in for a hot year for Kyrou or what do you think?

[joe galiba]

Naw, he sucks

he is going to get the high score on fortnite

 

[Reality Czech]

he is going to get the high score on fortnite

I dunno, Laine probably has a lot of time to practice considering he's chilling at home while his knee injury heals.

 

[stl76]

From P-D


Coach Bannister on Kyrou after Toronto game

“Even going back to last game, he’s a team-first player right now,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “He’s playing team hockey. I was impressed with his game last game. I know the offense will come. We’ve talked about getting more pucks to the net. I thought I saw an effort today. But I just think he’s playing team hockey. He wants to win hockey games, and he’s doing whatever it takes right now to win hockey games.”

The way he stepped up against the leafs and set the tone with Thomas out was very impressive to me.

 

[TheDizee]

Yeah hes been hot this year.

Hot garbage.

 

[simon IC]

He needs a centre. I'm certainly not ready to give up on him, but I am starting to question whether he is capable of carrying a line. More and more, he strikes me as an excellent complimentary player.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

He needs a centre. I'm certainly not ready to give up on him, but I am starting to question whether he is capable of carrying a line. More and more, he strikes me as an excellent complimentary player.

You Canadians are always misspelling stuff.

 

[MissouriMook]

Tied for the team lead in points and assists. One of only 6 out of 23 skaters with a plus rating this season. If that’s “hot garbage”, what does that make the rest of the team?

 

[Reality Czech]

Tied for the team lead in points and assists. One of only 6 out of 23 skaters with a plus rating this season. If that’s “hot garbage”, what does that make the rest of the team?

Hot garbage is an absurd overstatement, but Kyrou only plays like a star like 40-50% the time. Would be nice to see more consistency out of him. 9 points is great but 2/3 of those points happened in the three games.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Kyrou only has points in 5 of the 11 games, 2 of his last 8 games. You can't do much when one of your top offensive weapons isn't scoring in the majority of the games he plays.

 

[PocketNines]

lol wow ok it's now ok to criticize Kyrou after RC was four years late to wake up to it, I guess it's no longer a shameful agenda for whipping boys, now people here have a shameful agenda to exempt Kyrou and instead criticize players on the bottom 6?

Whatever it is, it's over reaction "theater" as in, insincere and not real.

 

[Majorityof1]

Kyrou only has points in 5 of the 11 games, 2 of his last 8 games. You can't do much when one of your top offensive weapons isn't scoring in the majority of the games he plays.

And an offensive player can't do much when defenses can key on him and he has no center on his line. Surprise, Kyrou is not McDavid. He can't single-handedly beat defenses.

 

[bleedblue1223]

And an offensive player can't do much when defenses can key on him and he has no center on his line. Surprise, Kyrou is not McDavid. He can't single-handedly beat defenses.

Sure, it's a bit of both, but no one is saying he should have an expectation of 90+ points. He's streaky and he's now had 3 seasons in a row of pretty rough starts.

 

[PocketNines]

Kyrou is so easy to defend in general (by opposing hockey teams, not home fans). The way they do it is they send a guy to knock into him, and either that guy will take the puck away or Kyrou will juke away from that guy but into a predictable place where a backup defender can kill the play and turn it into offense the other way.

It's always been consistency with this guy and there just isn't anything evident yet that he can be consistent

 

[Brian39]

Sure, it's a bit of both, but no one is saying he should have an expectation of 90+ points. He's streaky and he's now had 3 seasons in a row of pretty rough starts.

He started the year with 3 straight multi-point games and had 9 total points through our first 8 games. That would be a 92 point pace. If the last 3 games changes our assessment down to a 'pretty rough start' then I have a hard time saying that the expectation isn't 90+ points. It is also worth noting that 8 of his 9 points have either been the goal or the primary assist, so it isn't like he has just been piling up secondary assists. He needs to figure out how to get rid of these extended goalless streaks, but unlike past such streaks he is tangibly driving offense while he can't bury the puck.

