2019-2020 St. Louis Blues - Defending the Cup - Part 3: The Prelude to Playoff Positioning

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Yes, but @Blueston mentioned the possibility of him getting claimed, so I assumed that he was talking about a long term assignment and not a conditioning assignment. I would have no problem with a conditioning assignment, but I doubt Gunnar is all that interested in riding the bus and would prefer to just continue practicing and sitting in the press box here.

I’m not opposed to conditioning assignment but I think it’s time to move on from guy who can’t stay healthy and doesn’t really have a role if he is.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

All game should be 3 points. That would really put a premium on regulation wins.

The 3-2-1 system is my preference as well. At least until OT is actual hockey and not gimmicks like 3 on 3 or shootouts

 

[Brockon]

This made me feel old as hell, but Matchbox Twenty released their most successful album in 1996 and the song Smooth was from 1999. They were at the height of their popularity two full decades ago.

I was more looking at Push,Unwell and a few other music videos for dating - all official music videos I'd seen and considered linking were dated 10 years ago.

So I stand corrected there, but the jist of it was there to bring Ranksu up to speed because clearly being from across the pond some things are lost on him from pop culture.

 

[WeWentBlues]

Would it be a terrible idea to try Dunn at wing? Certainly unorthodox but not unprecedented.

Just thinking about how to get everyone minutes with Mikkola's arrival and how to add some skill to the top 9.

 

[Beauterham]

Would it be a terrible idea to try Dunn at wing? Certainly unorthodox but not unprecedented.

Just thinking about how to get everyone minutes with Mikkola's arrival and how to add some skill to the top 9.

If you really want to try out a D with skill on wing you might as well put Walman there. Great shot, mobile, has been a winger in the past...

I don't think we need to put Dunn on wing to be able to play Mikkola. As someone else already stated:
Dunn - Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester - Parayko
Mikkola - Faulk

Keep Bortz as the 7th D. and trade Gunnarsson. With Borgman, Walman and Pouliot we have enough lefthanded defensemen who are good enough to be 8th defenseman.

 

[WeWentBlues]

If you really want to try out a D with skill on wing you might as well put Walman there. Great shot, mobile, has been a winger in the past...

I don't think we need to put Dunn on wing to be able to play Mikkola. As someone else already stated:
Dunn - Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester - Parayko
Mikkola - Faulk

Keep Bortz as the 7th D. and trade Gunnarsson. With Borgman, Walman and Pouliot we have enough lefthanded defensemen who are good enough to be 8th defenseman.

What about this? Hard to argue against Bortuzzo on the PK and still having Dunn in the lineup to QB PP2 and log some minutes at forward.

Faulk-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Mikkola-Bortuzzo
Gunnarsson

 

[Twisted Blue]

Brian39 nails it with the above post. It is more about how Chief uses him minutes-wise than being on the "2nd Line". Sanford's inconsistent play since the beginning of the year is the reason for the 10+ scratches regardless of what line he is on. Right now he is playing well and should be in the lineup. But honestly even if he was on the 3rd or 4th line all year the noise level here regarding his play would be just as high. He just seems to be a polarizing type player on this forum.

In my opinion, the reason why Sanford is the focus of ire for many Blues fans is the way his play stands out in contrast to everyone else on the Blues team. Sanford constantly stops skating (working to put himself in position to support his line-mates) without the puck, is slow to back check, loses the majority of puck battles along the boards, makes bad passes in both ends of the ice, and isn't really a threat to score. Why Chief punishes Perron and O'Reilly to babysit Sanford is beyond confusing when others at least bring positive contributions to the play of their line-mates when on the ice. Kyrou uses his speed and has routinely generated offensive scoring opportunities, but is a defensive liability. Barbashev and MacEachern have better forechecks, puck possession, and score more goals. There just doesn't seem to be a logical reason other than Chief not wanting to mix up the lines while we are winning and hoping Sanford snaps out of his normal passive play.

 

[Reality Czech]

In my opinion, the reason why Sanford is the focus of ire for many Blues fans is the way his play stands out in contrast to everyone else on the Blues team. Sanford constantly stops skating (working to put himself in position to support his line-mates) without the puck, is slow to back check, loses the majority of puck battles along the boards, makes bad passes in both ends of the ice, and isn't really a threat to score. Why Chief punishes Perron and O'Reilly to babysit Sanford is beyond confusing when others at least bring positive contributions to the play of their line-mates when on the ice. Kyrou uses his speed and has routinely generated offensive scoring opportunities, but is a defensive liability. Barbashev and MacEachern have better forechecks, puck possession, and score more goals. There just doesn't seem to be a logical reason other than Chief not wanting to mix up the lines while we are winning and hoping Sanford snaps out of his normal passive play.

