Live Chats

Join Blues beat writer Jim Thomas for his live chat at 1 p.m. Wednesday

Get your questions ready and join in at 1 p.m. Wednesday for our weekly Blues chat.

3rd & 7 37yd

Sorry for the delay. We had some technical difficulties getting me logged in but here we are.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 6:34:55 PM
Who ya got for the Cup, Jim? I am hoping for Oilers v. Leafs with Leafs in 7.

Have a great, well-deserved retirement. If I lived in St. Louis, I'd bring my Great Pyrenees to your wife for grooming. You would have a BLAST shampooing them.

by GoThunder 4/12/2023 6:35:10 PM
The Oilers sure are getting hot at the right time. That's not a bad pick out of the West. I think it could be either them or Dallas in the West. But I think whoever comes out of the East will win it all. And it's hard to bet against Boston that's for sure. This will be a fun playoffs, don't you think?

by jthomas 4/12/2023 6:37:48 PM
Jim, what is the magic that Jim Montgomery brought to Boston this season? Its obvious he was responsible for the Blues' special teams last season. What did you observe the last 2-3 seasons he was with the Blues that would indicate to you Montgomery would be very successful in Boston?

by Barry - Blues Fan in Orlando 4/12/2023 6:38:03 PM
The thing that sticks out most from a non-tactical standpoint is just how he gets along with people. He keeps it light, energetic and fun. Like the time he skated out on the ice wearing a long wig before practice - I think it was last year - while the Blues were in a little bit of funk. He told me it was part of an old Halloween costume.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 6:40:43 PM
Good afternoon Jim. Thank you for your excellent coverage of the Blues. What picks do the Blues have in this years draft? Thank You. Have a happy and well deserved retirement!

by M.R. Dave 4/12/2023 6:42:51 PM
The Blues have 3 first rounders, 2 third-rounders, and then one pick in Rounds 4, 5, 6, 7.
Their second-round pick went to Detroit last year in the Nick Leddy trade. And thx!

by jthomas 4/12/2023 6:44:29 PM
Congrats on retirement, Jim! If they ever do a 30 for 30 on the Rams leaving StL (not likely), you should get a lot of airtime.

by Amp Lee 4/12/2023 6:44:35 PM
You know, I had some contact with someone that was working on a 30-for-30 style project on the Rams in the early fall. But I don't think anything ever came of it.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 6:45:32 PM
Happy Wednesday Jim. As always thank you for manning the chat desk today.

This season has been a disappointment, one way to make it up to us would be wins tonight and tomorrow night against the Starts and thus keeping them from winning the central division. That would send our club off on a high note and keeping Jamie Benn from wining the division. I wouldn't like Benn even if he were a Blue.

Question: What is the season record between the Stars and Wild? Who would be the favorite to win the series? Go Minnesota!

by Barry - Blues Fan in Orlando 4/12/2023 6:47:51 PM
Hopefully, these will be entertainting games with the Stars. The Blues and Stars have met only once this season, with Dallas winning 4-1 in St. Louis on Nov. 28
As for the Stars and Wild, they have met four times with the Dallas winning twice by 4-1 scores and losing twice in shootouts - 6-5 and 2-1. I would think the Stars would be favored.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 6:50:53 PM
I'm sure that you or Gordo or Matthew will be out with some grades for the team soon, but if you had to give a grade to the team overall, what would it be? In my opinion, it has to be an F. This team was put together to make the playoffs and they failed by a good distance. Maybe in the long run, it will have been better to have had things go the way they did so that you can recoup assets for Tarasenko, O'Reilly et al, but still, defense bottoming out, bad goaltending, bad special teams, average offense but not enough to make up for the other deficiencies. It's an F.

by Matt L 4/12/2023 6:51:14 PM
Gordo handles the report cards for the Blues. And if anyone has seen Jeff's report cards from the past - he's no fanboy when it comes to grading the team. So we'll see. But this probably won't be a report card the Blues want to take home to Mom and Dad.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 6:52:56 PM
I see Snuggerud is returning to the Golden Gophers for another season. Any word how the Blues feel about that?

