(Note: Some questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.)<\/p>\n
The problem with this team is the core: Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich. They are not championship players. Do you agree, and what can we do about it? \u2014 John F.<\/p>\n
I wrote a little about the core in Wednesday\u2019s article<\/a> but did not get this specific. All three players can be part of a championship team. The question is whether they can collectively build the Blues into a championship team. They\u2019d all have to raise their level of play to provide what it takes to make a deep run in the playoffs, but that\u2019s not impossible.<\/p>\n Buchnevich is 30, Kyrou is 27 and Thomas is 26, and even though they\u2019re all veterans, they\u2019re still learning. Look at the Blues\u2019 Stanley Cup team in 2019: David Perron was 30, and Ryan O\u2019Reilly was 27. I\u2019m not comparing the players; I\u2019m just saying I don\u2019t agree that they can\u2019t become championship players. Players win the Cup every year after being painted the same way earlier in their careers.<\/p>\n And if they\u2019re not championship players, what can the Blues do? There would be plenty of takers for Thomas and Kyrou, with their production, potential and reasonable salary-cap hits ($8.125 million average annual value). Perhaps that\u2019s true for Buchnevich, too, but less so considering he\u2019s older and just starting a new six-year, $48 million contract ($8 million AAV).<\/p>\n \n Pavel Buchnevich is in the first year of a six-year contract. (Jeff Curry \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n It seems every year we hear Doug Armstrong say, \u201cWe need our top guys to be our top guys.\u201d Could it be that these players have an undue amount of pressure on them to be better than they are? \u2014 Zachary W.<\/p>\n That\u2019s valid, but it\u2019s not an excuse for them not to be better. The natural feeling of fans is to compare your team and players to others around the league, but you can\u2019t do that with top-five picks who are not just the faces of their team but also the league.<\/p>\n Thomas was a first-round pick. Kyrou was a high second-round pick. They might never be superstars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but they can be stars. There\u2019s pressure to match up every night against some generational players, but it\u2019s not undue pressure where fans are wondering why they can\u2019t be those guys.<\/p>\n Montgomery has talked a lot about playing as a team, but what specifically is he referencing? Do we have guys who are playing for individual stats? What are we missing here? \u2014 Joseph R.<\/p>\n What I read into his comments wasn\u2019t necessarily selfishness, like \u201cI\u2019ve got to get mine.\u201d To me, it was more like players wanting to score or produce to get themselves going. That\u2019s understandable, but when you\u2019re playing like that, it doesn\u2019t always lend itself to sound team play.<\/p>\n They can\u2019t start games the right way, they can\u2019t finish games the right way, and it doesn\u2019t seem to be a talent issue but an effort issue. How does this team get back on track? \u2014 Cory S.<\/p>\n I agree, and all you have to do is look at Tuesday\u2019s game, when they were trailing the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 and went 14:32 without a shot on goal. It didn\u2019t seem like I was watching a desperate team giving a good effort. How do you get on track? Ice time and getting rid of guys are the only ways to fix an effort issue.<\/p>\n This team seems to be like last year\u2019s in that they are good when they are good but crater when things go bad. Have any of the players talked about the spirit\/resolve? It seems fragile. \u2014 Anonymous<\/p>\n Very fragile, which is surprising considering the way they finished last season. That question has been asked, but the players aren\u2019t going to acknowledge any resiliency issues. They typically just talk about what they can do better structurally and stay out of those situations.<\/p>\n Do you think Montgomery is regretting signing a five-year deal yet? \u2014 Jeremy B.<\/p>\n I know this question is in jest, but the answer is no, not for a minute. He loves a good challenge, and he has one.<\/p>\n The only thing I don\u2019t care for with Montgomery is the line blender. Why is he so hell-bent on this? \u2014 Tom M.<\/p>\n I actually enjoy watching how he handles the line combinations. Going into the game in Detroit last week, he really mixed them up. He wanted a worker bee on each line. He later acknowledged that keeping the lines that way wasn\u2019t sustainable and switched them back. I understand the reaction when you see a Dylan Holloway on the fourth line, but a lot of thought goes into it.<\/p>\n If everyone were healthy and the lines were producing and he was still mixing them up, I\u2019d completely understand, but that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts about the Blues\u2019 performance at home versus on the road this season, and why such a poor start at home? \u2014 Dennis B.<\/p>\n![\"Pavel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/USATSI_27386639-scaled.jpg\")
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