2024-2025 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread.

[Snubbed4Vezina]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832216532027322519

 

[Reality Czech]

I bought a Blues ROR jersey to wear to games. I got a navy Preds hat I can pair it with. I'd like to eventually get a Preds jersey too, but I can't see myself wearing that much yellow.

A Blues jersey? You're a brave man! Good luck with the move. Everyone says Nashville is an awesome place to live so I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1832216532027322519

I was at the game last night and let's just say Jake should stick to hockey. They showed a few other Blues at the game. Tucker was there and I believe the Joseph brothers although I couldn't verify. I heard Bannister being interviewed on KMOX when I hit the John.

 

[BlueMed]

A Blues jersey? You're a brave man! Good luck with the move. Everyone says Nashville is an awesome place to live so I'm sure you'll enjoy it.



I was at the game last night and let's just say Jake should stick to hockey. They showed a few other Blues at the game. Tucker was there and I believe the Joseph brothers although I couldn't verify. I heard Bannister being interviewed on KMOX when I hit the John.

Tucker shouldn't get too comfortable here. I loathe hearing Chris Kerber and Jamie River admire his grit and snarl as if other teams really care and expect anything less playing a hockey game. Barring injuries, I don't expect Tucker to play any games this season and would prefer him to get claimed off waivers for his own sake.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I bought a Blues ROR jersey to wear to games. I got a navy Preds hat I can pair it with. I'd like to eventually get a Preds jersey too, but I can't see myself wearing that much yellow.

Volunteer fans are harmless, but I’ve had reinforcement of my dislike for the Predators from fan interactions in TN. In the eastern part of the state, I’ve met more Canes fans, and theyre mostly pretty cool to talk hockey with.

 

[joe galiba]

Volunteer fans are harmless, but I’ve had reinforcement of my dislike for the Predators from fan interactions in TN. In the eastern part of the state, I’ve met more Canes fans, and theyre mostly pretty cool to talk hockey with.

my nephew lives in Nashville and he is not to keen on preds fans either

 

[Linkens Mastery]

My Interactions with Hawks fans are normally much more pleasant than my interactions worth Preds fans.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

EP names Kyrou the 14th best RW in the NHL: EP Rinkside's top-20 right wingers going into the 2024-25 NHL season
https://eprinkside.com/2024/09/10/ep-rinkside-top-20-right-wings-for-the-2024-25-season

You wouldn’t think it is just looking at the hockey card stats, but the 2023-24 season was an encouraging bounce-back for Kyrou as an all-around player. The thrilling rushing winger enjoyed the best goal-scoring season of his career in 2022-23, but it came at the expense of playmaking and defence. Last year, on the other hand, his finishing touch regressed a bit but those other aspects were back in full force. He ranked in the top five percent of forwards in chances, chance assists, passes, passes to the slot, entries, rush offence, puck touches, and dekes, evidence of just how dangerous he can be with the puck when he’s on his game. Nobody would mistake him for a Selke candidate but he understands that a rushing game begins with getting pucks in the defensive zone and improved in that regard last season as well. The question now is, just how high is his upside.

 

[MissouriMook]

EP names Kyrou the 14th best RW in the NHL: EP Rinkside's top-20 right wingers going into the 2024-25 NHL season
EP Rinkside's top-20 right wingers going into the 2024-25 NHL season

Jaime Rivers mentioned yesterday on 101 ESPN that he ran into Kyrou this offseason and that he had added quite a bit of muscle to his frame. That should help him in puck protection and board battles, I just hope it doesn't negatively impact his mobility and puck handling. As per my previous prediction, I think he is going to have a career year.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

EP names Kyrou the 14th best RW in the NHL: EP Rinkside's top-20 right wingers going into the 2024-25 NHL season
EP Rinkside's top-20 right wingers going into the 2024-25 NHL season

They have him Ranked in the Same Teir as Stone, Fiala, Buchy, TK and Wyatt Johnston. Not bad

 

[STL fan in MN]

Jaime Rivers mentioned yesterday on 101 ESPN that he ran into Kyrou this offseason and that he had added quite a bit of muscle to his frame. That should help him in puck protection and board battles, I just hope it doesn't negatively impact his mobility and puck handling. As per my previous prediction, I think he is going to have a career year.

