Blues Discussion Thread 2018-2019

[Bye Bye Blueston]

How are we missing 3 top 6 guys?

Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
Steen Bozak Perron
Steen Berglund Sobokta


No one scared of that but production wise it slots ok

I think Steen will be rather tired with those lines. I would also expect to see Fabbri and Thomas in top 9.

 

[mk80]

All things considered we have the upgrades we were looking for, would it have been nice to get Taveres hell yeah! But reality is DA (and I tend to hate him) has filled our holes while hanging onto our top prospects for the future.

Bozak and Perron can both provide at least 40 points, Bozak is a nice 2C, and Perron is a great character guy who loves playing here and has for the most part corrected his flaws from his rookie days. If it wasn't for Vegas selecting him people forget he would have been here last year anyway.

Chad Johnson for me is a bit more underwhelming than Hutton or Elliot, and I would have preferred another option, but I'm sure he'll play good enough. My hope is we'll rarely need him because that means Allen will be playing stellar all year long.

And honestly it's Day 1 of Free Agency, there's plenty of time between now and the season for a trade to come up that could work for us. But overall we have filled our holes and we have our young guns looking to crack the roster. Also if Fabbri is able to come back strong then that is another huge addition to our top forwards we've been missing for 2 seasons.

 

[kimzey59]

How are we missing 3 top 6 guys?

Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
Steen Bozak Perron
Steen Berglund Sobokta


No one scared of that but production wise it slots ok

1- Double shifting Steen is definitely not an option. He belongs on the 3rd line.
Lines 2 and 3 should look more like this:
Sobotka-Bozak-Perron
Steen-Thomas-Berglund

2- Those lines do slot well enough; with the exception of Sobotka. Definitely need somebody that can score more goals in that spot. Bozak and Perron are solid enough in a "setup" role, but they need somebody to set up.
Ideally, that is where you want Fabbri as his playing style does fit pretty well for that line, but you definitely need a safety net for Fabb's.

 

[justmuckit]

It seems like there were people saying the same thing about Schenn last year.

Opportunity and usage are important considerations. Either way, neither are being paid like 60+ point players, so what’s the point of complaining like they are?

The cap went up. McDavid and Draisaitl are getting paid $10mil a year, Tavares will be getting paid $11. These contracts are good value and good term, and don’t have trade protection. They address gaps in our roster (two right shot top-6 dmen) and allow us to be patient with prospects in the meantime. Gone are the days when $3mil AAV was a decent contract. Adjust your expectations accordingly

My expectations were set by the GM, who went out of his way for two months to tell any media member that would listen that this was "the most important offseason in my 9 years here".

So yeah, I was expecting a pip more than two third liners being bumped up a line out of necessity.

And comparing a 25? year old Schenn who hadn't hit his prime to Perron and Bozak...

 

[Alklha]

Bozak and Perron don't produce like top-6 players?

PPG production ranking of forwards in each of the last 5 seasons (min. 15 games & most recent season first)...

Tarasenko: 55th, 14th, 14th, 12th & 85th
Schwartz: 32nd, 69th, 79th, 26th & 73rd
Schenn: 50th, 73rd, 55th, 123rd & 159th
Steen: 121st, 86th, 41st, 22nd & 22nd
Bozak: 157th, 69th, 104th, 100th & 32nd
Perron: 35th, 131st, 154th, 159th & 64th
Fabbri: N/A, 127th & 148th

Up until this season Bozak's point production has been that of a high end second liner, or better. Perron is more hit and miss, but he has consistently produced like a top-6 player compared to the League.

There is more to it than point production, but Armstrong is very clearly positioning the roster to give the prospects a bigger role when they are ready. Shorter term contracts and reasonable cap hits, they are stop-gaps without having to give up the prospects. Stop-gaps that absolutely address issues that we had last season.

Should we be concerned about Perron disappearing in the playoffs? Of course. But, if our prospects are as good as we hope they are then hopefully it won't be such an issue.

 

[Novacain]

Good enough to compete, but not compete for a Cup in the next 2 years. In two years, who knows what our core looks like...

Uh, if Thomas and Kyrou develop into quality top 6 players by then, I would argue that is a team that certainly compete for a cup in 2019-2020.

 

[EastonBlues22]

Blues currently sit at 23 veterans signed for next season.

F: Tarasenko, Schwartz, Schenn, Steen, Fabbri, Bozak, Perron, Berglund, Sobotka, Barbashev, Jaskin, Soshnikov, Sundqvist, and Thorburn.

D: Pietrangelo, Parayko, Edmundson, Bouwmeester, Gunnarsson, Bortuzzo, and Schmaltz

G: Allen and Johnson

Thompson and Dunn are still waiver eligible.

