Is it time for a rebuild ?

[mab894]

Yeah this unit just isn't cohesive tbh. They don't battle for each other like less talented Blues teams we have had in the past. I am thinking a move will be made shortly.

 

[Bluesnatic27]

The worst part about this season so far is how the Blues are doing everything in their power to prove Dom correct.

I’ve been pretty negative on the roster construction on the team for the last few years. I don’t like how the defense is so compartmentalized and I’ve been quite vocal for how bad the team defense results have been since 2019. But I don’t think a rebuild is proper right now unless the Blues can make off like bandits with futures. I’d rather swing for the fences and trade a few big pieces for one huge piece, whomever that may be. Is that a likely scenario? Probably not. But rebuilds are last resorts for a reason as there is no guarantee when you’ll leave a rebuild after it starts. They’re inevitable in the current sports climate. But using it as a golden parachute when things go wrong is what leads to Buffalo/Edmonton/Carolina situations in which your 5-year-plan turns into a Decade-and-over-plan.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Yes

 

[The Note]

The worst part about this season so far is how the Blues are doing everything in their power to prove Dom correct.

I’ve been pretty negative on the roster construction on the team for the last few years. I don’t like how the defense is so compartmentalized and I’ve been quite vocal for how bad the team defense results have been since 2019. But I don’t think a rebuild is proper right now unless the Blues can make off like bandits with futures. I’d rather swing for the fences and trade a few big pieces for one huge piece, whomever that may be. Is that a likely scenario? Probably not. But rebuilds are last resorts for a reason as there is no guarantee when you’ll leave a rebuild after it starts. They’re inevitable in the current sports climate. But using it as a golden parachute when things go wrong is what leads to Buffalo/Edmonton/Carolina situations in which your 5-year-plan turns into a Decade-and-over-plan.

While your point about rebuilds not guaranteeing anything is well taken, I don't think it's imprudent to think it's firmly in view barring something turning around dramatically, and pretty quickly, with this team. The NHL is more or less designed to prevent 7 game pointless streaks from happening. They are going to burn up their margin for error at a rapid clip.

This year was always going to be an inflection point for this group and for the franchise at large. Tarasenko and ROR being UFAs meant you were almost definitely going to lose at least one of your best forwards after this season, and perhaps both. While I didn't personally buy it I at least understood taking one last kick of the can and hoping things break right in the postseason. If the team is going to bottom out, though, the best course of action is to take the high first and collect as many futures as you can for your aging UFAs, particularly if they are two guys who would likely be at or near the top of the rental market. Sure there is always the chance that the guys you pick will stink and the rebuild gets prolonged. I would make the argument that organizationally the Blues are much stronger than the Sabres/Oilers/Coyotes/etc. who have been mired in rebuilds for ages. The flip side to the "well you can rebuild forever" argument is that having elite, young, cost-controlled talent is the single biggest competitive advantage you can have, and basically the only way to acquire those types of guys with any reliability is picking early in the first round. The draft is throwing darts, definitely, but the Blues have a chance to acquire more darts should they choose to go that route. It's going to be very interesting to see what they decide to do, and when they decide to do it.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

While your point about rebuilds not guaranteeing anything is well taken, I don't think it's imprudent to think it's firmly in view barring something turning around dramatically, and pretty quickly, with this team. The NHL is more or less designed to prevent 7 game pointless streaks from happening. They are going to burn up their margin for error at a rapid clip.

This year was always going to be an inflection point for this group and for the franchise at large. Tarasenko and ROR being UFAs meant you were almost definitely going to lose at least one of your best forwards after this season, and perhaps both. While I didn't personally buy it I at least understood taking one last kick of the can and hoping things break right in the postseason. If the team is going to bottom out, though, the best course of action is to take the high first and collect as many futures as you can for your aging UFAs, particularly if they are two guys who would likely be at or near the top of the rental market. Sure there is always the chance that the guys you pick will stink and the rebuild gets prolonged. I would make the argument that organizationally the Blues are much stronger than the Sabres/Oilers/Coyotes/etc. who have been mired in rebuilds for ages. The flip side to the "well you can rebuild forever" argument is that having elite, young, cost-controlled talent is the single biggest competitive advantage you can have, and basically the only way to acquire those types of guys with any reliability is picking early in the first round. The draft is throwing darts, definitely, but the Blues have a chance to acquire more darts should they choose to go that route. It's going to be very interesting to see what they decide to do, and when they decide to do it.

