2024-2025 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread.

[BadgersandBlues]

Pretty much how I see it as well. It's almost like Bolduc is trying to focus so much on the small details of the game and the checking/defensively responsible side of things that he is sacrificing offense. I'm still hopeful that once that part of his game becomes second nature, the offense will come.

I wanted to comment on this part specifically - I had the same thought on him last year, until he had that game where he blew a tire and basically gift wrapped a goal to the other team. After that, it was like a lightbulb went off in his head that he wasn't going to get benched/sent down if he made one mistake, and it fueled his end-of-season scoring run. I was kinda/sorta hoping that the giveaway he made in the Ottawa game sparked the same type of reaction.

I think he plays really hard, I think he's trying to be responsible on both sides of the puck, and I think that it's hurting his offense. The fact that we have zero play drivers on our team now that Thomas is hurt is also an issue - Bolduc isn't a play driver - at his best he's a responsible 2-way winger with a plus shot. There's a lot of value in that, but it's not what we're desperately lacking at the moment.

 

[Mike Liut]

I wanted to comment on this part specifically - I had the same thought on him last year, until he had that game where he blew a tire and basically gift wrapped a goal to the other team. After that, it was like a lightbulb went off in his head that he wasn't going to get benched/sent down if he made one mistake, and it fueled his end-of-season scoring run. I was kinda/sorta hoping that the giveaway he made in the Ottawa game sparked the same type of reaction.

I think he plays really hard, I think he's trying to be responsible on both sides of the puck, and I think that it's hurting his offense. The fact that we have zero play drivers on our team now that Thomas is hurt is also an issue - Bolduc isn't a play driver - at his best he's a responsible 2-way winger with a plus shot. There's a lot of value in that, but it's not what we're desperately lacking at the moment.

I saw him lay a pretty good hit the last game too. Love seeing it

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Does anyone know how much did Bolduc change his stick/curve this offseason? I noticed he no longer has the white stick anymore.

 

[Stealth JD]

The best case scenario is probably having the injury bug and losing worse than the roster deserves, getting a top 10 or better pick, and then starting a rise in contender status next season after.

And so it shall be…

 

[PocketNines]

I see a player in Bolduc who badly wants an NHL career and plays with the spirit of what the coach wants him to do. It's like Patrick Roy had an effect on his mindset of how he needs to approach being a pro. That's all good. The problem here is that to help the Blues he also has to score. Right now he doesn't look like he's more than an opportunist who misses the net when he has a chance. The issue is there are also other people who badly want to make the NHL and can do the things he is doing, which makes him merely serviceable. The thing that will allow him to stick is his offense. If that does not emerge then he's not an important prospect. I have been lukewarm on this kid. Snuggy has some issues, but his shot is a clear separator and that's why I value one slightly more than the other

 

[Stealth JD]

I see a player in Bolduc who badly wants an NHL career and plays with the spirit of what the coach wants him to do. It's like Patrick Roy had an effect on his mindset of how he needs to approach being a pro. That's all good. The problem here is that to help the Blues he also has to score. Right now he doesn't look like he's more than an opportunist who misses the net when he has a chance. The issue is there are also other people who badly want to make the NHL and can do the things he is doing, which makes him merely serviceable. The thing that will allow him to stick is his offense. If that does not emerge then he's not an important prospect. I have been lukewarm on this kid. Snuggy has some issues, but his shot is a clear separator and that's why I value one slightly more than the other

Very few rookies come into the league guns ablazing. Schwartz and Neighbors stunk out loud their first 40 or so games. At least he’s not actively hurting the club with dumb-decisions and lackadaisical defense. The effort is there, the determination is there…there’s every reason to believe that the offense will come along eventually.

This is the perfect year to find out what you’ve got there. If by year-end he’s gone 100 games and still hasn’t found the next gear, then maybe you start wondering about his long term prospects as an NHL’er…but the worst thing that happens by waiting for him to start to generate offense this season, is the team offense continues to struggle and they fall down the standings towards a real difference-maker in the draft. And if the offense as a whole continues to struggle, should we really expect a rookie to find his way seamlessly?

 

[PocketNines]

Very few rookies come into the league guns ablazing. Schwartz and Neighbors stunk out loud their first 40 or so games. At least he’s not actively hurting the club with dumb-decisions and lackadaisical defense. The effort is there, the determination is there…there’s every reason to believe that the offense will come along eventually.

This is the perfect year to find out what you’ve got there. If by year-end he’s gone 100 games and still hasn’t found the next gear, then maybe you start wondering about his long term prospects as an NHL’er…but the worst thing that happens by waiting for him to start to generate offense this season, is the team offense continues to struggle and they fall down the standings towards a real difference-maker in the draft. And if the offense as a whole continues to struggle, should we really expect a rookie to find his way seamlessly?

