2017-2018 Blues Discussion Thread Part Three

[Vladys Gumption]

Lines at practice per Korac:

Blais-Stastny-Tarasenko
Schwartz-Schenn-Sobotka
Paajarvi-Barbashev-Jaskin
Upshall-Sundqvist-Brodziak

Gunnarson-Pietrangelo
Edmundson-Parayko
Dunn-Bortuzzo

Extras: Steen, Megan, Thorburn, and Prosser

 

[Dbrownss]

I wonder who's going to stick? I doubt they run Blais there as a place holder. If that's going to be a line, I like what Yeo is doing. He seems very open to putting a player in a position to succeed as opposed to "making them earn/learn" in the bottom 6

 

[wannabebluesplayer]

I wonder who's going to stick? I doubt they run Blais there as a place holder. If that's going to be a line, I like what Yeo is doing. He seems very open to putting a player in a position to succeed as opposed to "making them earn/learn" in the bottom 6

I'm scared he's there as a place holder for Steen. I think they'll end up sending him down after Steen returns. Paajarvi, Jaskin, or Sundqvist needs to be sat and let Blais play when Steen returns, but it looks like it's setting up as a place holder which is unfortunate. Blais and Thompson earned a spot on this team during the preseason. More so than Jaskin, Paajarvi, or Sundqvist.

 

[Oberyn]

Lines at practice per Korac:

Blais-Stastny-Tarasenko
Schwartz-Schenn-Sobotka
Paajarvi-Barbashev-Jaskin
Upshall-Sundqvist-Brodziak

Gunnarson-Pietrangelo
Edmundson-Parayko
Dunn-Bortuzzo

Extras: Steen, Megan, Thorburn, and Prosser

Our 3rd line is so sad to look at

 

[Majorityof1]

I'm scared he's there as a place holder for Steen. I think they'll end up sending him down after Steen returns. Paajarvi, Jaskin, or Sundqvist needs to be sat and let Blais play when Steen returns, but it looks like it's setting up as a place holder which is unfortunate. Blais and Thompson earned a spot on this team during the preseason. More so than Jaskin, Paajarvi, or Sundqvist.

What exactly did Blais and Thompson do in the pre-season to deserve a spot more than Jaskin? Jaskin had just as many points in less games and less favorable usage.

 

[The Note in MI]

Blais Stastny Tarasenko
Schwartz Schenn Sobotka

Adequate top 6 IMO. Blais is a real threat to score kid looked like one of our best players against Tampa. Sobotka with the Bike Line is ok with me. He's a decent playmaker, and should complement the two who really drive the play fairly well. I really think Blais has some Schwartz in him.

Steen Barbashev Jaskin/Paajarvi


Defensively responsible third line, with some playmaking and scoring from Steen and Barby with Jaskin ability to hold onto the puck, and Paajarvi with speed, this could be a decent third line.

Upshall Sundquist Brodziak

Is a good fourth line. Not going to score much but damn good group of PKers.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

Geez I forgot about Sundqvist. I guess he's not making much of an impression on me.

I could see Blais push Paajarvi down or out when Steen returns. But I rather expect Steen to go to Sobotka's spot and form a fantastic line with Schwartz and Schenn. Sobotka has been underwhelming so far. Between Sobotka, Barbashev, Jaskin, Megan, Thompson and Sundqvist, the Blues should be able to make a serviceable 3rd line. But they haven't.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

What exactly did Blais and Thompson do in the pre-season to deserve a spot more than Jaskin? Jaskin had just as many points in less games and less favorable usage.

Maybe you're putting too much emphasis on the preseason points production to make sense of the decision? I don't know how Blais lost out to Thompson, but looks like that had more to do with Thompson's overall development and ceiling in the longer term.

 

[Oberyn]

I hope Blais stays on the top line, I'm curious to see how he does with Stastny and Tarasenko.

Sobotka has been underwhelming for sure, seems to be lacking the tenacity that made him a fan favorite 4 years ago.

I'm sick of Paajarvi in the top nine.

 

[Majorityof1]

You misread, I was comparing Blais to JAskin and Thomspon to Jaskin, not Blais to Thompson. I was respondign to someone who said those two did more this pre-season to deserve a spot than Jaskin. Give me any other metric that had the rookies beating out Jaskin. Jaskin had a very good pre-season. Now we may know what we get with Jaskin over the course of 200 NHL games, but looking at just the pre-season Jaskin beat out Thompson and Blais. We are too caught up with rookies being shiny and new, but saying things like "They earned their spot" based on 6-7 games is ludicrous. I agree Blais should play over Thorburn and Paajarvi who has been terrible. But there is no basis to say they beat Jaskin who did more with less this pre-season.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I'm scared he's there as a place holder for Steen. I think they'll end up sending him down after Steen returns. Paajarvi, Jaskin, or Sundqvist needs to be sat and let Blais play when Steen returns, but it looks like it's setting up as a place holder which is unfortunate. Blais and Thompson earned a spot on this team during the preseason. More so than Jaskin, Paajarvi, or Sundqvist.

