2017-2018 Blues Discussion Thread Part 2

[stl76]

He's a better option then guys on their offside and he's worlds better then Butler. Walman was hot garbage in a light NHL setting. Yea...thats right Walman lovers...I said it ...hot ****ing garbage.

Boooo!!! Hisssss!!!

But seriously, I think it would be a mistake for folks to write off Walman after struggling in the preseason. He clearly has a LOT to work on in the AHL this season (his defensive play, positioning, etc), but his skating is still elite and his shot is outstanding. In the long run, I still like him more than Dunn based on his offensive upside and the belief in his work ethic to improve defensively.

Dunn is 100% more ready for the NHL right now tho. Hats off to him, he decisively beat out Walman for his roster spot. I will say, one of the things that has always concerned me about Dunn is a tendency to be a bit of a hot head. However, from what I saw in the preseason, he seemed much more calm and composed than I expected. Hopefully he can keep that up and not take too many dumb penalties!

 

[Dbrownss]

Boooo!!! Hisssss!!!

But seriously, I think it would be a mistake for folks to write off Walman after struggling in the preseason. He clearly has a LOT to work on in the AHL this season (his defensive play, positioning, etc), but his skating is still elite and his shot is outstanding. In the long run, I still like him more than Dunn based on his offensive upside and the belief in his work ethic to improve defensively.

Dunn is 100% more ready for the NHL right now tho. Hats off to him, he decisively beat out Walman for his roster spot. I will say, one of the things that has always concerned me about Dunn is a tendency to be a bit of a hot head. However, from what I saw in the preseason, he seemed much more calm and composed than I expected. Hopefully he can keep that up and not take too many dumb penalties!

Im not writing him off lol. He just needs time to work on his game at the pro level. I will disagree that offense potential is alog higher then Dunn. Different approach to the Ozone with each guy but I see them putting up similar pts

 

[Stealth JD]

Yeah, we are focused on the negative right now, but it won't be long and we will be getting Steen back. That alone will make the lines look a ton better.

Unless of course...Steen looks like he did last year...in which case that's not really much of a help. 20 better bounce back, or the Blues will be playing from behind a lot.

 

[Oberyn]

Yeah I'm not putting too much weight into Walman's poor preseason. It seems he's still in the adjustment period, and needs to learn that some of the plays he makes in college likely won't work against grown men. Hopefully he lights it up in the AHL.

 

[carter333167]

Jaskin in the top 6????? We should have shipped him off with Lehtera...if for nothing but to prevent the coaching staff from giving him more than he deserves.

 

[TheBluePenguin]

Unless of course...Steen looks like he did last year...in which case that's not really much of a help. 20 better bounce back, or the Blues will be playing from behind a lot.

That is the first thing I though also, are we getting Steen back (Who has been my Favorite Blue the last few years) OR are we getting last years Steen back who seemed to get old really quick. We desperately need the Steen from 2 years ago.

 

[STL fan in MN]

TT over Blais could very well just be for cap reasons. To best utilize LTIR, a team needs to be as close to the cap as possible. TT’s cap hit is $252k more than Blais’, so it helps.

I’m not going to say that’s definitely the reason why TT was kept over Blais but it certainly could be as I agree that in what I saw, Blais earned it more and TT needs more seasoning.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the two swap places soon.

 

[Spektre]

Half the team hurt and the coach is brain dead on picking roster players. This season has Blues written all over it and we're not even to the 1st game.

Sobotka-Stastny-Tarasenko
Schwartz-Schenn-Jaskin
Paajarvi-Sundqvist-Thompson
Upshall-Brodziak-Thorburn

E: Barbashev, Megan


I'm not against Thompson getting a look. Jaskin on the top 6? Paajarvi & Sundqvist > Barbashev who played his way to the top line last year? Don't send Megan down but scratch him for CarpetBurn?

Yeo is a genius I guess.

 

[Blanick]

Just a note. Jeff Jones thinks that Blais getting sent down and Thompson staying up could have been done to help with cap space as it comes to LTIR. He explains it better on his twitter @jmjones. He goes on to say they could flip Blais and Thompson tomorrow after the rosters are officially set.

 

[rumrokh]

I think Thompson is NHL-ready, but his making it over Blais is weird. Very interested to hear an explanation that I'm fairly certain will not satisfy anyone.

I mean, Thompson is probably going to be sent down when Steen returns, anyway, so it could just be to give Thompson more instruction/practice time with the team; but I'd like to see Blais rewarded.

If it IS based on screwing around with cap space, that's very strange. Why on earth would the amount of LTIR overage you're allowed be relative to how much cap space you have on one day?

 

[stl76]

Im not writing him off lol. He just needs time to work on his game at the pro level. I will disagree that offense potential is alog higher then Dunn. Different approach to the Ozone with each guy but I see them putting up similar pts

For sure, didn't mean to insinuate that you were writing him off, tho I can see how my post may have seemed like it. I meant it in a more general sense.

I just like Walman's raw offensive tools more than Dunn's. Hopefully they both become great NHLers!

TT over Blais could very well just be for cap reasons. To best utilize LTIR, a team needs to be as close to the cap as possible. TT’s cap hit is $252k more than Blais’, so it helps.

I’m not going to say that’s definitely the reason why TT was kept over Blais but it certainly could be as I agree that in what I saw, Blais earned it more and TT needs more seasoning.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the two swap places soon.

