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

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Spektre

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Apr 10, 2010
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the people who want Hoffman back better seriously look at his 5on5 numbers this year. Almost all of his points are on the PP or 6on5.

If hes cheap, yeah sure bring him back. But no way do I want considerable money going into this guy, hes a terrible 5on5 producer.


On the flip side Schwartz had 21 points in 40 games and only 3 PP points. It’s buyer beware on both to me. I think the offensive stats are going to plummet for Schwartz going forward. I would pick Hoffman if the money is the same. I thought he played better down the stretch.
 

BlueDream

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Aug 30, 2011
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I’m officially in the “let Schwartz walk” camp.

We cannot sign him until age 36. That contract will get ugly. He’s a guy with consistent injury concerns and we need to re-tool a bit. Schenn’s contract will be an anchor up front but that’s fine, we can work around it, and letting Schwartz go and hopefully finding a way to move Tarasenko, will help.

I’ve been a huge Schwartz fan but this is the way to go.
 

BlueMed

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Jul 18, 2019
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If Thomas and Kyrou can put on about 10 more pounds of muscle in the off season, I would be happy to build around those guys the same way Carolina is building around Aho and Svechnikov.
 

BrokenFace

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Aug 15, 2010
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That's not really proven though. In theory, you can have an entire committee approach work. Even looking at Boston, their D core is McAvoy and 5 other guys. That got them to game 7 of the SCF. And no, they don't have legit superstars up front like MacKinnon, Rantanen, McDavid, Drai, etc. because you can't really shut down superstars in a series. Guys like Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak were shut down fairly easily by Parayko and Jbow.

Moving forward, I'm all for exposing Krug to the expansion draft and keeping Dunn. One could argue that Dunn is a slightly better defensemen at 1/3 of the cost. Also happy to trade Perunovich for a first rounder this year because he'll likely be another Krug in the future. At no point in the season did I ever say, "wow, that's why we're paying him 6.5M, because he can make plays like that."

I think an underrated key to the cup win was having a big defense. The D-cores wasn't necessarily physical beasts but everyone except Dunn had size and length, which is massive to shutting down speedy, skilled lines in today's NHL to me. I don't think this team (or most teams) can be successful with all three of Krug, Dunn, and Perunovich on the left side. I have no strong opinion about who should stay or go of those three, but Krug's cap hit sucks.

My dream scenario would be for 2 of those guys to be key pieces in a trade for a hopefully healthy Eichel. But what are the chances Buffalo would deal with us again if they end up moving on from Eichel?
 

JoshFromMO

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Apr 6, 2015
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We did. His name was Hoffman. Don't you remember Pasta being invisible during the SCF?
He still has 19 points in 24 games that run and 4 points in 7 games. Then he followed that with a 48 goal season and Hoffman has not done anything close to that. They are not the same player at all lol
 

mk80

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Jul 30, 2012
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I think an underrated key to the cup win was having a big defense. The D-cores wasn't necessarily physical beasts but everyone except Dunn had size and length, which is massive to shutting down speedy, skilled lines in today's NHL to me. I don't think this team (or most teams) can be successful with all three of Krug, Dunn, and Perunovich on the left side. I have no strong opinion about who should stay or go of those three, but Krug's cap hit sucks.

My dream scenario would be for 2 of those guys to be key pieces in a trade for a hopefully healthy Eichel. But what are the chances Buffalo would deal with us again if they end up moving on from Eichel?
If we are realistically offering something they've pegged as a need I don't see why they wouldn't give us a look.

The problem is that I just don't see Armstrong moving Krug at all or leaving him exposed for Seattle.
 

Stupendous Yappi

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Some thoughts on the season:

- Walman was a delightful revelation. He's a better defender than I expected, and his speed and skating are assets that should buy him time for more looks on the roster next season. He's gone from 'bust' to plausible regular player next year.

- Husso was a disappointment, but at least he was on a positive trajectory. He had a couple games where he came up big in the latter part of the season. I don't see a simple way to replace his role next season, although perhaps he'll have to win the position over an AHL journeyman kind of guy. I fully expect him to be the back-up at the start of next season, but if he doesn't continue to grow I could see him losing his job before the end of the season. Any notions that he could eventually take over as the starter seem pretty far-fetched right now.

