Half-Assed GDT: There's a game today against the Hawks

[BlueSeal]

While obviously adding a top pair D would make team better, I don't think problem is that simple. This team is not playing well. Their intensity is too inconsistent, their consistency is missing, their execution is bad all over the ice. Maybe it's just a slump. Maybe flu is going around team. But this looks a lot like what typically precedes a coach firing. Which would be unfortunate bc if they would play the way Chief wants we wouldn't be in this place.

All symptoms of the same problem imo: lack of balance. Imagine if we had a true top 4 strong Dman. Totally changes the dyadic and strengthens the D.

I feel one glitch can affect the team on many levels and in many ways. And that can affect morale too and goaltending.

Our problem isn’t complicated and I feel Army will fix it. The team has to show the resolve to improve or it won’t matter what is done. I believe in them and have faith in them. We’ll be ok.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

All symptoms of the same problem imo: lack of balance. Imagine if we had a true top 4 strong Dman. Totally changes the dyadic and strengthens the D.

I feel one glitch can affect the team on many levels and in many ways. And that can affect morale too and goaltending.

Our problem isn’t complicated and I feel Army will fix it. The team has to show the resolve to improve or it won’t matter what is done. I believe in them and have faith in them. We’ll be ok.

Think you are misdiagnosing issue. Adding another defensive D ain't gonna fix what ails our forwards, who have been biggest culprit in our underachieving.

 

[parliamentlite]

No one is going to magically change our roster composition at this point. They just need to figure out who fits where and execute.

It won't happen overnight, but this is a good roster.

 

[BlueSeal]

Think you are misdiagnosing issue. Adding another defensive D ain't gonna fix what ails our forwards, who have been biggest culprit in our underachieving.

True but mind that the team’s scoring comes from its blueline too and it needs sheltering badly. We’re not losing because we’re not scoring goals, we’re losing because we can’t stop rallies and runs on us. When the other team, hell, any team so far, digs in, they push us over. That’s a defense issue.

 

[BlueSeal]

I didn’t know we were going for a Top 5 pick.

That’s cute but there is a lot going right. Wow we’re having some issues, all teams have them and we tend to get them too. It’s not the end of the world. We were the worst in December and won the Cup, I ain’t worried.

And for those who think one guy can’t make a difference, we called up a rookie netminder and look how much of a difference that made. And I know quite a few who lost their mind because normal teams don’t do that.

Well I got news for you, we won’t do it the same as anyone else and that’s why we won. The team is borked that way and we get great results when we run like that.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

True but mind that the team’s scoring comes from its blueline too and it needs sheltering badly. We’re not losing because we’re not scoring goals, we’re losing because we can’t stop rallies and runs on us. When the other team, hell, any team so far, digs in, they push us over. That’s a defense issue.

Defense isn’t just defensemen. Many of goals against are because forwards not picking up their man. I’m not saying that replacing Scandella with Hampus Lindholm wouldn’t be nice, just that I think it isn’t our biggest issue.

 

[i aint Dunn yet]

glad i missed this one

so much for hockey being back on espn ... it was just a ploy for people to sign up for espn+

 

[ScratchCatFever]

Hard worker does not equal good leader. Ror needs to be able to get others to work hard and buy in and in 2 years he has not. Is no one else concerned that the "identity line does not feature the captain.

Most captains typically aren't on a team's identity line. An identity line is essentially what used to be referred to as a 'grind line'. Their purpose is to be hard on the forecheck and provide energy which reverberates through the team. In '19 Sunny, Barbs, and Steen were identity line.

 

[Spektre]

Glad I missed this espn bs .. embarrassing how this roster loses to Chicago and Arizona

 

[Blueline2757]

I'm back from work and watched the 3rd period and now I wished I didn't. I'm pissed off. Did I mention how horrid Krug is

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

I'm back from work and watched the 3rd period and now I wished I didn't. I'm pissed off. Did I mention how horrid Krug is

Once or twice.

