I was at the game tonight, I went to Toronto for my 40th and saw the HHoF and went to this game, among other things. Probably my first "live" Blues hockey game in five years. A couple of thoughts, starting with the D and then moving to forwards:
1. Broberg looks even better in person. I thought the knock on him was his IQ was low - that was not what I saw at all. When he had time, he made a nice play. When he didn't, he made a smart, simple play. I was really impressed with him overall. Very interested to see how he grows over the course of the season.
2. Faulk - Faulk was maybe the most frustrating top 4 D to watch. His puck skills are below average and his IQ is f***ing terrible. I HIGHLY disagree with that game score card thingy someone posted earlier. He gets caught in-between CONSTANTLY and it's very frustrating to watch. There were multiple times when he didn't decide if he wanted to step up or back up - his penalty was 100% a direct result of this. He made multiple egregious turnovers that Binner had to stop. He was by far our worst top 4 d-man tonight.
3. Parayko - The man simply eats ice. The only issue I have with him is in-zone PK. On the zone entry, he's a beast. But once the puck gets into the zone, the dude plays like he's 5'8". He plays extremely small, he needs to watch video of Jay-Bo on the PK from like 2016-2020 and watch how he lays out as well as uses the full length of his stick to maximize his surface coverage. We gave up a couple of grade A chances on the PK b/c he stands upright and uses basically only his blade to try and stop passes.
4. Suter - I really liked Suter's game. The dude clearly knows how to defend at the NHL level. I wish he was about 6 years younger, and then I'd have a ton of confidence in our D-core.
5. Peru/Joseph - Peru is terrible, and Joseph isn't good enough to cover for him. Peru just ain't it fam.
Forwards:
6. Schenn - Wow this dude sucks with the puck. Like legit is a f***ing dumpster fire when the puck is on his stick. Made so many bonehead ass plays that would get a kid like Bolduc stapled to the pine. Has legit no business being in the top 6 of a contender. I do not agree at all with whatever advanced stats that card thingy posted earlier says, Schenn was terrible tonight.
7. Joseph and Holloway - loved these two tonight. They both have great wheels and the motor to run them. They are the type of guys that we will need to lean on this year while we figure out how to find more overall talent.
8. Kyrou - I have never watched Kyrou in person before, but now I get what people talk about with the floating and the lack of effort. He had a really good overall game, but man is it hard to watch this guy and not think that there's a whole 'nother level he could hit if he simply had the motor. Ah well, guess we'll simply have to accept the 85 point winger he is, and not the dominant 100+ point winger he might be.
This game looks lopsided on the scoresheet, but frankly, I think the Leafs were the better team. We capitalized on our chances and the Leafs didn't. Binner played outstanding and we found a way to pot a couple goals unexpectedly.
Anyway, that's all I got for this one. Very fun finally seeing a game live for the first time in many years, and I was -not- expecting that outcome lol.
Cheers.
(#OSB).
