2023-2024 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread

[oPlaiD]

I appreciate this team fighting and scrapping for a playoff spot. That's the right mentality, and the coaching staff has done a hell of a job getting them mentally tougher. Armstrong has a tough job where he needs to be a seller, but should also reward the team for what they've accomplished.

I could totally see a scenario where he:
trades Buchnevich, Saad, whoever can get a return worthwhile.

Makes a token acquisition at the deadline for a rental player that doesn't necessarily move the needle, but is a nod toward the fact that this team is still fighting for a playoff spot. Something similar to renting Perron for a late pick (although Detroit should not be selling, and Perron holds little value) but something about as vanilla as that type of move. People will make jokes about it being an ineffective move, but I think its also psychologically significant. And it would still have some impact on the locker room as they fight for that 8th spot down the stretch.

Since JR posted that he thought the team would keep Buchnevich, I'm pretty sure he's getting traded now.

I pretty much agree, but I'm not expecting much action. We don't have the caliber of rentals we had last year and I'm skeptical we'll get a return that makes moving Buchnevich worthwhile versus waiting to discuss an extension (we can't do that until this offseason, right? I'm not really sure on the rules) and moving him next year if we don't work one out.

Kapanen, Blais, Sundqvist, and Scandella (and I guess Vrana, Gaudette, Rosen) are the UFAs. But even Scandella is barely a positive contributor to our mediocre lineup, so hard to imagine much demand for any of them. But I guess late picks are still picks.

Saad and Leddy are the next to hit UFA and while guys are moved with 2+ years on their deal remaining at the deadline sometimes, it's a pretty big complication. We also aren't clogged up with veteran contracts that'd prevent guys like Snuggerud or a random token rental from breaking into the lineup, so no need to force a move if the return isn't there.

 

[bleedblue1223]

We continue to be absolute garbage with an empty net.

https://morehockeystats.com/teams/en

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

We continue to be absolute garbage with an empty net.

https://morehockeystats.com/teams/en

Just need to get Mike Hoffman back

 

[Brian39]

Nashville's hot streak is probably doing just as much as our own inconsistent performances to make Army's decision.

Entering our game against them last weekend, we were 4 points up with a game in hand. That game kicked off a 5 game (and counting) win streak for them and a 1-3 stretch for us. Suddenly we are 4 points behind them (albeit with 2 games in hand). The games in hand make it closer than it looks on first glance, but we only play 1 more game than them before the deadline, so those 2 of those 4 potential points will still be hypothetical when a decision has to be made. Moreover, 5 of our 6 are on the road and they are all against teams who have more than just pride to play for. All 5 of Nashville's games are at home and 2 of their opponents are already just playing out the string (Montreal and Ottawa). They also have Buffalo, who is further from the playoffs than any of our opponents.

We play in Winnipeg Tuesday while Nashville hosts Ottawa. If both games go according to the betting odds, we would be 6 points out of a playoff spot when we drop the puck in Edmonton on Wednesday. We've seen this roster pull out of the tailspin and keep the season alive a few times already this year. They have done an admirable job of making games continue to matter through February, but the ground is rapidly approaching again.

 

[joe galiba]

We continue to be absolute garbage with an empty net.

https://morehockeystats.com/teams/en

That is -66 spread out among the 7 or 8 skaters who are typically on the ice for these

 

[bleedblue1223]

Faulk activated, Kessel to Springfield.

 

[PJJJP]

Faulk activated, Kessel to Springfield.

Oh god we are going back to Faulk-Krug

 

[LGB]

Hopefully Scandella will be moved at the TDL because Kessel needs to be in the lineup.

 

[Beauterham]

Oh god we are going back to Faulk-Krug

I hope this is just a temporary thing and they expect to call up Kessel again after the trade deadline when we inevitably have traded Scandella.

 

[bleedblue1223]

It's likely a waivers reason. Kessel is exempt while others aren't, and with expanded rosters after trade deadline, we can just call him up in a week and a half.

 

[JKG33]

Has there been any indication who's starting tomorrow? I feel like it'll be Hofer given he's the hometown kid and ya'll save Binnington for the Edmonton game.

Either way, I'm going to the game and will be wearing my Binner jersey with pride

 

[Drubilly]

Has there been any indication who's starting tomorrow? I feel like it'll be Hofer given he's the hometown kid and ya'll save Binnington for the Edmonton game.

Either way, I'm going to the game and will be wearing my Binner jersey with pride

Kinda brave ain'tcha??