 

[BlueSeal]

I'm back from work and watched the 3rd period and now I wished I didn't. I'm pissed off. Did I mention how horrid Krug is

My thing with Krug is that I don't buy him being a Dman. 5'9", 194lbs and he plays more like a forward. This is all just my opinion but the only time he's really useful is when he puts up points, and he does a pretty good job of that.

He has moments but he needs to be paired with a really strong, talented Dman or the pairing suffers and we give up SOG and get scored on. I know there's a lot of concern about our forward lines but I look at how many opportunities we give up on goal over the goals we have. If our D was tighter, we'd win all these close games.

Granted, like Blueston has said himself, that's not all the problem, but it is a good place to start. Let the forward do their jobs and frankly, the D (and the team) needs to do theirs. I can't see how we can do that if we're strengthening sheltered players whose primary job should be playing the roles they're slotted in for. If they can't do the job, I'd rather have some kid called up, even if it costs us a game. At worst that would motivate folks to step up and get better.

 

[Thallis]

Barbashev's 5v5 offense has started nosediving.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Barbashev's 5v5 offense has started nosediving.

You can’t be surprised. He is so much more effective as forechecking demon than when he is expected to play skill role. He has tools but doesn’t think game at high enough level to consistently produce.

 

[Thallis]

You can’t be surprised. He is so much more effective as forechecking demon than when he is expected to play skill role. He has tools but doesn’t think game at high enough level to consistently produce.

I'm not really surprised, but him being an offensive driver was a big part of our successful start and making our forward lines click. Without that, defenses can differ to covering his linemates, and we have a hole at LW again.

 

[i aint Dunn yet]

2 freaking shots on net in the third ? wtf is that ? ... might as well

 

[Majorityof1]

The talent level on this team is so much higher than the compete level.

Is it possible we just overrate the talent level? Its the wheel of Blues disappointment. Someone needs to re-post it, because it is so freaking accurate. In the off-season, we are so high on everything, and then when the team plays below those ridiculous expectations, the world is falling. Obviously, we need to beat teams like Chicago and Arizona, but teams have off-nights. I think we as a collective group judge the team too much by how they play when all things are clicking. We set that as the baseline of average play, and anything less is a disappointment. By the baseline, average is somewhat below that. No team operates at peak capacity game in and game out. If we reset the baseline to a more appropriate level, losses like this are less dissapointing (though still disappointing).

Look at the someone like Saad. Last year Colorado was a one line team and he was garbage. Then we sign him and Armstrong is a genius to get such a great player. Then he went through a stretch where he struggled and he wasn't a great signing. Then he gets hot and scores some goals, and Armstrong is a genius again. Neither Armstrong's genius, nor Saad's skill/effort changed during that time. Players just go through peaks and valleys. Its our reaction to them that changes so drastically.

This team has at least one serious roster construction issue. We might also have some chemistry issues with several brand new players and youngsters getting more minutes than they have previously. Both those could correct themselves over time. The roster construction issue with no strong defensive LD will take roster moves or a gameplan change to fix. The other could just sort itself out naturally. Either way, it was foolish to have expected this team to maintain the hot start at the start of the season. People smarter than I were posting about all the hidden red flags. Most of the board just chose to ignore them until they punched us in the nose.

 

[Majorityof1]

It's one aspect of being a captain. Ror is not above criticism especially with how bad the team, the he supposedly leads, is performing..

It's the culture. It does matter and it does trickle down. We are in the second season of ror's captaincy and the overall theme is underperformed and weak. That is a reflection of him as a leader. He needs to lead and not just on social media and post game interviews..

How many fights does ror have? Has he ever stuck up for anyone in his career, that's a leader to you?

RoR is absolutely not above criticism, but he is above dumb criticism. What you are criticizing him for is ridiculous. Several people have given examples of good captains who didn't fight. You couldn't respond. Your only evidence for ROR's lack of leadership is circumstantial. Correlation does not mean causation. ROR becomes captain, Blues do not win the cup. Well we only one under 1 captain and he didn't fight either. We had loads of disappointing seasons under captains who did fight.

