2022-2023 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread

[simon IC]

The 2022-2023 Season is upon us! (Wow that crept up on me!) Please continue!
Go Blues!!!!!!
Link to last page of previous thread: 2021-2022 S Blues Multi-Purpose Thread Part 3

Click to read more...

 

[Blueston]

We can do this. Let's reclaim Lord Stanley's Cup!!!

 

[Memento]

This could - nay, will - be another successful season. A bunch of talented and hungry young players, a fair few wily vets, all of whom are eager for another shot at Lord Stanley's Cup.

Let's do this, guys!

 

[542365]

Is this preseason game streamed anywhere?

 

[BlueDream]

Is this preseason game streamed anywhere?

Nope, just radio.

 

[Zachary Hines]

Nope, just radio.

Where on radio...i cant find audio online anywhere

 

[BlueDream]

Where on radio...i cant find audio online anywhere

101ESPN.

 

[Roessjd]

Where on radio...i cant find audio online anywhere

There is a link on the Blues web site.

 

[PocketNines]

Two possible routes to the Cup this season.

1. The Blues have enough solid veterans in the right spots that if they get a breakthrough, all-NHL, impact performance from at least two younger/unexpected players they could contend for the Cup. The likelihood of that is longshot, but it's been known to happen. It would pretty much require Perunovich or Kessel to become the team's #1 defenseman out of nowhere.

2. In the alternative, Armstrong has to make an adjustment to the fatally flawed structure he currently hopes will win it all; it will not. That requires adding a #1 defenseman better in all game conditions – including playoff crucible – than every defenseman the team currently has, and hoping the cost of doing this doesn't undermine the offense.

Otherwise it'll be another playoffs-and-out year. Seen a lot of that over the years.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Two possible routes to the Cup this season.

1. The Blues have enough solid veterans in the right spots that if they get a breakthrough, all-NHL, impact performance from at least two younger/unexpected players they could contend for the Cup. The likelihood of that is longshot, but it's been known to happen. It would pretty much require Perunovich or Kessel to become the team's #1 defenseman out of nowhere.

2. In the alternative, Armstrong has to make an adjustment to the fatally flawed structure he currently hopes will win it all; it will not. That requires adding a #1 defenseman better in all game conditions – including playoff crucible – than every defenseman the team currently has, and hoping the cost of doing this doesn't undermine the offense.

Otherwise it'll be another playoffs-and-out year. Seen a lot of that over the years.

You left off the scenario of the hot goalie carrying his team to the Cup. That can happen to any team any year, and is usually similarly rare as your #1. I'd say for the Blues its slightly more likely than for Perunovich to become the 1D this season.

 

[BlueDream]

You left off the scenario of the hot goalie carrying his team to the Cup. That can happen to any team any year, and is usually similarly rare as your #1. I'd say for the Blues its slightly more likely than for Perunovich to become the 1D this season.

You mean there are more than just two scenarios that can happen in hockey and that poster can’t predict the future??? I’m shocked!

 

[PocketNines]

Just the two primary routes I see this Blues team returning to Cup contention. General preseason observation. Internal surprise or external addition as those two routes shouldn't be a groundbreaking expectation.

Anyone can predict the future, and all human planning is a form of predicting the future. It's how accurately they predict the future based on incomplete information.

For example, some posters predicted Ryan Miller would be a good addition

 

[TK 421]

We have a top 4 D that can carry the water. The group of Bortuzzo, Mikkola and Perunovich is where we fall off hard.

Imo what's needed is the acquisition of a new 5th on an expiring contract to effectively replace Scandella and ideally it's an AAV towards the 2.5 end of a range up to 3.275 mil. I would hope we could find a player better than Scandella and with a skill set that includes zone exits as a strength.

I think with the addition of Leddy and the circumstances surrounding Scandella's injury giving us some flexibility to add another guy we could be in a great spot. The player we should be after isn't expensive or particularly rare so it isn't some insurmountable task to acquire him. If he has two years remaining instead of being on an expiring deal then so be it, that's not a lot of money to trim elsewhere. Doesn't have to be right away either, they could give Scott Perunovich 25-40 games to assess how badly it's still a need.

This way allows time for Scott Perunovich to.....

1. Establish himself
2. Get injured
3. Military school
4. United Fruit, his dads got a buddy at United Fruit.

 

[oPlaiD]

Two possible routes to the Cup this season.

1. The Blues have enough solid veterans in the right spots that if they get a breakthrough, all-NHL, impact performance from at least two younger/unexpected players they could contend for the Cup. The likelihood of that is longshot, but it's been known to happen. It would pretty much require Perunovich or Kessel to become the team's #1 defenseman out of nowhere.

2. In the alternative, Armstrong has to make an adjustment to the fatally flawed structure he currently hopes will win it all; it will not. That requires adding a #1 defenseman better in all game conditions – including playoff crucible – than every defenseman the team currently has, and hoping the cost of doing this doesn't undermine the offense.

Otherwise it'll be another playoffs-and-out year. Seen a lot of that over the years.

If Adam Fox can win a Norris, why not Perunovich? He's only one inch shorter than Fox and Makar!

Who wants more kool-aid?

 

[STL fan in MN]

If given 100 guesses on the direction this thread would go, “Cheech and Chong reference” wouldn’t remotely have been among them.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

If given 100 guesses on the direction this thread would go, “Cheech and Chong reference” wouldn’t remotely have been among them.

Yeah, but that one guy did that thing.

Remember?

 

[execwrite1]

I also see the need for a true 1D which we just don't have.

But all hopes ride with Binnington this year.

Let's Go Blues!

 

[Linkens Mastery]

The big issue with needing a #1 LHD is that there aren't really that many true #1 LHD in the league. And the ones that are in the League aren't really available for trades.

