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2018-19 Cup Champs!
- Mar 22, 2012
- 22,330
- 8,706
I wanted more of a look at Blais. I think the team was being very diplomatic about Blais, but there seems to be something about his game that they aren't convinced about. He had a pretty short leash in St Louis, and didn't last as long as I'd expected.
He will be back. He was SO impressive during the preseason and he keeps filling the net in the AHL. During the regular season he was pretty underwhelming, but you still saw glimpses of what he was able to do in the preseason. Almost every time he touched the puck he made a play during preseason. Looked leaps and bounds better than Thompson, Kyrou, Kostin etc(granted they're all at different stages of their development).
Ty Rattie simply isn't a good NHL player. He's the classic AHL/NHL tweener where he'll dominate against lesser competition, but can't hack it in the NHL. His one great asset, his release on his wrister, has still yet to cleanly beat an NHL goalie in his entire career. He has never once taken a wrist shot and blown it by a goalie who was in position for it. Every one of his goals is either a rebound or a deflection off his pants or something. If he can't beat a goalie with his wrister he doesn't belong in the NHL as that's the only reason he's even getting a look in the AHL.
Blais is different. He's obviously not the shooter that Rattie is, but he makes things happen on the ice. Ty Rattie was always the type of player who found a soft spot and waited for the puck and ripped it by the goalie. If he's not scoring he's useless. Blais facilitates and drives the play so much better than Rattie ever did. I know Blais will be at least a solid 3rd liner. If MPS can carve out a 300+ game NHL career with nothing more than the ability to skate, Sammy Blais can too. He'll be back.