by Matt L 4/12/2023 6:52:58 PM
I'll try to remember to ask Armstrong this question in his season-ending media session. I'm guessing they don't mind.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 6:53:48 PM
Vince Dunn Is going to get some Norris votes? Shocking! He took so long to develop with the Blues. I thought he made a lot of bone headed plays when he was here. Now he's top pairing?

by Roy Hobbs 4/12/2023 6:57:24 PM
I guess he could get a couple of Norris votes. He began this season age 25, so he's still pretty young. A lot of times, it takes defenseman a little longer to mature. But Dunn sure has matured this season. And yeah, he made some silly plays with the Blues - I don't know if I'd say a lot. He has 14 goals, 50 assists and 64 points this season. All career highs. He's 10th in the league in points by a defenseman and is plus-29. His average ice time of 23:41 is more than Faulk (23:25) or Parayko (23:02) with the Blues.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:00:55 PM
Hey Jim, I saw the pics that Lou posted on Twitter of the Blues presenting you with a jersey in honor of your retirement this morning… that was very cool. But it really should’ve had a pic of Binner on the front saying do I look nervous

by Kerry 4/12/2023 7:01:03 PM
It was nice of Lou to post that. I was very surprised at the gesture by the Blues - floored might be a better description. As for Binnington, I once told him he had the skinniest legs of any St. Louis athlete I'd ever seen with the possible exception of Isaac Bruce.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:03:06 PM
Jim,Congrats on your retirement. I just wanted to say from the Rams to the Blues,you were flawless,and you'll be missed for your awesome reporting.

by Mark W. 4/12/2023 7:03:18 PM
Mark W., thanks for your kinds words. Very much appreciated. You'll be in very good hands on the Blues front with Matthew DeFranks.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:03:59 PM
Thank You Jim for all the countless hours you spent writing articles about the Rams and Blues! I enjoyed every minute spent reading them.

by Travis 4/12/2023 7:04:06 PM
Travis, very kind of you. And thanks for reading. As I mentioned in my tweet yesterday, it rarely seemed like work.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:05:20 PM
Congrats on your retirement. You had to deal with St. Louis losing an NFL team twice during your career. Did you consider leaving the P-D to work for a paper in a city that had an NFL team, either after the Cardinals left or after the Rams left?

by MO 4/12/2023 7:05:25 PM
I never covered the football Cardinals in St. Louis - I was covering Mizzou football and basketball when they left. But I almost left for the Dallas Morning News in 1991 to cover the Southwest Conference. While the Rams were here, I was offered a job with the Minnesapolis Star Tribune to cover the Vikings. After the Rams left St. Louis, got some nibbles from the LA Daily News/Orange County Registers (Rams) and the Kansas City Star (Chiefs) - but nothing major there.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:08:58 PM
Thank you for all of the great Rams. Blues and other news coverage here in St. Louis, Jim. I know this is a Blues chat but curious about your favorite non-Greatest Show on Turf Ram moments? Do you think the Rams move if Sam Bradford pans out?

