2017-2018 Blues Discussion Thread Part Three

[Note Worthy]

Hope everything works out for Pietro and his family.

 

[Xerloris]

Am I the only one that remembers PK Subban during the all star game talking about Petro having triplets? It was not a secret.

I see someone above me remembers.

 

[Note Worthy]

Am I the only one that remembers PK Subban during the all star game talking about Petro having triplets? It was not a secret.

I see someone above me remembers.

Well it obviously not a secret. JR tweeted it yesterday. I think what they want to remain private is the pregnancy process.

 

[Ranksu]

Pietro play tonight?

 

[HighNote]

Pietro play tonight?

He should be.

Wait is he injured or something?

 

[Ranksu]

He should be.

Wait is he injured or something?

no the triplets.

 

[ort]

If it's triplets then it was probably IVF. If it was IVF, then they can plan their due date... so, very doubtful they would time that to happen during the season.

 

[Note Worthy]

If Tarasenko can get to 35 goals this season that will be pretty impressive for someone who is being considered having a down season. It just shows how talented he truly is.

 

[TruBlu]

I've been thinking about how we've been playing recently. A big part of our success is that we have our D pitching back in. I'm not going to blame Gunnar or JBo for the teams woes, but I really wonder if next season's plan includes them. Neither one of them are offensive minded, and it does appear that the team plays better off without them. Gunnar has already been rumored to be on the block, but I could see them trying to get rid of both with Schmaltz now looking like he is capable of bottom pairing minutes. We also have some other D men waiting in the wings. Gunnar and JBo seem to be holdovers from the Hitch era of hockey, and it seems like Yeo's system works better when we have some D with offensive talent to contribute. What do you guys think?

 

[Robb_K]

I've been thinking about how we've been playing recently. A big part of our success is that we have our D pitching back in. I'm not going to blame Gunnar or JBo for the teams woes, but I really wonder if next season's plan includes them. Neither one of them are offensive minded, and it does appear that the team plays better off without them. Gunnar has already been rumored to be on the block, but I could see them trying to get rid of both with Schmaltz now looking like he is capable of bottom pairing minutes. We also have some other D men waiting in the wings. Gunnar and JBo seem to be holdovers from the Hitch era of hockey, and it seems like Yeo's system works better when we have some D with offensive talent to contribute. What do you guys think?

I like that Schmaltz now seems NHL ready. An entirely mobile unit of Pietrangelo, Edmundson, Parayko, Dunn, Walman, and Schmaltz next season, and adding Mikkola in 2019-20. Might be effective. Dunn and Schmaltz have been improving their defensive end games exponentially, and both Walman and Mikkola have shown defensive awareness and devoted energy to their defensive game all along in their careers (e.g. they have not looked like they wanted to become one-dimensional offensive defencemen). In the meantime, Bortuzzo can remain with the team next season, maybe platooning with Schmaltz, and also subbing for others. He is somewhat mobile, and joins the offence at times.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

I dunno, I think Gunnarsson has actually had himself a solid season. Offense never has been his game, but he’s a nice compliment to an offensive minded guy.

 

[TruBlu]

As I said before, I'm not trying to blame the teams woes on them, It just seems like we do better offensively when they are out of the lineup. Every single time one of them goes down the team seems to play better. They seem to have more energy and less content to play not to lose and more to win. I could just see our up and coming guys who have more in the offensive tool box being the right fit for the style we are trying to play, and it may be that guys like JBo and Gunnar are the square peg trying to be put into the round hole under the current scheme.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I've been thinking about how we've been playing recently. A big part of our success is that we have our D pitching back in. I'm not going to blame Gunnar or JBo for the teams woes, but I really wonder if next season's plan includes them. Neither one of them are offensive minded, and it does appear that the team plays better off without them. Gunnar has already been rumored to be on the block, but I could see them trying to get rid of both with Schmaltz now looking like he is capable of bottom pairing minutes. We also have some other D men waiting in the wings. Gunnar and JBo seem to be holdovers from the Hitch era of hockey, and it seems like Yeo's system works better when we have some D with offensive talent to contribute. What do you guys think?

I agree with you that in a perfect world, it would be best to move on from Bouw especially and probably Gunnar as well but from a logistics standpoint, it’s incredibly unlikely unfortunately.

How could the Blues get rid of them/move on from them? With their long-term injuries, they are both near unmovable. It’s very unlikely a team will want to trade for either as they’re both having major surgeries. Both are expected to recover by about the time camp/next season starts but I just don’t see either as too desirable by other orgs and their injuries hamper that even more. Additionally, the injuries make both ineligible to be bought out as injured players can’t be bought out.

I’ve seen the idea being kicked around of Bouw somehow being on LTIR all of next season but I don’t see that as remotely likely. The much more likely option is that he returns but is another step slower, making him that much less effective. Probably the same with Gunnar.

So long story short, I think the Blues are stuck with both unfortunately.

