it's like saying excuse me after you fart, still stinks even if you excuse them
There is a semantic argument about his role, and then there is a practical distinction. From numerous interviews with Armstrong, Berube and multiple players, it sure sounds like Robinson made a bigger commitment and was involved a lot more during that 2019 end of season and postseason than you seem to be acknowledging. Maybe the name of the role was different. Probably it was more flexible in the time commitment, certainly more so than a full time assistant.
Reminds me of a time at a bar out here talking with a couple bikers, who reminded us of the new law that they can weave in and out of traffic.
Krug’s still good in his own right. The issue is his shortcomings are exacerbated because of how the roster, especially, the defense is constructed.
I kinda nailed my prediction in february about this offseason....lol......Tho I was hoping i'd be wrong, almost was too.
That Dean trade was pretty huge, getting a 1st round talent with on-track development for Barabshev as a rental. Its a win-win trade, as he was instrumental in their Cup run (and re-signed), but the Blues got maximum value for him too. So the Blues added 4 1st-round players this year, plus inferred value for whatever becomes of Vrana and Kapanen. Armstrong did a heck of a job creating draft capital out of what he had to work with.
I like the premise, tho line combo wise I’d hope it’s more spread out. Especially if we can shelter kyrous matchups like we did in 21-22 when he broke out.
This. It's the exact same phenomenon that goalies in particular suffer from when they play in Edmonton. Were they bad before? No, that's why they garnered interest to begin with. But they look terrible (generally) once they get there. Hmm, wonder if there's a correlation?
Correct. We made Brian Elliott and jaro halak Jennings winners, were they pretty good goalies? Sure, but clearly, it was the insanely defensive minded and well structured style we played that propelled their surface level statistics. Same thing just happened to adin hill too.
Which is why I think it highly misguided to rank hofer as our 3rd best prospect.
Yeah I prefer ranking on what we think they’ll be once established, not how close to ready they are. Common sense assumes your ranking what that player becomes, not what he is today. Though HOFer does look like he could be a solid option in net.
Honestly I think you could make a similar claim for forwards and defensemen. There are very few true difference makers.
He's still solid though, was one of the best defensive D in the NHL, but clearly overplayed and overused as a 1 which he's just not on top of the worst matchups of any D in the NHL.
While that's true, I can remember multiple years where the Blues had a decent nucleus and couldn't find a league average starter to let them be playoff worthy. NOT having that guy is definitely a difference-maker.
I mean Binnington is pretty average and he was critical to our Cup. Not every average goalie could have pulled that off. Husso floundered in the playoffs (in fairness to him, he hasn’t had much experience there). As did Allen and Halak.
Binnington just proves my point more, similiar to Adin Hill. Binner is very much a middle of the pack goaltender talent wise(Though we on here as blues fans can argue playoff Binner is a different beast) but at the end of the day, most seasons, Binners gonna fluctuate statistically anywhere from fringe top 10 numbers to fringe bottom 10-12'ish numbers most years.....obvi this year was an outlier and most of us on this board are intelligent enough to know that most of the games we hung in this season were thanks to him. His stats this particualr year on a putrid defensive team were well below what his talent level and eye test suggest.
I think people would have to go out of their way to find a way to place him outside of top 10, especially since parity and goaltending structure in training and methods makes everyone below 5 on that list interchangeable in most ways.
There is about 1/4 of league with great goalies, 1/2 that are generally good but vary year to year, and 1/4 that aren't getting it done. Binny is in the middle group.
