[CaptainCrunch]

Changes Chase away the Blues

St Louis Times Picayuune (AP) - CaptainCrunch has never been a patient man, and he's showed that in his short time as the GM of the St Louis Blues, but maybe its time for him to show a little.

With the team struggling out of the gate, you can't say that he was anything but bold, turning over a large part of his forward group, and doing multiple goalie swaps. But things seem to have stabilized. The Blues have gone from awful to explosive racking up a 7-3 record in the last 10 games and climbing back to within a game of .500 and have started to climb towards a playoff spot, with just 5 points separating them from a possible playoff berth.

You can say a lot about CaptainCrunch, he's mercurial and argumentative, he can be bull headed and opinionated, he's an artist, a savant and a master of Karate, but you can't say that he is timid or hesitant.

With a newly reconstructed forward group that's strong down the middle and fairly deep, there's not one player that stands out in terms of carrying play as the team tends to score by committee. On defense, Mark Giodano has bought a veteran leadership to the group and Tory Krug has helped improve the powerplay.

But the biggest changes are in goal as Raanta gave way to Mrazek who gave way to MAF who has been exceptional since he arrived in St Louis. With a .924 svpct a 2.21 gaa and 2 shutouts in the 9 games since he's arrived here, he's given the Blues stellar goaltending and made the big saves when he needed it.

With the last two trades which were minor and more about moving players out that had lost their spots in Eric Haula and Corry Perry its time for Crunch to maybe sit back and see what happens.

Of course there are some serious questions, most of the roster are on short term deals so free agency could become a concern, the other question is depth, if a forward goes down can any of the kids on the farm step in without hurting the team?

While the Blue's lineup in not old, any kind of great fresh blood is probably a couple of seasons away, but its time for Crunch to settle down and see what happens and if he's hit on a formula that works.