2020-2021 St. Louis Blues: Generic Thread Titles Be Damned (Part II)

[Ted Hoffman]

Disagree. Save the white skates for a special occasion. The 'retro red' uni's deserve non other than YELLOW skates.

Red skates with yellow laces, like Ronald McDonald. Also make it so you can roll his tinted visor up and down, like when you're in the drive-thru.

If someone doesn't have this as a Halloween costume in October, I'll be disappointed with everyone.

 

[Spear]

If someone doesn't have this as a Halloween costume in October, I'll be disappointed with everyone.

Excellent idea, Ted. Don't let us down. We'll be expecting preview pics in late October.

 

[Celtic Note]

I think the biggest games we have remaining are against the Avalanche. The other games matter a lot too, but the Aves will tell us if we are playoff ready and set some seeds in the minds of the players as to whether an Aves-Blues series will be competitive.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Excellent idea, Ted. Don't let us down. We'll be expecting preview pics in late October.

Trust me, you do not want me trying to pull off that look. The world will go back into lockdown for a generation.

 

[TheDizee]

game 4/20 vs Refalanche is now postponed

Second time this year our schedule has been impacted because of them, how lovely.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Probably a good thing given how things are going for us. We'd find a way to piss that game away somehow.

 

[HighNote]

Probably a good thing given how things are going for us. We'd find a way to piss that game away somehow.

You mean our 1 game losing streak?

 

[Ted Hoffman]

You mean our 1 game losing streak?

Our 1-game losing streak from a game where we lost to a team that allegedly isn't as good as us and reportedly felt like complete shit after getting vaccinated the day prior, where a win would have opened up a 3-point gap on Arizona with 2 games in hand and closed us to -1 on regulation wins to the Coyotes in the event we end up in a tiebreak situation.

The kind of thing that has afflicted this franchises for years, with 2019 being a notable exception - where we have a fantastic chance to help ourselves by taking advantage of a great situation almost tailor-made for a win for us, and we piss it away.

That kind of thing.

 

[HighNote]

Our 1-game losing streak from a game where we lost to a team that allegedly isn't as good as us and reportedly felt like complete shit after getting vaccinated the day prior, where a win would have opened up a 3-point gap on Arizona with 2 games in hand and closed us to -1 on regulation wins to the Coyotes in the event we end up in a tiebreak situation.

The kind of thing that has afflicted this franchises for years, with 2019 being a notable exception - where we have a fantastic chance to help ourselves by taking advantage of a great situation almost tailor-made for a win for us, and we piss it away.

That kind of thing.

Yeah, it was just one loss.

 

[Xerloris]

Our 1-game losing streak from a game where we lost to a team that allegedly isn't as good as us and reportedly felt like complete shit after getting vaccinated the day prior, where a win would have opened up a 3-point gap on Arizona with 2 games in hand and closed us to -1 on regulation wins to the Coyotes in the event we end up in a tiebreak situation.

The kind of thing that has afflicted this franchises for years, with 2019 being a notable exception - where we have a fantastic chance to help ourselves by taking advantage of a great situation almost tailor-made for a win for us, and we piss it away.

That kind of thing.

I'm not usually one to blame the officiating even though I do like to bitch about it but really man? There were blatant calls not made against the Avs that they then scored on moments later and let's not forget the goal we scored that was called off. The refs in that game were out of control and everyone saw it, even the Avalanche announcers were surprised by it. We outplayed the supposed best team in the league 2/3 periods and if it had not been for the officiating we would have won and at the very least gone to OT. It sucks that we like to blow in the second periods but that game was not won or lost because of the second period.

 

[Majorityof1]

You mean our 1 game losing streak?

We have 3 wins in our last (more than) 10. The 1 game losing streak is just more of the same. The 3 wins were more the exception than the 1 loss.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

You mean our 1 2 game losing streak?

Our 1-game losing streak from a game where we lost to a team that allegedly isn't as good as us and reportedly felt like complete shit after getting vaccinated the day prior, where a win would have opened up a 3-point gap on Arizona with 2 games in hand and closed us to -1 on regulation wins to the Coyotes in the event we end up in a tiebreak situation.

The kind of thing that has afflicted this franchises for years, with 2019 being a notable exception - where we have a fantastic chance to help ourselves by taking advantage of a great situation almost tailor-made for a win for us, and we piss it away. The kind of thing where, given a chance to put points on Arizona and secure our playoff outlook, we'd piss the game away given the chance.

That kind of thing.

Yeah, it was is just one loss two losses.

IFOP

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Need some soul searching in the off season

Is it the coaching? A lack of commitment from he players? A poor team composition? A bit of each?

 

[BlueMed]

I gotta say, I don't like the Boston Bruins, but the one thing I respect about them is that they come to play every game. Despite what most people think, they don't have more talent on their roster than we do, and yet they continue to contend despite how old Bergeron, Krecji, and Marchand have gotten, not to mention how shallow their D core is now.