Clearly there's still some player movement that's going to happen before the start of the season. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Thorburn was waived, and perhaps Sundqvist as well, if one or two of the rookies push them off the roster. Might even deal another depth forward on top of that if a young guy makes a strong case. There would be plenty of time after the season starts to get that done if needed.

I think Gunnarsson or Schmaltz is likely out the door to make room for Dunn. Hopefully the former, since he would probably have a bit more value and he's almost certainly not being retained by the Blues after this year anyway. Schmaltz could still have a future here, so I'd like to see him get a chance to make his case for staying instead of Bortuzzo once that decision comes due.

That's pretty much what we have to keep an eye on at this point, I think. Which zero to three young forwards can push vets off the roster, and which one of Gunnarsson/Schmaltz goes to make way for Dunn.

 

[Ranksu]

According to the NHL channel the Blues roll with:


Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
Perron Bozak Steen
Berglund Thomas Fabbri
Soshnikov Barbashev Thompson

I guess Sobotka is washing dishes along with Kyrou


That's a **** roster. If we are going to have a **** roster play the kids more than this. Thompson needs another year in the minors. Fabbri isn't a RW. Steen definitely sucks at RW. Berglund should play 4th line.

Schwartz Schenn Kyrou
Perron Thomas Tarasenko
Fabbri Bozak who knows


**** it.. it's not worth trying to puzzle piece the roster full of Berglund, Steen, Sobotka, Bozak, Perron... Army totally ****ed this off season up... We can't trade Kyrou because because because he's the next superstar but we sure as **** can't play him in the NHL because well **** just because I guess...

 

[Dbrownss]

Good enough to compete, but not compete for a Cup in the next 2 years. In two years, who knows what our core looks like...

Were not a cup contender. Those moves were not available

I think Steen will be rather tired with those lines. I would also expect to see Fabbri and Thomas in top 9.

1- Double shifting Steen is definitely not an option. He belongs on the 3rd line.
Lines 2 and 3 should look more like this:
Sobotka-Bozak-Perron
Steen-Thomas-Berglund

2- Those lines do slot well enough; with the exception of Sobotka. Definitely need somebody that can score more goals in that spot. Bozak and Perron are solid enough in a "setup" role, but they need somebody to set up.
Ideally, that is where you want Fabbri as his playing style does fit pretty well for that line, but you definitely need a safety net for Fabb's.

Yea Idk why I put Steen twice lol. Insert Fabbri

 

[Spektre]

Im getting old, can your nuub eyes read those join dates for me?

View attachment 127825View attachment 127827






Is there hardly any argument, or do they have a choice to **** or get off of the pot? Hoarde what prospects? Thomas, Kostin and Kyrou all have 3 years left on their ELC. They are all 19 or 20. I think you have it backwards, this is precisely the time you spend on veterans, when you have some talented youngsters who can supplement them.

But seriously, when people say you need to **** or get off of the pot, they are usually wrong.



Unless they are traded, gone in the expansion draft, bought out, injured, or just put on the 4th line. Even if Kyrou doesnt start the season on the Blues, Sobotka might start on the 4th line. Just because we have them under contract doesnt mean that it is set in stone for the next 3 years. Things change. I dont get the Berglund hate either, he started slow after coming back from injury but still finished on pace for 20 goals. Sobotka is 20/20 hindsight, everyone was happy to have him back two years ago. And his contract is small enough to move without much trouble, and I think he will look better next season where he is going to be expected to shoulder as much offensive responsibility. If Thomas is as good as advertised, he wont be on the 4th line for long.

Bad asset management? Maybe, but every team has a couple of bad contracts, at least our's are playing a 2.5 m player 2.6 or a 4m player 5. Much, much worse contracts have been moved in this league, and a lot of them.




Convince me Petrangelo, Schenn, and Schwartz would stick around after 3 years of sucking. Convince me a bunch of top 10 picks move the needle. Even if we played every youngster we have, the rest of our roster is good enough that we would be picking in the back half of the lottery.

Vegas went to the cup a bunch of over the hill players and third liners. The Caps won the Cup despite everyone saying that they were treading water the last few years. No roster in this league is perfect, and the ones that are closest are going to be in cap hell in the coming year or two (NAS, WIN, TB).

If you started watching the Blues when you joined this forum I would consider you a newer Blues fan. Perhaps that’s not the case but then why would you use our join dates as some form of credibility.

I’ve been a Blues fan since the early 80’s when the games were very rarely televised. Maybe the organization counts on fans to be patient no matter what status the organization is in.