He's had 4 multi-point games out of 11 this year, which puts him on pace for 29.8 multi-point games over an 82 game season. That's a lot.

90 point player Brayden Point had 23 of those last year.
94 point player Sidney Crosby had 23 of those last season.
94 point player Filip Forsberg had 29 of them last season.
94 point player Sam Reinhart had 25 of them last season.
96 point player Kirill Kaprizov had 27 of them last season.
98 point player William Nylander had 28 of them last season.

That's the full list of forwards who scored 90-99 points last season. Kyrou's frequency of multi-point efforts so far this season are right on par with the 90+ point guys. I think we all agree that the issue is consistency. But my point is that the level of consistency that would be deemed 'meeting expectations' would put him right at a 90 point pace. It is fair and reasonable to point out the slumps, but in doing that you can't ignore and take for granted the multi-point nights.

There is room for improvement in Kyrou's start. There is room for improvement in his consistency. There is room for improvement in his play beyond point production.

But I really disagree with the notion that he's had a pretty rough start this year. His production through 11 games in the 2 previous seasons was 4 points and 6 points. He had a single multi-point effort in each of those seasons. He was a deeply minus player in 2022/23 (-17 lol) and slightly minus in 2023/24 (-2). He's +1 this season and we are outscoring our opponent 8-5 when he is on the ice at 5 on 5.

He has been 1 of out top 2 forwards this year and there is a sizeable gap between the top 2 and everyone else. The other one of those top 2 forwards is now injured and hasn't played through Kyrou's most recent scoring drought. Remember how I mentioned his 4 multi-point games? No other forward on team has more than 2 and the entire rest of the forward group has combined for just 8 of them (Thomas/Buch with 2 each while Holloway/Neighbours/Joseph/Saad have 1 each).

Again, there is certainly room for improvement in his game, but I just absolutely do not agree that he's had a pretty rough start. His play through 11 games this year is pretty damn far down the list of issues with this team.

 

[bleedblue1223]

He hasn't scored a goal since the first game of the season and we have people saying it's crazy for people to criticize him because he's not McDavid, I could've went higher than 90 points, but I thought I was being even more charitable by lower the "expectation" to something below McDavid, but still completely unreasonable for what Kyrou has accomplished in his career.

He came out and had an incredible first 3 games. I was hopeful that meant he reversed his trend from previous years, but that hasn't been the case. And I don't care if he doesn't have Thomas or not, if we can't rely on him to score in games like Montreal, Ottawa, and Philly, we are screwed. They are 23rd, 27th, and 31st in goals against.

Kyrou is a fine enough player for what he is, but he has to step up and produce. I could agree with an argument that he's been better to start this season than the previous 2. I could agree with an argument that the bigger issue is that from a roster construction, we were never built to withstand the loss of Thomas. But, when you are put in a shitty situation, and you can't lean on the top players that you have left, nothing else matters.

 

[Majorityof1]

He hasn't scored a goal since the first game of the season and we have people saying it's crazy for people to criticize him because he's not McDavid, I could've went higher than 90 points, but I thought I was being even more charitable by lower the "expectation" to something below McDavid, but still completely unreasonable for what Kyrou has accomplished in his career.

He came out and had an incredible first 3 games. I was hopeful that meant he reversed his trend from previous years, but that hasn't been the case. And I don't care if he doesn't have Thomas or not, if we can't rely on him to score in games like Montreal, Ottawa, and Philly, we are screwed. They are 23rd, 27th, and 31st in goals against.

Kyrou is a fine enough player for what he is, but he has to step up and produce. I could agree with an argument that he's been better to start this season than the previous 2. I could agree with an argument that the bigger issue is that from a roster construction, we were never built to withstand the loss of Thomas. But, when you are put in a shitty situation, and you can't lean on the top players that you have left, nothing else matters.