Assuming he added at least some of the muscle to his legs and it could make his skating even better. Or at least more stable and less likely to get pushed off the puck so easily.

And some increased upper body strength wouldn’t hurt either.

We’ll just have to see how he looks but I agree that the increased muscle mass is much more likely to be a good thing than a bad thing.

 

[BlueMed]

Jaime Rivers mentioned yesterday on 101 ESPN that he ran into Kyrou this offseason and that he had added quite a bit of muscle to his frame. That should help him in puck protection and board battles, I just hope it doesn't negatively impact his mobility and puck handling. As per my previous prediction, I think he is going to have a career year.

Kyrou's current weight per stlblues website is 196 lbs. We'll see how much muscle he gained around training camp assuming he hasn't gained much fat along with it (entirely possible though).

 

[Brian39]

EP names Kyrou the 14th best RW in the NHL: EP Rinkside's top-20 right wingers going into the 2024-25 NHL season
EP Rinkside's top-20 right wingers going into the 2024-25 NHL season

I'd say that is a mostly fair ranking, but I don't think either of Ehlers or Fiala are right wingers. Fiala played left wing (with Moore on the right wing) basically all season and even when the Kings broke them up, they kept Fiala on the left side. I'm pretty sure Fiala has been a LW all his career. Ehlers got bounced around the lineup more, but I only recall seeing him on the left side. I'm also not sold that I'd take either over Kyrou. Buch came in as the #16 RW on this list despite playing almost no time at RW last season.

I think they got his tier right, but I'm not super impressed with the list overall.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

They have him Ranked in the Same Teir as Stone, Fiala, Buchy, TK and Wyatt Johnston. Not bad

I think he’s better than Fiala and Konecny. I’ll need to see another season of Wyatt before I feel comfortable with where I rank him.

Buchy and a (rarely) healthy Stone pass him up because of how good they are defensively.

 

[Mike Liut]

With the Blues building a really nice young core, the last thing I want to see is NHL expansion and getting a young rising star picked off. I hope the NHL doesn’t expand for a long time

 

[Spektre]

Per Dom the hack:

St. Louis Blues (65)
UNDER 86.5 points, -113 (4.5 percent)
NO playoffs, -215 (6 percent)

Death, taxes and my model doubting the Blues. St. Louis was a bit of a surprise last year, earning 92 points and I’m not totally convinced it can repeat that.

St. Louis had an average penalty kill last season, but was bottom three at five-on-five expected goals (worse than the Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets!) and had a pretty wretched power play. If not for an out-of-nowhere renaissance from Jordan Binnington, things would’ve been a lot worse for the Blues last year.

The Blues did make some intriguing additions during the summer that might shake things up. But it feels like last season was closer to a false bounce than anything real.

 

[Brian39]

I think there are good reasons to bet the over on 86.5, but I don't think his model projecting us lower is remotely unreasonable.

It took a top 3-5 goaltending, extreme health, and a 12-6 OT record to get to 92 points last year. As he mentions, our underlying numbers were brutal and the team defense was awful. We have reason to believe that we've improved that area, but most of that potential improvement comes in the form of reclamation projects or inexperienced guys succeeding in elevated roles. No model based on past info is going to reflect/predict that.

It certainly won't be surprising if this team finishes under 86.5 points. I think that the betting sites picked a pretty good number for our over/under as you can justify both directions.

In the last 4 years he has under-estimated us twice (2021/22 and 2023/24) and over-estimated us twice (2020/21 and 2022/23). He slightly under-estimated us in 2019/20, but he had us 5th in the league so it is hard to act like he was way off.

