2024-2025 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread.

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I’ve seen our fans in the past go from playoffs to a top 5 pick in a 5 game span.

HFBlues is in old midseason form. I almost missed it lol.

 

[AyeBah]

Kessel and Leddy are not NHL caliber dmen. If those two are in your top 6 you're not a playoff team

 

[Reality Czech]

How over 50% of the voters thought the Blues are a playoff team is surprising to me. I agree with everything P9 said above…this team is glaringly short on talent and needs a massive infusion of top-of-the-draft skill. But adding one forward or one defenseman to this group isn’t going to fix much. They need several high-end pieces to help Thomas, Kyrou and Buchnevich.

I assume D. Armstrong is just trying to instill confidence and a sense of trust when he says this club should compete for a playoff spot. Deep down he’s got to know what an inferior group he has assembled. There are a whole lot of third and fourth line forwards on this club, and a void of 50% of the required top-6 talent.

The defense needs two more top-4 guys to be formidable and a clear #1 has to be found. Parayko and Faulk at best are 2/3’s if partnered with a stud they don’t have. Broberg and Leddy would be ok as 4’s, but ideally the latter would be your #5.

Binner is going to earn the club a lot more points than they deserve…but this is still a bottom-10 roster even with his heroics. If the wheels come off, they could be drafting top-6 and I’d be surprised none. I’d be more surprised to see them make the playoffs than I would be to see them finish 7th in the Central.

An inferior group he has assembled? Everyone knew the deal coming into this season so why are fans acting surprised? It's a transition year to let the kids and prospects develop. Not sure what magical moves Doug could have made this summer to satisfy you and the always complaining crowd. I'd say he did pretty well this past summer considering who we got and what we gave up.

But these hot takes after 4 games mean very little in the long term. Every season has ups and downs and yet fans seem to forget that. I mean we're friggin .500 after 4 games and some fans are already in crisis mode lol.

Regarding d corps, I don't think anyone believes our group is enough to contend but Florida just won a Cup with Mikkola as their number 4. So I question if a team truly needs as much talent on the back end as you're suggesting.

 

[Majorityof1]

An inferior group he has assembled? Everyone knew the deal coming into this season so why are fans acting surprised? It's a transition year to let the kids and prospects develop. Not sure what magical moves Doug could have made this summer to satisfy you and the always complaining crowd. I'd say he did pretty well this past summer considering who we got and what we gave up.

But these hot takes after 4 games mean very little in the long term. Every season has ups and downs and yet fans seem to forget that. I mean we're friggin .500 after 4 games and some fans are already in crisis mode lol.

Regarding d corps, I don't think anyone believes our group is enough to contend but Florida just won a Cup with Mikkola as their number 4. So I question if a team truly needs as much talent on the back end as you're suggesting.

Mikkola as a 4 but their top 2 Forsling and Montour are better by a good margin than anyone we have. They have elite forwards in Tkachuk and Barkov. Reinheart and Verhagee played elite at ppg. Good depth at forward supplamented by Tarasenko on tgec3rd line.. An elite goalie. But sure, we are right with them cause their 4th D is way underrated by this fanbase

 

[PocketNines]

so just to be clear, despite consistently saying these things I am a fan who is now acting surprised and having hot takes.

there's a type of bad faith that attacks opinion in a blanket whenever something negative comes near them and that is what we have over and over and over and over here.

it's silly, it's all driven by a fear of something, the way a fanatic has a fervor. there's a great line in one of the films of Le Carre where Gary Oldman is talking about how he knew the fanatacism of his adversary gave him the edge, because he knew it covered a kernel of hidden doubt about its truth.

so the real story is the kernel of hidden doubt within one poster over and over who levels the same flip accusations. that poster must harbor a real deep doubt in actuality.

 

[BrokenFace]

I’ve seen our fans in the past go from playoffs to a top 5 pick in a 5 game span.

Fans are emotional and struggle to be objective (myself included), but I think this might just be what it feels like to follow a middling team. They easily look like a playoff team for stretches, then they easily look like a bottom 10 team for stretches. Not consistently good or a bad so they end up in the middle. The mood of the fans will swing with their recent performance, but the long view ends up in the middle. We finished 16th last year and that's about where I'd expect us to finish this year until I see more consistency. We can't keep finishing there or else we're the new Flames/Flyers(minus Michkov)/Wild.

 

[Sgt Schultz]

There was an old railroad engineer that described a new steam engine he had been driving by saying, "when she's good, she's great. But when she's bad, she's awful."

That's where we were last year, and I'm not sure why anybody expected much better this year. All we can expect is that there is a little more great than awful throughout the season.

Fans in all sports tend to let their expectations get too high when times are good and balance that out by getting too low when things are not. We are no exception.

 

[STLegend]

I think pretty much everyone agreed that Nashville had a great off-season and they've started off 0-3, Colorado is 0-4. Are they both non-playoff teams? Doubtful.