When Steen returns, someone’s going to have to be removed from the 23-man roster. Sending Blais down is by far the easiest solution as he’s waiver exempt.

Given that Blais was practicing in the 1LW spot, I highly suspect it’s because he’s the placeholder for Steen. I suspect Steen will play tomorrow and Blais will be sent down after the morning skate once they know Steen is for sure ready to go.

If however Steen isn’t ready to play after tomorrow’s morning skate, then perhaps Blais does get some reps in on that top line. I’d like to see how he can handle it but all signs point to him going back to SA when Steen comes off IR the way I’m seeing it.

 

[wannabebluesplayer]

What exactly did Blais and Thompson do in the pre-season to deserve a spot more than Jaskin? Jaskin had just as many points in less games and less favorable usage.

I'm not basing my feelings solely off of points/usage of the individual players. I looked at how they played, who they played against typically, and watched what I could. Look, if DA wants Jaskin to stay on this team, great, but it should be as a bottom 6 forward, and not take a spot from someone with more offensive upside. I don't care about the points/usage in the preseason. Blais and Thompson looked better. They presented better offensive instincts. I thought Blais honestly outperformed Thompson and Jaskin from the games I watched, but Thompson was kept. I didn't notice Jaskin outside of his power move against Pittsburgh. Plus, Jaskin has had NUMEROUS chances. It's time to give someone else those opportunities. Paajarvi is lower on the depth chart to me than Jaskin or Sundqvist, so he should be the one to sit once Steen is healthy. The Blues NEED extra offense. Jaskin isn't exactly providing it. Neither are Paajarvi or Sundqvist and all 3 are being looked at for some form of secondary offense from the 3rd line. When Steen comes back, I would sit Paajarvi if I had to pick 1 person, and it's based on Sundqvist being good on the PK and Jaskin does have good possession numbers, but they need more than good possession numbers, Jaskin NEEDS to start producing because I think given the time, Thompson and Blais would end up producing more.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

You misread, I was comparing Blais to JAskin and Thomspon to Jaskin, not Blais to Thompson. I was respondign to someone who said those two did more this pre-season to deserve a spot than Jaskin. Give me any other metric that had the rookies beating out Jaskin. Jaskin had a very good pre-season. Now we may know what we get with Jaskin over the course of 200 NHL games, but looking at just the pre-season Jaskin beat out Thompson and Blais. We are too caught up with rookies being shiny and new, but saying things like "They earned their spot" based on 6-7 games is ludicrous. I agree Blais should play over Thorburn and Paajarvi who has been terrible. But there is no basis to say they beat Jaskin who did more with less this pre-season.

I didn't misread. I was illustrating another example where the preseason camp assessments didn't make sense to me.

 

[wannabebluesplayer]

When Steen returns, someone’s going to have to be removed from the 23-man roster. Sending Blais down is by far the easiest solution as he’s waiver exempt.

Given that Blais was practicing in the 1LW spot, I highly suspect it’s because he’s the placeholder for Steen. I suspect Steen will play tomorrow and Blais will be sent down after the morning skate once they know Steen is for sure ready to go.

If however Steen isn’t ready to play after tomorrow’s morning skate, then perhaps Blais does get some reps in on that top line. I’d like to see how he can handle it but all signs point to him going back to SA when Steen comes off IR the way I’m seeing it.

That's what I think is unfortunate. The Blues have given good opportunities to young guys in the past, Fabbri, Edmundson, Parayko being some, but it's always the default to go back to a veteran if it gets a little tough, not let the young guys figure it out. The signing of Upshall really complicated much of this. Blais will go down because he's the easiest to send down, not because of lack of production from the other top 9, but the statement will be "to get top-6 minutes". If you believe him to be a top-6 player, LET HIM STAY AS A TOP 6. Sobotka was brought in as a top 9, more tweener. He can drop to the 3rd line and let Blais play a top 6 role. He looked better than Thompson too in the preseason and I wasn't sure why Thompson was kept, but I agree with 2MM that it probably had to do with upside/ceiling.

 

[nonzerochance]

On the situation with Blais/Steen's return, I'm afraid I've got some possibly bad news.

 

[Dbrownss]

On the situation with Blais/Steen's return, I'm afraid I've got some possibly bad news.

So no one has any idea whats going to happen.


The real big positive is Thorburn isnt playing again

 

[The Note in MI]

Based on how Blais played in his debut I don't see how they could send him back down.

 

[The Note]

I’d like to see them give Blais an extended chance in the top 9. But he’s the easiest to send down so I imagine they’ll just do that when Steen gets back.

