2021 Blues Regular Season multi-purpose thread

[MortiestOfMortys]

I think Toro will push Kostin for ice time. If Klim's performance continues to wane, then I can see Dak, Toro or even MacMac pushing Klim when we're healthy and can start a normal rotation of AHL players. As much as I'm excited about Toropchenko, I understand that with a normal cap situation and healthy roster, he would have probably not been called up. The first wave was Brown, Dak and Walker, I think, and then Peca and Toro joined the team, which means Toro is not high on the depth chart.

And we cannot forget about MacMac. As soon as things are back to a somewhat normal situation, DA will find a way to call him up. He needs to get in some games.

If Toropchenko holds a permanent place on your roster, you have a problem, imo. He’s the definition of “all tools, no toolbox.” He’s big and physical but his ability to produce on the ice has been abysmal since juniors. I think our ability to roll 4 lines is what separates us from other teams, so you just can’t have passengers there. He isn’t even all that particularly good at defense/forechecking. So unless we upgrade at another position and have to re-adjust how we allocate cap space, I’m a firm “no thank you” on Toro. Just one man’s opinion

 

[Reality Czech]

Interesting - per P-D

COVID has a mind of its own, and 14 Blues already have tested positive for COVID. But under NHL COVID protocols, once they’re on the COVID list they don’t have to be tested again for another 90 days.

In some countries, proof of prior infection is valid for 6 months so I don't find it that unusual. It's extremely rare, if not impossible, for people to catch the same flu virus twice within a short period of time. Natural immunity is still a thing even if some governments and authorities pretend it doesn't.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

If Toropchenko holds a permanent place on your roster, you have a problem, imo. He’s the definition of “all tools, no toolbox.” He’s big and physical but his ability to produce on the ice has been abysmal since juniors. I think our ability to roll 4 lines is what separates us from other teams, so you just can’t have passengers there. He isn’t even all that particularly good at defense/forechecking. So unless we upgrade at another position and have to re-adjust how we allocate cap space, I’m a firm “no thank you” on Toro. Just one man’s opinion

Disagree. In his first two games I saw him directing traffic and trying to get players in the right position. Sounds like a toolbox.

Also, nowhere did I write “permanent”., but….. whatever.

 

[Xerloris]

Interesting - per P-D

COVID has a mind of its own, and 14 Blues already have tested positive for COVID. But under NHL COVID protocols, once they’re on the COVID list they don’t have to be tested again for another 90 days.

CDC just said that once you test positive you can continue to test positive for up to 12 weeks after.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

The Real Deal Neal clears.

 

[MissouriMook]

The Real Deal Neal clears.

I expect him to ride the taxi squad until the TDL, unless someone comes forward with an offer where we actually get an asset for trading him. I expect if that happens DA will do the honorable thing and give him the opportunity that he clearly doesn't have here when most or all of our forwards are healthy.

 

[Xerloris]

I expect him to ride the taxi squad until the TDL, unless someone comes forward with an offer where we actually get an asset for trading him. I expect if that happens DA will do the honorable thing and give him the opportunity that he clearly doesn't have here when most or all of our forwards are healthy.

You can only be on the taxi squad for 20 days.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I think the Blues are going to bounce him back and forth with the AHL team enough so that he can stay in game shape, but I believe they'd like to keep him as playoff/injury depth. If he could play for another team, I'm sure he wants that, but clearing waivers kind of clarifies that situation. My guess is, if a guy was willing to come to camp on a PTO and ride the bench in the NHL, and he sees the team as having a decent shot at a playoff run, he'll put his head down and be a good citizen for a few months until the trade deadline. Then, he can be called back to the NHL team. Any team that goes on a long playoff run eventually needs to play several depth guys. I would imagine he views that as his last hurrah. Maybe he gets to play in a meaningful game again. I think this Blues leadership group does a great job of making guys in Neal's position feel like a part of the team.

I saw a nice photo of Perron and Neal at the Winter Classic, in uniform. It was nice that he got to be part of that before waivers.

 

[Xerloris]

I think the Blues are going to bounce him back and forth with the AHL team enough so that he can stay in game shape, but I believe they'd like to keep him as playoff/injury depth. If he could play for another team, I'm sure he wants that, but clearing waivers kind of clarifies that situation. My guess is, if a guy was willing to come to camp on a PTO and ride the bench in the NHL, and he sees the team as having a decent shot at a playoff run, he'll put his head down and be a good citizen for a few months until the trade deadline. Then, he can be called back to the NHL team. Any team that goes on a long playoff run eventually needs to play several depth guys. I would imagine he views that as his last hurrah. Maybe he gets to play in a meaningful game again. I think this Blues leadership group does a great job of making guys in Neal's position feel like a part of the team.