I would argue most captains in the NHL now don't fight. Jordan Staal, Carolina's captain hasn't fought since 2017. Florida's captain Barkov has never fought. Someone mentioned Stamkos already. Maple Leaf's capatin Tavares hasn't fought since 2010. Capitals captain Ovechkin has 1 fight since 2010. Crosby has 1 fight since 2015. McDavid has 2 fights in his career, both in 2014. Spurgeon has 1 fight in his career over a decade ago. Landeskog is the biggest fighter of the top teams that Ilooked at and it is far less than 2 a year.

First, the league has moved on from tough guys fighters. Also, captains are generally one of the team's better players. It is dumb to have one of your better players get taken off the ice for 5 minutes and risk getting hurt in fight. Also, it is really bad to start a fight and get your ass kicked. Schenn's fight arguably sparked Chicago more than it did us. If ROR went out and got his ass handed to him in a fight because he is not a fighter, who does that help avenge? ROR needs to avenge Perron on the scoreboard. He didn't, and you can criticize him for that. But criticizing him for not fighting is just dumb.

 

[Majorityof1]

Yeah, I think it might be time to take a break from this site. The toxicity of this place has been skyrocketing lately. And with me trying to actually stay sober I need to get away from it.

Sucks to lose you from the board, but do what you have to for your own health and well-being. Having been close to someone who struggled with sobriety, it is not easy. Good for you for recognizing something potentially triggering and stepping away. Congratulations on what you have achieved so far in getting to this point. One day at a time. You got this.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I wasn’t surprised to see the team struggle today. I also don’t think any significant trade is forthcoming. I think this team needs a little time to work through this stretch, establish some chemistry and stability with lines and pairings, and we’ll see them looking like a solid playoff team again. Looking around the conference, there aren’t any overwhelming teams out there. Or are there lineups that don’t share flaws as the Blues do.

I think we are at a point where fans will need a little patience as the players and coaches do the heavy lifting. Calls for a coaching change or a shake-up trade are too impatient. Give it 2-3 weeks and see if you can detect significant improvement (but don’t overreact to a tough stretch of the schedule coming up not yielding a lot of points).

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Unlike last game against Detroit, this game was brutal to watch. We slept through the final 2/3 of it. Once Perron went down, we were a little jumbled. Then Schenn had that fight and we immediately got scored on and we just deflated for the rest of the game. Probably kinda stupid for Schenn to fight there honestly, it put us at only 9 forwards for the first 5ish minutes of period 2, and we never regained our mojo after that.

Every game, it seems like either Krug or Scandella makes some bonehead play that leads to a goal against. It's getting tough to watch. The first goal today was a direct result of Krug passing the puck into the slot off the faceoff inexplicably. Faulk was going behind the net for an easy up and out and was totally caught off guard when Krug threw the puck into the middle. Then Krug was the primary cause for the third goal against by making an ill advised pass in OT that got picked off and led to the 2-on-1 that ended the game. Against Detroit Scandella made a terrible read and cut across the ice on a defensive breakout, even though he had zero support on his side of the ice and two guys supporting the middle, which again led to the first goal against. I didn't love his play on the Larkin goal, but Larkin was Thomas' man. The game before that, against Vegas, Krug made two terrible plays, cheating up when we didn't have possession, causing him to lose inside position on his man in front of the net, leading to the first goal against, and then not coming back and picking up his man after he got hit, leading to the breakaway for the second goal against.

People have been complaining about Parayko, but frankly Parayko is the same guy he's always been. A limited offensive upside D-man who is really good defensively, but needs a solid 4-6M player on pairing. Never, not once, has Parayko been able to carry a pairing. Our D is what it is this year, which is to say a mess. Hopefully by the TDL we can pick up -someone- to stabilize it all, b/c right now it's not working (Which I think most people who were paying attention expected).

