Is there a player revolt developing inside the Toronto dressing room against their Head Coach?
Very credible sources point towards this definitely being the case.
Say what you want about the players but when they stop playing for their coach it rarely ever works out well in the end.
GM Brian Burke finds himself in a very unenvious predicament.
I can’t imagine Burke dropping the bomb and firing his Head Coach less than ten games into the season. Not when you consider the two are a joined at the hip heading into the Olympics as the GM/Head Coach tandem for team USA.
Ron Wilson has a reputation of looking for revenge and hoping his former club fails when he’s relieved of his duties from a particular organization. If Wilson is let go, how will this affect his ability to work with Burke heading into the Olympic games?
The bottom line is Burke’s loyalty is and should be to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Everything involving USA hockey should come secondary at this time. Burke didn’t necessarily do his coach any big favors heading into the season. He did a nice job of taking care of his third and fourth lines but outside of adding Phil Kessel he did little to improve the club offensively. Even adding Kessel and handing him a long term deal worth $5 million per is considered very questionable by many around the league.
If the Leafs finish the season with the NHL’s worst record he’s going to have a whole lot of explaining to do considering Boston owns Toronto’s first round pick.
Tippitt a breath of fresh air is Phoenix….
I’m told players in Phoenix are calling the addition of Head Coach Dave Tippett “Extremely refreshing” from what the club was experiencing the last few seasons under former bench boss Wayne Gretzky.
The team now does video, they have a system in place, and Tippett has them playing some solid hockey.
There would be times the last few years when Gretzky would be a no-show for a pre-game skate. The team was pretty much run by assistant coaches due to the fact Gretzky’s time was in great demand. One can make the case Gretzky was more of a figurehead as opposed to a committed head coach.
Perron taken Off PP….
Since the day David Perron joined the St. Louis Blues he has always been a lightning rod among the fans.
Over the last few months the organization has raved about his maturity and how much he’s grown since the day he walked into the organization with white skates on. It didn’t take very long before Head Coach Andy Murray ordered Blues equipment trainer Bert Godin to paint his skates black.
Today Perron is no longer just a kid, he’s a third year player still finding his way in the National Hockey League. At the ripe age of 21 he’s developed into a fan favorite and continues to show glimpses of one day turning into a dominating offensive player. He registered 50 points last season as a 20 year old and along with Andy McDonald was the Blues best player in their short playoff run a year ago.
Even Blues analyst Darren Pang chose Perron as his 2009-2010 NHL breakout player on TSN.
The Sherbrooke, Quebec native is no different than most young up and coming NHL players or even veterans for that matter. Occasionally he will make a mistake.
We saw that last Saturday night when Perron was caught defending a Los Angeles two –on-one break that resulted in a Kings goal just after a Blues PP had expired. He actually defended the play rather well as he was able to get a stick on the passing attempt before the puck found its way into the net.
Following the game Murray was none too pleased with Perron as he told the press the player was at fault for not getting off the ice for a change. Murray has since said he along with 19 other players were screaming for Perron to get off the ice. To take it one step further Murray says Perron was reminded prior to taking his shift that he was instructed to quickly get off the ice as there was limited PP time remaining.
The only conflict here is that Perron says he was never given these instructions prior to leaving the bench and didn’t hear anybody screaming for him to get off the ice.
The end result has Perron taken off the Blues second PP unit and is being replaced by 2nd year player T.J. Oshie on the right point.
Following Wednesday’s practice Murray told me there is still a chance Perron could see some PP time.
There is a risk/reward that comes with using a forward on the point on the Power play. Maybe using Perron on the half wall will prevent future defensive lapses while on the PP.
Blues Clues!
Patrik Berglund will return to the lineup after sitting out a game as a healthy scratch. He’ll be teamed up with Perron and Oshie.
Murray says there are a group of eight players who need to pick up their game before they find themselves sitting out a game.
David backs will return to centering Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes.
Keith Tkachuk will return to centering Winchester and Kariya.
The Jay mcClement, Crombeen, Steen line stays the same.
Murray told Cam Janssen he deserves to play which still does little to soften the blow for Janssen who would obviously love to be in there. Still I thought it was a great gesture by Murray to communicate that to Janssen.
Alex Pietrangelo will sit in favor or re-called D-man Tyson Strachan.
T.J. Oshie is renting out former Blues forward Dan Hinote’s house.
Blues Owner Dave Checketts has made very few poor decisions (if any) as the Owner of the Blues. He has a crystal clear image in this community and it served him no good to align himself with such a controversial figure as Rush Limbaugh. Checketts priority is to build a group that is committed to keeping the NFL in St. Louis and finding the necessary investors to help execute that vision. In the end being associated with the baggage that comes with a personality such as Rush Limbaugh may have proved to be a relationship not worth pursuing.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
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St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • 
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