- Mikkola was a disappointment, that he couldn't break into the line-up when injuries created opportunities during the year. Walman benefited from that, but I expected Mikkola to establish himself this year. That said, I thought his performance in the playoffs was his best work of the season. It will be interesting to see who wins the roster spots in training camp next year. I doubt Perunovich has a real chance to break through after losing most of this season's development time. And if Dunn is gone (and Gunnarsson) there are roster spots available. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they bring in a veteran guy UFA. They need to or there isn't enough depth.

- I know Binnington's playoff numbers don't look that great, but I thought his play was actually a positive. He was facing high danger chances left and right, and he single-handedly kept the Blues in a multiple games when they should have been blowouts. Its popular to dump on him on the main boards, but I'm pretty satisfied with him as a decent starter. It would be nice to have a more capable back-up to have more ability to manage his workload next season.

- Thomas had a bad season and a worse playoffs. He makes way too many turn-overs, hasn't really developed a shooting threat, and frankly looks like he took a step backwards. I still have a lot of hope for him, but his ceiling doesn't look as high as it once did.

- Kyrou was another really bright spot this season. He needs to get stronger, but he can create offense that no other player on this team can create. I didn't realize he was as good of a shooter as he is. If guys like Tarasenko, ROR and Perron are still there to attract attention, Kyrou should have room to have another nice season next year. But when the offense was drying up, teams started keying on him more and no one else was there to be the threat needed.

- I'm feeling a lot more positively about Tarasenko than I did a couple months ago. He looks like a guy that is still getting up to speed in his mental game. His aggression and confidence have been gradually trending in the right direction. His physicality has been there in flashes. But what makes me positive about him for next year is that his shot has velocity and has been more and more of a weapon. The game today was his best shooting game since his return. I'm not going to quibble about 7.5M value, but I think he can be 25-30 goal threat guy.

- I really don't know what to expect from Parayko. He was holding up as far as big minutes, but I really hope he was still not 100% physically because he wasn't the factor the Blues need him to be. However, if he isn't 100%, what does it take for him to get there? Does he just need an offseason? Or will be be periodically hampered by this issue in the future? Is he a guy that's going to end up needing surgery in a season or two when he aggravates his back one time too many?

- On balance, I'm satisfied with what Hoffman contributed. He's going to move on, and that's fine. Thanks and good luck.

- I'm open-minded about letting Schwartz walk. I think he'll be re-signed. If he is not re-signed, it really depends what type of player you can get with that money. Usually the UFA market is a disappointment. Can we find another couple Perron's out there?
 

Ranksu

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I’m officially in the “let Schwartz walk” camp.

We cannot sign him until age 36. That contract will get ugly. He’s a guy with consistent injury concerns and we need to re-tool a bit. Schenn’s contract will be an anchor up front but that’s fine, we can work around it, and letting Schwartz go and hopefully finding a way to move Tarasenko, will help.

I’ve been a huge Schwartz fan but this is the way to go.
Lol anchor? What about Krug and Faulk contracts?
 

Linkens Mastery

Conductor of the TankTown Express
Jan 15, 2014
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Yeah, I watched 1 period of this series, and that was more than enough. This team needs to get younger and faster, and real soon.

Subtract Steen, Bozak, and Gunnersson and were actually in the younger half of the NHL by player ages.
 

Thallis

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Jan 23, 2010
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Subtract Steen, Bozak, and Gunnersson and were actually in the younger half of the NHL by player ages.

Doesn't really tell much of the story. Our younger guys are pretty much exclusively low ceiling role players you don't build the team around. The guys that are getting protected in the expansion draft are pretty much exclusively older guys.
 

Stupendous Yappi

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Not a good look for Vladi, IMO...
I don't understand this. What I read was that he acknowledged the groin in jury is what kept him out at the end of the season. He was later good to go, and played in the playoffs. I think people are reading something into the comments that isn't there. If he was fit to play for the Blues, he's fit to play for Russia.
 
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