GDT: Blues vs. Blackhawks| Long Time No See| 7pm, BSMW|

[Ranksu]

I still think Krug is the odd duck.
He doesn’t add much of anything 5v5. His breakouts are meh. His offensive production there is meh. His defense is poor. He is a PP player. He should be on our third pairing.

The problem moving forward is Perunovich is a similar player, albeit more dynamic 5v5. We still don’t know what he can do against bigger and faster competition, but I would wager that he can be a Dunn level player or better offensively.

We still clearly need a LHD upgrade.

Last night was a case in point. Our D was making terrible mistakes in the D zone, similar to the rest of our games this season.

For this season I would prefer to add someone to Parayko’s pairing. Ideally someone who can play D and move the puck.

Scandella can slot down to play with Faulk, so Faulk doesn’t have to cover for his partner so much.

Krug moves down to play with Bortz or whatever the rotating cast for RHD 3P end up being.

We can't afford to play 6.5mill.$ AAV dmen at 3rd d-pair.

Well we can, but that is such a money waste.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

LMAO weak

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Faulk and the 4th line have been the only bright spots.

Faulk is consistently our best D man.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Mikkola and Walman look absolutely lost. I'm honestly wishing they'd bring up Perunovich for the bottom pairing with Bortuzzo just to see if there is anything there yet.

Mikkola is not an nhl player. He had one shift in first where he made 3 terrible passes in a row.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Mikkola is not an nhl player. He had one shift in first where he made 3 terrible passes in a row.

I'm sadly starting to agree. I'd rather have Santini up.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Mikkola is not an nhl player. He had one shift in first where he made 3 terrible passes in a row.

If by passes you mean he slammed the puck off the boards while saying a prayer that it hit a friendly player's stick, I agree with you.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

If by passes you mean he slammed the puck off the boards while saying a prayer that it hit a friendly player's stick, I agree with you.

He wasn’t under pressure, but missed his guy by big margin each time.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Faulk is consistently our best D man.

He made several great plays last night. I counted at least five great plays by Faulk, mostly of the stick-wielding variety.

I've also enjoyed watching Klim Kostin. He's surprising the hell out of me. While he's been "just good", imo, his performance has exceeded my expectations. He made a great play to get back and break up a play. Good stick work.
I'd like to see Kostin on the 4th line for a while and see how he handles it. I understand that he was there last night cuz ROR and the trickle down effect of that.

Glad Neighbours sat. He needs a break. He's kinda slow. I don't like his skating style and hope he can improve that, but he certainly knows where to be. The hockey IQ is definitely strong with this one, but his wheels need work. I'm indifferent toward keeping Jake on the roster or sending him back to juniors. I think there are valid attractions for either direction.

But last night? Faulk was our best player by far.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Binny bailing out Walman….man has to be better in his own end..

That is who Walman is.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

walman has been really bad the past 2 years

FIFY

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I'm also to the point where I don't think Walman will ever be a NHL Defenseman. BUT I do think he can make it as a winger. He has the speed and offensive skills.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

I'm sadly starting to agree. I'd rather have Santini up.

Ditto. Almost the same words I wanted to use. Thanks. Mikkola looked so promising out of the draft, but couldn't amp up his great skating ability with a powerful stride. Apparently, he has not worked on his core/leg strength and his his decision-making is strange at times.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

I'm also to the point where I don't think Walman will ever be a NHL Defenseman. BUT I do think he can make it as a winger. He has the speed and offensive skills.

I don’t see any offensive skills. He skates well and has a hard shot that is slow to get off and seems to always hit goalie chest.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I don’t see any offensive skills. He skates well and has a hard shot that is slow to get off and seems to always hit goalie chest.

Another big issue is it feels like the only Chemistry Walman has is with Kyrou. And that's not a very promising thing.

 

[Meatball]

Bring up Perunovich.

LD solved.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Bring up Perunovich.

LD solved.

no, he can't defend yet

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Folks are too hard on Krug. He is like Shatty was, great on pp and average at even strength. Not bad, just not at level of Faulk or Parayko. It’s taken some time fir coaching staff to get full read on our D bc Parayko and Scandella were basically hurt all year.

We can run 2 very good balanced pairs if we put Krug with Parayko and Scandella with Faulk or we can go more offense/defense if we have Krug with Faulk. The latter scenario works with Parayko Scandella getting all the tough assignments, while the first scenario we would play straight and not matchup as much.

the issue to me is we need to shield 3rd pair. Borts has slipped, Walman is marginal, and Mikkola is not an NHLer.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

We haven’t been giving Barbie and Thomas enough props this year. Everyone’s been praising Tank, but those other 2 been great.

 

[Reality Czech]

Folks are too hard on Krug. He is like Shatty was, great on pp and average at even strength. Not bad, just not at level of Faulk or Parayko. It’s taken some time fir coaching staff to get full read on our D bc Parayko and Scandella were basically hurt all year.

We can run 2 very good balanced pairs if we put Krug with Parayko and Scandella with Faulk or we can go more offense/defense if we have Krug with Faulk. The latter scenario works with Parayko Scandella getting all the tough assignments, while the first scenario we would play straight and not matchup as much.

the issue to me is we need to shield 3rd pair. Borts has slipped, Walman is marginal, and Mikkola is not an NHLer.

Agree completely. Mikkola only played like 9 minutes last night, I'm guessing because Berube doesn't trust him in a close game and Walman didn't play much more than that. We can't rely so heavily on our top 4 like this all season, they will get hurt, worn out or both.

 

[TruBlu]

Man, I'm so glad we didn't overpay for Petro. Look at how well we are doing. Many on here thought the sky was falling.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

We haven’t been giving Barbie and Thomas enough props this year. Everyone’s been praising Tank, but those other 2 been great.

It's almost like Barbie and RT are sharing center duties on that line as the play develops. Both are skating well, but RT has to be better in his o-zone decision-making. 49 has been a disruptive force on that line.

 

[Meatball]

A reminder: Cale Makar-lite is just hanging out in our minor league system.



This team will be fun to watch when everyone is healthy and we call up Perunovich.


Yep, I'm on the Perunovich hype-train.

 

[Majorityof1]

Bring up Perunovich.

LD solved.

A reminder: Cale Makar-lite is just hanging out in our minor league system.



This team will be fun to watch when everyone is healthy and we call up Perunovich.


Yep, I'm on the Perunovich hype-train.

Perunovich plays the right side almost exclusively. He could learn to play LD, obviously, but it would be a bit of an adjustment. He would already be adjusting to the NHL game. Having him adjust to a new side would be an added layer of difficulty.

Also, he is a very, very, very lite version of Makar. Makar is bigger ( a little bit), stronger, faster, smarter, a better shot, better passer, better defensive instincts, etc. Just because both are sub 6 foot offensive D-men who rely on skating doesn't mean Perunovich will have anywhere near the success Makar has. Makar is so far ahead of Perunovich, there is no point in even mentioning them as comparables.

 

[Kylester]

Perhaps if Mikkola doesn't work out, maybe we should consider calling up Tyler Tucker. Not making a case for the guy, just a suggestion..

 

[Kylester]

And now Husso is on the non-roster COVID list:

Husso placed on non-roster COVID protocol list

So now what do we do? Call up Lindgren and then get Ellis to Springfield (that second part might have already happened anyway)?