Around the NHL 2023-2024

[Frenzy31]

What did you expect. He is 35 so it isn't too much of a shock his offense has gone down. The Wings have solid depth at forward so he isn't getting the chances he was used to getting. Not sure that means he is cooked or done, but that they have depth and so he isn't a top 6 for them any more. (Granted he is a -12).

 

[BlueDream]

He has more points than any wing on our team besides Kyrou and Buch. He would be 5th on our team in points. He us 1 point less than Schenn and 1 more than Hayes with 4 less games played. He's has showed extreme loyalty to the team and is a good influence on younger players.

I'd rather have had him than Vrana and they make about the same amount aav. He probably would have taken less to sign here had we gone 2 years like Detroit did. Plus he had great chemistry with ROR. Maybe both he and ROR would have been better last year if he was here. I think despite being "cooked" it was still a mistake to let him go.

Exactly this. The Blues had a good thing going with two of their most important players, including their captain, and just decided to nuke that.

A lot of posters on here were saying that ROR was cooked last season, and he’s showing he’s clearly not. A lot of posters on here are wrong about a lot of things. But now we’re supposed to take it as gospel because some Detroit fans are saying Perron is cooked? Lol.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Last year's team + David Perron wasn't a recipe for playoffs. Neither Perron nor O'Reilly would make sense for this team in 2024 and beyond which is the reason why I believe the pitchfork-wielding, torch-bearing crowd was overreacting. I saw/heard it more outside of this board FWIW.

DP57's stat line doesn't mean much to me because he's surrounded by a better supporting cast. There's a reason why teams weren't knocking down ROR's door this offseason. Neither player would've likely done much to improve our current situation and may even have been prohibitive to improving this team. Perron on a one-year deal prior to last season? Sure, made sense and that's what he was offered.

@Majorityof1, you brought up Vrana. Vrana has been a huge disappointment but I wonder if you polled the boards in the offseason if posters would rather have 34-year old Perron going into the 2023-24 season or Vrana who was 27 and showed flashes at the end of the prior season?

 

[Majorityof1]

Last year's team + David Perron wasn't a recipe for playoffs. Neither Perron nor O'Reilly would make sense for this team in 2024 and beyond which is the reason why I believe the pitchfork-wielding, torch-bearing crowd was overreacting. I saw/heard it more outside of this board FWIW.

DP57's stat line doesn't mean much to me because he's surrounded by a better supporting cast. There's a reason why teams weren't knocking down ROR's door this offseason. Neither player would've likely done much to improve our current situation and may even have been prohibitive to improving this team. Perron on a one-year deal prior to last season? Sure, made sense and that's what he was offered.

@Majorityof1, you brought up Vrana. Vrana has been a huge disappointment but I wonder if you polled the boards in the offseason if posters would rather have 34-year old Perron going into the 2023-24 season or Vrana who was 27 and showed flashes at the end of the prior season?

Nobody is pitchfork wielding. That's a straw man.

If Perron has better linemates on Detroit's 3rd line than Schenn is on our 2nd line, that's a whole different problem. Maybe we should have signed better forwards, like, I don't know....Perron.

I don't know or care about a poll. I wanted to sign Perron and not trade for Vrana. I was right. Being right matters more than being with the ignorant popular opinion.

 

[Reality Czech]

The amount of hate DA got by not re-signing Perron last season was crazy to me.

I can certainly see why people were upset to see a fan favorite like Perron go. Heck, I was pretty bummed myself. But if you took the emotion out of it, then it made a lot more sense considering his age and the fact that we had 9 20 goal scorers the previous season. Based on his last two years with the Blues, he was absolutely worth $4.5 million per year but it was a toss up whether he would be worth that going forward.

Regardless of how much his game has slipped, I wouldn't mind bringing him back as cheap depth next year if he doesn't have any hard feelings for being pushed out of town 2 years ago. Pretty sure I heard it mentioned by Strickland recently that he still has his home here.