 

[PJJJP]

So the Athletic just posted their rankings for the new year. They have the blues ranked as the 17th best team in the league. Teams that are ahead of them are Bruins, Maple Leafs, Lightning, Panthers, Canes, Rangers, Penguins, Capitals, Stars, Preds, Avs, Wild, Flames, Oilers, Knights, and the Kings.

 

[Brian39]

The big issue with needing a #1 LHD is that there aren't really that many true #1 LHD in the league. And the ones that are in the League aren't really available for trades.

Especially if you are defining a #1 D man as someone better than any of the guys on our roster and not simply a guy who plays the role of a #1 D man or is arguably in the top 32 best D in the league.

Hedman and Josi obviously fit the bill, but there is zero chance that either one is going anywhere. Their teams aren't interested in moving them and they both have full NMCs.

D Toews is in the mix, but he's the clear #2 on his team. Colorado has zero interest in trading him. Maybe he becomes available as a UFA in 2 years, but maybe not.

Miro Heiskanen is a stud, but I don't think Dallas would ever move him in-division (and it is highly unlikely that they would want to move him at all.

Slavin is fantastic, but he's on a super team-friendly deal for 3 more years. Carolina is trying to win, so he's not going anywhere.

Columbus, Ottawa, and Vancouver have made Werenski, Chabot, and Hughes the centerpiece of their cores, so they almost certainly won't be moved.

Morgan Rielly is just about to begin his 8 year deal with a full NMC for 6 years. Even if the Leafs decide to blow it up, he's almost certainly not the guy getting moved.

Buffalo isn't moving Dahlin.

I'm not a big fan of Nurse, but he probably fits the definition. He's also the 2nd highest paid LHD in the league and has 5 years of a full NMC.

Shea Theodore is an attractive option if Vegas stumbles this year and decides to blow it up. I think it is unlikely that they will be bad enough to truly blow things up, but maybe the goaltending does them in.

That's 12 guys and I know that there are a good chunk of people on this board who don't consider all 12 to be a true #1D.

After that, you get into the group of good-to-very-good guys who are absolutely not #1D. Take your pick of Provorov, Lindholm, Morrisey, McDonagh, Pellech, Brodin, Fowler, Lindell, Muzzin, Skjei, Martinez, Girard, Sanheim, Chychrun, Grzelyck, Sergachev, etc. There are some realistic targets in there, but none of them are #1s.

Getting a #1 D man that you don't develop yourself is ludicrously rare in the NHL. Pretty much the only avenue to do it is by acquiring them before they actually break out into being a #1 D man. Toews and Theodore are the only two guys in that list of 12 that weren't drafted by their current team. Toews was a 25 year old 2nd pair guy when he was traded and Theodore had only played 53 games when Vegas got him in an expansion draft deal (and it is clear that the Ducks wouldn't have moved him without the expansion crunch they had).

 

[BlueDream]

So the Athletic just posted their rankings for the new year. They have the blues ranked as the 17th best team in the league. Teams that are ahead of them are Bruins, Maple Leafs, Lightning, Panthers, Canes, Rangers, Penguins, Capitals, Stars, Preds, Avs, Wild, Flames, Oilers, Knights, and the Kings.

So they have the Blues missing the playoffs.

I wish I could make a bet with Dom on that, for a large amount of money. Something tells me he wouldn't actually do it, though.

 

[Brian39]

So the Athletic just posted their rankings for the new year. They have the blues ranked as the 17th best team in the league. Teams that are ahead of them are Bruins, Maple Leafs, Lightning, Panthers, Canes, Rangers, Penguins, Capitals, Stars, Preds, Avs, Wild, Flames, Oilers, Knights, and the Kings.

Correction: The Athletic just posted where Dom's model predicts the Blues will finish this year. This is not a consensus ranking among the staff. Each article does a deep dive into the strengths/weaknesses of each team as well as a discussion about additions/subtractions. But the ranking is 100% based on Dom's model with no adjustment from the other writers involved in the project.

For the record, his model predicts us to finish with 92.2 points. It projected us to finish with 92.6 points last year. The very first sentence of this year's article is "If you’ve paid attention to this space for the last few years, you probably saw this coming: No postseason team from 2022 has a lower projection than the St. Louis Blues."

The actual article tied to the ranking is good. I don't agree with all of the conclusions, but I do think that we are unlikely to beat our expected results by the same margin we did last year. But I do firmly believe that our 'pass up good looks to try to create great looks' style isn't measured accurately by his model.

 

[TK 421]

Dom is a f***ing idiot.

 

[Brian39]

So they have the Blues missing the playoffs.

I wish I could make a bet with Dom on that, for a large amount of money. Something tells me he wouldn't actually do it, though.

He has us at a coinflip to make the playoffs based on his model (49%). And there are several times inthe article where he acknowledges that the odds are likely better than what his model says. He clearly expects regression, but I don't get the sense that he expects regression all the way down to the 92.2 points his model suggests.

I doubt he'd take an even-money bet about the Blues missing the playoffs.

From the article, his 2 biggest question marks are whether the PP can remain elite without Perron and what we will get out of Binner. I'm not at all concerned about the PP. He didn't discuss Kyrou as the most likely guy to replace Perron's PP role. The question marks around Binner are mouch bigger for me than his PP concern. With that said, if the PP regresses to league average and Binner is a .900 goalie again, then this team absolutely could miss the playoffs.

 

[PocketNines]

I fully agree that it's extremely difficult to acquire that #1D because of how rare and special they are.

It's extremely rare and special to win the Cup too. That is exactly what makes it worth chasing.

The Cup should be won by the elite of the elite, not the pretty good. The Blues are pretty good.