I agree with all this and am not in a race with him, just pointing out where he has to take his game for it to be a difference maker for the Blues.

btw Schwartz was a special playmaker on his way to the NHL I never had doubts about him the way I do with Bolduc

 

[greybush314]

Ive seen Bolduc get to spots to score goals only to whiff on the shot or get a terrible pass. I think if he keeps playing the way he is that those chances are going to start ending up in the back of the net. He has an elite shot, can he translate it to the NHL is currently a work in process. He's still only 21 so alot of development left to be done.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Ive seen Bolduc get to spots to score goals only to whiff on the shot or get a terrible pass. I think if he keeps playing the way he is that those chances are going to start ending up in the back of the net. He has an elite shot, can he translate it to the NHL is currently a work in process. He's still only 21 so alot of development left to be done.

Yea it's hard for me to worry about the kid's offense when his centers have been Schenn, Buch, Holloway, and Faksa. Those dudes would turn Matthews into a 20 goal scorer.

 

[BlueDream]

I think Bolduc should be stay up here the entire season. It’s not like we really have anyone to replace him. Another main reason being that if you look ahead to next season, it’s very possible we have Dvorsky, Snuggerud, and Dean all joining the team and you never know about other guys like Loof and Peterson too. I could see us having 4+ rookies on the roster next season.

There’s going to be a lot of growing pains with that. It at least will help if we get Bolduc the experience now, and he’s not showing that he doesn’t belong. He’s playing physical, has made clear steps into improving defensively, and has a few assists too. His shot isn’t there right now but I believe that’s more of a confidence thing. If he can pop in a couple goals soon, I can see him taking off.

 

[Reality Czech]

Yea it's hard for me to worry about the kid's offense when his centers have been Schenn, Buch, Holloway, and Faksa. Those dudes would turn Matthews into a 20 goal scorer.

Weird comment. All of those guys are legit NHLers while Bolduc has proven very little. Good players shouldn't need someone else to create offense for them. Bolduc's gonna need to show a lot of improvement if he wants to play with centers like Thomas. Then again he looks a lot more like a bottom six checker instead of a top six scoring winger so far. I'm not too worried about him yet but seems like everyone is making excuses for him for some reason

In retrospect, he probably should have started the season in the AHL but now that he's here I guess we might as well keep him up unless someone else definitively steals his spot. I assume it's the coaching staff who makes the decision about who makes the team out of camp or does Army have a say? Based on his comments I expected Bolduc to start the season in the AHL.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Weird comment. All of those guys are legit NHLers while Bolduc has proven very little. Good players shouldn't need someone else to create offense for them. Bolduc's gonna need to show a lot of improvement if he wants to play with centers like Thomas. Then again he looks a lot more like a bottom six checker instead of a top six scoring winger so far. I'm not too worried about him yet but seems like everyone is making excuses for him for some reason

In retrospect, he probably should have started the season in the AHL but now that he's here I guess we might as well keep him up unless someone else definitively steals his spot. I assume it's the coaching staff who makes the decision about who makes the team out of camp or does Army have a say? Based on his comments I expected Bolduc to start the season in the AHL.

Right. As much as I like Bolduc, he hasn't proven himself yet. I'm confident that he will because he's always been a slow starter. On the other hand, he needs to do more. I think it was @stl76 who posted that Bolduc is starting to find the soft areas and that things will start clicking. This is where I'm at with Bolduc.

I want him to stay and learn on the fly, but sending him down wouldn't be the worst thing. I'd rather he stay and adjust or not. Fly or die, Zack.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Parayko is 3rd on the team in points. Didn't have that on my "team stats after 10 games" Bingo card

 

[bleedblue1223]

Parayko is 3rd on the team in points. Didn't have that on my "team stats after 10 games" Bingo card

Lidstrom didn't win his first Norris till his 10th season, this is Parayko's 10th season. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[Majorityof1]

Lidstrom didn't win his first Norris till his 10th season, this is Parayko's 10th season. Coincidence? I think not.

Fun fact: Lidstrom finished 2nd in Norris voting for the 3 years prior to his first win.

Less fun fact: Suter, Krug, Faulk and Leddy all have recieved more Norris votes than Parayko who has never received a single vote.

No fun at all fact: 7 Defensemen so far this year have more points than anyone on our team. Makar has more points than the top 2 players on our team, 21 to 19.

 

[bleedblue1223]

On a more serious note, if Parayko can consistently use his shot like he did against Toronto, there's no reason he shouldn't be a 10-15 goal defenseman. He had 9 even-strength goals last season and that was a career high, so for him to get to the 15ish range, he's have to be used as a shooter on one of the PP units.