We didn't have enough top players coming into the season. We had 1 near elite guy and 2 great players. We were already short at least 1 top 6 play-driver and probably another complimebtary top 6. Then we lost our near elite guy.

Kyrou was on a point per game pace before Thomas was hurt, then shockingly, he does not have a point in the last 3 games, 2 of which we played like garbage as a team. Hmm, wonder if that is all related?

Blaming Kyrou is like putting McDavid on a team of Pee-wee players against the best if the NHL and bitching that McDavid didn't do enough because the pee-wees lost. Hockey is a team sport, and unless you are generational or close, you shouldn't be expected to score regularly with a otherwise completely shitty team.

Edit: There's no if about it. We are screwed without Thomas. That's not on Kyrou. That's on Armstrong

 

[bleedblue1223]

If Kyrou is only expected to produce when Thomas is in the lineup, then he is insanely overpaid. He hasn't scored a goal since the first game, so the goal scoring was an issue while Thomas was still in the lineup. And 3 points in his last 8 games, which includes games when Thomas was still in the lineup.

I know you aren't directly comparing Kyrou to McDavid here, but you are absolutely implying that. That it's impossible or ridiculous to have an expectation for a player like Kyrou to produce right now. Should we have no expectations for anyone since without Thomas, we should just expect garbage?

Part of the reason we are screwed without Thomas is because players like Kyrou and Buchnevich aren't stepping up, a part of that is absolutely on them.

 

[Majorityof1]

If Kyrou is only expected to produce when Thomas is in the lineup, then he is insanely overpaid. He hasn't scored a goal since the first game, so the goal scoring was an issue while Thomas was still in the lineup. And 3 points in his last 8 games, which includes games when Thomas was still in the lineup.

I know you aren't directly comparing Kyrou to McDavid here, but you are absolutely implying that. That it's impossible or ridiculous to have an expectation for a player like Kyrou to produce right now. Should we have no expectations for anyone since without Thomas, we should just expect garbage?

Part of the reason we are screwed without Thomas is because players like Kyrou and Buchnevich aren't stepping up, a part of that is absolutely on them.

Exactly. We should have no expectations for anyone without Thomas because this team is absolute dog shit without Thomas. Yes, great players should step up. And Kyrou is. He's getting chances. They aren't going in but that happens.

If we had a decent team surrounding him, or he was an elite player, sure. But he's just not the level of player who can carry a bad team. Those are rare. You aren't signing them to $8M contracts unless they breakout after signing it.

Our best center is either Faksa or Sunqvist. Before the off season, if I had asked you how the numbers of the best wing would fare if his team's best C was Radek Faksa, you would have expected a giant dip. Guess what, here we are.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Just throw accountability out the window, wild. Did you watch Philly's winning goal?

And the team's best center isn't Radek Faksa, Radek Faksa isn't his center.

 

[Majorityof1]

Just throw accountability out the window, wild. Did you watch Philly's winning goal?

And the team's best center isn't Radek Faksa, Radek Faksa isn't his center.

I am absolutely not throwing accountability out the window. It all lands on Armstrong's feet for entering the season with playoff expectations and Buchnevich as our 2C.

Kyrou's not playing with a C at all. I wanted to try Holloway at C but to ease him into it in the bittom 6. Not put him in the Top 6, arguably top line. Faksa is the only C on the team so he us the best C. Buchnevich and Schenn are better players but worse Cs.

It's not accountability to assign someone an insanely difficult task and bitch when they don't do right away. Go score goals at the NHL level with a kid who played last year in the AHL as your C while you specifically are being keyed on by defenses. Why do you have zero points in 3 games?!?! I wonder.

As for the goal, yes, he was trying to do too much on that goal to step up like you want. That's why he can't. If he passes, someone else screws it up. If he tries to do it all himself, defenses can stop him easily.