Steen-Stastny-Vlad
Schwartz-Schenn-Blais
Sobotka-Barbashev-Jaskin
Upshall-Brodz-Sunquist

Would be my ideal forward lines for the foreseeable future. I guess we’ll see how it all shakes out tomorrow.

 

[The Note in MI]

If they waive Thorburn I'll be so happy

 

[HolyJumpin]

I think they're keeping Blais on the team, they put him on PP2. I think Upshall probably gets the boot as they move everyone down:

Blais-Stastny-Tarasenko
Schwartz-Schenn-Steen
Sobotka-Barbie-Jaskin
PRV-Sund-Brodziak

then if they put someone on waivers or whatever, I'd assume it'll be Megan or Prosser

 

[The Note in MI]

Upshall is not going to be sitting. I wasn't a fan of his signing as some of his play crosses the line into stupid penalties but I recognize his value as a checker and most importantly his PK ability is beyond useful.

A dman is not going to be exposed until we have Jbo back and healthy. And even then it's possible Dunn is sent down being that he's waiver exempt.

 

[Majorityof1]

I'm not basing my feelings solely off of points/usage of the individual players. I looked at how they played, who they played against typically, and watched what I could. Look, if DA wants Jaskin to stay on this team, great, but it should be as a bottom 6 forward, and not take a spot from someone with more offensive upside. I don't care about the points/usage in the preseason. Blais and Thompson looked better. They presented better offensive instincts. I thought Blais honestly outperformed Thompson and Jaskin from the games I watched, but Thompson was kept. I didn't notice Jaskin outside of his power move against Pittsburgh. Plus, Jaskin has had NUMEROUS chances. It's time to give someone else those opportunities. Paajarvi is lower on the depth chart to me than Jaskin or Sundqvist, so he should be the one to sit once Steen is healthy. The Blues NEED extra offense. Jaskin isn't exactly providing it. Neither are Paajarvi or Sundqvist and all 3 are being looked at for some form of secondary offense from the 3rd line. When Steen comes back, I would sit Paajarvi if I had to pick 1 person, and it's based on Sundqvist being good on the PK and Jaskin does have good possession numbers, but they need more than good possession numbers, Jaskin NEEDS to start producing because I think given the time, Thompson and Blais would end up producing more.

What you could watch was less than half the things Yeo and company could. Your eye-test is most likely faulty. You say Tage could create more given the chance, but he has had as much of a chance as Jaskin this season. Jaskin has gotten an extra game, but Tage has gotten twice as much PP time. Jaskin has created 7 scoring chances for himself vs 4 for Tage. 4 of Jaskin's were high danger v 1 for Tage. Jaskin has drawn 2 penalties and created 1 rebound vs 0 on both for Tage. Jaskin has been on the ice for 33 scoring chances v 14 for Tage. High Danger chances are even more lopsided. And let's not talk about defensive stats. Jaskin leads the team in Scoring chance for percentage, high Danger SCF%, and CF%. He doesn't do a lot of fancy things. His shot isn't great. He is very slow, but he is excellent in a support role. Schenn and Schwartz produced the best with him on their line for a reason. Jaskin has had numerous chances because he does things well that allow him to stick around and get those chances. Its not because Yeo suddenly thinks he is suddenly going to sprout wings and fly. There is nothing wrong with allowing Tage to develop in the AHl for a time. Kid's only 19. It would do well to give him some confidence scoring against men at a lower level, rather than having him muck it out in the NHL before he is fully ready.

I didn't misread. I was illustrating another example where the preseason camp assessments didn't make sense to me.

Then I misread. My bad. I was right that someone misread though. I'll take a Dizee point for that prediction.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

I'd rather waive Paajarvi than Upshall.

 

[Dbrownss]

There's Megan, Paajarvi and Thorburn that most likely would clear. Cant say id miss Megan as he hasn't really played. Wouldn't miss Paajarvi, tired of this dance with him. He'll show a few glimpses of being a competent 3rd liner then he goes MIA in a big way. Big that he skates fast, he doesn't do anything with it. Nothing needs to be said about Thorburn

 

[2 Minute Minor]

Is there really any danger of Prosser being picked up if he were sent down? Since he hasn't even gotten into a game, I would think he's more likely the odd man out on D. I would expect Gunnarson to get scratched with Dunn getting pressbox games periodically (moreso if he starts to struggle a bit). Edmundson is getting exposed a bit on Pietro's wing and Bouwmeester's return could be a real boon.

I didn't think it through when I was looking at 8D, since Prosser is probably not a danger to lose on waivers.

When Steen is activated, which forward goes down? I think probably NOT Blais, but I am not sure. Maybe its Barbashev.

(Edit - For some reason I thought Megan had ALREADY been sent down.)