Captain Shamrock
Well-Known Member
Bring on the Wild. We're going to the Conference finals......
Originally posted by Captain Shamrock
Bring on the Wild. We're going to the Conference finals......
Originally posted by Sarge
Nucks 3 Blues 1. Gotta Believe!
Originally posted by Captain Shamrock
Good for the Canucks. They prolonged the inevitable one more game. St. Louis will be over the flu and the Canucks will be booking tee times.
Did Drake ever think that maybe, just maybe they were beat by the better team? Donkey.Blues' GM Pleau says changes coming
TSN.ca Staff
4/25/2003
St. Louis Blues general manager Larry Pleau would not give head coach Joel Quenneville a vote of confidence for next year. But he did go on the record as saying changes would be made to the lineup.
"There are players on this team that won't be on this team next season," Pleau tells the St. Louis Post Dispatch. "There are some things that I think should be different."
Goaltenders Chris Osgood and Brent Johnson along with forwards Cory Stillman and Pavol Demitra are scheduled to become restricted free agents this summer. Osgood, who made $4-million this season, has said he would take a pay cut to remain with the Blues, but would like a long-term deal.
Pleau admits it will be financially impossible to keep the current team intact. The nucleus of high-priced players will remain untouched while Pleau said he also would pursue trades in order to clear up some cash to pursue other players.
"I think we have a damn good nucleus of players," explained Pleau. "Now am I unhappy with the performance of some of them? Sure. I think sometimes you make a small change and it changes the nucleus of the team."
As for not publicly supporting Quenneville, who has one more year remaining on his current contract, Pleau says don't read too much into it.
"I've been a coach, and I will never give a coach a vote of confidence. So if you're waiting for me to come out and say that Joel's back here and I'm giving him a vote of confidence, forget that. Ask Joel, I'm sure he doesn't want one either."
As for the players, they were unreserved in their support for Quenneville and that the blame should fall squarely on their shoulders.
I hear things about how the coaching staff couldn't motivate a hockey team. That has to be the lamest excuse in sports," said defenceman Al MacInnis. "How do players get to this level without motivating themselves? Please. If you're not able to motivate yourself in the Stanley Cup playoffs, please let us know."
"He's an unbelievable coach," said Keith Tkachuk. "What's happened this year, through all the adversity, you've got to give him a lot of credit. I believe in him. He should be back."
"I feel as disgusted as I've been in my life," center Doug Weight said. "Not my career. My life."
"Personally, I felt this was our year to have something special," added Dallas Drake. "We blew it, we really did. We were exactly where we wanted to be, up 3-1, and we choked. You can write that. It's pretty unacceptable."