Faulk-Broberg Pairing Playing Better Than Parayko-Leddy

[Robb_K]

Broberg has looked better than I expected in his first 3 games, seeming to be working well with Faulk (who seems to be healthier than at the end of last season), and is playing a lot less tentatively.
On the other hand, Parayko hasn't looked very energetic, and Leddy has looked "listless", as usual. I'd like to see The Blues find a better shiftmate for Parayko, and the two top pairings play minute totals that are closer to each other (more even).

Unfortunately, I don't think Bannister is going to put a young player on our top pairing with Parayko because none of them are really ready for that yet. And really, from what I've seen of Suter so far, I worry about him playing even on The 3rd pairing. He's so slow, and opposing forwards can skate right around him so easily, he reminds me of The late 1970s and early 1980s, when The Blues were broke and always playing a couple of career AHL veteran defencemen as their 6th and 7th D-men. I also wish we still had Larry Robinson working with The younger D-men coaching on their skills, sand working on their weaknesses. With the players we've got on the NHL roster right now, it's hard to come up with 3 viable pairings to keep the team relatively competitive.

I'm curious to find out what other posters here think of how The Blues' pairings will shake out as this season moves forward.

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[Davimir Tarablad]

While they've both had a rough start, they're still taking the heavy defensive lifting that allows for the other pairings to thrive. But, in the long term, we definitely need them to play up to their normal standards to succeed.

That said, I would like to eventually see a shift to playing Broberg-Parayko and Leddy-Faulk and have a more balanced approach to the deployment of the pairings.

 

[Reality Czech]

Three games means very little. We've seen what Leddy and Parayko can do and I put a lot more weight in that than overreacting about the first three games. If anything, they can give more minutes and responsibility to the Faulk pair but I bet they already consider the pairs to be a 1a/1b situation. At even strength, Faulk, Leddy and Parayko are all getting similar ice time and Broberg is only 2 mins behind them, so it seems like that's the approach Bannister is taking.

What do you mean by listless? People really turned on Leddy fast, huh? I guess that's what happens when Krug isn't around. They'll monitor the situation and if things haven't improved in a couple weeks then it's time to shake things up, but not after 3 games.

 

[TheOrganist]

People are really looking at this the wrong way. Broberg-Faulk being a solid second pair is going to be a lot more instrumental to making the Blues playoff contenders than revamping the D pairings. The Krug-Faulk pairing might’ve been one of the worst top 4 duos in the league last yr. Remember how much that pairing was universally hated by the fanbase? Leddy-Parayko will be fine.

 

[Celtic Note]

People are really looking at this the wrong way. Broberg-Faulk being a solid second pair is going to be a lot more instrumental to making the Blues playoff contenders than revamping the D pairings. The Krug-Faulk pairing might’ve been one of the worst top 4 duos in the league last yr. Remember how much that pairing was universally hated by the fanbase? Leddy-Parayko will be fine.

As time moves along, lightening the load on our aging vets will be wise strategy.

 

[Majorityof1]

Keep in mind, as Davamir points out, Parayko-Leddy are still getting the toughest assignments. It's true they have been off. Not as much as many think, but iff. I actually think Parayko has been worse than Leddy. But overall, the pair is not up to snuff.

I do think they are just getting off to a slow start. The mistakes look mental more than physical. It doesn't look like they lost a step or Colt's back issues flared up. It may be a slight change in scheme they are struggling to get on page with or just early season ramp up. I think it's way too soon to worry.

They have been our best pair for a lot more games than they have not. I doubt both just dropped off play at the same time, especially outside any obvious physical decline. Let's reevaluate at the 10+ game mark.