You know what confirmation bias is right? I see a lot of that going on with Sanford, and other players. If you expect him to make mistakes, then you will notice and magnify every mistake he makes. It's the opposite with someone like Kyrou. People want him to succeed so they focus on the positives and overlook his mistakes compared to Sanford. Kyrou has sick offensive skill but he has a lot of room for improvement in other areas of the game.

Where else do you want Sanford to play? Do you want to break up the fourth line, which has a more specific role and fulfills it quite well? You can't break up the third line right now. I could argue that it's better to play Sanford with two experienced vets who can make up for his shortcomings. The Blues are not suffering by having Sanford on that line, so not really sure why we need all the constant complaining about this. I guess fans always need someone to complain about.

I think Berube knows what he is doing, not every fan needs to understand every single move he makes. If you don't understand why Sanford is playing then that's on you. Sanford has 12 points in 34 games, Kyrou 4 points in 12. That's pretty similar production. Yet some of you act like Sanford sucks and Kyrou is so much better. That's more illogical than any decision Berube has made this season. Give it a rest, please. It will work itself out by season's end.

 

[Twisted Blue]

You know what confirmation bias is right? I see a lot of that going on with Sanford, and other players. If you expect him to make mistakes, then you will notice and magnify every mistake he makes. It's the opposite with someone like Kyrou. People want him to succeed so they focus on the positives and overlook his mistakes compared to Sanford. Kyrou has sick offensive skill but he has a lot of room for improvement in other areas of the game.

Where else do you want Sanford to play? Do you want to break up the fourth line, which has a more specific role and fulfills it quite well? You can't break up the third line right now. I could argue that it's better to play Sanford with two experienced vets who can make up for his shortcomings. The Blues are not suffering by having Sanford on that line, so not really sure why we need all the constant complaining about this. I guess fans always need someone to complain about.

I think Berube knows what he is doing, not every fan needs to understand every single move he makes. If you don't understand why Sanford is playing then that's on you. Sanford has 12 points in 34 games, Kyrou 4 points in 12. That's pretty similar production. Yet some of you act like Sanford sucks and Kyrou is so much better. That's more illogical than any decision Berube has made this season. Give it a rest, please. It will work itself out by season's end.

Confirmation bias got a pretty good chuckle from me. Sanford’s play speaks for itself. Though a small sample size, Kyrou already has half the goals of Sanford in a third of the games and would have another one if he could stay onside. Only reason Sanford plays is because Blais is out and Chief wants Sanford to regain the form he displayed during the Cup run. The team is still winning and I can’t wait for Blais to return, but I wish Kyrou got more time to work on his game.

 

[Xerloris]

You know what confirmation bias is right? I see a lot of that going on with Sanford, and other players. If you expect him to make mistakes, then you will notice and magnify every mistake he makes. It's the opposite with someone like Kyrou. People want him to succeed so they focus on the positives and overlook his mistakes compared to Sanford. Kyrou has sick offensive skill but he has a lot of room for improvement in other areas of the game.

Where else do you want Sanford to play? Do you want to break up the fourth line, which has a more specific role and fulfills it quite well? You can't break up the third line right now. I could argue that it's better to play Sanford with two experienced vets who can make up for his shortcomings. The Blues are not suffering by having Sanford on that line, so not really sure why we need all the constant complaining about this. I guess fans always need someone to complain about.

I think Berube knows what he is doing, not every fan needs to understand every single move he makes. If you don't understand why Sanford is playing then that's on you. Sanford has 12 points in 34 games, Kyrou 4 points in 12. That's pretty similar production. Yet some of you act like Sanford sucks and Kyrou is so much better. That's more illogical than any decision Berube has made this season. Give it a rest, please. It will work itself out by season's end.

I hardly ever know what player is on the ice at any given time but I can tell you this much, when I see a terrible play happen and then I either rewind or I happen to catch who made the play 7/10 times it's f***ing Sanford. Confirmation bias has nothing to do with it.

