Bobby Plager "The Wise"

I was fortunate enough to go listen to Mr. Plager last night...He was a guest on Blues Buzz, a sports talk radio show hosted by Andy Strickland. I had never seen Mr. Plager play hockey, but as I listened to him talk, I gained more and more respect for him.  My dad used to tell me stories about Mr. Plager and the ol' Blues teams, so that's how I came to know his name.  But, up until now, I had no impression of the man personally.


Mr. Plager was an original Blue.  Traded from the New York Rangers to St. Louis in 1967, to play for one of the six expansion teams, the St. Louis Blues.  Last night, he didn't talk about himself, though. He talked about the current team and their struggles to find that something special they had last season. But, maybe that's just it...Maybe that was last season and this is this season...Maybe the Blues have to find something NEW.  That's what Mr. Plager discussed with Andy last night.  He said, "...these young guys like T.J. Oshie, Eric Johnson, Patrik Berglund and David Perron are on everyone's radar..."  He talked about how they're not going to be able to get away with some of the stuff they did last year.  Many things that made them so successful won't work unless they figure out some way to shuffle the plays around and occasionally work in the plays that used to create the offense, along with new ideas too.  All the other coaches and players are ready for those "signature" Blue moves from last season.


In an earlier post I wrote, I talked about Brad Boyes and the one-timer.  Well, Mr. Plager covered that one too.  He said those opposing players know to look out at the wing for Brad now.  Every time they see him leak out there, a stick is going to be right there to block it or force a pass.

Another one of the many things he discussed, was again about the youngsters.  He stressed the importance of a mentor. He said that he learned from the greats.  During a discussion about Eric Johnson, one of the things he said was that Johnson's trying to do too much. He's missed a lot of games and hasn't even played 100 in the NHL. He's young and has a lot to learn, and what better way to learn than to pick the brain of #2, Al MacInnis. 

I, myself learned quite a lot in forty-five minutes, last night.  Things that, as a fan, do not really enter most trains of thought.  He gave me a little more insight of what players and coaches have to go through and that it's a little more difficult than finding one thing and making it work. 

I hope our players take heed to Mr. Plager's advice.  Let's Go Blues!