GDT: Season Opening GDT: Blues @ Kraken 3:30 PM CST ESPN/ESPN+

[jjniner]

Are the Hawks in danger of not being good while they have Bedard and losing him to free agency?

 

[Reality Czech]

Game finished to late for me to post.....
But how in the world does Kappy get the 4th most Ice Time, among Blues Forwards last night?
Seriously WTF is going on with that? All but 8 seconds was at even strength.
He had the longest average Shift on any Blue last night, at nearly a minute per shift.
With all that ice time, he was a -1 with one missed shot and 1 hit. No blocked shots, no take aways......

I knew he was out there a lot, but didn't realize Bannister had given him that much Ice Time.
Guy looked out of place on most shifts.

Kappy getting that much ice time, and the continuation of carrying 8 defensemen as it seems, once again, Army is hoping that Peru, at 26 years old, was not a wasted draft pick.

Just to troll fans on this forum.

 

[AyeBah]

The Kapanen experience will never end. He's the future and deserves the ice time over all of our top prospects. Can't wait til Snug is sent to the AHL at the end of the season so Kapanen can get his top 9 minutes. He was a first round pick too!

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

4th line is fun! Gives me some Bassen Lowry Sutter vibes.

 

[bleedblue1223]

It's the first game and we won, who cares about Kap's minutes. When Saad returns from baby duty, he's either out of lineup or 4th line.

 

[joe galiba]

The Ozarks and Northern Arkansas are hidden little gems. Maybe that TV show has given it more of a presence, even though it's mostly filmed in Georgia, not the Ozarks. I know...lame.....

By the way, Peoria, AZ (suburb of Phoenix) is named after Peoria, IL.

It is amazing how beautiful the western half of Arkansas is and how ugly eastern Arkansas is

 

[taylord22]

Went back and rewatched the game and a couple of things stood out:

Broberg didn’t lose many 1:1 battles. He was more physical than I expected him to be, or saw him be with Edmonton.

Thomas was overwhelming for their young Cs, even in the early parts of the game where the rest of the team was a wreck. The shift after Walker got in Dunn's face he stripped the puck 4 times against the Stephenson/Schwartz line in the OZ and created 2 grade A scoring chances, then at the end of the shift he casually swatted the puck off Wrights stick. This was the shift that really created the momentum that lead to the PP.

Shocked to be saying this, but: Kyrou carried the 2nd line in all 3 zones. He was the most consistent defender/checker on that line, and was the only winger consistently pressuring their dmen (who were the early difference for the Kraken, IMO) in the DZ..It was also Kyrou who jumped on with the 4th line and created chaos that led to the PP.

Faksa and Neighbors woke up halfway through the 2nd. Faksa line did a good job managing when Bylsma got the match-ups he wanted. Neighbors created a good amount of chaos on the forecheck. Thomas got those two to ratchet up their intensity, but Neighbors pulled them into a more physical game as things went on. Thomas even had a nice hit and reverse hit in the same sequence in the 3rd. I still don't know that I like them together.

Faulk looked much better than last year, but the half-up passes were a problem for him and everyone else but Broberg and Suter. Leddy's game was up and down for me. Parayko's timing was horrendous.

As the game went on, it became very apparent that the Blues were much bigger and more physical than the Kraken. And not a whole lot slower. I hope/expect to see a very physical game against San Jose.

 

[TurgPavs]

Just to troll fans on this forum.

Sorry but not meaning to Troll, just befuddled at the fact that the Dude is getting more Ice Time then a guy like Kyrou. Hell Kyrou had more then 2 minutes less of ice time then Kappy, and we where down most of the game.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Sorry but not meaning to Troll, just befuddled at the fact that the Dude is getting more Ice Time then a guy like Kyrou. Hell Kyrou had more then 2 minutes less of ice time then Kappy, and we where down most of the game.

No no, I'm pretty sure he's saying the Blues are playing Kappy more minutes to Troll us. Not calling you a troll.

 

[SirPaste]

Are the Hawks in danger of not being good while they have Bedard and losing him to free agency?

lol no

 

[joe galiba]

We had a 1 goal lead and gave up no shots on goal the last 12 minutes of the game, I thought our forwards were much better defensively compared to last year
at least for half a game anyway

 

[eibyyz]

It is amazing how beautiful the western half of Arkansas is and how ugly eastern Arkansas is

West is great for driving through, east is great for tornado chasing.

 

[Reality Czech]

No no, I'm pretty sure he's saying the Blues are playing Kappy more minutes to Troll us. Not calling you a troll.

That is correct. I'm less anti-Kappy than most people here but even I am surprised he played so much.