 

[bleedblue1223]

You are if you are putting 100% of the accountability on Army. You are saying the players shouldn't be held accountable for their play while Thomas is out, that's crazy. Buchnevich and Schenn are not worse Cs than Faksa.

Kyrou has played 1 game with Holloway.

 

[Majorityof1]

You are if you are putting 100% of the accountability on Army. You are saying the players shouldn't be held accountable for their play while Thomas is out, that's crazy. Buchnevich and Schenn are not worse Cs than Faksa.

Kyrou has played 1 game with Holloway.

They are absolutely worse. They cannot win an o-zone faceoff.

"I'm sorry, Jordan,, you can't score starting in the o-zone cause we cannot win a face-off. You have to score in transition...oh right, we have 1 D who can make a good breakout pass. Yea, sorry. Also, we are going to take your stick and one skate blade away, but we will hold you accountable when you don't score. Oh hold on, here's a 50 lb anchor we need to tie down on your back. Now go out there and don't let us down"

 

[Brian39]

And the team's best center isn't Radek Faksa, Radek Faksa isn't his center.

You keep talking about this as if we have other actual centers besides Thomas.

His center last night was a player with 23 career NHL points in 100 career NHL games. Last night was the 5th time he played the entire game at center in his NHL career (4 of those 5 have been the last 4 games since Thomas got hurt). I am optimistic about Holloway's development and potential to eventually be an effective NHL center for us, but he isn't remotely close to being a legit top 6 center in the NHL right now.

His center before last night was Buchnevich. This was your assessment of Buch as a center from earlier today: "Buchnevich is horrific in the middle, the experiment failed, it needs to end, we are better off with him on the wing and suffering with Schenn or whoever else in a larger role than they should be in." I'm higher on Buch's ability to play competently at center than you, but everyone can see that he is not a natural center and is playing noticeably worse at center than he does at wing.

This isn't a situation where Thomas being out of the lineup means that he's playing with decent-but-not-great centers. Outside of the 12 minutes he's played with Schenn this season, the guys lining up at center with him are wingers who we are playing at center because we don't have centers. And while Schenn has a track record playing center, I think the overwhelming consensus here is that he's better suited as a winger at this stage of his career.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Schenn who is winning 50.6% of his faceoffs can't be a faceoff? Are we also forgetting that Kyrou produced 2.59 points/60 with Schenn last season in just over 300 minutes of 5v5 time, as a comp it was 1.94 with Thomas.

 

[bleedblue1223]

You keep talking about this as if we have other actual centers besides Thomas.

His center last night was a player with 23 career NHL points in 100 career NHL games. Last night was the 5th time he played the entire game at center in his NHL career (4 of those 5 have been the last 4 games since Thomas got hurt). I am optimistic about Holloway's development and potential to eventually be an effective NHL center for us, but he isn't remotely close to being a legit top 6 center in the NHL right now.

His center before last night was Buchnevich. This was your assessment of Buch as a center from earlier today: "Buchnevich is horrific in the middle, the experiment failed, it needs to end, we are better off with him on the wing and suffering with Schenn or whoever else in a larger role than they should be in." I'm higher on Buch's ability to play competently at center than you, but everyone can see that he is not a natural center and is playing noticeably worse at center than he does at wing.

This isn't a situation where Thomas being out of the lineup means that he's playing with decent-but-not-great centers. Outside of the 12 minutes he's played with Schenn this season, the guys lining up at center with him are wingers who we are playing at center because we don't have centers. And while Schenn has a track record playing center, I think the overwhelming consensus here is that he's better suited as a winger at this stage of his career.

I agree broadly with your assesment on it, even though we different slightly. I believe we are better with Buch at wing, the experiment has been bad, but unfortunately he's still one of our better C options, certainly better than Faksa, especially in a top 6 scenario.

I'd roll with Schenn and Holloway as the top 6 Cs. I'd rather Buchnevich be in a position where he can be most effective, and I think we'd benfit more as a team.