I saw a nice photo of Perron and Neal at the Winter Classic, in uniform. It was nice that he got to be part of that before waivers.

The way they treated Thornburn was really respectful.

 

[MissouriMook]

You can only be on the taxi squad for 20 days.

Good point - forgot about that. Still, I would guess that any eventual AHL assignment would be a paper only transaction unless he sincerely wants to go to Springfield and either stay sharp for an NHL gig or mentor the youngsters.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

You can only be on the taxi squad for 20 days.

Do you really think we’ll be fully healthy for 20 days


Also sidenote, now that Schenn is back, I wanna see these lines on Wednesday against Pitt.

Schenn-O’Reilly-Perron
Kyrou-Thomas-Tarasenko
Saad-Barbashev-Buchnevich
Brown/Kostin-Bozak-Sundqvist

Mikkola-Parayko
Krug-Faulk
Scandella-Perunovich
Walman

 

[MissouriMook]

Do you really think we’ll be fully healthy for 20 days


Also sidenote, now that Schenn is back, I wanna see these lines on Wednesday against Pitt.

Schenn-O’Reilly-Perron
Kyrou-Thomas-Tarasenko
Saad-Barbashev-Buchnevich
Brown/Kostin-Bozak-Sundqvist

Mikkola-Parayko
Krug-Faulk
Scandella-Perunovich
Walman

We know we'll routinely see a bit of a line blender, but I wouldn't mind seeing these forward lines:

20-90-57
10-18-25
89-49-91
22 (or 37)-21-70

The top line is a shutdown line with some serious pop and the middle six will give pretty much every team some serious fits. I see those top 3 lines as all having about the same ES ice time.

 

[BlueDream]

So now we just wait for Bortz to come off the Covid list in a couple days and everyone will be back.

Looking like we will keep Walman and carry 13 F, 8 D and 2 G on the main roster, with 3 forwards (Neal, Joshua, Walker) on the taxi squad.

 

[Zezel’s Pretzels]

Do you really think we’ll be fully healthy for 20 days


Also sidenote, now that Schenn is back, I wanna see these lines on Wednesday against Pitt.

Schenn-O’Reilly-Perron
Kyrou-Thomas-Tarasenko
Saad-Barbashev-Buchnevich
Brown/Kostin-Bozak-Sundqvist

Mikkola-Parayko
Krug-Faulk
Scandella-Perunovich
Walman

I see Schenn and Saad's places on this line structure as interchangeable. Either way, it would work fine enough...that being said, Saad - O'Ry - Perron has been in place for a long time, and they're stable/getting better, so why change it? Put Schenn w/ Barbie and Buch and that's pretty damn sexy for a 3rd line.

Once he's back, Bortz should get plenty of play to keep Perunovich, Scandella, and maybe even Mikkola fresh down the stretch. Maybe something like this between the four D's (% of games in lineup):

Mikkola - 85%
Scandella - 75%
Perunovich - 75%
Bortz - 65%

If Mikkola is out, make that a Parayko/Scandella game and hope for the best.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I see Schenn and Saad's places on this line structure as interchangeable. Either way, it would work fine enough...that being said, Saad - O'Ry - Perron has been in place for a long time, and they're stable/getting better, so why change it? Put Schenn w/ Barbie and Buch and that's pretty damn sexy for a 3rd line.

Once he's back, Bortz should get plenty of play to keep Perunovich, Scandella, and maybe even Mikkola fresh down the stretch. Maybe something like this between the four D's (% of games in lineup):

Mikkola - 85%
Scandella - 75%
Perunovich - 75%
Bortz - 65%

If Mikkola is out, make that a Parayko/Scandella game and hope for the best.

I also agree that Schenn and Saad are interchangeable in these. I just really liked Saad’s play earlier in the year when he was on a line with Barbie and Sunny, so I wanted to put him down there with him again. Plus, we know that Schenn works well with ROR/DP57.

 

[BlueDream]

I see Schenn and Saad's places on this line structure as interchangeable. Either way, it would work fine enough...that being said, Saad - O'Ry - Perron has been in place for a long time, and they're stable/getting better, so why change it? Put Schenn w/ Barbie and Buch and that's pretty damn sexy for a 3rd line.

Once he's back, Bortz should get plenty of play to keep Perunovich, Scandella, and maybe even Mikkola fresh down the stretch. Maybe something like this between the four D's (% of games in lineup):

Mikkola - 85%
Scandella - 75%
Perunovich - 75%
Bortz - 65%

If Mikkola is out, make that a Parayko/Scandella game and hope for the best.

Bortuzzo should absolutely play more than Perunovich.

