2021 Blues Regular Season multi-purpose thread

[bleedblue1223]

Similar amounts of credit from all sides. Berube has proven to be an excellent man manager of being a tough player's coach. He does really well of straddling that line of being setting a high standard for his players, but not taking it too far where he has a short shelf life as a coach, which tends to be an issue for those types of coaches. Army has proven to be one of the elite GMs out there. Even in some of the mistakes he's made, he's found ways to get out of them, and he's managed to keep the prospect pipeline flowing enough to develop both NHL contributors and trade chips to bring in more established talent, and a pretty good job on deciding which prospects are worth keeping and which are worth trading.

Still probably have to give the players the most credit for developing into high-end players. At the end of the day, it's up to them to put the work in to make, and then putting the extra work in to be better than your peers.

Yeah, with those 2 and Buch, we essentially acquired a 1st line for Blais and a 2nd. Throw in the decision Army made to protect Barbashev, and we more or less added another top 6 forward. Army probably had one of the best off-seasons of his career by being shrewd with the expansion draft, holding Tarasenko, and acquiring Buch.

 

[Reality Czech]

I think Bortz has quietly been having himself a decent season. For a physical bottom pairing guy he's been doing pretty good at not making a lot of dumb mistakes, getting the puck out of the zone well, averaging 13 minutes or so and being +1. I'd never expect him to light it up so it looks like he's been doing good job well so far.

Bortz is great. He knows his role and (ya know) performs it very well. The most fearless shot blocker on the team and someone ya know will always stand up for his teammates. (Ya know) he's one of the most popular guys off the ice as well and a locker room leader. What a (ya know) great trade that turned out to be. Cole is a solid NHLer as well, but (ya know) Bortz just fits with this team and seems to love being a Blue (ya know).

Anyone who doesn't get the "ya knows" needs to check out his interview from Spittin' Chiclets from a few years back or any Bortuzzo interview for that matter.

 

[JoshFromMO]

Bortz is great. He knows his role and (ya know) performs it very well. The most fearless shot blocker on the team and someone ya know will always stand up for his teammates. (Ya know) he's one of the most popular guys off the ice as well and a locker room leader. What a (ya know) great trade that turned out to be. Cole is a solid NHLer as well, but (ya know) Bortz just fits with this team and seems to love being a Blue (ya know).

Anyone who doesn't get the "ya knows" needs to check out his interview from Spittin' Chiclets from a few years back or any Bortuzzo interview for that matter.

League leader in Ya Knows/60. He always crushes the Halloween costumes every year too

 

[ItsOnlytheRiver]

Bortuzzo made a hell of a pass to ROR through the neutral zone last night that led to a good scoring chance. Really liking his game this year.

 

[simon IC]

I hope Bortuzzo is extended. A one or two-year contract. It is not like we have any NHL-ready RD prospects, so he won't be blocking anyone.

 

[Reality Czech]

Bortuzzo made a hell of a pass to ROR through the neutral zone last night that led to a good scoring chance. Really liking his game this year.

That was a nice pass and the camera angle was perfect. Just goes to show how skilled all NHL players are, even 4th line and 3rd pair guys. His highlight-reel goal in the playoffs against the Sharks is one of my favorite Blues goals in recent memory. Big fan of the Bortz!

 

[TK 421]

If you're attending a game Bortuzzo is entertaining to watch on the bench during stoppages where he routinely moves his head in time with whatever music is playing. He keeps everyone loose and laughing. Definitely my favorite guy to watch while play is stopped.

I also love watching ROR chuck his gloves to the equipment guy every time he comes off the ice. ROR don't wear no wet gloves, only dry gloves for him donchaknow.

 

[Majorityof1]

I'm really curious what's behind Thomas' breakout this season. We all figured it was inevitable, but I'm curious if it's driven more of him finally being healthy, natural progression, or him putting in serious work in the off-season. It's not just the production, it's his complete 2-way game that he displayed in juniors, it's his faceoffs that have gone from a major weakness to being over 50%, it's him wearing an A last night. I'm sure it's a combo of the 3 I mentioned, but want to give him credit for putting the work in and becoming that complete player and leader that he was projected to be.

I think people forget that he entered the league super early in his D+2 season as a teenager. That is a bit rare for guys drafted outside the top 10. He's only 22 now. This is the years a lot of guys drafted in his range enter the league. Most development trajectories have some stops and starts, we just don't see them because they are in juniors or the AHL. We saw all of Thomas'. Add in a couple flukey shortened seasons, and injuries, its not a surprise he took a bit to become a full fledged star. Kyrou is a year older, but nobody is talking about his development path and what took so long for him to click. We weren't watching it outside of a 15 or so games a year until last year.