Any results prior to the 10 game mark should be taken with a grain of salt. It's a long season and there was a lot of roster turnover. This team is still finding its identity and guys are still figuring out where they slot into that.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I think pretty much everyone agreed that Nashville had a great off-season and they've started off 0-3, Colorado is 0-4. Are they both non-playoff teams? Doubtful.

Any results prior to the 10 game mark should be taken with a grain of salt. It's a long season and there was a lot of roster turnover. This team is still finding its identity and guys are still figuring out where they slot into that.

Nashville is an interesting case. They have some aging pieces who may not be enough any more. I’m pretty curious how this goes for them. Most likely they’ll look inconsistent and flirt with missing, then have a good 2nd half. But I could also see them just fail.

My Rangers fan friends have been a lot quieter lately about how amazing Georgiev is. It will be fun if Colorado misses, but damn annoying if they get a high lottery pick.

 

[Brian39]

My Rangers fan friends have been a lot quieter lately about how amazing Georgiev is. It will be fun if Colorado misses, but damn annoying if they get a high lottery pick.

Barring long-term injuries to MackKinnon and/or Makar, I think Colorado simply has too much elite talent to be a high lottery team. They aren't going to get .800 goaltending all season. Even if they have literally the league's worst tandem this year they will end with a team SV% a good chunk closer to .900 than .800 by season's end. And they have still been in 1 goal games late in 2 of their 4 losses despite the atrocious goaltending.

I'm hoping that the goaltending digs them into a massive hole over the next couple weeks that ultimately derails their season before we have complete clarity on the potential Nichuskin/Landeskog returns. But I think there are just too many goals in the top of the lineup for them to be a bottom 10 team.

 

[Meatwagon]

Barring long-term injuries to MackKinnon and/or Makar, I think Colorado simply has too much elite talent to be a high lottery team. They aren't going to get .800 goaltending all season. Even if they have literally the league's worst tandem this year they will end with a team SV% a good chunk closer to .900 than .800 by season's end. And they have still been in 1 goal games late in 2 of their 4 losses despite the atrocious goaltending.

I'm hoping that the goaltending digs them into a massive hole over the next couple weeks that ultimately derails their season before we have complete clarity on the potential Nichuskin/Landeskog returns. But I think there are just too many goals in the top of the lineup for them to be a bottom 10 team.

It would be so Colorado to finish 7th in the draft and win the lottery and then get another high end player and play .750 hockey next year.

 

[Reality Czech]

Fans are emotional and struggle to be objective (myself included), but I think this might just be what it feels like to follow a middling team. They easily look like a playoff team for stretches, then they easily look like a bottom 10 team for stretches. Not consistently good or a bad so they end up in the middle. The mood of the fans will swing with their recent performance, but the long view ends up in the middle. We finished 16th last year and that's about where I'd expect us to finish this year until I see more consistency. We can't keep finishing there or else we're the new Flames/Flyers(minus Michkov)/Wild.

I think half the teams in the league fall into that middling category. A few things go right and they can slip into the playoffs but if a few things go wrong they can fall into the lottery.

 

[BlueDream]

I think pretty much everyone agreed that Nashville had a great off-season and they've started off 0-3, Colorado is 0-4. Are they both non-playoff teams? Doubtful.

Any results prior to the 10 game mark should be taken with a grain of salt. It's a long season and there was a lot of roster turnover. This team is still finding its identity and guys are still figuring out where they slot into that.

You’re right but at the same time, Nashville’s offseason on paper doesn’t really matter anymore if it doesn’t gel on the ice. A lot of fans underestimate how many new teams make the playoffs each year. It’s not going to be the exact same teams as last year. So while all of Nashville, Colorado, Edmonton and Vancouver could turn it around, I’d wager 1 or 2 of them won’t recover from the poor start and will underperform this season. It’s likely that 2 or 3 new teams in the West will make the playoffs so something has to give.

 

[HighNote]

Binner is going to earn the club a lot more points than they deserve…but this is still a bottom-10 roster even with his heroics. If the wheels come off, they could be drafting top-6 and I’d be surprised none. I’d be more surprised to see them make the playoffs than I would be to see them finish 7th in the Central.

I'm a bit confused by this part. We weren't a bottom 10 team last year with him playing well, we were 10+ points ahead of 10th worst. Are our skaters that much worse that we could get that low? Personally, I think this roster is better than last year's, so I'd be surprised if we ended up bottom 10 barring injuries.

And this might be just the wording, but is Binnington not part of the "club?" If he's part of the team and he helps the team get more wins, then do they not deserve those wins?

I might be misinterpreting your post, so I apologize in advance if that's the case.