 

[Mike Liut]

This current team is much better than last years, and I mean much better. I think we are going to surprise people. I’m predicting 98 points

 

[bleedblue1223]

I'd put our reasonable range at around 82 points to about 98 points. That would make my over/under mark around 90, which is something I'd feel comfortable with. We have reasons to be optimistic about improvement, but also reasons from last year where I could see regression, goalies don't carry us like they did or we aren't as healthy.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

This current team is much better than last years, and I mean much better. I think we are going to surprise people. I’m predicting 98 points

I think we'll end up in a similar position as last season, as i expect a little regression to the mean from our goaltending, and some growing pains with the kids starting to hit the lineup. Although, I don't see a big leap in the standings, I do see a great opportunity for growth and re-establishing an identity for our team. I expect we'll be on the cusp of the playoffs, with a chance of making it in as one of the final seeds.

 

[Spektre]

I think there are good reasons to bet the over on 86.5, but I don't think his model projecting us lower is remotely unreasonable.

It took a top 3-5 goaltending, extreme health, and a 12-6 OT record to get to 92 points last year. As he mentions, our underlying numbers were brutal and the team defense was awful. We have reason to believe that we've improved that area, but most of that potential improvement comes in the form of reclamation projects or inexperienced guys succeeding in elevated roles. No model based on past info is going to reflect/predict that.

It certainly won't be surprising if this team finishes under 86.5 points. I think that the betting sites picked a pretty good number for our over/under as you can justify both directions.

In the last 4 years he has under-estimated us twice (2021/22 and 2023/24) and over-estimated us twice (2020/21 and 2022/23). He slightly under-estimated us in 2019/20, but he had us 5th in the league so it is hard to act like he was way off.

Dom is 100% a hack.

He wrote about the 10 worst contracts in the entire league. Parayko is ranked 4th. That is beyond absurd.

“

4. Colton Parayko​

Contract: $6.5M x six years
Model Value: $2.5M x six years

Here’s the thing with Colton Parayko: He’s still very good defensively in a shutdown role and that holds a lot of value. He makes key stops for the Blues and eats tough minutes, both things that the model holds in high regard which gives him a strong Defensive Rating.

What Parayko doesn’t have going for him is something that many underrate when it comes to matchup defensemen: the other dimension. Shutdown guys don’t need to be Bobby Orr, but they do need to not be one-dimensional — especially at a $6.5 million ticket. For guys playing in a shutdown role, the ability to make sure offense flows the other way is crucial to getting the most out of locking things down defensively. Parayko’s profile is essentially a reverse-Vladimir Tarasenko.

There’s a lot of value in what Parayko brings and there’s something to be said about not being in the best environment to succeed with the Blues too. But what Parayko lacks is what separates him from the true top-pair defensemen you see on playoff teams — and what puts him well under his current cap hit.

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Maybe calling him a $4 million (or less) defenseman is harsh, sure. But the even bigger problem is that he’s 31 and has six years left at his current price tag.

It’s not out of line to think Parayko could play at a $6.25 million level — that calls for a Net Rating of plus-five. But he hasn’t been at that level since 2020 so it’s a lot to ask for now, let alone for the next six seasons.

Maybe Parayko could thrive somewhere else and live up to this deal. But his current situation in St. Louis where he’s expected to be The Guy despite lacking the offensive chops to do so puts him in a very difficult spot. If he doesn’t find an offensive element, this could turn into a Marc-Edouard Vlasicsequel. ”


By the end of the season he had Parayko as the 2nd best D on the Blues via player cards. At times he had Parayko as low as the 4th best D on the Blues.

There’s no way he watches Blues games. If he ever says he does watch Blues hockey it would make him even more of a hack.

Binnington was the MVP for the Blues last year but Parayko is 100% in the conversation as #2.

Dom has admitted publicly to not liking the Blues. That’s the opposite of journalism. He knows how to cherry pick stats. I maintain he knows shit about hockey and writes articles out of his ass.