However, looking at the box score he had 18 total shifts, which would only be more than the 4th line and Texier (and equal to Holloway). So maybe he got stuck on the ice a couple of times long and couldn't change rather than Bannister deciding to play him that much. The difference in ice time among our top 9 forwards wasn't that big.

It seemed to me that Bannister was more or less rolling all 4 lines evenly at even strength, which makes sense to do during the first game. Of course the first line got a bit more and the fourth line less but I think he just wanted everyone to get involved in the first game of the year.

 

[PocketNines]

Went back and rewatched the game and a couple of things stood out:

Broberg didn’t lose many 1:1 battles. He was more physical than I expected him to be, or saw him be with Edmonton.

Thomas was overwhelming for their young Cs, even in the early parts of the game where the rest of the team was a wreck. The shift after Walker got in Dunn's face he stripped the puck 4 times against the Stephenson/Schwartz line in the OZ and created 2 grade A scoring chances, then at the end of the shift he casually swatted the puck off Wrights stick. This was the shift that really created the momentum that lead to the PP.

Shocked to be saying this, but: Kyrou carried the 2nd line in all 3 zones. He was the most consistent defender/checker on that line, and was the only winger consistently pressuring their dmen (who were the early difference for the Kraken, IMO) in the DZ..It was also Kyrou who jumped on with the 4th line and created chaos that led to the PP.

Faksa and Neighbors woke up halfway through the 2nd. Faksa line did a good job managing when Bylsma got the match-ups he wanted. Neighbors created a good amount of chaos on the forecheck. Thomas got those two to ratchet up their intensity, but Neighbors pulled them into a more physical game as things went on. Thomas even had a nice hit and reverse hit in the same sequence in the 3rd. I still don't know that I like them together.

Faulk looked much better than last year, but the half-up passes were a problem for him and everyone else but Broberg and Suter. Leddy's game was up and down for me. Parayko's timing was horrendous.

As the game went on, it became very apparent that the Blues were much bigger and more physical than the Kraken. And not a whole lot slower. I hope/expect to see a very physical game against San Jose.

I am open to Jordan Kyrou becoming a different player than he has been. The alternative is waiting around for time to pass until he's gone, but it would be far more fun if he turned the corner and became good CONSISTENTLY

I noticed someone whose body language was different so we shall see

 

[Linkens Mastery]

If Kyrou can have 5 or 6 goals by the 10 game mark I'll be happy. Especially if he keeps up his defensive game from last game. Dude was hounding the Seattle defensemen all game.

 

[Reality Czech]

If Kyrou can have 5 or 6 goals by the 10 game mark I'll be happy. Especially if he keeps up his defensive game from last game. Dude was hounding the Seattle defensemen all game.

Kyrou looked great and he was very engaged without the puck as well. We need a career year out of him and I think it can happen. If he had started last year stronger he would have flirted with 40/80 goals/points if not higher. I believe I heard Strick say he put on some muscle this summer.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Kyrou looked great and he was very engaged without the puck as well. We need a career year out of him and I think it can happen. If he had started last year stronger he would have flirted with 40/80 goals/points if not higher. I believe I heard Strick say he put on some muscle this summer.

Agreed, I see him falling between 35-45 goals and around the same in assists. I think his final point output falls behind Thomas by 5-10 points but I think he's going to flirt with 80-85 points this season if he's healthy.

 

[Michael64]

Post game thoughts

Obviously the first half was downright brutal but once the team found their momentum in the second they looked much better.

Best Player: Binnington, looked very calm in net made several high danger stops, didn't get rattled after falling behind.

Worst Player: Parayko, he was downright bad tonight. Bad defensive reads, slow decision making with the puck, bad pinches, flubbed pucks, turnovers galore. He was awful tonight, hopefully a one off and not a precursor to the season he will have.

Kyrou obviously had a strong game

Thomas dominated in the dot and had one nice assist, looked much better when reunited with Kyrou and Buch.

Buchnevich at center does not work, his game vastly improved when moved back to Thomas wing.

Holloway looked great on the forecheck, lost the puck in his skates a few times negating some potential chances but overall was good.

Texier had a really bad shift in defensive zone early in the game where he looked lost but as the game went on settled down and played a simple but effective game.

Kapanen, looks like the preseason was a fluke because he was the definition of passenger tonight and was a drag on that 3rd line.

4th Line, Faska, Walker, Toropchenko, I credit them with the shifting the momentum with the brawl after the offside Kraken goal. Felt like a turning point in the game. Would like to see them be a bit more physical on the forecheck during their ice time.

