2021 Blues Regular Season multi-purpose thread

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Brian39 explained to use why the PK was a vulnerability and looked bad in the first couple games (more the 5 on 6 defense maybe), but here we are and they're statistically 2nd in the league at 90.6%. They've certainly faced at least a couple inept PPs, but it feels like they've also faced a LOT of PPs lately. I guess they're not terrible?

(BTW, the PP is also 2nd in the league at 32%. I felt pretty good about that until I realized that Edmonton is 1st place at 50%!)

Saw somewhere our pk has scored as many as they’ve allowed.

 

[Majorityof1]

So we now have only 20 healthy players and can’t call anybody else because we don’t have cap room.

I’m sorry but this is ridiculous. There should be some emergency clause in the covid rules that allows you to call people up to avoid being short.

I'm with Vladys on this. I was about to post just that when I saw his post. We have to bench Covid protocol players per NHL mandate. We cannot even allow them to play "injured". Its a contagious disease, so you should expect multiple players to get it if it hits one. There are not many teams in the league that can field a roster if they have 5 guys out without any cap relief.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Saw somewhere our pk has scored as many as they’ve allowed.

This is true. They have an effective 100% success rate (neutral on goals allowed). That's pretty amazing.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

They should pause the session. Oh wait. We aren't Colorado.

 

[Zezel’s Pretzels]

They should pause the session. Oh wait. We aren't Colorado.

Making lemonade out of this situation…

the Blues have stayed afloat without Saad and ROR, and ROR is back tomorrow night. Maybe Sunny this week as well.

The Covid stuff gives our young guys some chances to make a difference and even “showcase” them if they could be an added part to a big trade. I was thinking about that with Hofer and Husso; if they both keep playing well in their roles, one could be a trade piece by the deadline.

I would much rather this happen in Oct/Nov than March/April, and even more so with the cushion the team has earned through their hot start.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Tarasenko was captain of the miraculous comeback champs or Russia’s junior gold medal winners. That game was a lot of fun to watch, probably a lot more so if you aren’t Canadian.

I don’t think any of this is deliberate, but I do wonder what Vlad’s feelings are playing with more Russians now. He had always spoken highly of Russia and other Russian players. I have to think he enjoys that. Now there’s Barbashev, Kostin, Buchnevich and Tarasenko. We’ve seen all Russian lines several times. Vlad blew his top when Buchnevich was called for that ridiculous boarding call the other night. As an assistant captain is he feeling some ownership of the leadership for these guys?

My point is that between feeling healthy for the first time in a long time and having a different opportunity with the current roster, hopefully Vlad will be content with no mid-season trade.

 

[Zezel’s Pretzels]

If Schenn goes on LTIR, wonder if we’ll see Perunovich then…

 

[Renard]

So Krug is out, Perunovich is tearing it up, but he would be too costly to bring up.

How is that possible? He is on his first contract and the league regulates how much teams can pay players on their first contract, right?

 

[Louie the Blue]

Making lemonade out of this situation…

the Blues have stayed afloat without Saad and ROR, and ROR is back tomorrow night. Maybe Sunny this week as well.

The Covid stuff gives our young guys some chances to make a difference and even “showcase” them if they could be an added part to a big trade. I was thinking about that with Hofer and Husso; if they both keep playing well in their roles, one could be a trade piece by the deadline.

I would much rather this happen in Oct/Nov than March/April, and even more so with the cushion the team has earned through their hot start.

Except Saad and ROR don’t play the same position and we’re able to replaced in the lineup with call ups.

The defense is 2 guys down with only 1 call up.

 

[Zezel’s Pretzels]

So Krug is out, Perunovich is tearing it up, but he would be too costly to bring up.

How is that possible? He is on his first contract and the league regulates how much teams can pay players on their first contract, right?

can’t put Krug or any Covid player on LTIR and get cap savings

 

[Ridge1982]

I want to turn back the clock to February 2020.

 

[SwivelSchwartz]

I want to turn back the clock to February 2019.

FTFY

 

[Majorityof1]

So Krug is out, Perunovich is tearing it up, but he would be too costly to bring up.

How is that possible? He is on his first contract and the league regulates how much teams can pay players on their first contract, right?

ELC's have bonuses that go above the league maximum on high profile rookies. The salary+signing bonus is set between roughly $500k and $950k (don't remember the exact numbers), but bonsues can take that to several million. Army specifically sighted the bonuses in his contract being high. Perunovich may have a bonus that gives him money if he plays in a single NHL game. We have Bozak getting bonuses as well and are tight against the cap. It may be next year that Army is worried about as he doesn't want to have to roll over a crap ton of bonuses.

Also,Perunovich makes the maximum for an ELC. Rosen makes around $200k less. So if we are that tight to the cap, we may have been able to fit Rosen in but not Perunovich irrespective of bonuses.

 

[Reality Czech]

Tarasenko was captain of the miraculous comeback champs or Russia’s junior gold medal winners. That game was a lot of fun to watch, probably a lot more so if you aren’t Canadian.

I don’t think any of this is deliberate, but I do wonder what Vlad’s feelings are playing with more Russians now. He had always spoken highly of Russia and other Russian players. I have to think he enjoys that. Now there’s Barbashev, Kostin, Buchnevich and Tarasenko. We’ve seen all Russian lines several times. Vlad blew his top when Buchnevich was called for that ridiculous boarding call the other night. As an assistant captain is he feeling some ownership of the leadership for these guys?

