GDT: Game 51/82 Blues Vs Nucks 6:30PM CST FDSNMW

[Spektre]

Embarrassing night tonight. Blues could have played better too. But its a full meltdown on HF Blues. I've told you all year we aren't a playoff team. Are you really just now realizing it?

I’m going 72 hour slurpy melt down!!!!

Well maybe not.

When I first opened the GDT I saw the message at the top of the screen talking about how it’s a rebuild and I thought maybe Army was posting.

But no… it’s the forum message

I’m fine with missing the playoffs.

I’m not fine with Faulk being the PP1 QB
I’m not fine with Faulk on the team
I’m not fine with the Buch extension and wanted him traded
I’m not fine with Army pumping the tires of his bottom 6 player acquisition (so many here followed suit)
I’m not fine with trying to finish 15th worst every year
I’m not fine with Saad
I’m not fine with Sundqvist
I’m not fine with Joseph
I’m not fine with Texier
I’m not fine with forcing Broberg to his off side
I’m not fine with Bolduc getting benched for 2 games
I’m not fine with hanging onto Perunovich for 17 years and being too scared to put him on waivers but then finally trading him for…… nothing
I’m not fine with Army giving everyone NTC’s
I’m not fine with Holloway never getting playing time with Thomas, put Holloway and Kyrou with Thomas and make Buch earn his paycheck with Schenn
I’m not fine with Toropchenko who seems to have regressed in almost every aspect
I’m not really fine with Binnington and Hofer as the goalies in the next 2-3 years when the team is supposed to be more competitive
I’m not fine with the dreadful idea this “retool” tried to focus too hard on scratching out wins which led to not enough high end talented prospects which could ultimately turn into a full rebuild and therefore completely wasting x many years.
I’m not fine with the D overall, still, more bandaids just like the forward cast offs
I’m not really fine with Mont up to this point, he’s admittedly better than Banister, but so what
I’m not fine with Army going into the locker room full of misfits and being mad at their performances when he made the decision to hire them… who gets to yell at Army???
I’m not fine with being told that Dvorsky isn’t ready when I have to endure Sundqvist, Texier, Joseph, Faksa, Toropchenko and Saad…
I don’t give a shit if Dvorsky makes some mistakes…. That’s part of developing and there’s no possible way anyone can convince me that list of scrubs gives any NHL team a better chance of winning hockey games .. it’s more about controlling Dvorsky’s contract status and forcing players on the ice who mistakenly make millions of dollars..

I’m fine with cheesecake and sweet tea though

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Glad I missed. Game tonight. Ugghhh.

 

[TheDizee]

We are holding the 8th overall pick. After the two big playoff wins against Calgary where they were almost even and had the momentum, they squeezed out two points and no RWs in five tries including regulation losses to the two other bubble teams. The players met the moment and it was too much for them. Armstrong needs to embrace the freak occurrence where all those East teams are above .500 and try to lock in a top 10 pick because in that range they will get a good player.

Only thing that sucks if we get a high pick is that we don't have many other picks after the first round. This is why Fowler and others should be dumped as well to replinish our future assets.

 

[TheDizee]

Embarrassing night tonight. Blues could have played better too. But its a full meltdown on HF Blues. I've told you all year we aren't a playoff team. Are you really just now realizing it?

Correct. This team lacks any sort of culture that had been built since the early Backes era. The team has no real identity either. Just a bunch of mercenaries collecting paychecks.

Unlikeable club

 

[Xerloris]

Correct. This team lacks any sort of culture that had been built since the early Backes era. The team has no real identity either. Just a bunch of mercenaries collecting paychecks.

Unlikeable club

Pardon me but laziness and not being prepared to play is every bit as much of a culture as winning is.

 

[Memento]

Correct. This team lacks any sort of culture that had been built since the early Backes era. The team has no real identity either. Just a bunch of mercenaries collecting paychecks.

Unlikeable club

Curious question: does that fall on Kyrou as well? Or are you going to include Thomas and Parayko in that category for "not continuing the Backes culture" - which, if I do recall correctly, got us bumped from the playoffs on an early basis consistently before 2019, when Backes was literally on the opposing team, and we won?