 

[Drubilly]

Great summation Madge

 

[Celtic Note]

I'm really curious what's behind Thomas' breakout this season. We all figured it was inevitable, but I'm curious if it's driven more of him finally being healthy, natural progression, or him putting in serious work in the off-season. It's not just the production, it's his complete 2-way game that he displayed in juniors, it's his faceoffs that have gone from a major weakness to being over 50%, it's him wearing an A last night. I'm sure it's a combo of the 3 I mentioned, but want to give him credit for putting the work in and becoming that complete player and leader that he was projected to be.

There are two life lessons that I have learned that I think apply here:
- People mature at different rates (some not all that much), but Thomas is young so it seems on time to me.
- Things in life click at different times for us all, resulting in performance jumps

 

[BlueMed]

There are two life lessons that I have learned that I think apply here:
- People mature at different rates (some not all that much), but Thomas is young so it seems on time to me.
- Things in life click at different times for us all, resulting in performance jumps

He's not the only one. Perfect example would include Barbashev finally clicking this season. His production has skyrocketed.

 

[tfriede2]

He's not the only one. Perfect example would include Barbashev finally clicking this season. His production has skyrocketed.

I remember the biggest concern with him at the draft was whether his offense would translate in the NHL. Even if it hadn’t, he’s been a valuable role player; but now he’s proving that at least some of that offensive potential can be realized - he’s possibly a legitimate top 6’er if put in that role (too early to tell for me if this will be a 1 season outlier).

 

[execwrite1]

Thomas-Kyrou could be this generation's Federko-Sutter.

 

[tfriede2]

Pronman rated Thomas’ shot as “poor” in his under 23 player rankings. This seems like an example of armchair scouting by looking at his # of goals. I don’t view his shot as poor, but rather severely underutilized, and his shot selection could use some work.

 

[BlueDream]

I remember the biggest concern with him at the draft was whether his offense would translate in the NHL. Even if it hadn’t, he’s been a valuable role player; but now he’s proving that at least some of that offensive potential can be realized - he’s possibly a legitimate top 6’er if put in that role (too early to tell for me if this will be a 1 season outlier).

Those posts that kept popping up over the last 2 years about how Barbashev is barely a replacement level NHL player are even more hilarious now.

That’s why not watching games and only looking at analytics is bad. Anyone who watched him in our 2019 Cup run knew that was a stupid f***ing thing to say.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Pronman rated Thomas’ shot as “poor” in his under 23 player rankings. This seems like an example of armchair scouting by looking at his # of goals. I don’t view his shot as poor, but rather severely underutilized, and his shot selection could use some work.

Really? I think it’s poor.

 

[HighNote]

Really? I think it’s poor.

I think his shot is pretty average, but I think his accuracy carries it to that level. If not for his accuracy, it would probably be pretty poor.

We just don't see it that often. He has like 1 or 2 shots a game, and he's not always in the best shooting positions for those shots either. Typically he's the one passing it to the good shooting position because that's what he's best at. But if you go look back at some of his goals where he gets a clean shot off, they're typically snipes.

 

[BlueMed]

Pronman rated Thomas’ shot as “poor” in his under 23 player rankings. This seems like an example of armchair scouting by looking at his # of goals. I don’t view his shot as poor, but rather severely underutilized, and his shot selection could use some work.

He also rated Thomas's skating and puck handling as average, so he obviously doesnt know what he's talking about.

 

[Renard]

Pronman rated Thomas’ shot as “poor” in his under 23 player rankings. This seems like an example of armchair scouting by looking at his # of goals. I don’t view his shot as poor, but rather severely underutilized, and his shot selection could use some work.

I have not seen his shot enough to form a judgment. He is like Adam Oates in that respect. Oates used to drive around with license plates that said "pass it."

 

[MissouriMook]

There were an awful lot of extremes in the comments about Binnington in the GDT from the Leafs game, but let’s be honest. We need to acknowledge that Binnington has performed poorly this season, but I think we should be able to do so without writing him off as not being NHL caliber anymore.