And to further your point, even if we decide at some point this season is hopeless we aren’t necessarily looking at long rebuild. We have 6 pending UFA that could potentially bring high picks of varying degrees. The remaining vets aren’t likely going anywhere. Maybe Krug but that is unlikely. We aren’t going to burn it all to the ground. So we will have group in place to add young talent to over next season or 2. Key will be whether Thomas and Kyrou truly are foundational pieces like they looked last year.

 

[KevinRedkey]

How untouchable is Parayko?

Asking as a Sens fan

 

[PJJJP]

How untouchable is Parayko?

Asking as a Sens fan

Depends on what the plan is. I doubt we trade him unless we are going full scorched earth and even then I don't think we trade him unless someone blows us away in an offer

 

[PocketNines]

How untouchable is Parayko?

Asking as a Sens fan

If the Blues situation reaches rebuild stage rather than retool stage then maybe.

Blues defensive prospect cupboard is bare so would need a blue chip defensive prospect coming back to justify moving him.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

How untouchable is Parayko?

Asking as a Sens fan

How available is Sanderson?

 

[Mike Liut]

For the long term success of this team, we better start a mini rebuild soon. Selling our UFA’s would be a good start. We have an aging roster and a shitty minors. Not a good combo.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

i would give away parayko for anything if you take him and his contract .. he was so bad last year i think he was purposly throwing games .. the play where he skated back across our blue line and flipped the puck into the crowd for a PIM all with no pressure and a skater open to recieve a short pass .. the bum lofts it into tho crowd .. and why would he skate back across our own blue line,,, its like he was throwing the game .. when they say he has low hockey iq it must be around 10

take him .. a change of scenery would probably do him good.

You really should stop hitting the bong before you post. You’re gonna be embarrassed when you sober up.

 

[Ranksu]

Agreed, The Petro money difference wasn't that big. If he wanted to be a Blue, he would be here.

On the flip side, Perron wanted to be here and DA gave him the shaft.

Good teams feel like family. I listened to an interview with the great Scotty Bowman the other day talking about THE Redwings team we all hate. He said the environment felt like one big family. You could gather that watching the games. We've lost that this season.

No we have lost next 3-5 seasons.

It will take even more time if Army does wrong moves.

 

[oPlaiD]

The worst part about this season so far is how the Blues are doing everything in their power to prove Dom correct.

I’ve been pretty negative on the roster construction on the team for the last few years. I don’t like how the defense is so compartmentalized and I’ve been quite vocal for how bad the team defense results have been since 2019. But I don’t think a rebuild is proper right now unless the Blues can make off like bandits with futures. I’d rather swing for the fences and trade a few big pieces for one huge piece, whomever that may be. Is that a likely scenario? Probably not. But rebuilds are last resorts for a reason as there is no guarantee when you’ll leave a rebuild after it starts. They’re inevitable in the current sports climate. But using it as a golden parachute when things go wrong is what leads to Buffalo/Edmonton/Carolina situations in which your 5-year-plan turns into a Decade-and-over-plan.

If you look at the numbers so far this season, the xGF, C%, FF%, etc. are all pretty similar to last year. It's just this year, we have a worse save percentage and instead of having literally the best shooting percentage at 5v5 we have literally the worst shooting percentage at 5v5, almost half of the number we had last season.

There were some reasons to expect the Blues to outperform their metrics last year, as discussed ad nauseum, but we should always have expected some regression, even if we had kept Perron. This year we've seen that and then some.

If nothing changes it's easy to expect this team will perform at an average-ish level the rest of the season, but because we've had such a bad stretch right now that quite possibly doesn't make the playoffs, and it's hard to see where our success comes from if we do.

