2024-2025 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread.
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The difference is that they are trying to get Bolduc to a certain level and playing a specific way, while guy like Sunny is who he is (declining player trying to hang on). It’s about making sure we don’t become Sabres or Sens, and holding the kids to high standards is part of that.
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TheOrganist
Don't Call Him Alex
- Feb 21, 2006
- 4,740
- 2,561
That’s fair. I believe in Monty’s X’s and O’s smarts that he’s seeing something on tape that is hindering him from trusting Bolduc and giving him better usage. Like I said, I’m hopeful as I like Monty and I still like Bolduc’s potential.
How does stapling him to the declining player trying to move on, then benching him out of a 3-game point streak, then sitting him for half a game when he did nothing wrong, followed by more scratches get him to that level? Then randomly throw him onto a line that is struggling as a last ditch effort to save it where he'll take the blame if it doesn't produce.
What did he do to deserve to get benched? Scrathced? What is the standard? Shouldn't you hold everyone to the same standard? Does singling out the kid to hold to a higher standard than everyone else develop him?
- Jul 4, 2014
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Monty has enough goodwill at this juncture here to have earned the benefit of the doubt, though it is frustrating for fans. I suspect that there are a lot of little details (plays he made but shouldn't/plays he should have made but didn't) that has him out of the lineup to work on those things in practice before applying them again in a game setting. I think back to Hitch's mantra of "stopping on pucks" and being on the "right side of pucks" and I think it is probably just some of the details of playing good, smart hockey as opposed to effort or results. The kids has a good motor and goes to the net, and I'm sure he'll have it figured out by season's end.
shpongle falls
Ass Möde
FINALLY they’re going to put Bolduc on a line with Thomas, hopefully Bolduc’s youthful enthusiasm will get Thomas and Buch out of their slump and spark some offense.
I think I'm about at the point where I'm no longer opposed to losing games.
We're 5 points back of CGY who has 3 games in hand on us, and we're 8 points back from COL. Those are your two current wild card teams we're trying to catch right now. But I doubt we catch either unless we can string together more than 2 wins in a row (which we still haven't done this season). We do play COL 4 more times this season, so there's that, but I don't see us doing any better than splitting those points with them.
On the flip side, we're only 4 points away from picking 5th overall. Right behind us is PHI, UTA, NYI, PIT, SEA, and ANA in descending order (ANA currently picking 5th).
Us and PHI have almost identical records, and I think it's a 50/50 chance right now that they pass us by the end of the season.
Both UTA and NYI are 1 point back with 2 games in hand, so I wouldn't be surprised to see both of them pass us. We play UTA 3 more times and we all know how we play against them, so we'll almost certainly lose at least 2 of those games. NYI has been hot lately, so I could definitely see them passing us sooner rather than later.
PIT is 2 points back and we have a game in hand on them. They've been pretty bad this season so I doubt they catch us, but we also still have to play them twice this season so there's potential there.
Then there's SEA who is 3 points back, but we play them 2 more times.
Lastly, ANA is 4 points back with a game in hand, we play them 2 more times as well.
I'd say that currently we could pick anywhere from 5th overall to maybe 13th? 14th? With 8th-12th being the most likely at this point. But there's a real chance we could sneak into that 5th-7th area.
We're 5 points back of CGY who has 3 games in hand on us, and we're 8 points back from COL. Those are your two current wild card teams we're trying to catch right now. But I doubt we catch either unless we can string together more than 2 wins in a row (which we still haven't done this season). We do play COL 4 more times this season, so there's that, but I don't see us doing any better than splitting those points with them.
On the flip side, we're only 4 points away from picking 5th overall. Right behind us is PHI, UTA, NYI, PIT, SEA, and ANA in descending order (ANA currently picking 5th).
Us and PHI have almost identical records, and I think it's a 50/50 chance right now that they pass us by the end of the season.
Both UTA and NYI are 1 point back with 2 games in hand, so I wouldn't be surprised to see both of them pass us. We play UTA 3 more times and we all know how we play against them, so we'll almost certainly lose at least 2 of those games. NYI has been hot lately, so I could definitely see them passing us sooner rather than later.