My point is that between feeling healthy for the first time in a long time and having a different opportunity with the current roster, hopefully Vlad will be content with no mid-season trade.

That would be nice. I don't think he's in a hurry to get out of town considering how the team is playing and especially how the Russian crew is gelling. It was somewhat amusing to see 3 of them in the box at the same time the other day, no doubt cursing the ref in their mother tongue. Now that I look back at the box score, the Russian guys accounted for all 4 of our penalties the other night with Kostin getting one in the third.

 

[Brian39]

Brian39 explained to use why the PK was a vulnerability and looked bad in the first couple games (more the 5 on 6 defense maybe), but here we are and they're statistically 2nd in the league at 90.6%. They've certainly faced at least a couple inept PPs, but it feels like they've also faced a LOT of PPs lately. I guess they're not terrible?

(BTW, the PP is also 2nd in the league at 32%. I felt pretty good about that until I realized that Edmonton is 1st place at 50%!)

The PK has looked really good over the last couple weeks.

However, it is worth noting that the season-long percentage is (IMO) artificially high. We've been scored on as our player exits the box 3 times this season. Those don't count against the PK stats even though we were still very much in a 5-4 situation. We also have a goal against during a 4 on 4 that became a 5 on 4 when the Avs pulled their goalie. Not a goal against our PK, but it was the functional equivalent. Since the first 3-4 games, the PK has been excellent. But Our PK was sitting at 85% when we were all talking about how bad the PK looked because the goals just happened to come right after penalty time expired.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

That would be nice. I don't think he's in a hurry to get out of town considering how the team is playing and especially how the Russian crew is gelling. It was somewhat amusing to see 3 of them in the box at the same time the other day, no doubt cursing the ref in their mother tongue. Now that I look back at the box score, the Russian guys accounted for all 4 of our penalties the other night with Kostin getting one in the third.

I love the Russian thing on this team. The chemistry and camaraderie is fun to experience. Wish Toro would come along. Haven't been able to catch any T-Birds games. Is he being deployed on a "non-scoring" line? Alexandrov is passing up Toropchenko.

Can anyone here speak to Toro's performance?

 

[bleedblue1223]

I love the Russian thing on this team. The chemistry and camaraderie is fun to experience. Wish Toro would come along. Haven't been able to catch any T-Birds games. Is he being deployed on a "non-scoring" line? Alexandrov is passing up Toropchenko.

Can anyone here speak to Toro's performance?

From my understanding, Toro was always going to be more of a grinder type and Alexandrov is more of a middle 6 type, so their deployment should be a bit different.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

From my understanding, Toro was always going to be more of a grinder type and Alexandrov is more of a middle 6 type, so their deployment should be a bit different.

In my prospect rankings, I had Toropchenko top 5 because he is big, fast and gritty. I shouldn't expect him to score in his current role, but if he develops into a solid 4th line player then my expectations will be met. If injuries occur on our 4th line and there’s no one else available, then I’d like to see Toropchenko with the Blues.

He needs a 4th line call up this season.

 

[mk80]

I love the Russian thing on this team. The chemistry and camaraderie is fun to experience. Wish Toro would come along. Haven't been able to catch any T-Birds games. Is he being deployed on a "non-scoring" line? Alexandrov is passing up Toropchenko.

Can anyone here speak to Toro's performance?

I just saw the Springfield game in Hershey yesterday. He had a quiet game but that's not to say it was bad. He does seem to be used in more a grinding way, also is big part of the PK for them as well. He did pick up an assist in the game on a goal by Joshua.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

The PK has looked really good over the last couple weeks.

However, it is worth noting that the season-long percentage is (IMO) artificially high. We've been scored on as our player exits the box 3 times this season. Those don't count against the PK stats even though we were still very much in a 5-4 situation. We also have a goal against during a 4 on 4 that became a 5 on 4 when the Avs pulled their goalie. Not a goal against our PK, but it was the functional equivalent. Since the first 3-4 games, the PK has been excellent. But Our PK was sitting at 85% when we were all talking about how bad the PK looked because the goals just happened to come right after penalty time expired.

I've had the sense there's a little bit of smoke and mirrors, but they do look more confident and coordinated as a unit than that first couple games. Having both specialty teams in the top 5 is fantastic. If that were the end-game scenario, I think we'd be looking at a team challenging for the division.

 

[Renard]

Thomas is a guy the Blues have treasured for several years. He was excluded from the O'Reilly trade talks, apparently.

He has moments of brilliance, but he has his faults. He rarely shoots and wants to be another Adam Oates, it seems. He is error prone in the defensive zone. He has improved on faceoffs though.

Will the Blues faith in him be rewarded?

 

[Renard]

can’t put Krug or any Covid player on LTIR and get cap savings

Why can we afford Rosen and not Perunovich?

 

[Stealth JD]

Why can we afford Rosen and not Perunovich?

Rosen doesn't have perfomance bonuses in his contract that could pay him over $2M, like Perunovich.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Why can we afford Rosen and not Perunovich?

Perunovich has the possibility of making upwards of 2mil, Rosen doesn't.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Why can we afford Rosen and not Perunovich?

The salary cap rules require the team to be able to cover the bonuses, per Armstrong, amd there isn’t enough room to do that for Perunovich even though his base salary is not much different than Rosen. It’s the difference between having players absent for Covid (no relief) and LTIR where they’d have had room.