2022-2023 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread

[bleedblue1223]

Can you blame them? Berube just expects the team to slam it's head against the wall until shit works, he doesn't make adjustments and all you have to do is look at the fact it took like 9 consecutive games of having 3 goals scored on us in a period before he decided to call a time out to calm shit down.

It's not like you can make that many in-game adjustments and it's not like timeouts are all that effective. We can criticize the coaching, but it's straight up unacceptable if the players aren't executing what they are supposed to be doing. And you can't say that Berube has simply been doing the same thing and expecting different results. We don't know to what degree, but at a minimum, we know they've internally changed the PK from MacTavish to Van Ryn, I'm sure they've had other changes as well.

 

[PJJJP]

Can you blame them? Berube just expects the team to slam it's head against the wall until shit works, he doesn't make adjustments and all you have to do is look at the fact it took like 9 consecutive games of having 3 goals scored on us in a period before he decided to call a time out to calm shit down.

Honestly I still have no idea what their plan is in the defensive zone. So many players look like they have no clue what to do. A lot of standing around and people not going to loose pucks. It’s a mess back their and it’s partly because of the players we have and the coaches strategies

 

[Xerloris]

Honestly I still have no idea what their plan is in the defensive zone. So many players look like they have no clue what to do. A lot of standing around and people not going to loose pucks. It’s a mess back their and it’s partly because of the players we have and the coaches strategies

I believe the plan is take chicken, cut head off, watch it run around. Then imitate that.

 

[PJJJP]

Honestly ever since we have brought in Chiarelli, it’s gone down hill. His stupidness is affecting everyone in the organization. Someone gets the priests in here to exorcise this demon

 

[TheOrganist]

I think it's pretty obvious that you have some leaders and veterans of the Cup team that already have one foot out the door (Tank/ROR/Barbashev, etc)...I sincerely doubt they are fully engaged right now both on and off the ice. What incentive do they have to galvanize the locker room when their Blues career is winding down and the team is going nowhere? I'm not surprised the room isn't very cohesive right now. I fully accept to see an uneven and choppy performance for the next several months.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I think it's pretty obvious that you have some leaders and veterans of the Cup team that already have one foot out the door (Tank/ROR/Barbashev, etc)...I sincerely doubt they are fully engaged right now both on and off the ice. What incentive do they have to galvanize the locker room when their Blues career is winding down and the team is going nowhere? I'm not surprised the room isn't very cohesive right now. I fully accept to see an uneven and choppy performance for the next several months.

Yeah, I think that's one of the big differences between this season and the Cup season. The Cup year, guys knew they were on the block, but almost all of them were signed to multi year deals, so they knew if they weren't moved, they'd have another year here at a minimum. Guys like Tarasenko, O'Reilly, Barbashev, might not admit to it, but I'm sure part of them is thinking about the trade deadline or free agency and how their time here is going to end in a few months. When that happens, performance will suffer.

 

[bleedblue1223]

So, here's something funny. If we look at just 5v5 expected GF%, last season we only had a 5v5 GF% above 50% in 32 games, and this season we are above 50% in 15, and under in 12. During all situations, we are just 11 games of GF% above 50 with 16 under.

Our seasons are completely different from last season, where we sucked 5v5 last season and special teams saved us, this year 5v5 isn't really that bad, but special teams is tanking the team. We are on track for an all-time historically bad PK. Obviously sample size matters, but we are actually the worst ever PK in the history of the sport since the stats were being tracked.

For emphasis, WE LITERALLY HAVE THE WORST PK IN HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE. I'm not sure how that changes my view of the season, how we can turn the season around, or what next season will look like, but that appears to be the driver of our results.

 

[PocketNines]

Absolutely night and day penalty killing from when they had a #1 defenseman and cared about having defenders who can play defense at a high level.

It's almost as if thought has gone into prioritizing such a player.

 

[bleedblue1223]

And for the PK, I'm not sure if it's more player execution, or coaching issues, but that's 100% something that should result in coaches being fired. Any team should be able to put together a mediocre PK at a minimum.

And take 1 guess what team has the #1 PK in the league.

Absolutely night and day penalty killing from when they had a #1 defenseman and cared about having defenders who can play defense at a high level.

It's almost as if thought has gone into prioritizing such a player.

Last season, they were a top 5 unit, but to your point, they were 25th the first season without Petro. 18th the last season with Petro, 9th in the Cup year, and 19th the season prior. Prior to those seasons, we were consistently a top 10 unit, but also completely different teams.

