preferred more of an underdog role?
JB – We are really tired of not having a cup. I think the expectations of the fans have been the same every year. We would really like to win one. I think confidence in this match up is higher from the casual fans than the hardcore fans. Jets on paper are better, but the Blues competitiveness is unmatched this calendar year.
JN – Two part question to close things out here… What in your mind needs to happen for the Blues to win this series and conversely, what do you think it would take for the Jets win this series?
JB – Depth scoring and keeping Laine and Wheeler to the outside. Make Buff turn and skate, finish every check. Conversely they need to stay out of the box, the Jets have a pretty potent power play. Whoever gets the most traffic to the front of these goalies will win. Both goalies are incredible and it could be a long nerve wrecking series.
Of course…. Blues in 6!
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