 

[Ranksu]

I dunno, I think Gunnarsson has actually had himself a solid season. Offense never has been his game, but he’s a nice compliment to an offensive minded guy.

Those 5 goals were just flukys. Shoot the puck in the net. I'll give him tap on shoulder getting those pucks in the net while Jbo is shooting those slap pass in the boards and play extra safe. But speaking that Gunnar has offensive minded game in his repertoire or compliment is baloney.

Gunnar has been most safest top6 defenseman in the NHL who you would pick when scoring lowest in the season or lowest points all from NHL defensemans.

If I remember correctly I made money from betting Gunnar last season with who's going to produce point wise lowest at NHL defenseman and playing regularly top6 + over half of season.

 

[PiggySmalls]

Neither Gunny or JBow hold negative value. There might be some need to retain on JBow in order to maximize draft pick returning. Obviously it is a low chance either are traded this summer. But if the depth D do not have good camps I can see one of them being held onto well into or the whole season.

 

[stl76]

I've been thinking about how we've been playing recently. A big part of our success is that we have our D pitching back in. I'm not going to blame Gunnar or JBo for the teams woes, but I really wonder if next season's plan includes them. Neither one of them are offensive minded, and it does appear that the team plays better off without them. Gunnar has already been rumored to be on the block, but I could see them trying to get rid of both with Schmaltz now looking like he is capable of bottom pairing minutes. We also have some other D men waiting in the wings. Gunnar and JBo seem to be holdovers from the Hitch era of hockey, and it seems like Yeo's system works better when we have some D with offensive talent to contribute. What do you guys think?

I think a lot of folks (not just you) have read too much into Jbo's performance while he tried to play thru injury this year, and while he was playing too much on the top pairing last year. JBo is no longer a top pairing guy, and IMO he was forced to play that role too much last season because Gunnar was playing like shit and Ed wasn't ready. He is older, overpaid at this point, and may be declining, but he is still a useful player (assuming he can recover well after this surgery). I really think he can bounce back and be a high end #5/low end #4 next season. In other words, I really think a bottom pairing of Bouwmeester - Schmaltz would be great next season.

In an ideal world, one of Gunnarsson/Bouwmeester is traded at the draft...would definitely be nice to free up some of that cap space and maybe acquire a decent pick. Obviously their injuries complicate this tho. If they're both on the roster next year, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world (as long as Dunn and Edmundson aren't negatively impacted).

 

[Stealth JD]

I like that Schmaltz now seems NHL ready. An entirely mobile unit of Pietrangelo, Edmundson, Dunn, Walman, Schmaltz and Mikkola in 2019-20. Might be effective. Dunnand Schmaltz have been improving their defensive end games exponentially, and both Walman and Mikkola have shown defensive awareness and devoted energy to their defensive game all along in their careers (e.g. they have not looked like they wanted to become one-dimensional offensive defencemen). In the meantime, Bortuzzo can remain with the team next season. He is somewhat mobile, and joins the offence at times.

Who did we get for Parayko...or has He ascended into heaven by then?

 

[Robb_K]

Who did we get for Parayko...or has He ascended into heaven by then?

Ha! Ha! That's a big player to forget!

 

[Oberyn]

One tough customer

Heartwarming story on Thorburn and his autistic son that was posted on NHL.com. I know Thorburn got a lot of hate during the first half of the season, something I am guilty of as well, but I think his play has really stepped up in the second half. Not surprised to hear that he's popular in the locker room.

 

[fishsandwichpatrol]

are we... dare I say... "getting hot at the right time"?

 

[carter333167]

One tough customer

Heartwarming story on Thorburn and his autistic son that was posted on NHL.com. I know Thorburn got a lot of hate during the first half of the season, something I am guilty of as well, but I think his play has really stepped up in the second half. Not surprised to hear that he's popular in the locker room.

Man, that's a great story. Thanks very much for posting.

I hope Chris stays with the Blues in some capacity and that he and his family are well treated in St. Louis. He seems like an incredible guy..both from articles and some of the interviews.

 

[BlueDream]

Really good article. Thorburn is a good dude.

And he's been pretty good on the 4th line too in all honesty. His first few games were rough but he's been fine in that role since then. He's really not worse than Reaves.

 

[yogintheaveragebears]

Nvm!

 

[yogintheaveragebears]

Edit: Nvm figured it out myself!

 

[Renard]

One tough customer

Heartwarming story on Thorburn and his autistic son that was posted on NHL.com. I know Thorburn got a lot of hate during the first half of the season, something I am guilty of as well, but I think his play has really stepped up in the second half. Not surprised to hear that he's popular in the locker room.

I was traveling the first two weeks of the season, but I read the postings on this forum, and the comments about Thorburn were extremely negative. I wasn't familiar with the player, and I wondered if he could really be as bad as people were saying.

I think, like Oberyn, that he has turned out to be playing his role pretty well.