I have gotten the impression that some teams in the league (Blues, Caps, etc.) are not really up for these modified COVID seasons. That's no excuse considering that it's the player's job to compete for a cup, but this group definitely doesn't look motivated to win this season. If they want to reset over the off season and come into it fully healthy, then that's what fans are going to have to look forward to.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

I think we are a 100 point these next 5 years.

All 5, or average across the 5?

All 5

We need to go 12-1-0 over the last 13 to get to a 100-point pace for this season. Right now, we're not even on 90-point pace. To get to that, we'd have to go 9-4-0 in the last 13.

I'm starting to think "100 points in 3 of the next 5 years" looks optimistic.

 

[Mike Liut]

We need to go 12-1-0 over the last 13 to get to a 100-point pace for this season. Right now, we're not even on 90-point pace. To get to that, we'd have to go 9-4-0 in the last 13.

I'm starting to think "100 points in 3 of the next 5 years" looks optimistic.

If they keep having these injuries every year, you’re probably right.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

If they keep having these injuries every year, you’re probably right.

[rant]

Don't give me this weak sauce we had injuries excuse. That's horseshit. Every team has injuries. Good teams still find ways to win. What's our excuse?

Right now, our key injuries are Sundqvist (who's out) and Parayko (who's playing, and everyone's idea of how he's doing is all over the place). Gunnarsson was in decline last year and not great this year. Thomas has been mostly crap outside of the 1st game of the season. 6 of his 8 points are from 3 games; the other 18 games this year, he's 1-1-2. Is Oskar Sundqvist that critical to this team that we can't win games without him? Is Parayko at whatever % he is that critical to this team that we can't put forth better effort while he's not at full strength?

But Ted, look at all the games our guys have missed! Yeah, I have. I keep hearing just wait until we get Tarasenko back, wait until we get Schwartz back, wait until we get Parayko back, wait until we get ______ back. Guess what? We get those guys back, we still play like shit. We still find ways to piss away games. I'm not even talking about blowing a 3-0 lead 11:05 into the game in Los Angeles and frittering it away to lose 4-3 in OT. Hell, just look at last night. Must-win game against Arizona who's wobbling, we have a 2-0 lead after 1, and then ... we f***ing give it away. What the hell is the problem there?

Hell, look at Monday. Colorado is in town, they reportedly feel like shit from vaccinations the day prior. We're healthy aside from the points I note above. Abso-f***ing-lutely prime chance to jump all over them and scoop up 2 points. What do we do? Meander through the 1st, utterly quit playing in the 2nd period to go down 4-1, then try to rally back and fall short. Why the f*** couldn't we jump all over them from the get-go, pound the hell out of them, beat them into wanting to just throw in the towel, and grab a win? Why the f*** did we just quit playing?

Do we really need to be 100% healthy to know it's the 2nd period, it counts as part of a game, get on your goddamned skates and play like it matters? Do we really need to be 100% healthy to know hey, here's the puck, there's the net, shoot the f***ing puck at the f***ing net? Do we really need to be 100% healthy to know hey, don't try skating the puck through 2 opposing players with everyone else up the ice? Do we really need to be 100% healthy to know hey, remember that there might be someone hanging out on the left wing, someone maybe go play a smidge of f***ing defense and go cover that motherf***er so he doesn't have all f***ing year to shoot untouched?

Injuries can sometimes be a pretty valid reason. Right now, it's bullshit. This team has no consistent drive, no consistent fight, no consistent "gosh, here's a chance to beat the hell out of someone, let's go beat them into submission." It's been true since Game 2, it was true Monday night, it was true last night, it's been true way too many times this season. If our psyche is so fragile that we can't perform unless we're 100% healthy then we have deeper issues than anyone realizes, and it's not going to get fixed by getting someone back or a coaching change or a front-office shuffle - and it's sure as hell not going to get changed by lining guys up in the locker room and giving every one of them a swift kick in the head with an iron boot.

Everyone has injures. Deal with it. Suck it up already. Either show some pride, some urgency, some real want to win, or get the f*** out so we can find people that have that and will play like they give a shit instead of spending some ~35-40 minutes a night drifting around like they're hoping to save energy for getting to the Trainwreck Saloon before last call.

[/rant]

 

[Mike Liut]

Injuries to key players for extended amount of time

condensed schedule

Covid

Sometimes you just have to say it ain’t our year

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Injuries to key players for extended amount of time

condensed schedule

Covid

Sometimes you just have to say it ain’t our year

1. Our "injures to key players" = generally bottom-6ers / bottom-pairing guys, with Tarasenko (24 games), Schwartz (15 games) and Parayko (21 games) being the notable exceptions. Again, all of the latter three are back. We did fine last year without Tarasenko, who played 10 games and none of them after October 24; adding him should have made us better. None of that explains why this team by and large is shit at generating offense. Are we really that dependent on the bottom-6 to play all the defense for us? Are we really that dependent upon the bottom-6 to be present so our top-6 are capable of executing even a basic offensive strategy?

This is a bullshit excuse.