 

[Reality Czech]

Last year's team + David Perron wasn't a recipe for playoffs. Neither Perron nor O'Reilly would make sense for this team in 2024 and beyond which is the reason why I believe the pitchfork-wielding, torch-bearing crowd was overreacting. I saw/heard it more outside of this board FWIW.

DP57's stat line doesn't mean much to me because he's surrounded by a better supporting cast. There's a reason why teams weren't knocking down ROR's door this offseason. Neither player would've likely done much to improve our current situation and may even have been prohibitive to improving this team. Perron on a one-year deal prior to last season? Sure, made sense and that's what he was offered.

@Majorityof1, you brought up Vrana. Vrana has been a huge disappointment but I wonder if you polled the boards in the offseason if posters would rather have 34-year old Perron going into the 2023-24 season or Vrana who was 27 and showed flashes at the end of the prior season?

I also wonder if one reason Army didn't push more to keep those guys is because he wanted to turn the team over to Thomas and Kyrou, which would be more complicated with the old guard still here. I've said it before, but I doubt ROR would have stayed here as a 2C veteran role player if another team was willing to give him the 1C spot like Nashville did. We know what a proud competitor he is, and I doubt there are any hard feelings between him and the Blues front office. It makes me kinda sad ROR isn't still here, but objectively he seems like a perfect fit for Nashville right now. Plus, I'm not sure how many other teams would have matched or topped the 4 x $4.5 million Nashville offered to persuade him to go there.

People can complain about NTCs and extra years (rightly so in many cases), but often that's what it takes to get a deal done.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Nobody is pitchfork wielding. That's a straw man.

If Perron has better linemates on Detroit's 3rd line than Schenn is on our 2nd line, that's a whole different problem. Maybe we should have signed better forwards, like, I don't know....Perron.

I don't know or care about a poll. I wanted to sign Perron and not trade for Vrana. I was right. Being right matters more than being with the ignorant popular opinion.

If you didn't see the hissy fits being thrown by Blues fans over letting Perron go, you weren't paying attention. It was a ridiculous overreaction by a significant portion of the fan base. Perron being on the Blues the last two seasons changes little to nothing about our trajectory.

If you want to pat yourself on the back for being right about one side of a hypothetical when we don't get to see the result of the alternate option, I'm happy for you. Gold star. Perron signs, we're still where we sit today.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

I also wonder if one reason Army didn't push more to keep those guys is because he wanted to turn the team over to Thomas and Kyrou, which would be more complicated with the old guard still here. I've said it before, but I doubt ROR would have stayed here as a 2C veteran role player if another team was willing to give him the 1C spot like Nashville did. We know what a proud competitor he is, and I doubt there are any hard feelings between him and the Blues front office. It makes me kinda sad ROR isn't still here, but objectively he seems like a perfect fit for Nashville right now. Plus, I'm not sure how many other teams would have matched or topped the 4 x $4.5 million Nashville offered to persuade him to go there.

People can complain about NTCs and extra years (rightly so in many cases), but often that's what it takes to get a deal done.

Exactly. I don't think there's an argument to be made that that wasn't the reasoning behind the moves. The writing was on the wall that we had one more playoff run out of this core. If Perron wants to sign on on a one-year deal to be a part of that, great. Beyond that, almost everyone could see that we were entering a point of transition and it was time to hand the keys to the kids.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

If you didn't see the hissy fits being thrown by Blues fans over letting Perron go, you weren't paying attention. It was a ridiculous overreaction by a significant portion of the fan base. Perron being on the Blues the last two seasons changes little to nothing about our trajectory.