You want me to convince you that Pietrangelo and Schenn would stick around as free agents after 2 years of losing or finishing out of the playoffs. Why would you expect them to resign if the Blues have 2 years like the one they just finished? There’s no reason to believe this roster does any better over the next 2 years.

Army called last year a “transition year”. What exactly did the organization transition to, another transition year? Perhaps two or three transition years.

Nobody knows what Buffalo asked for ROR. Nobody knows if Army targeted another center. You and I just disagree with what the organization should do. The Blues look like a roster of log jammed 3rd and 4th line players forced into 2nd line roles. Going into last year nobody could figure out where everyone was going to fit. It looks the same.

Army was asked by Strickland where he saw Bozak playing. Army gave a few answers with the usual “it’s up to Yeo”. He did say possibly Bozak plays with Kyrou. I want to see Kyrou and Thomas on the roster. They both deserve at minimum a stint and not playing with scrubs like Berglund.

You’re half glass full and I’ve already drank the bucket of beers of Blues disappointment and my patience is about up. If I have low expectations going into the season I at least want a high draft pick at the end of another frustrating season.

 

[Blanick]

All in all I feel like today was about as successful as it was going to be. Would I have liked more high profile players? Sure but lets check the list.

Tavares: Didn't take our meeting
Panarin: Likely wouldn't re-sign here.
Skinner: Cost was too high and questions on whether he would re-sign here.
O'Reilly: Cost was way too high
JVR: Term and money wouldn't have made sense with our prospects coming up.
Kovalchuk: Didn't want to sign here.

We went out and got two good but not great stop gap players on shorter term deals to allow our prospects a grace period to develop into NHL players. We now know what Army's vision is going forward is to try to do quick re-tool while staying competitive. I know patience is a hard thing for some fans to grasp but I think when you factor everything in Army did a solid job today.

 

[WeWentBlues]

James Neal still out there. Reunite him with Perron? I'd be interested at 3 years.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

My expectations were set by the GM, who went out of his way for two months to tell any media member that would listen that this was "the most important offseason in my 9 years here".

So yeah, I was expecting a pip more than two third liners being bumped up a line out of necessity.

And comparing a 25? year old Schenn who hadn't hit his prime to Perron and Bozak...

Your disappointment still hinges on viewing two 40-60 point forwards, who we got for free, as third liners. Which doesn’t hold up. It isn’t accurate. Bozak is an improvement over Stastny (and is cheaper), and Perron is an improvement over the 2RW carousel we had last year, and is a bargain given his production.

Is it what I wanted? No, but to say it’s a disappointment is crazy. We are clearly better today than we were yesterday. And we didn’t have to trade anybody to do it. If you’re upset we didn’t add a top flight game-changing forward, fine, but those aren’t available, especially not for free. You have to develop that talent yourself. Tavares didn’t even want to hear our sales pitch. O’Reilly would have taken us out of the draft until the third round next year, plus Thomas/Kyrou, plus something else, and that was the cost *before* we would have to have written him a $7.5mil check. And he isn’t that much better than Bozak to be worth paying the cost of the increment.

So we did well today, all considering!

 

[KilmKostin]

James Neal still out there. Reunite him with Perron? I'd be interested at 3 years.

Would love him, don't think we have much more wiggle room with the RFAs we have.

 

[mk80]

Would love him, don't think we have much more wiggle room with the RFAs we have.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Mike Liut]

Would love him, don't think we have much more wiggle room with the RFAs we have.

Unless Berglund, Sobotka and Gunnar are moved. Please yes

 

[TruBlu]

I think Steen's numbers will improve now that he will no longer have to cover for our absence at RW.

 

[pricer502]

Wow ROR to blues!!!

 

[ManyIdeas]

Ror per lebrun????

 

[Spektre]

That changes everything

 

[Spektre]

Army told me to hold his beer

 

[Edgar Carrow]

Ooooooh snap!

 

[BlueDream]

Remember last year when we traded Stastny and we had 4 top 6 forwards?

We are entering this season with anywhere from 7-9...

 

[Stealth JD]

We have 3 legitimate, dangerous scoring lines. A top-5 league-wide defensive unit. And over $8M available in cap space to fix the goaltending...

Honestly think we're right there with WPG & Nashville for favorites in the West.
Central just got crazy strong at the top.

 

[Xanadude]

We have 3 legitimate, dangerous scoring lines. A top-5 league-wide defensive unit. And over $8M available in cap space to fix the goaltending...

Honestly think we're right there with WPG & Nashville for favorites in the West.
Central just got crazy strong at the top.

That trade immediately catapulted us to to the top 5 in the west, IMO. Jets-Preds-Sharks-Knights-Us.