Re-whatevers aren't all cut-and-dry. We're literally in the third year of a re-whatever-you-want-to-call-it. Is it sucky to see us lose like this? You're damned right it sucks, but we have pieces that we didn't have before the re-whatever with the offer sheets, in Springfield, in the CHL, in Europe.

If we're still struggling with this shit in year three of Montgomery with and the prospects we have aren't shining, then it's time to panic, but this season was always going to be a loser, and there's nothing that we could've done that would've changed that. We were never going to be a winning team this year, I truly believe it. Not with Bannister, not even with Montgomery. Not with us lacking the talent.

For the moment, just enjoy the development and positive contributions of the young players on our team and in our system. That's all I care about when it comes to this year: positive development. Both on the farm team and not. Cutting dead weight and figuring out things for the future of the team.

 

[TheDizee]

Curious question: does that fall on Kyrou as well? Or are you going to include Thomas and Parayko in that category for "not continuing the Backes culture" - which, if I do recall correctly, got us bumped from the playoffs on an early basis consistently before 2019, when Backes was literally on the opposing team, and we won?

Re-whatevers aren't all cut-and-dry. We're literally in the third year of a re-whatever-you-want-to-call-it. Is it sucky to see us lose like this? You're damned right it sucks, but we have pieces that we didn't have before the re-whatever with the offer sheets, in Springfield, in the CHL, in Europe.

If we're still struggling with this shit in year three of Montgomery with and the prospects we have aren't shining, then it's time to panic, but this season was always going to be a loser, and there's nothing that we could've done that would've changed that. We were never going to be a winning team this year, I truly believe it. Not with Bannister, not even with Montgomery. Not with us lacking the talent.

For the moment, just enjoy the development and positive contributions of the young players on our team and in our system. That's all I care about when it comes to this year: positive development. Both on the farm team and not. Cutting dead weight and figuring out things for the future of the team.

Falls on entire team outside of binner and sunny. Rest of them are jokes. I give the 2 new edm guys a little pass since they haven't been here long. The people I blame the most are schenn, Faulk, buch, kyrou and Thomas.

 

[Cotton McKnight]

I’m going 72 hour slurpy melt down!!!!

Well maybe not.

When I first opened the GDT I saw the message at the top of the screen talking about how it’s a rebuild and I thought maybe Army was posting.

But no… it’s the forum message

I’m fine with missing the playoffs.

I’m not fine with Faulk being the PP1 QB
I’m not fine with Faulk on the team
I’m not fine with the Buch extension and wanted him traded
I’m not fine with Army pumping the tires of his bottom 6 player acquisition (so many here followed suit)
I’m not fine with trying to finish 15th worst every year
I’m not fine with Saad
I’m not fine with Sundqvist
I’m not fine with Joseph
I’m not fine with Texier
I’m not fine with forcing Broberg to his off side
I’m not fine with Bolduc getting benched for 2 games
I’m not fine with hanging onto Perunovich for 17 years and being too scared to put him on waivers but then finally trading him for…… nothing
I’m not fine with Army giving everyone NTC’s
I’m not fine with Holloway never getting playing time with Thomas, put Holloway and Kyrou with Thomas and make Buch earn his paycheck with Schenn
I’m not fine with Toropchenko who seems to have regressed in almost every aspect
I’m not really fine with Binnington and Hofer as the goalies in the next 2-3 years when the team is supposed to be more competitive
I’m not fine with the dreadful idea this “retool” tried to focus too hard on scratching out wins which led to not enough high end talented prospects which could ultimately turn into a full rebuild and therefore completely wasting x many years.
I’m not fine with the D overall, still, more bandaids just like the forward cast offs
I’m not really fine with Mont up to this point, he’s admittedly better than Banister, but so what
I’m not fine with Army going into the locker room full of misfits and being mad at their performances when he made the decision to hire them… who gets to yell at Army???
I’m not fine with being told that Dvorsky isn’t ready when I have to endure Sundqvist, Texier, Joseph, Faksa, Toropchenko and Saad…
I don’t give a shit if Dvorsky makes some mistakes…. That’s part of developing and there’s no possible way anyone can convince me that list of scrubs gives any NHL team a better chance of winning hockey games .. it’s more about controlling Dvorsky’s contract status and forcing players on the ice who mistakenly make millions of dollars..