 

[Mike Liut]

I'm a bit confused by this part. We weren't a bottom 10 team last year with him playing well, we were 10+ points ahead of 10th worst. Are our skaters that much worse that we could get that low? Personally, I think this roster is better than last year's, so I'd be surprised if we ended up bottom 10 barring injuries.

And this might be just the wording, but is Binnington not part of the "club?" If he's part of the team and he helps the team get more wins, then do they not deserve those wins?

I might be misinterpreting your post, so I apologize in advance if that's the case.

Probably a bottom 10 team last year if not for Binny.

 

[PocketNines]

I wish there had been an option to vote getting the 16th pick again.

 

[Thallis]

I'm a bit confused by this part. We weren't a bottom 10 team last year with him playing well, we were 10+ points ahead of 10th worst. Are our skaters that much worse that we could get that low? Personally, I think this roster is better than last year's, so I'd be surprised if we ended up bottom 10 barring injuries.

And this might be just the wording, but is Binnington not part of the "club?" If he's part of the team and he helps the team get more wins, then do they not deserve those wins?

I might be misinterpreting your post, so I apologize in advance if that's the case.

He put up essentially a vezina caliber year and we still weren't a playoff team. Sure, he's part of the club, but the nature of goaltending and his existing track record makes it unlikely that performance is duplicated.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Hofer gets the nod against the Hurricanes after his shutout last game.

 

[PocketNines]

who tf is Jared Coreau and why his his name equal with the guys who won the Cup and why is his name on certain prize items?

 

[bleedblue1223]

who tf is Jared Coreau and why his his name equal with the guys who won the Cup and why is his name on certain prize items?

Oh, wasn't he Binny's replacement for the minors.

 

[PocketNines]

Oh, wasn't he Binny's replacement for the minors.

apparently. which confirms it ridiculous

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

We REALLY need to find a 2c so we can get Buchy back on wing. From Athletic article today:

"Thomas, Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou looked electric together in that small sample (13-2 edge in five-on-five scoring chances), which shows what they’re missing out on by not deploying him there full-time... The Blues have been out-chanced by a 45-23 differential at five-on-five when Buchnevich is away from Thomas, which are the minutes where he plays center."

 

[BleedBlue14]

We REALLY need to find a 2c so we can get Buchy back on wing. From Athletic article today:

"Thomas, Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou looked electric together in that small sample (13-2 edge in five-on-five scoring chances), which shows what they’re missing out on by not deploying him there full-time... The Blues have been out-chanced by a 45-23 differential at five-on-five when Buchnevich is away from Thomas, which are the minutes where he plays center."

I think Buch and Thomas really feed off each other well. I wish they could put them together, but I understand why they haven't/can't at the moment. I'd agree as well, I'm sort of on board of trying Holloway out there, but the issue with stacking that line is then we don't have a competent 2nd line.

Maybe you try Holloway/Schenn and Neighbors as a 2nd line, or Holloway, Neighbors, Bolduc. It's not the best position to be in but it's not the worst given where we are.

 

[Reality Czech]

We REALLY need to find a 2c so we can get Buchy back on wing. From Athletic article today:

"Thomas, Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou looked electric together in that small sample (13-2 edge in five-on-five scoring chances), which shows what they’re missing out on by not deploying him there full-time... The Blues have been out-chanced by a 45-23 differential at five-on-five when Buchnevich is away from Thomas, which are the minutes where he plays center."

I don't think anyone would question those three are great together. The question is which is better for the team, to have a stacked 1st line but weakened middle 6 or a somewhat weaker top line but more balanced scoring throughout. If you put those three together then you're pretty much forced to run Schenn at 2c and then who exactly at 3c? Holloway? Texier if he can even play center effectively? Faksa has been solid but I don't think he's offensive enough to be 3c, and our 4th line has been a strength so far this year.

Honestly, I don't see the problem with re-uniting the big 3 periodically but not putting them together all game. If you want to add a middle six center, then it gets tough. A solid 2c would be great, but who's available that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg? We could aim lower and get more of a 3c guy, which could create a 2a/2b situation with Schenn as the other center.

The way I see it, we're 4-2 doing what we've done so far so I don't see a huge rush to change it. Yes, they weren't all pretty wins but the team has looked fairly good overall and balanced scoring is more important to me than relying on that one line to score most of the goals.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

We REALLY need to find a 2c so we can get Buchy back on wing. From Athletic article today:

"Thomas, Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou looked electric together in that small sample (13-2 edge in five-on-five scoring chances), which shows what they’re missing out on by not deploying him there full-time... The Blues have been out-chanced by a 45-23 differential at five-on-five when Buchnevich is away from Thomas, which are the minutes where he plays center."

We need a 2C or another top 6 caliber winger to put with Thomas or Buch. As it stands right now we have to Put Kyrou with either Thomas or Buch and leaves the other one with 3rd liners, kids, or players who are lower end 2nd liners. They just currently don't have the offensive support from the middle 6.