PIT is 2 points back and we have a game in hand on them. They've been pretty bad this season so I doubt they catch us, but we also still have to play them twice this season so there's potential there.
Then there's SEA who is 3 points back, but we play them 2 more times.
Lastly, ANA is 4 points back with a game in hand, we play them 2 more times as well.
I'd say that currently we could pick anywhere from 5th overall to maybe 13th? 14th? With 8th-12th being the most likely at this point. But there's a real chance we could sneak into that 5th-7th area.
Agree that 8-12 is most likely. I would love if we were picking 5-7 though and had a chance to grab a future top 6 forward or top 4 Dman. I am a Blues fan thru and thru, and hate seeing them lose. It just seems that is where they are headed this season unfortunately.
- Feb 12, 2008
- 20,232
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PocketNines
Cutter's Way
They left themselves no runway and they aren't good enough to execute. They gave themselves a chance with the two wins against Calgary but Blues shat the bed, failed, and now they're done.
Calgary is a +8 and the Blues are even. There's only 30+ games to play. They are not catching Calgary, it's over.
For reference they have spent the last 37 games and also the last 24 games remaining even. Suddenly over their final 32 games they're going to be +8, while Calgary stays even? LOL, nope.
It is sell time and see the prospects time after the 4 Nations Break
Calgary is a +8 and the Blues are even. There's only 30+ games to play. They are not catching Calgary, it's over.
For reference they have spent the last 37 games and also the last 24 games remaining even. Suddenly over their final 32 games they're going to be +8, while Calgary stays even? LOL, nope.
It is sell time and see the prospects time after the 4 Nations Break
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Agree. Even if Calgary plays at a .500 clip the rest of the season (currently at .585), they will end with 90 points and the Blues would have to play at a .620 clip just to tie them. I don't think either of those scenarios are a given. Also, VAN and UTAH are still right there, so it would take 3 teams all playing at .500 or less for the Blues to sneak in. Personally, I think it will take 95-97 points to claim the WC2 spot. It's a pipe dream at this point IMHO. It sucks, as they did put themselves in a great position after defeating Calgary twice but have gone 1-3 since that point.
kimzey59
Registered User
- Aug 16, 2003
- 6,329
- 2,843
1- You don't have to pick in the top 5 to find a top 6 forward or top 4 D man. Every single draft has guys picked outside of the top 5 who reach that level of impact.
2- I get that drafting higher is better.
But it's annoying to see people acting like there's some massive difference between picking 5-7 and 8-12. The talent gap in any given draft just isn't that big. That just isn't how the Draft functions. You typically have to be talking increments of 10-15 spots before any real talent gap becomes evident.
3- Talking specifically about this years Draft:
The current tiers appear to be Top 3(Schaeffer, Hagens, Misa); 4-14(more on this in a second), and another gap around pick 17/18(Lakovich, Bear, Spence and Carbonneau are probably the final players in this group).
Currently in the 5-7 spots are Frondell, McQueen and Desnoyers.
In the 9-12 spots: O'Brien, Smith, Hensler, Mrtka.
Is there a gap? Possibly. The first group seems to be "safer" prospects, but I'm not sure if the impact will really be all that different.
Is the gap the difference between "top 6 forward/top 4 D man" or "NOT a top 6 forward/top 4 D man"? Absolutely not. You're still getting a very high quality prospect with that second group. I could pretty easily see O'Brien outproduce any of those "5-7 group" forwards. The runway might be longer for them to reach their potential(more risk factor), but the impact potential is absolutely there(upside).
Even in the group below that one(Ryabkin, Martin, Aitcheson, Fiddler, Cootes), there's upside for top 6/top 4 potential(just a LOT of risk factor involved with that group).
BadgersandBlues
Registered User
- Jun 6, 2011
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I get what you're saying, but if I could have had Buium or Dickinson at 11 or 12 instead of Jiricek at 16, I'd have been all over it. That seems like a huge jump in quality in four picks. Then again, the last two year's drafts have been pretty loaded overall imo.
I don't think the Blues had Buium ranked higher than Jiricek. I thought he was better prospect, you thought he was better, most every public list had Buium higher, but based on what we saw on the video and the other D they added in the draft, I am fairly confident that the Blues would have taken Jiricek at 12.