In some ways we're in a decent spot to rebuild right now as we can make our target to compete during the back half of Thomas and Kyrou's contracts. We have other young forwards already who could be part of a core. But to become a real contender we're still lacking a truly elite piece and obviously we need to somehow fix the defense.

I think we're way past the point of being able to put a bandaid on to cover up the issues with this team and making a simple tweak is likely not enough to be a solution. So maybe it really is time for a rebuild, whatever form that takes.

But hey, the last time we were last place in the league in points, but not actually last place in points percentage, we won the Stanley Cup! Here's hoping...

 

[Frobbo]

And to further your point, even if we decide at some point this season is hopeless we aren’t necessarily looking at long rebuild. We have 6 pending UFA that could potentially bring high picks of varying degrees. The remaining vets aren’t likely going anywhere. Maybe Krug but that is unlikely. We aren’t going to burn it all to the ground. So we will have group in place to add young talent to over next season or 2. Key will be whether Thomas and Kyrou truly are foundational pieces like they looked last year.

The issue is, yes you have a group, but are they any good? Especially in 3-4 years when the kids are ready. Maybe the way to see it is they WON'T have a group with a bunch of bloated contracts by then (mostly).

 

[PJJJP]

Everyone is worrying too much. Krug will realize his true passion is cooking and go on to make a cooking show opting out of his contract of millions of dollars. The oilers love Edmonton boys and will be overcome with joy when they have the opportunity to trade for Parayko, giving us a lot of new goodies. Leddy will use his decent skating and start a figure skating company and help the US win gold medals at the Olympics. Faulk stays. We then draft mega super duper defensemen in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. We use our 1st rounder's to pick giga forwards. Easy as pie

 

[The Note]

Still early, but a nice tool to have for this season, it appears.

Tankathon | 2025 NHL Draft Order & Lottery Simulator

2025 NHL Draft order tracker updated after every game. NHL lottery simulator to determine the top overall pick. View traded picks and playoff matchups.

www.tankathon.com

 

[Stealth JD]

Blues fans need to start wearing these right along the glass

 

[TurgPavs]

Still early, but a nice tool to have for this season, it appears.

Tankathon | 2025 NHL Draft Order & Lottery Simulator

2025 NHL Draft order tracker updated after every game. NHL lottery simulator to determine the top overall pick. View traded picks and playoff matchups.

www.tankathon.com

This team reminds me how terrible the team was the first 3 months of 2018. However you had a bunch of grit and heart guys on that team, Maroon, Steen, Sunny, Gunner, Bozak, and a quiet leader in Bo.
You just dont have that same leadership with the players on this team.

The moment I saw Sunny sitting in the stands at the Blues Playoff games I knew how much this team was going to miss a character like that.

Looking at the schedule thru the end of December, I dont see how the Blues are going to be in a position to not be a seller at the TDL or before.

The defense is just that bad, and I have zero problem with trying to move on from several guys on this roster, including Kyrou who just simply refuses to play any sort of physical two way hockey.

 

[Mike Liut]

We have a brutal November and December schedule. If we keep this up, we’ll be dead last in a hurry. Then, you know Army will sell the UFA’s, which will help the tank even more.

And if that happens, you know next season will be worse. I think the rebuild is underway, they just don’t know it yet.

 

[Robb_K]

This team reminds me how terrible the team was the first 3 months of 2018. However you had a bunch of grit and heart guys on that team, Maroon, Steen, Sunny, Gunner, Bozak, and a quiet leader in Bo.
You just dont have that same leadership with the players on this team.

The moment I saw Sunny sitting in the stands at the Blues Playoff games I knew how much this team was going to miss a character like that.

Looking at the schedule thru the end of December, I dont see how the Blues are going to be in a position to not be a seller at the TDL or before.

The defense is just that bad, and I have zero problem with trying to move on from several guys on this roster, including Kyrou who just simply refuses to play any sort of physical two way hockey.