Adding that he ranked Nurse as the 9th worst contract with him making 9.3 million per season. Yeah, Parayko’s contract is worse than Nurse lol

 

[Reality Czech]

Per Dom the hack:

St. Louis Blues (65)
UNDER 86.5 points, -113 (4.5 percent)
NO playoffs, -215 (6 percent)

Death, taxes and my model doubting the Blues. St. Louis was a bit of a surprise last year, earning 92 points and I’m not totally convinced it can repeat that.

St. Louis had an average penalty kill last season, but was bottom three at five-on-five expected goals (worse than the Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets!) and had a pretty wretched power play. If not for an out-of-nowhere renaissance from Jordan Binnington, things would’ve been a lot worse for the Blues last year.

The Blues did make some intriguing additions during the summer that might shake things up. But it feels like last season was closer to a false bounce than anything real.

Does this Don guy even watch hockey or just sit back and watch his spreadsheets?

 

[Xerloris]

Does this Don guy even watch hockey or just sit back and watch his spreadsheets?

all he cares about his advanced stats just like a few posters here.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

"Maybe Parayko could thrive somewhere else and live up to this deal. But his current situation in St. Louis where he’s expected to be The Guy despite lacking the offensive chops to do so puts him in a very difficult spot."

He's so close to acknowledging the flaw in his model which fails to account for the value of a shutdown D-man whose deployment on a bad offensive team prevents him from being able to contribute much offensively. He confirms this by saying that in another situation, he would have a better chance to live up to this model.

Instead of this, he should be asking him how the clear best defensive defenseman on a team manages to escape capturing value within his model, creating an output that suggests the Blues would be better off trading Parayko for TJ Brodie, Jan Rutta, Erik Gudbranson, Nick Seeler, Ollie Maata, or our old friend Joel Edmundson.

He's almost there, but his desire to troll Blues fans prevails.

 

[SirPaste]

"Maybe Parayko could thrive somewhere else and live up to this deal. But his current situation in St. Louis where he’s expected to be The Guy despite lacking the offensive chops to do so puts him in a very difficult spot."

He's so close to acknowledging the flaw in his model which fails l to account for the value of a shutdown D-man whose deployment on a bad offensive team prevents him from being able to contribute much offensively. He confirms this by saying that in another situation, he would have a better chance to live up to this model.

Instead of this, he should be asking him how the clear best defensive defenseman on a team manages to escape capturing value within his model, creating an output that suggests the Blues would be better off trading Parayko for TJ Brodie, Jan Rutta, Erik Gudbranson, Nick Seeler, Ollie Maata, or our old friend Joel Edmundson.

He's almost there, but his desire to troll Blues fans prevails.

He’s not open to any criticism of his model and instead of taking feedback and working to improve the model he just lashes out against those who point out it’s flaws.

 

[Thallis]

"Maybe Parayko could thrive somewhere else and live up to this deal. But his current situation in St. Louis where he’s expected to be The Guy despite lacking the offensive chops to do so puts him in a very difficult spot."

He's so close to acknowledging the flaw in his model which fails to account for the value of a shutdown D-man whose deployment on a bad offensive team prevents him from being able to contribute much offensively. He confirms this by saying that in another situation, he would have a better chance to live up to this model.

Instead of this, he should be asking him how the clear best defensive defenseman on a team manages to escape capturing value within his model, creating an output that suggests the Blues would be better off trading Parayko for TJ Brodie, Jan Rutta, Erik Gudbranson, Nick Seeler, Ollie Maata, or our old friend Joel Edmundson.

He's almost there, but his desire to troll Blues fans prevails.

He literally wrote an article about this and potential adjustments during the past season, y'all just get too mad when someone says negative things about the team or its players. He is absolutely right in his analysis that Parayko's deployment as the #1 is hurting his performance and the team. We've seen Parayko on better offensive versions of the Blues. He was still poor at contributing past the center line.