After wrapping up the last decade being in the top 5 most wins in the entire NHL from 2012-2022, 2023 has been nothing but a repeated kick in the balls for Blues fans.
It started off on Mardi Gras no less, with our sweet Russian Prince Vladi being shipped off to the Big Apple. A depressing goodbye, but one we could all see coming.
Next, we sent our Captain to Toronto so he could help Toronto finally reach the promised land of winning more than 4 playoff games (baby steps). But trading O’Reilly for a 1st round pick for Toronto to only win one playoff round then get embarrassed by Florida is something I would gladly do again.
Immediately after that we sent Ivan Barbashev to Vegas. Was losing him as big of a deal as Vladi or ROR? No, but the Blues social media team posting “Hey now Barbie let’s go party” literally every single time he scored over the years never got old. NEVER.
Just last month we had to watch Chicago get gifted the #1 overall pick which they didn’t deserve, and essentially guarantees that Connor Bedard aka the next Connor McDavid will be tormenting us the next 20 years.
And now this. Panger. Everyone’s favorite little 4 foot 11 TV guy for the Blues. The man who made “Holy Jumpin!” almost as engrained in St. Louis society as much as awkwardly saying the word “ope” is for midwesterners walking by a human less than 10 feet away. Is now with the Chicago Blackhawks.
This feels as if my Grandpa just up and decided to leave our family one day and join another as a free agent. And not just any family. The one that runs 5ks on Thanksgiving, who’s dog takes shits in your yard and they just laugh it off like “oh he’s such a little rascal”. The one who’s Christmas card every year looks like it could also double as a movie poster for the next Purge movie.
At this point it just feels like the hockey gods are all cracking chilly ones, laughing at St. Louis.
What makes it even worse is knowing that we’re going to have to hear Panger yell “Holy Jumpin!” whenever Connor Bedard does something like this to the Blues.
Since joining the national Panel on ESPN/TNT, the rest of the hockey world has become much more aware of Panger being one of the best in the biz when it comes to NHL media. He was one of STL sports’ best kept secrets. His calls during games were incredible, he actually knew what the hell he was talking about, and he never was too busy to take pics or talk to fans whether it was between periods or at a local watering hole.
To twist the knife even deeper, we now may have to listen to Jamie Rivers talk on TV even more this season. If you don’t mind, I will be spending this summer being delusional telling myself that all of this is happening so the Blues can have a miracle season in 2023-2024 like they did in 2019.
At least nothing else that’s a bad look for the Blues is happening. Like our former captain that we let walk winning a Cup with his new team, while we have a bottom 5 defense in the league. THAT would be embarrassing.
We’ll miss you Panger, but I hope you experience absolutely zero success in your new job.
The Morning Skate 