At this rate I’d keep Mikkola in there 100% of the time until he falters. He has played well, there is no reason to take him out. Scandella-Bortuzzo should be the 3rd pairing 85% of the time, and you can occasionally rotate Peru in for one of them against teams he could have success against.

 

[Zezel’s Pretzels]

Bortuzzo should absolutely play more than Perunovich.

At this rate I’d keep Mikkola in there 100% of the time until he falters. He has played well, there is no reason to take him out. Scandella-Bortuzzo should be the 3rd pairing 85% of the time, and you can occasionally rotate Peru in for one of them against teams he could have success against.

Mikkola was quite shaky the other night. I worry about the workload he’ll have being Parayko’s partner for the rest of the year.

Totally agree about Bortz getting more time than Perunovich. In hindsight, my original numbers were what I thought would happen, not what I wanted to happen.

 

[execwrite1]

Mikkola was quite shaky the other night. I worry about the workload he’ll have being Parayko’s partner for the rest of the year.

Totally agree about Bortz getting more time than Perunovich. In hindsight, my original numbers were what I thought would happen, not what I wanted to happen.

Big fan of Mikkola but he did struggle Saturday. Caught way up ice on one goal and deflected another into his own net.

Like to see him bounce back this week.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Mikkola was quite shaky the other night. I worry about the workload he’ll have being Parayko’s partner for the rest of the year.

Totally agree about Bortz getting more time than Perunovich. In hindsight, my original numbers were what I thought would happen, not what I wanted to happen.

Given his recent stretch of play, I'm more than willing to throw out this game as an outlier in his recent play due to it being an outdoor game with significantly different conditions than a normal game. I do hope it is an outlier rather than potential regression

 

[execwrite1]

Most recent Springfield call up - Coach - Drew Bannister.

 

[Chojin]

Remember when Parayko was considered one of the best young defensemen in the league? Pepperidge Farms remembers...

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Remember when Parayko was considered one of the best young defensemen in the league? Pepperidge Farms remembers...

For all this talk of needing a defenseman, the one we really need is Parayko. If he doesn’t regain his form we aren’t good enough.

 

[Brian39]

Remember when Parayko was considered one of the best young defensemen in the league? Pepperidge Farms remembers...

I don't think that his ability/role/performance since he was a young D man is at all out of line with the (non-Blues fan) hype early in his career.

This is a 2017 list where he comes down as the 20th best player under 25. He's behind Werenski, Ekblad, Jones and ahead of Lindholm, Hamilton, Klefbom, Trouba, Slavin, and Klingberg. I think he's had a better career than 2-3 guys behind him on that list and I think the quotes in the article make it clear that the projection isn't that of a Norris-level guy: While Parayko may not reach the upper echelon of a do-it-all defenseman, his burgeoning offensive skill and playmaking abilities are more than enough to rank him at No. 20 on our list. This was his final year of eligibility for this type of list because he turned 25 before the next one came out and this was certainly the peak of hype around him as an (older) young D man.

This 2016 blurb projects him to 'quickly and consistently' be a 40 point guy and the discussion of him making Shatty expendable seems to presume that he will eventually take over more PP minutes and offensive situations.

Parayko hasn't reached the offensive production that was expected, but he's exceeded the defensive ability that was expected. He's developed into a different type of player than people thought, but I think the belief was that he'd be a really good but not great D man. During and after the first 2 years of his career, I think that he was considered as a guy who would be a #1/2 tweener and not a franchise D man. A lot of Blues fans believed that he was a lock to become a stud #1, but I don't think that was true league-wide. While a couple people behind him on the list above have surpassed him, I don't think that any of them were considered locks to be legit #1 guys the way Werenski and Ekblad were.

Parayko was the #2 D man on a defense-first Cup winner. He's paced as a 35 point guy in a very, very defense-first #1/2 tweener role on this blueline since then. His 48 even strength points are 41st among D men in that time, which is pretty darn good when you consider what his job is on this team. He's absolutely been an effective #2 D man at both ends of the ice and has arguably been a passable #1. I don't see that as a let down from the non-homer expectations. That type of D man is very valuable in the NHL.

Edit: FWIW, there is zero doubt in my mind that he'd be a 45 point D man if he got consistent PP time and was given free reign to focus on offense at the expense of some defensive responsibilities the way that most of the projections expected. I think it is better for the team when he's playing a shutdown role, but that doesn't mean he isn't capable of playing a more offense-focused role.

 

[PocketNines]

The idea that if Parayko played a little better, the defense would be fine is flawed.

There was never enough skillset in the offensive blue zone from Parayko to make him a true #1 defenseman.

The Blues do not currently have a true #1 defenseman in the organization.

 

[Zezel’s Pretzels]

Oh God...please, people, don't turn this into another avenue to have THAT conversation again.