Leddy, Broberg and Faulk were the best defenseman tonight. Leddy in particular was making all kinds of great offensive reads tonight. Broberg obviously had the goal but thought he played a very simple but highly effective game in the defensive zone. Faulk looks to be healthy again and was moving really well.

Suter and Kessel were both there. Suter with a bad read on the second Kraken goal. Kessel cleared a couple of pucks right onto Kraken sticks. Really didn't notice them until they made a mistake, probably played better than I am remembering.

Lastly, as someone else said it has been a long time since I have seen a Blues team lock down the defensive zone with a lead in a game. Not only did we not give up any grade A chances late, we didn't allow a shot on goal in the last 10 minutes or so. Solid five man effort to close out the game.

Agreed on all fronts.

Question: why do the cap gymnastics wrt Bolduc, dress him then healthy scratch him? I get the desire to have him play top 6 but if I saw correctly Kapanen was 17 minutes of ice time? That is easily top 6 ish time. I really do not get the thinking here. He can play on a solid 3rd line and get PP time...and learn. Flummoxed.

Lastly I do not always agree with The Athletic writers, however agree with their article wrt game 1 - kudos to Walker. For stirring the pot with Dunn and agree that was TSN turning pt.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Agreed on all fronts.

Question: why do the cap gymnastics wrt Bolduc, dress him then healthy scratch him? I get the desire to have him play top 6 but if I saw correctly Kapanen was 17 minutes of ice time? That is easily top 6 ish time. I really do not get the thinking here. He can play on a solid 3rd line and get PP time...and learn. Flummoxed.

Lastly I do not always agree with The Athletic writers, however agree with their article wrt game 1 - kudos to Walker. For stirring the pot with Dunn and agree that was TSN turning pt.

I think it was more because they wanted Bolduc to play either tomorrow or Friday and they had to have enough room to put Saad and friends on IR and Baby Leave

 

[Reality Czech]

Agreed on all fronts.

Question: why do the cap gymnastics wrt Bolduc, dress him then healthy scratch him? I get the desire to have him play top 6 but if I saw correctly Kapanen was 17 minutes of ice time? That is easily top 6 ish time. I really do not get the thinking here. He can play on a solid 3rd line and get PP time...and learn. Flummoxed.

Lastly I do not always agree with The Athletic writers, however agree with their article wrt game 1 - kudos to Walker. For stirring the pot with Dunn and agree that was TSN turning pt.

See my post above regarding Kapanen. I think it's much more likely he got stuck on the ice for a couple of long shifts rather than Bannister actively deciding to play him 17 minutes. The forward lines more of less played the game number of shifts in the game.

Regarding Bolduc, didn't they send him down on paper so Krug could be put on LTIR after the season started? Also the Saad situation may have played a role. It's safe to say they have some technical reason for making that move even if I don't know what it is.

 

[Brian39]

I'm much more pleased/encouraged by that game than I expected to be at the 1st intermission.

My 1st star has to go to Binner. As great as Kyrou was, that game was only within reach because Binner was fantastic. We had absolutely no business being tied at the end of the 1st and then the onslaught continued through the 2nd before we scored our quick 3 goals. That game easily could (and probably should) have been 3 or 4 to nothing with Seattle going into lockdown mode to better protect against the stretch pass before we started firing on all cylinders.

2nd star to Kyrou. He was great last night. He looked 2 steps faster than anyone on the ice and he was a genuine contributor defensively. That was a star player performance and I thought he was pretty obviously the best player on the ice yesterday. My money was on him to have a career year this year and that was a great start.

I'd probably give the 3rd star to Leddy because I thought he played an excellent game in all 3 zones. But I think there are a handful of guys you could swap in that I wouldn't argue with.

Really, really happy with Broberg's first game. Broberg looked right at home in a top 4 role and was 3rd on the team in 5 on 5 minutes. Broberg, Faulk, Parayko, and Leddy each played 19+ minutes at 5 on 5 while Suter played 14:01 and Kessel played 12:40. That was a pretty emphatic message that Bannister wants to lean heavily on his top 2 pairs while the rest of the D fight for limited/sheltered 3rd pair minutes. It would have been pretty easy for Bannister to give Suter a few spot shifts with Faulk/Parayko to ease Broberg in, but he chose not to do that. It certainly looks like Broberg is going to get every opportunity to play 20 minutes a night this year.

I'm happy we got 2 points and prevented Seattle from getting it to OT for a loser point. I'm willing to mostly chalk up the slow start to the weird/dumb 1:30 local start on the road, but I'm not going to completely ignore the fact that we were getting absolutely throttled by a team that I have pegged as pretty mediocre.