Yes. Kyrou has shown pretty strongly that he is NOT dedicated to improving his own skills and overall game, which has a lot of holes in it. That is a VERY bad sign. He has Not tried at all to improve his defence. He has NOT worked anywhere near enough on his finishing skills, or we'd have seen some improvement there over the last 3 years. He has proven that he is satisfied to coast on his natural gifts, and what he learned early in his hockey playing formative years. He has the attitude of a relatively lazy teenager, rather than a professional on a career track. He needs major change in attitude, otherwise he will always be at a playing level much, much lower than his potential, which will be detrimental to his team's cohesiveness and morale. If he doesn't soon show some awareness of that problem and movement towards making himself a better player and a better teammate, I'd hope that The Blues can't as much as possible for him in a blockbuster major deal involving several players and draft choices while he still has a decent amount of perceived upside. Thomas, on the other hand is a keeper, in my book.

 

[BlueSeal]

No we have lost next 3-5 seasons.

It will take even more time if Army does wrong moves.

This is the correct answer.

How untouchable is Parayko?

Asking as a Sens fan

Hi Sens Fan, much love. What would the Sens be offering?

 

[EastVillageBlues]

We have a brutal November and December schedule. If we keep this up, we’ll be dead last in a hurry. Then, you know Army will sell the UFA’s, which will help the tank even more.

And if that happens, you know next season will be worse. I think the rebuild is underway, they just don’t know it yet.

I think realistically, if this streak continues another few games, our chances of climbing back is remote at best.

Remember that in 2018, the team was infused with a large batch of new players, and that needed time to gel. This year it is very different, the only significant changes are the exit of Husso, and Neighbours replacing Perron in the lineup. There isn't any ostensible reason to see that huge of a dropoff, unless that are fundamental problems with the team.

I think the date to look to is Nov 17, by then we will have somewhat caught up with games played. And the next five games will have a good mix of bottom feeders to top contenders. If we don't pull out of this dive by next Thur, it is very likely that the season is toast. If we lose 4 of the next 5, it will be time to start the move toward a retool.

 

[Oberyn]

Yes. Kyrou has shown pretty strongly that he is NOT dedicated to improving his own skills and overall game, which has a lot of holes in it. That is a VERY bad sign. He has Not tried at all to improve his defence. He has NOT worked anywhere near enough on his finishing skills, or we'd have seen some improvement there over the last 3 years. He has proven that he is satisfied to coast on his natural gifts, and what he learned early in his hockey playing formative years. He has the attitude of a relatively lazy teenager, rather than a professional on a career track. He needs major change in attitude, otherwise he will always be at a playing level much, much lower than his potential, which will be detrimental to his team's cohesiveness and morale. If he doesn't soon show some awareness of that problem and movement towards making himself a better player and a better teammate, I'd hope that The Blues can't as much as possible for him in a blockbuster major deal involving several players and draft choices while he still has a decent amount of perceived upside. Thomas, on the other hand is a keeper, in my book.

I honestly don't understand how Thomas can be excused while Kyrou is constantly vilified, and Thomas is one of my favorite Blues. I can honestly say I haven't noticed Thomas in the majority of the games I've watched this season and he seems content to be a passenger over a leader.

These attacks on Kyrou's attitude are ridiculous to me. If Kyrou was going through this stretch of play in the middle of the season when the Blues are playing well, no one bats an eye. I see a player who's trying to be a difference maker and is dealing with the pressure of being a more prominent cog within the team. Is he lackadaisical on defense at times? No doubt about that, but the same can be said for many star forwards.

It's easy to hate on Kyrou right now, but he's at least been noticeable and generated many scoring chances. I can't say the same for any other forward right now outside of Schenn.

 

[KevinRedkey]

Sens Fan, much love. What would the Sens be offering?

Pieces that may be of interest:
Bernard-Docker
Thomson
Brannstrom
DeBrincat
Jarventie
Boucher
Greig
2023 1st (protected)
2024 1st
2nd rounders
Other recent picks not in NHL

Not sure what the ask would be tbh.

 

[ort]

There is no reason this roster should be this bad. I have to feel like this is a stretch of bad luck and poor confidence.

Have they screwed up so bad they won't be able to make the playoffs? Maybe... but this team is not this bad.

At worst this is a bubble playoff team going through a cosmically putrid stretch. It just happens to be right at the beginning so it feels so much worse...