2. Everyone is playing a condensed schedule. Colorado, Vegas and Minnesota had to shut down for ~2 weeks and are having to make those games up with a more condensed schedule. Since 2/16, Minnesota has played 32 games. Colorado had played 32 games from 2/14 to 4/14 when they had to shut down again. Vegas has played 36 games since 2/8. In that time, we played 27, 28 and 31 games respectively.

Minnesota has struggled to a 21-8-3 record in those 32 games. Colorado limped to a 23-6-3 mark. Vegas labored to 25-10-1. We've soared to a 12-15-5 record since the first of those three teams had to shut down and deal with someone getting coronavirus.

Condensed schedule? Absolute, total bullshit excuse.

3. If we have guys still having after-effects, go get right. I've heard nothing that suggests this is the case, no one is insinuating officially or unofficially that this is the case. Other teams had guys get coronavirus this season and those guys have had to keep playing this season.

More bullshit.

4. This is about the most accurate point you made. Still doesn't explain how this team is suddenly going to be a 100-point juggernaut the next 4 years when they can't get their shit together to win games they need to, unless everything just needs to be perfectly right, no unexpected changes, everyone is perfectly healthy is what's needed - in which case, ... bullshit.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Rebuild

The commitment to Berube style hockey is gone.

I expect key players to get delt or walk over the summer and Berube is on a short leash next season to show progress; otherwise, he and his system are out by New Years.

The bubble cup and the 56-game condensed season have been disasters for this org. There is no going back to the 2018-2019 cup team. That ship has sailed. The swagger, talent, and commitment are gone.

 

[Brian39]

Rebuild

The commitment to Berube style hockey is gone.

I expect key players to get delt or walk over the summer and Berube is on a short leash next season to show progress; otherwise, he and his system are out by New Years.

The bubble cup and the 56-game condensed season have been disasters for this org. There is no going back to the 2018-2019 cup team. That ship has sailed. The swagger, talent, and commitment are gone.

I don't know how we accomplish trading key players. Tarasenko, Schenn, Krug, Faulk and Binner all have full NTCs this summer. Additionally, I'm not sure how many (if any) of those guys have positive trade value. In a flat cap world, who is taking those contracts this summer? Faulk probably has trade value after his season this year, but I'm not sure anyone is taking the other contracts.

I don't think ROR, Perron, or Parayko are the issues, but are you thinking we trade a couple of them?

 

[Xerloris]

2. Everyone is playing a condensed schedule. Colorado, Vegas and Minnesota had to shut down for ~2 weeks and are having to make those games up with a more condensed schedule. Since 2/16, Minnesota has played 32 games. Colorado had played 32 games from 2/14 to 4/14 when they had to shut down again. Vegas has played 36 games since 2/8. In that time, we played 27, 28 and 31 games respectively.

If Colorado had to play with their healthy players instead of taking 2 weeks off with Covid twice now you might have a point. I recall Mckinnon gettng hurt and instead of having to play without him they were able to take a few weeks off and relax. Blues on the other hand had to play with almost any warm body they could find because when you're hurt your whole team doesn't get to take a break. Oh ya, let's not forget that while we were hurt and had a shot at getting a break we instead had to play the f***ing Coyotes in a 7 game series. It would have been nice to be able to get a 2 week break when we had so many injuries but we had to play through it.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

I don't know how we accomplish trading key players. Tarasenko, Schenn, Krug, Faulk and Binner all have full NTCs this summer. Additionally, I'm not sure how many (if any) of those guys have positive trade value. In a flat cap world, who is taking those contracts this summer? Faulk probably has trade value after his season this year, but I'm not sure anyone is taking the other contracts.

I don't think ROR, Perron, or Parayko are the issues, but are you thinking we trade a couple of them?

Schwartz, Hoffman, Dunn, Sanford, Blais

 

[Brian39]

Schwartz, Hoffman, Dunn, Sanford, Blais

Gotcha.

I agree that Hoffman is gone and Schwartz is probably gone. I don't think we have the cap flexibility to give Schwartz anything close to his market value and I don't view the other 3 as key guys, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of them get moved (one probably lost to Seattle).

 

[Stealth JD]

I actually think the Blues re-sign Schwartz (to sub $6M) but put Tarasenko, Krug, Faulk & Schenn all on the "eligible" list of the expansion draft and let Seattle make the shake-up move for you.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I actually think the Blues re-sign Schwartz (to sub $6M) but put Tarasenko, Krug, Faulk & Schenn all on the "eligible" list of the expansion draft and let Seattle make the shake-up move for you.

Who would they be protecting that’s worth giving away players like Faulk and Schenn for nothing?

 

[TheDizee]

Protect:

ROR
Perron
Sundqvist
Kyrou
Schenn
Thomas
Tarasenko

Faulk
Parayko
Dunn

Binnington

If they take Schwartz, they can either overpay him or lose him to FA. Sanford and Blais too inconsistent to waste a spot on IMO and you can't lose Tarasenko yet, because he very well could bounce back and be a impact player again.