urbanSTL

From Brian Kelly of KMOX



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As I mentioned on another thread, I passed the scene just after 4 PM. Plager's car was still there, the eastbound lanes were still closed, and traffic was backed up for miles. Is this standard, or were they giving this wreck more attention than usual?

Yes, some accident investigations can take hours to perform. Especially if first responders found Mr. Plager deceased upon arrival. I can't / won't speak directly to this incident, but in my previous firefighting / EMT experiences that changes the timeline a bit as you don't want to remove an individual from the vehicle until the coroner arrives and does their investigation of the scene first. Then once that's complete police can do their accident reconstruction investigation.

Quick edit - based on the most recent PD story, Plager died at the hospital. But the article does contain details about the accident itself:

Police investigating the death of Blues hockey great Bobby Plager said Thursday that Plager's vehicle veered to the left and struck a minivan on Highway 40 (Interstate 64) before slamming into a concrete center median.

And

After hitting the minivan, Plager's SUV struck a concrete wall on the right, then crossed all lanes and struck the concrete center median, police said.

I can see why it took them a few hours to get the accident reconstruction completed.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/cri ... me-just-in

2016 was a special Cup run.  We got so close with him as a Captain.  Those were some good years.  That fella played hard and fast.  I'm glad he's putting his health first.

His value is not high as someone who has not played very many games the last two seasons.  The team is not going to trade him for cheerios.  It's his choice alone to prove himself to the league that he can play again.  When that happens (or doesn't happen), expect a move at the deadline.  His value will be much higher than before a season even starts.

That said, I don't think he looked bad last season.  14 points in 24 games, and played a bit apprehensively, physically.  He has glimmers of his old shot release.  It's up to him to prove he still wants to be a top player in the NHL.  If that's the case, he's made his opinion known, and Armstrong can make a team friendly trade to keep both sides happy if he's still the player he says he can be.  Hard to forget, but he's under a contract, so he really doesn't have many options.  Either play like sh*t, and never play for another NHL club again, or play like he wants it and we break it off eventually.

All in all, it was the way his shoulder surgery was handled, apparently, by Blues staff that rubbed him the wrong way.  I don't think naming O'Reilly captain helped either.  But he doesn't have that many people on his side of the aisle from a cap hit and risk situation.  Few teams have the cap to take it on; Seattle was probably in best position to do so but they decided against a high risk/high reward situation.

Curious if any Blues fans on thread made it to winter classic?

I grew up in Minnesota not too far from Fargo-Morehead but was always a gym rat,   Had a basketball in my hands during the winter because it was nice inside and too fricking cold to be outside playing hockey as my town didn't have an indoor rink.   But a few classmates braved being a on a city league team that played outdoors.  I'm sure they had a few below zero games now and then..  

Congrats to the Blues on now being 2-0 in the winter classic and winning the coldest ever winter classic game. You know I honestly wouldn’t be against the Blues hosting another winter classic but this time at Arrowhead stadium in Kansas City yes I know it’s not called arrowhead anymore but sounds much better this could either strengthen the Blues presence in KC and the state of Missouri and maybe even help strengthen KC’s chances getting an NHL team by relocation.


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Call me crazy, but I'd rather the Blues keep event dollars like that in St. Louis.

Give me a second one at Busch!

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I like the idea of Mizzou hosting a Winter Classic over KC  but have to agree with w KansasCitian at end of day you prefer how NHL is doing ii whether it be St. Louis Blues hosting at Busch or Wild hosting at Target field

Veer off topic but in some way can see college picking up on the winter classic theme as sc4mayor noted.   However, i see it as conference doing a Christmass break 4 team outdoor tournament, maybe four teams playing two games over two days outdoors.   Kinda of  a pre season tournament along the lines of Frozen Four but actaully outdoors for a holiday twist. 

Was only being open minded about the idea. thought about Mizzou but arrowhead likely being a bit larger would be better however if the dome was open air that would make for a wonderful and larger winter classic attendance here in St.Louis either way you can’t go wrong with the winter classic being held in St.Louis again at Busch though the waiting period might be a bit lengthy


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How about the Winter Classic in the new soccer stadium?

I bet that would be so neat.

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I don't disagree.

It would make more sense to do it again at Busch if it ever happens again for St. Louis.

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Just to state the obvious, the Winter Classic (and the variations of it such as the NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe) is a way for the NHL to host hockey in 1) places that otherwise wouldn't ever see an NHL game and 2) utilize some of the coolest/most historic venues that otherwise would never host a hockey game.  There are dozens of places that should be viewed as obvious potential sites: Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Mile High Stadium or Coors Field in Denver, Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Michie Stadium at West Point and then just a ton of non-stadium venues like Lake Placid, anywhere in Alaska, etc. Basically just name the largest college town in North America or the most iconic stadiums and they'd be on any list.

All this to say that I don't see the city of St. Louis hosting another Winter Classic for quite some time.  At least for 20 years, if not longer (since the league has 32 teams it really should be closer to 30 years but... who knows if the NHL really would want to see an outdoor classic held in, say, Tampa or Miami and deal with the nearly impossible logistics of trying to keep the rink in playable shape outside).  That said, if the Blues did push hard to "host" a game in KC at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, the League may be a bit more interested as it would be a major market with a stadium that would draw lots of interest.