 

[Thallis]

Honestly I still have no idea what their plan is in the defensive zone. So many players look like they have no clue what to do. A lot of standing around and people not going to loose pucks. It’s a mess back their and it’s partly because of the players we have and the coaches strategies

We swapped to a protect the middle box + 1 scheme after/during the original 8 game loss streak. It was a response to getting eviscerated through the middle for back door goals, but it has the downside of being able to get worked along the edges of the ice by better teams.

 

[Thallis]

So, here's something funny. If we look at just 5v5 expected GF%, last season we only had a 5v5 GF% above 50% in 32 games, and this season we are above 50% in 15, and under in 12. During all situations, we are just 11 games of GF% above 50 with 16 under.

Our seasons are completely different from last season, where we sucked 5v5 last season and special teams saved us, this year 5v5 isn't really that bad, but special teams is tanking the team. We are on track for an all-time historically bad PK. Obviously sample size matters, but we are actually the worst ever PK in the history of the sport since the stats were being tracked.

For emphasis, WE LITERALLY HAVE THE WORST PK IN HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE. I'm not sure how that changes my view of the season, how we can turn the season around, or what next season will look like, but that appears to be the driver of our results.

We're still bad 5on5. Our 47% xGF is good for 23rd in the league and that's the highest of our xGF, FF, CF. Counting individual games kind of misses the forest for the trees because of things like score effect & natural variance of results. We're not controlling games 5 on 5 and being sunk by that PK, especially since we're the least penalized team in the league.

 

[PocketNines]

And for the PK, I'm not sure if it's more player execution, or coaching issues, but that's 100% something that should result in coaches being fired. Any team
Last season, they were a top 5 unit, but to your point, they were 25th the first season without Petro. 18th the last season with Petro, 9th in the Cup year, and 19th the season prior. Prior to those seasons, we were consistently a top 10 unit, but also completely different teams.

11-12: 7th
2013: 7th
13-14: 2d
14-15: 8th
15-16: 3d
16-17: 3d
17-18: 18th (Jake Allen catastrophe year)
18-19: 9th
19-20: 18th

Twice they were average but usually they were elite. Yes they were different teams. One was built around the consistent floor of a #1 defenseman and now they are structureless and as you point out, the worst that has ever been seen on this entire planet of Earth.

 

[Brian39]

I think it's pretty obvious that you have some leaders and veterans of the Cup team that already have one foot out the door (Tank/ROR/Barbashev, etc)...I sincerely doubt they are fully engaged right now both on and off the ice. What incentive do they have to galvanize the locker room when their Blues career is winding down and the team is going nowhere? I'm not surprised the room isn't very cohesive right now. I fully accept to see an uneven and choppy performance for the next several months.

Millions and potentially tens of millions of dollars. They are both in contract years and NHL GMs have proven time and time again that the UFA market is massively driven by your most recent season. Going through the motions and having that noticeably diminish their own on-ice performance is going to cost them a ton of money if they can't turn it around (to be fair, ROR is showing flashes of doing that).

They are both old enough that teams aren't going to give them max term deals if they aren't looking like legit top line veteran leaders. A 30+ goal scoring, point per game Tarasenko who appears to be trying to drag around a bad team would get a hell of a lot more money than the version of him we are seeing right now. They are both old enough that a big down year is going to raise aging curve red flags.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

11-12: 7th
2013: 7th
13-14: 2d
14-15: 8th
15-16: 3d
16-17: 3d
17-18: 18th (Jake Allen catastrophe year)
18-19: 9th
19-20: 18th

Twice they were average but usually they were elite. Yes they were different teams. One was built around the consistent floor of a #1 defenseman and now they are structureless and as you point out, the worst that has ever been seen on this entire planet of Earth.

its unfortunate that JayBo was forced to retire, but agree that he is huge loss.

 

[bleedblue1223]

11-12: 7th
2013: 7th
13-14: 2d
14-15: 8th
15-16: 3d
16-17: 3d
17-18: 18th (Jake Allen catastrophe year)
18-19: 9th
19-20: 18th

Twice they were average but usually they were elite. Yes they were different teams. One was built around the consistent floor of a #1 defenseman and now they are structureless and as you point out, the worst that has ever been seen on this entire planet of Earth.

Part of it is going to be Petro. Maybe Backes/Steen and that forward group was better at it then our current group. And coaching is another part. Hitch and Shaw were likely very good in this area, and Monty was probably a big reason for the improved performance last season.