Hopefully this is the last time Kappy leads forwards in 5 on 5 TOI. I agree with the take that his TOI is a result of getting caught out there unable to change too often and not an intentional strategy. But I thought he should have gotten parked on the bench instead of kept in the rotation. I'd like to see him in the press box tomorrow night.

As we all expected, the center position after Thomas is a major question mark. I thought Buch was 'fine' playing center, but his play was noticeably better on the shifts he played at wing. I expect the experiment to continue out of necessity, but this was certainly another data point that he's just never going to be as good at center as he is on the wing.

All in all, I thought it was a mixed bag with more positives than negatives. I loved the way we played after getting a lead, but we're not going to get many leads if that is the formula every night.

Moving forward, Thursday is about the best possible scheduling set up you can get this early in the year. We should have gotten into San Jose at a very reasonable hour last night due to the early start. We'll have been in the Pacific time zone for 4 days with 2 good nights sleep in San Jose. We should be a well rested team that has already shaken off the rust. San Jose's top 2 centers are teenagers making their NHL debuts. We are well set up to put the boots to them early, build a lead, and then see if we can clamp down the defense again. We lost all 3 games to the Sharks last year and managed just a single loser point. Winning all 3 of those games would have put us at 97 points, just 1 point behind Vegas for the last playoff spot. The returning Blues should be pissed about their results against the Sharks last year and if this team is going to push for a playoff spot they need to come out with a much better start tomorrow night.

 

[taylord22]

I am open to Jordan Kyrou becoming a different player than he has been. The alternative is waiting around for time to pass until he's gone, but it would be far more fun if he turned the corner and became good CONSISTENTLY

I noticed someone whose body language was different so we shall see

Agreed on all accounts, and the consistency is -the- thing for him. We saw some of this, last year, but it was up and down. He's a dangerous checker when he's trying...the maturity has been the thing standing in the way.

 

[Celtic Note]

I'm much more pleased/encouraged by that game than I expected to be at the 1st intermission.

My 1st star has to go to Binner. As great as Kyrou was, that game was only within reach because Binner was fantastic. We had absolutely no business being tied at the end of the 1st and then the onslaught continued through the 2nd before we scored our quick 3 goals. That game easily could (and probably should) have been 3 or 4 to nothing with Seattle going into lockdown mode to better protect against the stretch pass before we started firing on all cylinders.

2nd star to Kyrou. He was great last night. He looked 2 steps faster than anyone on the ice and he was a genuine contributor defensively. That was a star player performance and I thought he was pretty obviously the best player on the ice yesterday. My money was on him to have a career year this year and that was a great start.

I'd probably give the 3rd star to Leddy because I thought he played an excellent game in all 3 zones. But I think there are a handful of guys you could swap in that I wouldn't argue with.

Really, really happy with Broberg's first game. Broberg looked right at home in a top 4 role and was 3rd on the team in 5 on 5 minutes. Broberg, Faulk, Parayko, and Leddy each played 19+ minutes at 5 on 5 while Suter played 14:01 and Kessel played 12:40. That was a pretty emphatic message that Bannister wants to lean heavily on his top 2 pairs while the rest of the D fight for limited/sheltered 3rd pair minutes. It would have been pretty easy for Bannister to give Suter a few spot shifts with Faulk/Parayko to ease Broberg in, but he chose not to do that. It certainly looks like Broberg is going to get every opportunity to play 20 minutes a night this year.

I'm happy we got 2 points and prevented Seattle from getting it to OT for a loser point. I'm willing to mostly chalk up the slow start to the weird/dumb 1:30 local start on the road, but I'm not going to completely ignore the fact that we were getting absolutely throttled by a team that I have pegged as pretty mediocre.

Hopefully this is the last time Kappy leads forwards in 5 on 5 TOI. I agree with the take that his TOI is a result of getting caught out there unable to change too often and not an intentional strategy. But I thought he should have gotten parked on the bench instead of kept in the rotation. I'd like to see him in the press box tomorrow night.

As we all expected, the center position after Thomas is a major question mark. I thought Buch was 'fine' playing center, but his play was noticeably better on the shifts he played at wing. I expect the experiment to continue out of necessity, but this was certainly another data point that he's just never going to be as good at center as he is on the wing.

All in all, I thought it was a mixed bag with more positives than negatives. I loved the way we played after getting a lead, but we're not going to get many leads if that is the formula every night.