 

[Reality Czech]

Confirmation bias got a pretty good chuckle from me. Sanford’s play speaks for itself. Though a small sample size, Kyrou already has half the goals of Sanford in a third of the games and would have another one if he could stay onside. Only reason Sanford plays is because Blais is out and Chief wants Sanford to regain the form he displayed during the Cup run. The team is still winning and I can’t wait for Blais to return, but I wish Kyrou got more time to work on his game.

Of course he makes mistakes, but he does some good things as well that are rarely acknowledged. 95% of the comments are negative while people don't bring up other players' mistakes nearly as often. That's what I'm talking about. Dunn has made his share of misplays this year for example but I don't see people pointing them out so much. I get that Sanford has his limitations, it just gets old to read the same comments day after day. He's been playing better lately, give it some time.

Kyrou will get his chances but he is still not a 200 foot player. We are not making our playoff roster right now so all of these daily comments about how they should bench Sanford are getting old. The fact that you guys can still complain so much about a team sitting 1st in the NHL is also annoying. Mistake free hockey doesn't exist, but I'd say we are doing just fine and Sanford is not holding this team back.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

I’m not convinced he would get claimed but if he does I don’t think he is huge loss. He is fine but he is our 8th best D at best at this point. We can always find someone if we think we need someone better than what we have in SA.

But regardless of that, I think you underestimate the value of paring his contract. We need at least 6mm in combined salary savings and cap growth to fit in Petro raise if we bridge Dunn (bc of Schenn and Faulk raises). If we get rid of Gunnar and Sanford and convince JayBo to take less money then if cap rises we may be able to keep everyone else. It would be tight but depending on where some of the contacts shake out could perhaps allow us to keep Bozo and Allen (which seems like a positive amazingly) and Steen (who has NTC and likely wouldn’t want to go anywhere). Every $ counts if we want to keep band together.

J-bo took 3.2 mil to come back this year which is less than half the cap hit of his previous contract? How much more of a paycut do you expect to convince him to take?

 

[WATTAGE4451]

Of course he makes mistakes, but he does some good things as well that are rarely acknowledged. 95% of the comments are negative while people don't bring up other players' mistakes nearly as often. That's what I'm talking about. Dunn has made his share of misplays this year for example but I don't see people pointing them out so much. I get that Sanford has his limitations, it just gets old to read the same comments day after day. He's been playing better lately, give it some time.

Kyrou will get his chances but he is still not a 200 foot player. We are not making our playoff roster right now so all of these daily comments about how they should bench Sanford are getting old. The fact that you guys can still complain so much about a team sitting 1st in the NHL is also annoying. Mistake free hockey doesn't exist, but I'd say we are doing just fine and Sanford is not holding this team back.

All players make mistakes. I think the reason Sanford is the one that gets ire is because it seems that lots of his mistakes are from lack of effort and that he doesnt play hard.

Kyrou may make mistakes and turnovers but they arent from lack of effort.

Sanford may not make more mistakes then others and may have similar production but i think the effort is what doesnt sit well with people.

 

[Ranksu]

I hardly ever know what player is on the ice at any given time but I can tell you this much, when I see a terrible play happen and then I either rewind or I happen to catch who made the play 7/10 times it's ****ing Sanford. Confirmation bias has nothing to do with it.

I think this is more of @Reality Czech vision having biased opinion before things happening. Him speaking other people's mouth is downhill what ends discussion quickly.

Hopefully some stats master comes in to this talk and put out + and - things about Sanford and why he's superior compare to Kyrou and other way.

Overally all I'm saying Sanford is getting a quite much more loosen what comes to playing bad and still getting best players linemates. When there is players playing 4th line for example or pressbox guy who are superior and could help ROR - Perron duo more. Its just tells me how good ROR - Perron really are.

 

[Brian39]

J-bo took 3.2 mil to come back this year which is less than half the cap hit of his previous contract? How much more of a paycut do you expect to convince him to take?

I doubt he takes much of a paycut beyond that, but the most important thing is that we can offer him bonuses for his next contract since he is over 35. Give him a contract that is a $1M base salary with a $2M bonus for playing 10 games. That would count as $1M against the cap for 2020/21. If his bonus would cause the Blues to exceed the cap, any overage would be counted against the cap in 2021/22, which should be less of a cap crunch year. Allen, Steen, Bozak, Binner, Gunnar, and Sanford all coming off the books. We shouldn't have to tie up $9M in goaltending for 2021/22 and the replacements for Steen, Bozak, Gonnar and Sanford should cost less than the $14M they count against the cap. Structuring his contract to push the bulk of his cap hit to 2021/22 might not be a paycut in terms of real dollars, but would create a nice chunk of extra cap space in the season we desperately need it.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

J-bo took 3.2 mil to come back this year which is less than half the cap hit of his previous contract? How much more of a paycut do you expect to convince him to take?