 

[ezcreepin]

I feel like we're seeing the Hitchcock effect more and more as the season goes on and as we keep losing games. Berube is trying to get these guys going, whether it's getting them back and engaged or whether guys are in a slump and need some more juice, it just seems like he's mixing lines too often. We know ROR and Perron are soulmates and should never be moved off each other's line unless one of them is injured. Personally, I think Saad probably fits the best there, but you can make a case for someone like Sundqvist or another good cycling forward. Next, you should never split Kyrou and Buchnevich cause it seems like anytime they are on a line together, things work. It's hard to say who should center them because I think you lose a lot of chances when you have a guy like Kyrou and Thomas who will mostly differ, but Kyrou less so. I would think Schenn is probably best between them, so just throw him there and see what happens. Then you've Thomas and Tarasenko who had chemistry earlier, and you might be able to fit Saad there as well.

Literally, just base your lines on these combinations and keep them there for a few games to see what they do and then move forward:
X-ROR-Perron
Buchnevich-X-Kyrou
X-Thomas-Tarasenko

 

[simon IC]

Yeah, I think it might be time to take a break from this site. The toxicity of this place has been skyrocketing lately. And with me trying to actually stay sober I need to get away from it.

Sometimes it is good to take a break. I used to do so regularly. FWIW, I really enjoy and appreciate your input, so I hope you return. Take care of yourself.

 

[Honeycutt]

RoR is absolutely not above criticism, but he is above dumb criticism. What you are criticizing him for is ridiculous. Several people have given examples of good captains who didn't fight. You couldn't respond. Your only evidence for ROR's lack of leadership is circumstantial. Correlation does not mean causation. ROR becomes captain, Blues do not win the cup. Well we only one under 1 captain and he didn't fight either. We had loads of disappointing seasons under captains who did fight.

I would argue most captains in the NHL now don't fight. Jordan Staal, Carolina's captain hasn't fought since 2017. Florida's captain Barkov has never fought. Someone mentioned Stamkos already. Maple Leaf's capatin Tavares hasn't fought since 2010. Capitals captain Ovechkin has 1 fight since 2010. Crosby has 1 fight since 2015. McDavid has 2 fights in his career, both in 2014. Spurgeon has 1 fight in his career over a decade ago. Landeskog is the biggest fighter of the top teams that Ilooked at and it is far less than 2 a year.

First, the league has moved on from tough guys fighters. Also, captains are generally one of the team's better players. It is dumb to have one of your better players get taken off the ice for 5 minutes and risk getting hurt in fight. Also, it is really bad to start a fight and get your ass kicked. Schenn's fight arguably sparked Chicago more than it did us. If ROR went out and got his ass handed to him in a fight because he is not a fighter, who does that help avenge? ROR needs to avenge Perron on the scoreboard. He didn't, and you can criticize him for that. But criticizing him for not fighting is just dumb.

It's not just fighting its standing up for your teammates. And all of those captains stand up for their teammates. Faulk gets ko' d last year and he skates by, perron gets ko'd and he skates by.

This team has taken a passive identity and that starts with the player leadership group led by ror. This team was built to be hard to play against and they are not. You know maybe he does not have to fight what about taking a run at someone. He needs to something more than nothing...

 

[oPlaiD]

This was the first game since before we played Carolina that I've really been unhappy with the team's performance. Sure, we didn't get results in most of those matches, but we were clearly the better team on the ice. Sometimes bounces don't go your way, and sometimes they don't go your way for long stretches.

We had a lot of people overreacting to our 5-0 start when our PDO was through the roof and we were getting tons of bounces. Our PDO on the season is now right at 100 so it's been on the opposite end, and naturally we're still overreacting.

This game was certainly our weakest of the recent stretch, but bad games happen. And if this is our weakest effort over the past week plus and next week, I think we'll be able to live with the results overall over the course of the season.