I’m fine with cheesecake and sweet tea though

I was fine with all of this until you mentioned sweet tea.

 

[Spektre]

I was fine with all of this until you mentioned sweet tea.

Awee c'mon, life wouldn't be the same without sweet tea

 

[Robb_K]

So much for a five game trial for Bolduc, he looked good on that line, and it was the best that line has looked in a while. Who is centering the 3rd line?

Interesting to see how the D zone pairs look with this setup both Colt (Lately)and Broberg like to join the rush and pinch. Could work awesome or bite us in the ass.

What could be the reason why Monty won't allow Bolduc to play long enough with linemates that have similar speed to his, and a high enough level of offensive skills that could work better with him than glorified checking line players, allowing him to see what Bolduc could do without having his potential offensive production potential being dragged down?

 

[Robb_K]

Another game I missed for a family get-together. Looks like I didn't miss much of anything good. It's looking more and more like The Blues will miss the playoffs unless they start bringing up some prospects from Springfield, and get very lucky with the results. I hope a few of them become ready for a "Trial" or "look see" anyway, just for something new to watch.

 

[mk80]

This year is just mainly a holdover year until some of the guys like Snuggerud and Dvorsky start arriving.

It is disappointing to not see the Calgary games be turning point for this team though. Ultimately I think if they end up in a wild card spot, it’s a first round exit

 

[Linkens Mastery]

This year is just mainly a holdover year until some of the guys like Snuggerud and Dvorsky start arriving.

It is disappointing to not see the Calgary games be turning point for this team though. Ultimately I think if they end up in a wild card spot, it’s a first round exit

All of the four-six teams in the Wildcard race in the West are just cannon fodder for whatever team get's them round one.

 

[Brian39]

I'm not saying it is the reason we lost, but I think the NHL needs to change the rule about getting a penalty for an unsuccessful goalie interference challenge. I don't mind that consequence for offside, but there is just too much 'judgement call' in goalie interference to merit a 2 minute penalty if unsuccessful. IMO, the purpose of having the penalty is to discourage frivolous challenges and I just can't look at that play last night and say that our challenge was frivolous.

Holloway's skates and body positioning absolutely indicated that he was attempting to stop/cut over the top of the crease to avoid contact and was pushed by Hughes. I understand the league stance that they felt he was going into the crease either way, but that is very much a hard judgment call and not something that is black/white. I think there is a pretty good chance that the call would have stood if it had been 'goal' on the ice and Vancouver challenged.

I'm not at all a fan of a system where a judgment call that close on review can be such a turning point to a game.

 

[MissouriMook]

I'm not saying it is the reason we lost, but I think the NHL needs to change the rule about getting a penalty for an unsuccessful goalie interference challenge. I don't mind that consequence for offside, but there is just too much 'judgement call' in goalie interference to merit a 2 minute penalty if unsuccessful. IMO, the purpose of having the penalty is to discourage frivolous challenges and I just can't look at that play last night and say that our challenge was frivolous.

Holloway's skates and body positioning absolutely indicated that he was attempting to stop/cut over the top of the crease to avoid contact and was pushed by Hughes. I understand the league stance that they felt he was going into the crease either way, but that is very much a hard judgment call and not something that is black/white. I think there is a pretty good chance that the call would have stood if it had been 'goal' on the ice and Vancouver challenged.

I'm not at all a fan of a system where a judgment call that close on review can be such a turning point to a game.

Theoretically, you could change the rule that the call on the ice is always a goal if the puck clearly goes in the net, and the official can initiate a video review if he feels there was interference rather than waiving off the goal and forcing the scoring team into a difficult decision.