 

[JKG33]

Kinda brave ain'tcha??

I'm not a Blues fan but I've always liked the guy. As a former goalie I loved seeing him come up fron refusing an ECHL assignment to winning the cup. The fact that he's such a piece of shit (I say that in the nicest way possible) and everyone else hating him makes me an ever bigger fan.

He's certainly hated here in Winnipeg that's for sure, and Jets fans have never been too fond of me either so it's a perfect match

 

[Drubilly]

I'm not a Blues fan but I've always liked the guy. As a former goalie I loved seeing him come up fron refusing an ECHL assignment to winning the cup. The fact that he's such a piece of shit (I say that in the nicest way possible) and everyone else hating him makes me an ever bigger fan.

He's certainly hated here in Winnipeg that's for sure, and Jets fans have never been too fond of me either so it's a perfect match

Meant to respond earlier but was distracted at work.

I can understand the hate from Jets fans but I've always laughed at the overreactions from other opposing fans. I mean at worst he's a WWE villain. Anyway, enjoy the game and stay safe!

 

[stl76]

Has there been any indication who's starting tomorrow? I feel like it'll be Hofer given he's the hometown kid and ya'll save Binnington for the Edmonton game.

Either way, I'm going to the game and will be wearing my Binner jersey with pride

Pretty sure they showed you twice on the Blues broadcast haha

 

[JKG33]

Pretty sure they showed you twice on the Blues broadcast haha

Did they?? I was in a blue with red jersey, sitting in the 200s (2nd of 3 levels) close to the Blues corner.

There was a guy sitting directly in front of me at glass level in the red reverse retro (opposite of the jersey I have) Binnington jersey you might be thinking of.. but if they got me that's awesome haha

 

[stl76]

Did they?? I was in a blue with red jersey, sitting in the 200s (2nd of 3 levels) close to the Blues corner.

There was a guy sitting directly in front of me at glass level in the red reverse retro (opposite of the jersey I have) Binnington jersey you might be thinking of.. but if they got me that's awesome haha

They showed a guy twice wearing a blue "home" Binnington jersey (once after Buchnevich scored with ~9:10 left in the first and again after the jets scored an empty netter w/ 2:47 left in the third). Guy had black glasses and a blue hat, at one point held up a "SORRY eh!" Canadian chocolate bar.

Maybe it wasn't you, don't think it was a blue with red jersey, but I figured there could not have too been very many Binnington jerseys in the crowd.

 

[JKG33]

They showed a guy twice wearing a blue "home" Binnington jersey (once after Buchnevich scored with ~9:10 left in the first and again after the jets scored an empty netter w/ 2:47 left in the third). Guy had black glasses and a blue hat, at one point held up a "SORRY eh!" Canadian chocolate bar.

Maybe it wasn't you, don't think it was a blue with red jersey, but I figured there could not have too been very many Binnington jerseys in the crowd.

Haha oh that definitely wasn't me then, but good looking out! I had the blue with red jersey, the one that was a remake of the mid 90's jersey. I have short dark hair kinda slicked back, and a dark short beard.

The Jets usually get "invaded" pretty good by opposing fans... Toronto, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Chicago, Colorado... but I didn't see much for Blues jerseys tonight that's for sure. A Binnington reverse retro, a family of 4 in matching winter classic jerseys, and the occasional other random jersey mixed in but it was about 97% Jets tonight

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Haha oh that definitely wasn't me then, but good looking out! I had the blue with red jersey, the one that was a remake of the mid 90's jersey. I have short dark hair kinda slicked back, and a dark short beard.

The Jets usually get "invaded" pretty good by opposing fans... Toronto, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Chicago, Colorado... but I didn't see much for Blues jerseys tonight that's for sure. A Binnington reverse retro, a family of 4 in matching winter classic jerseys, and the occasional other random jersey mixed in but it was about 97% Jets tonight

was about 97% jets on ice too.

 

[Brian39]

I have to think that the player's understand that tonight's game against Edmonton is their absolute last shot to convince Army to put off his deadline decision a single minute longer.

Last night Nashville and Calgary won again. Seattle won too. The only thing that went 'right' for the Blues playoff chances was Minnesota losing and the fact that Calgary beat LA in regulation instead of letting them snag a point. We're now 6 points back of both Wild Card spots. We've played the same amount of games as LA and we have 2 games in hand over Nashville. Calgary jumped us in the standings as well. Nashville and Minnesota play each other tomorrow, so Nashville will either increase their cushion by 2 points or Minnesota will gain 2 points on us (we are currently tied at 62).

