Blues bench Dalibor Dvorsky in win over Red Wings

The Blues got the 2 points against the Red Wings, but the bench drew more attention than the result did.

Jeremy Rutherford

@jprutherford

Dvorsky is on the bench. He has played just nine shifts tonight (6:36). His last shift ended with 13:48 left in the 2nd period. #stlblues

That last shift ended with 13:48 left in the 2nd period, and he never went back out. Montgomery didn't send him into a dressing room or call it an injury. He shortened his bench with a kid who was supposed to be a big part of this season, and Detroit didn't see him again.

It didn't come out of nowhere. Before Tuesday's game, NHL.com's projected lineup had Dvorsky skating with Connor McMichael and Pavel Buchnevich, and St. Louis came in at 7-8-2 against a Detroit team sitting at 7-8-3. Two.500-ish teams in November, and a coach clearly looking for somebody to set a tone with. That turned out to be Dvorsky.

Jeremy Rutherford

@jprutherford

Dvorsky finished with 6:36 TOI and didn't have a shift in the final 34 minutes. Monty: "Just play faster. Play with more conviction. He's not playing to the standard that we want our players to play with ... tonight. When that happens, you risk the chance of being sat. (MORE)

"Play faster. Play with more conviction." That's about as blunt as a coach gets in a postgame presser about a young player. Montgomery didn't point to one bad shift or a turnover that cost a goal. He talked about effort level and pace, which is the kind of thing a coach usually keeps behind closed doors. He followed it by framing the benching as a normal NHL rite of passage.

Jeremy Rutherford

@jprutherford

Monty cont'd: "That's what happened. It's part of everyone's career. It happens to everybody." (2/2) #stlblues

And then came the arm around the shoulder. Montgomery went out of his way to say the Blues still see Dvorsky as a core piece. That's the right message, because nobody in St. Louis wants this turning into a confidence spiral for a guy this young.

Jeremy Rutherford

@jprutherford

Monty on Dvorsky: "He's a good hockey player. We've seen it. There's a reason why we believe he's a huge part of our future. Because he's an outstanding young man, great to coach and wants to be a hockey player. It'll come. Sometimes it doesnt happen as quickly as we want it to."

"Sometimes it doesn't happen as quickly as we want it to" sums up where this is. The Blues have openly treated Dvorsky as part of the next wave, and nights like this are how a coach pushes a young player without giving up on him. Still, sitting a guy for over half a game in a win is not a subtle message.

Next up is the lineup card. If Dvorsky is back in his usual spot next game and playing with the pace Montgomery asked for, this was a one-night wake-up call. If he's scratched, or buried on the 4th line, it means the coaching staff thinks the problem is bigger than one night.