 

[Brian39]

Theoretically, you could change the rule that the call on the ice is always a goal if the puck clearly goes in the net, and the official can initiate a video review if he feels there was interference rather than waiving off the goal and forcing the scoring team into a difficult decision.

That doesn't solve the problem of 'too many reviews' though. It would necessarily increase the number of reviews which is the exact opposite intention of the current penalty for being wrong on a challenge.

I think my change would be that a 'wrong' goalie interference challenge just costs your timeout if you still have it. If you no longer have your timeout, then an incorrect challenge would be a minor penalty.

 

[MissouriMook]

That doesn't solve the problem of 'too many reviews' though. It would necessarily increase the number of reviews which is the exact opposite intention of the current penalty for being wrong on a challenge.

I think my change would be that a 'wrong' goalie interference challenge just costs your timeout if you still have it. If you no longer have your timeout, then an incorrect challenge would be a minor penalty.

I guess I’m firmly in the camp of being fine with more reviews if they do a better job of getting it right.

 

[Stlblue50]

I'm not saying it is the reason we lost, but I think the NHL needs to change the rule about getting a penalty for an unsuccessful goalie interference challenge. I don't mind that consequence for offside, but there is just too much 'judgement call' in goalie interference to merit a 2 minute penalty if unsuccessful. IMO, the purpose of having the penalty is to discourage frivolous challenges and I just can't look at that play last night and say that our challenge was frivolous.

Holloway's skates and body positioning absolutely indicated that he was attempting to stop/cut over the top of the crease to avoid contact and was pushed by Hughes. I understand the league stance that they felt he was going into the crease either way, but that is very much a hard judgment call and not something that is black/white. I think there is a pretty good chance that the call would have stood if it had been 'goal' on the ice and Vancouver challenged.

I'm not at all a fan of a system where a judgment call that close on review can be such a turning point to a game.

Of course we can’t say for sure but the chances of the Blues winning going down 0-2 were extremely small. Compared to 1-1 where the Blues have the momentum tying the game up and they are a different team when they play with momentum or the lead.

I heard JK say on the air against Dallas that the Blues are 1-12-3 when trailing after the FIRST period since Monty has taken over (can’t be much better before that). That’s a crazy bad stat for the Blues and I’m sure we would be surprised how often teams end up losing on average when trailing after 1. It’s safe to say that the majority of teams are trailing by 1 goal as well and the Blues went from 1–1 to 0-2. Night and day impact on the game.

 

[BlueSeal]

It's not rocket science. The usuals are scoring and being rewarded with losses and the usuals are doing jack and riding along without any sort of penalty. The team is being poorly ran and folks are going volcano mental about it because we're not going to make the playoffs? Bro, we were NEVER making the playoffs. That ain't the point anyway. The point is, if they're mismanaging the team now, think how it will be when we get quality players in. That's where I'll hang my hat when I go mental. The lines are trash because we can't commit to consistency or sticking to what works, the systems are trash, coaching sees it and does nothing about it.

 

[BlueDream]

In regards to talking about the culture, I think it’s pretty clear Robert Thomas isn’t ready to be Captain and that’s why he didn’t get the C. I see so many Blues fans talking about giving it to him and while he’s a great player, his body language sucks. He is always sulking, shaking his head, rolling his eyes, looking aggravated out there. It’s among the worst I’ve seen from any player ever.

Now there’s nothing wrong with showing emotion and I’m not saying he has to be happy all the time or anything like that. Not at all. But it has gotten to the point where it’s just hugely noticeable in a bad way, yet I never see anyone talk about it. To me, that’s something that needs to change if he is going to be a leader on this team. If he’s doing this on the ice, I can’t imagine he’s a great motivator for the other guys in the locker room. Just my two cents.

In his defense, there is way too much pressure on him to carry this offense/team because we don’t have enough talent to help him out. Our losing record isn’t at all his fault. This topic at hand just got me thinking about the one criticism I do have for him.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Outside of Parayko-Fowler and Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou I have absolutely zero confidence that we are able to score when the Players are on the ice. Even when they aren't scoring they are at least putting up decent chances every night.