If you want to pat yourself on the back for being right about one side of a hypothetical when we don't get to see the result of the alternate option, I'm happy for you. Gold star. Perron signs, we're still where we sit today.

further to this point, the choice was perron or leddy. we picked leddy because that was bigger need, he was younger, etc.. that worked out in a vacuum, as leddy has been good. he gets insane usage with parayko that nobody else can handle. if we had signed perron we couldn't have afforded him.

we didn't pick up the random garbage to fill in up front (vrana, kap, etc.. ) until after we dealt our pending UFAs. so yes, perron is much better than those random guys we got at end of last year, but that doesn't change the calculus we we were facing when we had to decide whether to retain perron. given how tight we were to flat cap, we could only afford perron if we let leddy walk. we chose to keep leddy. i love perron but i would do that again every time.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

further to this point, the choice was perron or leddy. we picked leddy because that was bigger need, he was younger, etc.. that worked out in a vacuum, as leddy has been good. he gets insane usage with parayko that nobody else can handle. if we had signed perron we couldn't have afforded him.

we didn't pick up the random garbage to fill in up front (vrana, kap, etc.. ) until after we dealt our pending UFAs. so yes, perron is much better than those random guys we got at end of last year, but that doesn't change the calculus we we were facing when we had to decide whether to retain perron. given how tight we were to flat cap, we could only afford perron if we let leddy walk. we chose to keep leddy. i love perron but i would do that again every time.

Leddy was absolutely a bigger need at the time. It's easier to try and frame the accuracy of one's feelings about the Perron decision by comparing him to Vrana than the actual choice that was made at the time.

 

[Reality Czech]

further to this point, the choice was perron or leddy. we picked leddy because that was bigger need, he was younger, etc.. that worked out in a vacuum, as leddy has been good. he gets insane usage with parayko that nobody else can handle. if we had signed perron we couldn't have afforded him.

we didn't pick up the random garbage to fill in up front (vrana, kap, etc.. ) until after we dealt our pending UFAs. so yes, perron is much better than those random guys we got at end of last year, but that doesn't change the calculus we we were facing when we had to decide whether to retain perron. given how tight we were to flat cap, we could only afford perron if we let leddy walk. we chose to keep leddy. i love perron but i would do that again every time.

Leddy may not be the d-man we wanted, but he's been pretty reliable all things considered. I doubt you will find much better value for a veteran d-man at that price. And while Vrana hasn't worked out at all, I still think it was a gamble worth taking for a team in our position. Honestly, who knows how things would have turned out if not for the covid cap but it's safe to say most GMs would have done things differently. It easily could have been the difference between keeping Perron or losing him.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Vrana is the biggest disappointment for me on the season. I was 100% huffing the copium that he could look every bit the dangerous 30-35g winger we saw at the end of last season - and we could turn him into a major asset at the TDL this year.

Such a bummer he's basically worthless now.

 

[Frenzy31]

Vrana is the biggest disappointment for me on the season. I was 100% huffing the copium that he could look every bit the dangerous 30-35g winger we saw at the end of last season - and we could turn him into a major asset at the TDL this year.

Such a bummer he's basically worthless now.

I am so completely with you on this. He cost us 3-5 draft slots last year. The least he could do was show up and show out. He will not be in the NHL next year.

He had 3 points in the first 5 games.....

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Curious timing after Dillon Dube was just granted a leave of absence as well.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Curious timing after Dillon Dube was just granted a leave of absence as well.

It makes you wonder.. I don't want to speculate, but it's hard not to maybe connect those dots.

 

[BlueDream]

In other news, the Jets went 34 straight games allowing 3 or less goals before the streak ended. I think they were only a couple games away from breaking the all-time record.

They sit as a top 3 team in the league.

Whole lot of posters on here were saying how they would be stuck in mediocrity after the Scheifele and Hellebuyck extensions. No surprise they are wrong, as they often are.

 

[Brian39]

In other news, the Jets went 34 straight games allowing 3 or less goals before the streak ended. I think they were only a couple games away from breaking the all-time record.

They sit as a top 3 team in the league.

Whole lot of posters on here were saying how they would be stuck in mediocrity after the Scheifele and Hellebuyck extensions. No surprise they are wrong, as they often are.

Helly is having his best start to a season since...this time last year. As usual, he has been unbelievable this season. It seems like the Jets have learned something about managing his workload too. He's played 34 of their 48 games this year compared to 36 of their 45 games on this date last season.

