NHL coaches come and go so often, teams should keep a UPS truck parked outside the arena, waiting to haul the discarded gaffer to the recycling plant. There’s an old saying: coaches are hired to be fired. In the NHL, coaches are fired so they can be fired again at...
BERNIE BITS 1. Oli Marmol is preparing for this third year as manager of the Cardinals. But Oli’s contract expires after the 2024 season, and I’d be a little surprised if the team lets him wander into a lame-duck season. That would work against Marmol’s fervent desire...
BLUE NOTES The Blues are all over the map, and I’m not referring to last week’s trip into Canadian territory. The recent trend is … volatile. There was the 6-2 home loss to Arizona, followed by a fine 4-2 win over visiting Pittsburgh. The itinerary in Canada started...
BERNIE BITS — Update: The Blues still stink on ice. In their six games since making the trade that sent Ryan O’Reilly to Toronto, the Blues haven’t won a game but did collect two points via overtime. They’re 0 for 22 on the power play. At five-on-five they’ve had a 41...
The End of an Era doesn’t have to be graceful and classy. But you hope that it can be steady. Sometimes it’s just time to move on, with a natural if disappointing transition from good to bad, with familiar-favorite players being eased out or traded to clear room for a...
Is it time to load up the Blues-colored bandwagon? This season it’s been pretty quiet on there, with a shortage of passengers, no party balloons, and many complaints. Not exactly the Delmar Loop trolley, but I digress … As I keep saying, don’t waste your time...
In a number of ways, the unpredictable, yo-yo Blues are doing the exact opposite of what we expect them to do. They’re winning games at a rate that puts them only two points out of the second wild–card spot in the Western Conference. As of Monday morning...
BERNIE BITS Step right on up and take a peek at what I’m writing for you: do the Cardinals have a top-five MLB front office? … are the wacky Blues a better team without Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko? … does Scott Rolen make it to Cooperstown this year? …...
Have the Blues found their game? Has it been retrieved from mediocrity? Well, they’ve made progress, having gone 4-1-1 since Dec. 12. But I still don’t trust them. And why should we? We’ve seen this act before. Winning streaks. Losing streaks. Up. Down. Hot and cold....