 

[Xerloris]

Less fun fact: Suter, Krug, Faulk and Leddy all have recieved more Norris votes than Parayko who has never received a single vote.

But how many of them have votes for the con smythe?

 

[Mike Liut]

If the season does start going south, we’ll definitely need to try recoup some picks. Saad, Leddy, Faksa should help that cause.

 

[PocketNines]

I believe that Parayko understands that if he doesn't want to fade down the depth chart as he ages he has to adapt his game. I have seen him drive to the net and get more physical this year. He wants to remain a viable top pair defender and if he can also add some dynamism with his shot then it is possible to see him become more valuable than he is right now, which is pretty valuable

 

[BlueMed]

I believe that Parayko understands that if he doesn't want to fade down the depth chart as he ages he has to adapt his game. I have seen him drive to the net and get more physical this year. He wants to remain a viable top pair defender and if he can also add some dynamism with his shot then it is possible to see him become more valuable than he is right now, which is pretty valuable

From the start of this season, he has been shooting more (or at least it seems that way). The coaches need to utilize him more in the offensive zone. I think they can afford to do that now that he isn't covering for Krug's defensive zone starts.

 

[Memento]

I want to know why Stan Bowman and/or an Oilers fan with a serious grudge has access to voodoo dolls. It's bad enough that Thomas went down with an injury, bad enough that Leddy went down, but now Broberg and Holloway both get injured by freak accidents?

I've never seen so many freak injuries for this team.

 

[BlueDream]

I want to know why Stan Bowman and/or an Oilers fan with a serious grudge has access to voodoo dolls. It's bad enough that Thomas went down with an injury, bad enough that Leddy went down, but now Broberg and Holloway both get injured by freak accidents?

I've never seen so many freak injuries for this team.

There’s been a steady stream of bad news for us. We can go all the way back to 2020 where we had the Bouwmeester injury, Covid, and then Pietrangelo leaving.

This team used up all of its luck in 2019 and they’ve reverted back to being cursed ever since. That Cup was worth it but man there’s been a whole lot of crap since then. Just constant.

 

[Majorityof1]

There’s been a steady stream of bad news for us. We can go all the way back to 2020 where we had the Bouwmeester injury, Covid, and then Pietrangelo leaving.

This team used up all of its luck in 2019 and they’ve reverted back to being cursed ever since. That Cup was worth it but man there’s been a whole lot of crap since then. Just constant.

Covid happened to everyone. Pietrangelo was arguably self-inflicted (Armstrong calls it his biggest regret which implies he thinks he could have done something different). Bouwmeester was 37 so while shocking and sudden, unlucky in the short-term for the team and him, losing him was something we should've had a plan for. For all our injuries this year, last year we were relatively injury free. It all averages out.

I wouldn't say we've had anymore bad luck than the average team. These feel more like excuses. For better or worse, we are where we are due to the decisions of management and the difficulty of maintaining a winning team over a long period if time. That's not a knock on Armstrong either. Just the truth that a down period is natural.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Covid happened to everyone. Pietrangelo was arguably self-inflicted (Armstrong calls it his biggest regret which implies he thinks he could have done something different). Bouwmeester was 37 so while shocking and sudden, unlucky in the short-term for the team and him, losing him was something we should've had a plan for. For all our injuries this year, last year we were relatively injury free. It all averages out.

I wouldn't say we've had anymore bad luck than the average team. These feel more like excuses. For better or worse, we are where we are due to the decisions of management and the difficulty of maintaining a winning team over a long period if time. That's not a knock on Armstrong either. Just the truth that a down period is natural.

The timing of Covid is relevant. The increased revenue after winning the Cup was lost.

Every team had to deal with Covid, but it happened when the Blues were arguably a favorite to defend their Cup. How many years have we watched this team struggle, to have the season disrupted when they were rolling at their best. It WAS bad luck.

I appreciate your take on the Armstrong quote about Pietro. It’s a strong point.

 

[Majorityof1]

The timing of Covid is relevant. The increased revenue after winning the Cup was lost.

Every team had to deal with Covid, but it happened when the Blues were arguably a favorite to defend their Cup. How many years have we watched this team struggle, to have the season disrupted when they were rolling at their best. It WAS bad luck.

I appreciate your take on the Armstrong quote about Pietro. It’s a strong point.

I'll give you the timing. On the revenue side though, that didn't effect hockey ops. The team continued to spend. Sucks for them, and I hope they've recouped those losses because it's a great ownership group. But lost revenue does not appear to have affected the on-ice product.

It did hit at a time we were rolling. But it's been years. I don't think Boston is still complaining about it and they were rolling more than we were. Besides, e en conceding it that's one piece of bad luck not a series of things.