What is most concerning to me is that he has given up 4 or more goals in 8 of his 22 starts. That’s more than a third of the times he’s had the net where we have needed 5 or more goals to be able to win. That’s just not good enough. Husso, on the other hand, has done so just once. That was a road game at Tampa. This no longer a situation where their performances aren’t comparable because of the quality of the opponents-Husso has started twice against Florida as well as starts against Washington and Tampa.

I think it is time to make Husso the 1A for a stretch and give him 2 out of 3 starts for a few weeks while Binnington gets his game right and builds the motivation to reclaim his net.

 

[Reality Czech]

Thomas-Kyrou could be this generation's Federko-Sutter.

Certainly possible. For all the talk of our current window, we may be able to extend it for much longer if these two along with Barbashev, Mikkola and a few others continue on their current trajectory.

 

[Renard]

The Blues are publicly supporting Binnington but I wonder what Doug Armstrong is thinking. The organization surely has a lot of loyalty to Binnington (the fans too). They rewarded that loyalty with a long term contract with a no-trade clause, I assume. But they have to be worried.

I don't claim to be an expert on goaltending, but it seems to me that Binnington came along, the League didn't have a book on him, and he excelled. Now they have a book on him and his tendencies are exposed. Maybe his confidence is shaken too.

So now what? We have some great goaltending prospects, but are we willing to go with Binny in the playoffs? How about Chucky Sideburns if he falters in the stretch? Can the Blues afford to just absorb Binny's future salary?

 

[tfriede2]

The Blues are publicly supporting Binnington but I wonder what Doug Armstrong is thinking. The organization surely has a lot of loyalty to Binnington (the fans too). They rewarded that loyalty with a long term contract with a no-trade clause, I assume. But they have to be worried.

I don't claim to be an expert on goaltending, but it seems to me that Binnington came along, the League didn't have a book on him, and he excelled. Now they have a book on him and his tendencies are exposed. Maybe his confidence is shaken too.

So now what? We have some great goaltending prospects, but are we willing to go with Binny in the playoffs? How about Chucky Sideburns if he falters in the stretch? Can the Blues afford to just absorb Binny's future salary?

Full NTC for the next 2 seasons after this, then it’s a modified NTC. This could be disastrous.

 

[Reality Czech]

The Blues are publicly supporting Binnington but I wonder what Doug Armstrong is thinking. The organization surely has a lot of loyalty to Binnington (the fans too). They rewarded that loyalty with a long term contract with a no-trade clause, I assume. But they have to be worried.

I don't claim to be an expert on goaltending, but it seems to me that Binnington came along, the League didn't have a book on him, and he excelled. Now they have a book on him and his tendencies are exposed. Maybe his confidence is shaken too.

So now what? We have some great goaltending prospects, but are we willing to go with Binny in the playoffs? How about Chucky Sideburns if he falters in the stretch? Can the Blues afford to just absorb Binny's future salary?

I totally get the concerns, but while fans often look at the short term I am pretty sure front offices are looking more long term. I doubt they would reconsider a 6-year deal after only half a season no matter what the situation. Most contracts are a gamble to some degree, but we have to consider where we would be if we hadn't signed Binnington. We would have gone into this past offseason with a massive question mark in net, and no one could have expected Husso to look so much better this year than last. If Binner had walked we would have been forced to acquire another starting caliber goalie either via FA or trade, and you have no idea how the new guy would have assimilated with his new team. The Blues are a pretty close team, so how would the rest of the team have reacted if they had let Binner walk and brought in a new guy?

The timing kind of forced the Blues hand to commit to Binnington, and I'd say he earned the benefit of the doubt. They will give him every opportunity to find his game as well they should, but in the short term they need to give Husso more starts and see if he can keep up his very high level of play. There is plenty of time before the playoffs to find out which option will give us the best chance of success.

 

[TheDizee]

The Blues are publicly supporting Binnington but I wonder what Doug Armstrong is thinking. The organization surely has a lot of loyalty to Binnington (the fans too). They rewarded that loyalty with a long term contract with a no-trade clause, I assume. But they have to be worried.

I don't claim to be an expert on goaltending, but it seems to me that Binnington came along, the League didn't have a book on him, and he excelled. Now they have a book on him and his tendencies are exposed. Maybe his confidence is shaken too.

So now what? We have some great goaltending prospects, but are we willing to go with Binny in the playoffs? How about Chucky Sideburns if he falters in the stretch? Can the Blues afford to just absorb Binny's future salary?

team played incredible for chucky sideburns, its a tragedy that they stopped feeding him starts