There's probably a lot of factors that go into why it is historically bad, but dear god it's bad.

We're still bad 5on5. Our 47% xGF is good for 23rd in the league and that's the highest of our xGF, FF, CF. Counting individual games kind of misses the forest for the trees because of things like score effect & natural variance of results. We're not controlling games 5 on 5 and being sunk by that PK, especially since we're the least penalized team in the league.

Yes, I'm not saying we are good, but I chose to look at total games as opposed to the stat as a whole, basically eliminating the outliers where we either blow a team out or give blown out ourselves that put more of an influence on the total numbers. If we had a mediocre PK, we'd probably be around Dom's model, I'm thinking an 88-92 point pace. We still have bigger team issues, but we are closer to not being a shit team in that scenario. We'd currently be around a -10 goal differential.

 

[Brian39]

For emphasis, WE LITERALLY HAVE THE WORST PK IN HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE. I'm not sure how that changes my view of the season, how we can turn the season around, or what next season will look like, but that appears to be the driver of our results.

I don't think any 1 thing is responsible for the brutal PK, but I do think it is worth pointing out that the PK was where Scandella earned the large bulk of his money. Roster construction is an issue and losing Scandella shouldn't cause such a massive fall off. I think the special teams coaching is an issue as well. But losing our top PK defender just before camp was certainly a blow to the PK units.

 

[bleedblue1223]

its unfortunate that JayBo was forced to retire, but agree that he is huge loss.

Yeah, having a PK with the skill and size of Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, and Parayko was quite a group. Throw in a Bortozzo or Gunnarsson or Edmudson or Scandella, and you have another guy with good size/reach.

 

[PocketNines]

Yeah, having a PK with the skill and size of Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, and Parayko was quite a group. Throw in a Bortozzo or Gunnarsson or Edmudson or Scandella, and you have another guy with good size/reach.

I guess someone thought those guys could be replaced with Faulk and Krug. A true cry/laugh concept, at all times and especially including before it happened.

 

[TheOrganist]

Millions and potentially tens of millions of dollars. They are both in contract years and NHL GMs have proven time and time again that the UFA market is massively driven by your most recent season. Going through the motions and having that noticeably diminish their own on-ice performance is going to cost them a ton of money if they can't turn it around (to be fair, ROR is showing flashes of doing that).

They are both old enough that teams aren't going to give them max term deals if they aren't looking like legit top line veteran leaders. A 30+ goal scoring, point per game Tarasenko who appears to be trying to drag around a bad team would get a hell of a lot more money than the version of him we are seeing right now. They are both old enough that a big down year is going to raise aging curve red flags.

That’s kind of my point…they are motivated as individuals (not the team) at this point in their Blues tenure knowing the end is near. Leadership, galvanizing the troops and turning around the sullen “attitude” in the room (which Berube mentioned several times last night) probably isn’t high on the list right now for FA’s to be.

 

[PocketNines]

Perron was a big loss not just on the ice, but every single veteran saw how Armstrong played it. The cutesy, "I told you 12 months ago the only deal I would do and if you didn't take it seriously or expected me to actually talk to you at the end of your contract that's on you" was brutal. If any of the vets are approaching this year in totally mercenary fashion, then Armstrong owns the creation of that atmosphere.

 

[TheOrganist]

Perron was a big loss not just on the ice, but every single veteran saw how Armstrong played it. The cutesy, "I told you 12 months ago the only deal I would do and if you didn't take it seriously or expected me to actually talk to you at the end of your contract that's on you" was brutal. If any of the vets are approaching this year in totally mercenary fashion, then Armstrong owns the creation of that atmosphere.

Very much agree that the way that went down with a heart & soul guy created some bad mojo heading into the year and a lot of us said as much.

 

[joe galiba]

I believe the plan is take chicken, cut head off, watch it run around. Then imitate that.

my grandpa took me to the Soulard farmers market when I was about 9 and I saw that in real life

 

[ChicagoBlues]

my grandpa took me to the Soulard farmers market when I was about 9 and I saw that in real life

I miss Soulard Market. Is it still there?

My Dad grew up in Soulard. 11th & Russell.

 

[joe galiba]

I miss Soulard Market. Is it still there?

My Dad grew up in Soulard. 11th & Russell.

still there, but I haven’t been in years

 

[Mike Liut]

We have been terrible this year and the Avs only have one more win? I know they are beat up, but still.