I still want to see the Jets put together a full season and playoff run before I declare them out of the mushy middle. They had 59 points after 45 games last year and then imploded down the stretch. I think this year's team is playing a more complete game and relying less on Helly, but they are still him being 'simply good' away from trouble.

Barring the Blues sneaking into the playoffs, I'm rooting for them out of the Central.

 

[ezcreepin]

I'm not so sure Petro isn't slowing down but time will tell. Agree with the rest of your post though. Dunn didn't show anything that would make me think he had 70 point top pair potential. I also think Larsson helps mask a lot of his defensive deficiencies.

On an unrelated note, I'm reading a lot of comments from Detroit fans saying Perron seems cooked. Maybe not re-signing him wasn't such a bad move? At least not at the number he wanted.

I can't speak to Petro's defense, though I've heard it's still very good, but his point production has fallen just a tad. His shooting % is at 2 though, so with a few more goals, he'd be on pace for over 40 points, which has been in line with his time in Vegas.

Perron may be cooked from his 60 point potential, but I can't see how his overall play has stopped. It's not like he was ever the fastest player, but if he's lost his board play then I could see him slowly losing ice time since that's where a lot of his good chances originate.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Carter Hart Leave of Absence. Wonder How Kevin Hayes Caused this one?

 

[Mike Liut]

I was 100% against giving Perron, Tarasenko, ROR and even Backes (years ago) long term extensions. Short term, sure. 2 year deals was my max.

 

[mk80]

It makes you wonder.. I don't want to speculate, but it's hard not to maybe connect those dots.

Compared to what I've seen flying around social media already with people speculating, the horse has left the barn on that line of thinking.

At the very least it's fair to say the timing is certainly very coincidental.

 

[mk80]

Sorry for the back to back post, but just to provide some separation from the Hart topic.....

We have to put the Penguins own goal up for discussion here though

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

The Coyotes are the first team to ever score a PPG in a game where they didn't register a PP shot.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

I feel like there's some revisionist history going on here with Dunn. At the time, he was nowhere near ready to take over a top 4 spot, and when given the chance to play in that role, he struggled a lot. When Petro left/not signed, we lost our best pp quarterback (Petro was more than that) and had to replace that production somewhere. Amrstrong made a heavy handed move by locking up a guy who consistently hit 20 pp points which forced Petro to leave. Whether or not Krug would replace Petro was not the question at the time because we knew he couldn't fill those shoes, but he was definitely more qualified to lead the left side than Dunn ever showed.

At this point now, Petro has shown he's not really slowing down and Dunn has emerged as a top pairing offensive defenseman while Krug has had to meander his way between borderline useful top 4 d-man. Knowing what we know now with the team crumbling after just a few short years, obviously we would've rather signed Petro or just ran with Dunn, but Armstrong's thinking at that time had some merit. He just never replaced the defensive production.

The thing with Dunn is that everyone knew he had the potential to be a lot better. There was a very real question though on whether he'd get there, given his play his last 2 seasons here. Yeah, he might progress to be a top-2 guy ... and, he might also be a weak 4 whose offense increases but his defense remains equally shitty, so are we gaining anything net? The only "plus" there is that it would have been at a cheaper price tag than Krug, but there was no way Krug was getting exposed 1 year into a 7-year contract.

Protecting Dunn instead of Krug? Seattle picked on the cheap; they're not taking Dunn, Barbashev likely gets picked instead. Now we've got Faulk, Parayko, Krug, Dunn, Bortuzzo, Mikkola and Scandella on defense - better, we're hoping Dunn gets his shit together, Walman is expendable and never sees the NHL at all in '21-22, Perunovich is probably expendable as well, we probably aren't trading for Leddy at all - but Barbashev doesn't put up 26-34-60 here and who knows how that trickles down the forward corps [it's probably a revolving cast of Nathan Walker, Logan Brown, Klim Koston, Dakota Joshua and James Neal getting more playing time and accumulating another 4-5-9 in the process in total]. And then it's open speculation on how last year goes and how moves get made as a result and where that puts us now.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Delete. Wrong thread.