I'm guessing that Army's mind has been made up, but a win tonight at least forces him to acknowledge that the team is still plausibly in the hunt. A loss all but wraps up the season. That would be 3 straight losses and 5 losses in our last 6 while multiple teams around us surge. Even with 4 more games before the deadline, that would remove pretty much any reason to wait.

As a whole, I'm pretty content with a loss tonight. This team managed to play actually meaningful games through the month of February, which was more exciting than last season where we were 8 points back of the playoff line to start February (with 3 more games played than the team who was sitting in the WC2 spot). We got over a month more of meaningful games to evaluate the current/next core and develop guys within the confines of legit NHL expectations. That is valuable for the bottom line and for player development. I view the first 59 games as a success given my expectations for the roster.

But I'm fine with tonight putting the final nail in that roster's coffin, officially triggering the sell, and setting us up to fall down the standings for draft capital. 18th through 24th are separated by just 2 standings points right now. We're only 4 points up on Buffalo at 25th, so we hung around without getting too far ahead of a pretty rough non-tanking-bad-team pack.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Hopefully we don't get a Blais or Vrana this deadline, and we can slide into a nice pick.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Yea looking back, it's really unfortunate how we got bamboozled last season by the mirage. Blais, Kapenen, and Vrana all came in and went gangbusters for the last 15-20 games, pushing down our draft pick while also giving us a fool's hope that we could turn one or two of them into legit deadline rentals this season. Then all three flopped so hard I'd be surprised to get just about anything back for any of them. Big sad.

 

[Brian39]

Yea looking back, it's really unfortunate how we got bamboozled last season by the mirage. Blais, Kapenen, and Vrana all came in and went gangbusters for the last 15-20 games, pushing down our draft pick while also giving us a fool's hope that we could turn one or two of them into legit deadline rentals this season. Then all three flopped so hard I'd be surprised to get just about anything back for any of them. Big sad.

We had zero chance of getting into the big 4 centers at the top of the draft. We were 10+ points up on all those teams by the deadline.

Michkov clearly had a very short list of places he would go and I can't imagine the Blues were on it.

We weren't catching Montreal and Arizona. We'd have needed to finish the year with just 11 points in our final 21 games to have a chance to 'pass' Arizona and 9 points in the final 21 to 'pass' Montreal. We lost our only game to Arizona in regulation and didn't play Montreal, so it isn't like we stole points directly from them. Chicago, Columbus, and San Jose all earned 12+ points post-deadline. Anaheim was the only team to earn less than 12 points and they got 10. I don't think there is an argument that we could or would have been the worst team of all the tankers in the last 20 games of the year under basically any circumstances.

So we weren't getting any of the guys who went 1-7.

At the end of the day, the worst thing that their play cost us was the chance to draft Leonard or Danielson over Dvorsky. I think there is a pretty good chance that we'd have taken Dvorsky ahead of those guys and even if we wouldn't have, it certainly isn't a big enough gap that I'm sad about it.

And given the underperformance of all 3 this year, couldn't you also argue that they are actively helping our draft position this year? Without them, we absolutely would have brought in other stop gaps.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I'm happy with Dvorsky, I think there would've been some debate if Leonard was an option. I think many of us thought Blais, Vrana, and Kap could've brought some 2nd-4th round picks, but I'm not even sure they'd be claimed on waivers.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I'm happy with Dvorsky, I think there would've been some debate if Leonard was an option. I think many of us thought Blais, Vrana, and Kap could've brought some 2nd-4th round picks, but I'm not even sure they'd be claimed on waivers.

Well, we know for sure Vrana wouldn’t be claimed on waivers because he wasn’t when we sent him to Springfield. Agree the other two would likely also clear and have no trade value unfortunately.

And based off of the 2024 Draft behind the scenes video the Blues released, there was a line in there about moving down to 13 if both Leonard and Dvorsky were gone. Leonard was mentioned first so that makes me think they had Leonard ranked higher than Dvorsky. Pure conjecture on my part? Yeah, pretty much but it’s logical that if there’s 2 guys on your list and you mention both, you’d probably subconsciously say the names in the order you have them ranked.

So Brian makes a good point in that Vrana, Blais and Kapanen doing well to finish out last season likely didn’t cost us too many draft spots…but IMO, it did likely cost us Leonard. And while I like Dvorsky, I like Leonard a tad more. Safer bet as he doesn’t have Dvorsky’s skating issues and his compete level is sky high.