Thornton went from $8mm to $5mm last year to $2mm. I could see scenario where JayBo would potentially take another significant cut to return if it means we get to keep Petro and others.

 

[Meatball]

Daily. f***ing. Reminder.

 

[TK 421]

Stanley...Cup....Champions. The 3 sweetest words ever put together.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Stanley...Cup....Champions. The 3 sweetest words ever put together.

Back to back would be even sweeter

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Daily. ****ing. Reminder.

If you squint a bit, Bettman is a tiny dwarf in the foreground.

“Let’s rock! That gum you like is coming back in style.”

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Of course he makes mistakes, but he does some good things as well that are rarely acknowledged. 95% of the comments are negative while people don't bring up other players' mistakes nearly as often. That's what I'm talking about. Dunn has made his share of misplays this year for example but I don't see people pointing them out so much. I get that Sanford has his limitations, it just gets old to read the same comments day after day. He's been playing better lately, give it some time.

Kyrou will get his chances but he is still not a 200 foot player. We are not making our playoff roster right now so all of these daily comments about how they should bench Sanford are getting old. The fact that you guys can still complain so much about a team sitting 1st in the NHL is also annoying. Mistake free hockey doesn't exist, but I'd say we are doing just fine and Sanford is not holding this team back.

I don’t think Sanford will be in the lineup of the roster is fully healthy, but that might never happen this season.

But I do think he’s been playing better, more like Berube is looking for, lately.

And Kyrou is still too weak on the boards to fit with a top 9 playoff line for this team. I’m more optimistic about Mikkola having a significant playoff role than Kyrou this season. Currently, I see him getting usage similar to Fabbri last post-season. But he’s learning and developing. No amount of wishing is going to make Kyrou into a more mature player any faster.

I think quibbling about Sanford and Kyrou’s roles is silly. If Blais and Tarasenko were back, probably neither guy plays.

 

[Reality Czech]

All players make mistakes. I think the reason Sanford is the one that gets ire is because it seems that lots of his mistakes are from lack of effort and that he doesnt play hard.

Kyrou may make mistakes and turnovers but they arent from lack of effort.

Sanford may not make more mistakes then others and may have similar production but i think the effort is what doesnt sit well with people.

I'm not sure that Sanford isn't playing hard. I can't imagine Berube would accept that. To me it seems like his mistakes occur because he's struggling to keep up with our style of play. It's a demanding system to play effectively, especially for young, less experienced players.

I just feel like fans are expecting too much. Mistakes will happen, every team has less skilled players who make mistakes. Sanford was recently benched and demoted to the fourth line so it's not like the coaches are 100% satisfied.

I guess some bias is unavoidable but I get tired of reading the same Sanford bashing posts after almost every game. When Blais comes back we'll basically have 2 spots for him, Sanford, Kyrou and DLR. The situation will work itself out.

 

[Renard]

Last night, I watched a recording of the Anaheim game.

This is old news, but Sundqvist is such a good player for us. He plays a 200 foot game. He hustles, hits, takes hits and gets right up, makes pinpoint passes.

Blues fans thought little of him when he came over. But look at him now.

And Steen has looked a lot better lately.

Maybe we get lucky again with Steen and Sundqvist working with and encouraging their fellow Swede de la Rose.

 

[execwrite1]

From Lou Korac

"They see how hard he works all the time," Berube said of Schwartz. "I think there's a few guys on our team that really (see) from a work ethic standpoint. Guys see that and it rubs off on everybody. We're a work-based team. We've got to work."

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

From Lou Korac

"They see how hard he works all the time," Berube said of Schwartz. "I think there's a few guys on our team that really (see) from a work ethic standpoint. Guys see that and it rubs off on everybody. We're a work-based team. We've got to work."

Great quote.

I’ll tell you guys on this team who know how to work:
Steen
Sundqvist
Barbashev (although he had to learn how)
O’Reilly
Schwartz

That’s just the forwards that jump out. I could probably put Schenn on that list too.