Just a note. Jeff Jones thinks that Blais getting sent down and Thompson staying up could have been done to help with cap space as it comes to LTIR. He explains it better on his twitter @jmjones. He goes on to say they could flip Blais and Thompson tomorrow after the rosters are officially set.

Thompson over Blais for cap reasons makes sense, I guess. If anyone can explain the situation there in greater depth I'd be interested to learn more. Dunno how to embed tweets, but Jeff Jones explained it thusly:

The amount of overage you’re allowed is determined based on space. LTIR would be from Berglund. Want to get as close to 3.8 as possible.
...
I believe the official league year starts tomorrow. They could swap them back on Wednesday in time for the game.

 

[Dbrownss]

In a Blues tweet, they were interviewing TT....i doubt they would allow the media to talk to him if they were going to send him down before game 1. I think he's here to stay for a bit. Having a RHS that can fire laser beams will really help.


@stl76
All i see from Walman is his shot, and it nose dived big time against NHLish defense. I see Dunn as more of a puck distributor that can shoot and Walman as more of a shooter. Its funny if you go back and look at scouting reports....they look flipped

 

[Oberyn]

If it's for cap reasons then it makes sense

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Yeo was “non-plussed” by Barbashev’s camp.

I can’t say I remember Barbashev standing out positively very much from any of the reports and games. That said, don’t remember hearing much from Sundqvist either.

 

[BlueDream]

So Thompson's defensive ability helped him beat out Blais? According to Yeo.

Surprising.

 

[Majorityof1]

The cap explanation makes no sense unless we are signing someone else. I am by no means an expert on cap space, but here is my layman's reasoning why. Players who are on LTIR still count against the cap. You do not net cap savings from them being hurt, at leas not that can accrue toward the trade deadline for example. You can only go over the cap by an amount up to the amount of the player salary. So Berglund makes $3.8 M. If we have 2.8M space without him, we get relief in the amount of $1M and have $0 space. IF we call up TT over Blias so we have $2.3M without Berglund, we get more relief ($1.5M), but still have $0 accruing toward the trade deadline. So at the end of the day, we get more cap relief with TT, but its the same bottom line, we don't accrue any extra cap space to be used at the deadline.

 

[Majorityof1]

Yeo was “non-plussed” by Barbashev’s camp.

I can’t say I remember Barbashev standing out positively very much from any of the reports and games. That said, don’t remember hearing much from Sundqvist either.

Source? I didn't see a video about the cuts on the Blues homepage.

 

[The Note]

How many times does Jaskin have to show he’s not a top 6 player in the NHL before the organization gets it? Good lord. He’s only an everyday player if he’s on the 4th line. The third line is also a total train wreck. If Steen doesn’t rebound in a big way our forward lines are gross. The only positive thing to happen was Dunn making the team.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I like that Tage and Dunn made the team. I dislike every single one of our forward lines. I hate that Upshall is the reason Blais didn’t make it. Things could change by Wednesday, but no Barbie or Megan in the lineup is a joke.

 

[Oberyn]

Apparently Yeo really liked the Paajarvi-Sundqvist-Thompson line. I'll have to pay close attention to these three on Wednesday night.

 

[Stealth JD]

Jesus...ESPN expects the Blues to finish 6th in the Central:

DAL
NAS
CHI
WPG
MIN
STL
COL

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/...nhl-teams-2017-18-storylines-news-predictions

Can't see it personally...but I guess that's why the games are played on the ice and not on paper.

 

[Klank Loves You]

How many times does Jaskin have to show he’s not a top 6 player in the NHL before the organization gets it? Good lord. He’s only an everyday player if he’s on the 4th line. The third line is also a total train wreck. If Steen doesn’t rebound in a big way our forward lines are gross. The only positive thing to happen was Dunn making the team.

Eh. This is probably Jaskin's last chance with the organization. There is a lot of younger, promising talent coming through the pipeline that are clamoring for his roster spot. With all the injuries in the top 9, it's time for him to sink or swim. If he can't produce with Schwartz and Schenn,

 

[Splatter]

Jesus...ESPN expects the Blues to finish 6th in the Central:

DAL
NAS
CHI
WPG
MIN
STL
COL

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/...nhl-teams-2017-18-storylines-news-predictions

Can't see it personally...but I guess that's why the games are played on the ice and not on paper.

I'm stunned they didn't have Chicago in first.

 

[Bluesnatic27]

From all that I've heard about Sundqvist, I'm not too upset that he's playing in game 1. I suspect we'll see a different line-up on Saturday with Barbeshev going in instead of Sundqvist as just more experimenting.

I will say, I'm dumbfounded that Blais isn't on the team right now. I hope the cap reasoning is why, because Blais has done nothing but look good all preseason. I know I'm pretty biased because I've been a Blais fan for a long time, but I still think that it should have been Thompson to be sent down only to be brought up again, or not brought up at all until later in the year.

Also, thank god we managed Schenn in the offseason, because just imagine this line-up with Lehtera in and no Fabbri or Steen...

 

[TheBluePenguin]

Jesus...ESPN expects the Blues to finish 6th in the Central:

DAL
NAS
CHI
WPG
MIN
STL
COL

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/...nhl-teams-2017-18-storylines-news-predictions

Can't see it personally...but I guess that's why the games are played on the ice and not on paper.

You could have stopped reading there, they have had horrid hockey reporting for so long i never even try to get news from them, I do like their the score board page the best though.