Add in that Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou isn't detrimental defensively. Holloway and Kyrou are top three in Most of our stats. (Holloway is 1st in +/-, 2nd In Goals, 2nd in Assists, 2nd in Points, 3rd in PPG and Kyrou is 2nd in +/-, 1st in goals, 3rd in Assists, 1st in Points, 1st in PPG.)

Then on the Defensive side, Parayko leads the defense in Goals, Assists, Points, and is a positive player while getting the hardest defensive matchups on the team night in and night out.

Broberg has made some amazing plays lately but it always ends with a whiff or a save. That injury really froze him in his tracks.

Thomas looks completely aggravated and is handling the puck like the puck is a live grenade, he can't handle it, he can't made a solid pass, he's putting himself in bad positions.

Buch is just a ghost. He might get a assist every now and then but outside of that he's just a shell this season going through the motions and goals against seem to follow him like a plague.

Sunny has been awful, terrible penalties at terrible times, he can't skate and he is a black hole offensively.

Saad was completely checked out when he came back from Baby Leave, it's like he never wanted to be here in the first place. Thankfully he will not be here much longer.

Faulk has seemed to lose any IQ he had and is making terrible decisions every night and his offense has also cratered.

Suter has been fine for a 40 year old. Honestly wasn't expecting him to play as well as he has.

Neighbours does not seem to have made that next step I was expecting. He is still young tho, I'm not too worried about him. Tho I would be much happier if he can step it back up next season.

Joseph is just a warm body 95% of the time. I forget he's playing when he does and when he doesn't play I forget he's even on the team.

Texier is chaos and not in a good or helpful way 95% of the time.

WTF line is a 4th line, I would like them to score every now and then, but I don't expect them to.

I gotta say Tucker hasn't been terrible outside of a couple blown coverage plays. But our 6th D man is the least of our concerns.

 

[Mike Liut]

Outside of Parayko-Fowler and Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou I have absolutely zero confidence that we are able to score when the Players are on the ice. Even when they aren't scoring they are at least putting up decent chances every night.

Add in that Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou isn't detrimental defensively. Holloway and Kyrou are top three in Most of our stats. (Holloway is 1st in +/-, 2nd In Goals, 2nd in Assists, 2nd in Points, 3rd in PPG and Kyrou is 2nd in +/-, 1st in goals, 3rd in Assists, 1st in Points, 1st in PPG.)

Then on the Defensive side, Parayko leads the defense in Goals, Assists, Points, and is a positive player while getting the hardest defensive matchups on the team night in and night out.

Broberg has made some amazing plays lately but it always ends with a whiff or a save. That injury really froze him in his tracks.

Thomas looks completely aggravated and is handling the puck like the puck is a live grenade, he can't handle it, he can't made a solid pass, he's putting himself in bad positions.

Buch is just a ghost. He might get a assist every now and then but outside of that he's just a shell this season going through the motions and goals against seem to follow him like a plague.

Sunny has been awful, terrible penalties at terrible times, he can't skate and he is a black hole offensively.

Saad was completely checked out when he came back from Baby Leave, it's like he never wanted to be here in the first place. Thankfully he will not be here much longer.

Faulk has seemed to lose any IQ he had and is making terrible decisions every night and his offense has also cratered.

Suter has been fine for a 40 year old. Honestly wasn't expecting him to play as well as he has.

Neighbours does not seem to have made that next step I was expecting. He is still young tho, I'm not too worried about him. Tho I would be much happier if he can step it back up next season.

Joseph is just a warm body 95% of the time. I forget he's playing when he does and when he doesn't play I forget he's even on the team.

Texier is chaos and not in a good or helpful way 95% of the time.

WTF line is a 4th line, I would like them to score every now and then, but I don't expect them to.

I gotta say Tucker hasn't been terrible outside of a couple blown coverage plays. But our 6th D man is the least of our concerns.

Sad, but true