by Matt 4/12/2023 7:09:08 PM
There are so many things to choose from during the Greatest Show. There are the obvious ones, such as The Tackle and Isaac Bruce's game-winning TD in the Super Bowl. Proehl's catch in the NFC title game against Tampa and what a bruising, physical game that was. The crowd noise in the dome at the start of the Rams-Minnesota playoff game; it was the first home playoff game in the history of pro football in St. Louis and it was the loudest I'd ever heard a stadium at any time in any sport.
More off the radar, I remember Bernie Miklasz and I looking at each other as we left the stadium in Cincinnati after the Rams improved to 3-0 with a 38-10 romp over the Bengals (3 TDs by Az Hakim) and saying: "This team might be pretty good." I think it was then that we first realized we might be watching something special.
Or the day the Blues beat San Francisco to end their 17-game losing streak to the 49ers (4 TDs by Isaac Bruce) and having Bill Walsh step into the middle of Dick Vermeil's post-game press conference and telling him in a stage whisper: "You're going all the way!"
Those are just a few.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:19:00 PM
How you doing Jimmy? Fabulous career winding down. The younger journalists should be learning from your intelligent questions delivered casually. Common admit it you were a big "Colombo" fan. Peter Faulk tutored you! Seriously we're not going to see that style with these bland nerdy younger journalists that don't know to talk to people ! Too bad! You'll be missed by many in the industry and else where. Pump your book!!

by Roy Hobbs 4/12/2023 7:19:09 PM
Roy, thanks for the kinds words. I've never watched an episode of Columbo - at least not start to finish It was Fox2 sports anchor and friend Martin Kilcoyne who first called me Columbo. But Isaac Bruce wasn't far behind on that, either.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:21:12 PM
You know Dallas, Boston, Seattle don't play any forwards on the 20 minute range. Where as Berube was over playing the top two line's especially in the 3rd period. Maybe Chief should adjust?

by Roy Hobbs 4/12/2023 7:24:40 PM
Yeah, Berube does lean on his top five or six more than the teams you mentioned. But I think it is a function of the Blues lacking forward depth this season, and the fact the Blues were chasing games a lot more often than Boston, Dallas and Seattle.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:26:21 PM
Jim, how does someone who majored in political science become a sports writer? It doesn't appear you had journalism in mind as a career.

by Barry - Blues Fan in Orlando 4/12/2023 7:26:40 PM
My plan was to double-major in journalism and political science when I was at George Washington University. I wanted to cover politics and government. When I washed out at GW - didn't have a high enough GPA my sophomore year to keep my scholarship - I dropped out of school for a couple of years and then finished up at UMSL (Missouri-St. Louis) which didn't have a journalism major. Although I'd always been a sports fan, I just kind of fell into writing sports.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:29:44 PM
Jim, is this your last chat?

by Barry - Blues Fan in Orlando 4/12/2023 7:30:07 PM
Not sure. My last work day is May 5, so it's possible you could get me another time or two. Or not.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:31:20 PM
Jim, thanks for sharing your Rams memories, I agree with your list (especially the 49ers game where they took a knee inside the Niners ten yard line.).
With the Blues out, how much of the playoffs do you plan to watch? Always crazy games.

by AZRay 4/12/2023 7:31:39 PM
I plan to watch as much as I can. The first round action especially is always pretty wild.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:32:26 PM
Thank you and happy retirement Jim! When will next years schedule be released? My job requires a lot of lead time for vacation days and I need to pick my bobblehead games!

by KevoTG 4/12/2023 7:34:05 PM
I think the schedule usually comes out in late June or early July. Unfortunately, I believe the special promotion days aren't announced until a while after that. Last year, for example, the promotions/special event dates weren't announced until mid August. So you're probably going to have to wait a while after the schedule is announced for those bobblehead games.
And thx!

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:37:04 PM
As always, Mr. Thomas, thanks for everything. Just curious -- and obviously this will be pure speculation -- but if the Blues are only projected to get the 11th pick or so (as I read elsewhere today), is it possible that Army would/could surprise everyone and throw some of our current picks together in a package with some of our current players/prospects to go all in on the likes of a Bedard?

by Yip Dog 4/12/2023 7:37:22 PM
Right now, the Blues can finish anywhere from the No. 8 through the No. 11 spot for the NHL draft lottery. If they win tonight against Dallas, the Blues will be locked into the No. 11 spot for the lottery.
With Armstrong, just about anything is possible. But I have a hard time thinking anyone that has the No. 1 pick would pass on taking Bedard.

by jthomas 4/12/2023 7:40:41 PM