Moving forward, Thursday is about the best possible scheduling set up you can get this early in the year. We should have gotten into San Jose at a very reasonable hour last night due to the early start. We'll have been in the Pacific time zone for 4 days with 2 good nights sleep in San Jose. We should be a well rested team that has already shaken off the rust. San Jose's top 2 centers are teenagers making their NHL debuts. We are well set up to put the boots to them early, build a lead, and then see if we can clamp down the defense again. We lost all 3 games to the Sharks last year and managed just a single loser point. Winning all 3 of those games would have put us at 97 points, just 1 point behind Vegas for the last playoff spot. The returning Blues should be pissed about their results against the Sharks last year and if this team is going to push for a playoff spot they need to come out with a much better start tomorrow night.

On the scheduling, our schedule through the year looks pretty darn nice until the end. We have a very consistent schedule and limited back-to-backs. Then it all can ages for the worse.

 

[PocketNines]

Seattle is going to go as far as their goaltending will take them and it is just ok (literally, but in french, at 5 more years at 5M per). Two years ago they had a ton of scoring and last year it dried up. They are going to rebound this year in scoring, you can feel it. Wright and Montour are just making too many plays out there and they didn't have that last year.

Their D is not super stout defensively and their goaltending is mediocre but they will score

 

[Reality Czech]

I'm much more pleased/encouraged by that game than I expected to be at the 1st intermission.

My 1st star has to go to Binner. As great as Kyrou was, that game was only within reach because Binner was fantastic. We had absolutely no business being tied at the end of the 1st and then the onslaught continued through the 2nd before we scored our quick 3 goals. That game easily could (and probably should) have been 3 or 4 to nothing with Seattle going into lockdown mode to better protect against the stretch pass before we started firing on all cylinders.

2nd star to Kyrou. He was great last night. He looked 2 steps faster than anyone on the ice and he was a genuine contributor defensively. That was a star player performance and I thought he was pretty obviously the best player on the ice yesterday. My money was on him to have a career year this year and that was a great start.

I'd probably give the 3rd star to Leddy because I thought he played an excellent game in all 3 zones. But I think there are a handful of guys you could swap in that I wouldn't argue with.

Really, really happy with Broberg's first game. Broberg looked right at home in a top 4 role and was 3rd on the team in 5 on 5 minutes. Broberg, Faulk, Parayko, and Leddy each played 19+ minutes at 5 on 5 while Suter played 14:01 and Kessel played 12:40. That was a pretty emphatic message that Bannister wants to lean heavily on his top 2 pairs while the rest of the D fight for limited/sheltered 3rd pair minutes. It would have been pretty easy for Bannister to give Suter a few spot shifts with Faulk/Parayko to ease Broberg in, but he chose not to do that. It certainly looks like Broberg is going to get every opportunity to play 20 minutes a night this year.

I'm happy we got 2 points and prevented Seattle from getting it to OT for a loser point. I'm willing to mostly chalk up the slow start to the weird/dumb 1:30 local start on the road, but I'm not going to completely ignore the fact that we were getting absolutely throttled by a team that I have pegged as pretty mediocre.

Hopefully this is the last time Kappy leads forwards in 5 on 5 TOI. I agree with the take that his TOI is a result of getting caught out there unable to change too often and not an intentional strategy. But I thought he should have gotten parked on the bench instead of kept in the rotation. I'd like to see him in the press box tomorrow night.

As we all expected, the center position after Thomas is a major question mark. I thought Buch was 'fine' playing center, but his play was noticeably better on the shifts he played at wing. I expect the experiment to continue out of necessity, but this was certainly another data point that he's just never going to be as good at center as he is on the wing.

All in all, I thought it was a mixed bag with more positives than negatives. I loved the way we played after getting a lead, but we're not going to get many leads if that is the formula every night.

Moving forward, Thursday is about the best possible scheduling set up you can get this early in the year. We should have gotten into San Jose at a very reasonable hour last night due to the early start. We'll have been in the Pacific time zone for 4 days with 2 good nights sleep in San Jose. We should be a well rested team that has already shaken off the rust. San Jose's top 2 centers are teenagers making their NHL debuts. We are well set up to put the boots to them early, build a lead, and then see if we can clamp down the defense again. We lost all 3 games to the Sharks last year and managed just a single loser point. Winning all 3 of those games would have put us at 97 points, just 1 point behind Vegas for the last playoff spot. The returning Blues should be pissed about their results against the Sharks last year and if this team is going to push for a playoff spot they need to come out with a much better start tomorrow night.

Agree on all counts. Leddy was our best defenseman without a doubt. Not a very exciting player but extremely reliable. He made up for Colt's so-so performance and then some. Faulk also looked good and while Broberg didn't blow me away, I like the potential there. Having another D that can contribute on offense will be nice. The third pair will be our weakness but it's not like they were terrible. They were just kinda there.