Half-Assed GDT: Blues Oilers: bounce back or crash landing.

[Xerloris]

I agree. Personally, I'm VERY disappointed in his lack of development and improvement in several different aspects of his game. He's had several seasons with The Blues, and still hasn't improved his moves and shooting when driving in on goal. Ascoring forward should have been constantly working on that while in Juniors, and also during his first few or several seasons in The NHL. He HAS finally improved a bit in his play both on offence, and on defence, when he doesn't have the puck. He has been making an effort to back check some, but it's more sporadic than it should be. He seems to be skating harder and trying harder more often, but still coasts at times. All the while, Thomas has been improving much more and pretty much steadily. He is a fast skater and a good shooter from the slot and mid-distance, in general, but seems to lack both offensive and defensive awareness compared to other relatively young scoring forwards with his level of NHL experience. Personally, I'd like to see Armstrong trade him and get a haul for him before other GMs realise that he's got lower upside than a lot of people thought, despite seemingly putting up reasonably good-looking numbers. I don't think he's a "winning player".

Then should be complaining about Berube spending those years making him work on his weakness ( defense and 2 way play) instead of letting him work on and improving his strengths ( offense ).

 

[TheDizee]

Maybe it won't be this year, but this team will be serious cup contenders again sooner than we think.

Binnington looked awesome (legit, franchise #1 G, don't @ me).
Krug looked awesome (yep! ).
Neighbours (wow)
Thomas (what else is new ).

We have a lot to be happy about.

i dont think so, not unless kyrou takes it to another level and we find a legit #1 dman in his prime soon. Likely need another depth or 25g scorer too.

 

[TheDizee]

I agree. Personally, I'm VERY disappointed in his lack of development and improvement in several different aspects of his game. He's had several seasons with The Blues, and still hasn't improved his moves and shooting when driving in on goal. Ascoring forward should have been constantly working on that while in Juniors, and also during his first few or several seasons in The NHL. He HAS finally improved a bit in his play both on offence, and on defence, when he doesn't have the puck. He has been making an effort to back check some, but it's more sporadic than it should be. He seems to be skating harder and trying harder more often, but still coasts at times. All the while, Thomas has been improving much more and pretty much steadily. He is a fast skater and a good shooter from the slot and mid-distance, in general, but seems to lack both offensive and defensive awareness compared to other relatively young scoring forwards with his level of NHL experience. Personally, I'd like to see Armstrong trade him and get a haul for him before other GMs realise that he's got lower upside than a lot of people thought, despite seemingly putting up reasonably good-looking numbers. I don't think he's a "winning player".

I agree Robb. You won't win with people like Jordan Kyrou on your team unless hes a support/role player. And its practically impossible to pay someone $8 million and have them be a support player. His biggest asset is his speed and shot and half the time he coasts.

He is not as bad as last year but he is still nowhere near being worth the contract he signed. This franchise has made 2 idiotic moves since our cup run, signing Krug to that term and Kyrou to that contract.

You win with players like Sunny, Bozak, DP57 & Binner, not players like Kyrou.

 

[TheOrganist]

Didn't see much of this one but by all account Neighbors was a beast again. Thomas is quietly T-14 in overall points. Beyond impressive considering his defensive responsibilities. He should get Selke votes.

 

[Celtic Note]

I agree Robb. You won't win with people like Jordan Kyrou on your team unless hes a support/role player. And its practically impossible to pay someone $8 million and have them be a support player. His biggest asset is his speed and shot and half the time he coasts.

He is not as bad as last year but he is still nowhere near being worth the contract he signed. This franchise has made 2 idiotic moves since our cup run, signing Krug to that term and Kyrou to that contract.

You win with players like Sunny, Bozak, DP57 & Binner, not players like Kyrou.

And yet we won with a player who dogged it on defense and wasn’t good at it in Tarasenko. A guy like Phil Kessel has won Cups. Cherry picker extraordinaire, Patrick Kane has multiple Cups. Controller disconnect himself…Ovechkin has a Cup.

 

[Xerloris]

And yet we won with a player who dogged it on defense and wasn’t good at it in Tarasenko. A guy like Phil Kessel has won Cups. Cherry picker extraordinaire, Patrick Kane has multiple Cups. Controller disconnect himself…Ovechkin has a Cup.

And Kyrou is not in the same category as any of them.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I agree Robb. You won't win with people like Jordan Kyrou on your team unless hes a support/role player. And its practically impossible to pay someone $8 million and have them be a support player. His biggest asset is his speed and shot and half the time he coasts.

He is not as bad as last year but he is still nowhere near being worth the contract he signed. This franchise has made 2 idiotic moves since our cup run, signing Krug to that term and Kyrou to that contract.

You win with players like Sunny, Bozak, DP57 & Binner, not players like Kyrou.

The guy who is infamous with white skates, and someone we initially cried about resigning back in 2018.

Perron's Lack of Professionalism Problematic

Will David Perron's lack of professionalism negatively influence the young Oilers?

www.coppernblue.com

Confirmed with Link: - Blues sign David Perron (4 years @ $4m)

forums.hfboards.com

 

[Celtic Note]

And Kyrou is not in the same category as any of them.

He is in the same classification of one-way floaters. He isn’t a Kane or Ovie talent. But, he is easily as good as a 2016 Cup season Phil Kessel. His 2021 year was better than Phil’s 2016 and Tarasenko’s Cup year. Point being, you could win with a Kyrou type player if you could win with a 2016 Kessel or a 2019 Tarasenko.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Can we like, sticky the Leaf's game thread for all-time? I laughed so hard when Robb, "found his way back there," lol. It should be a shrine to Robb.

 

[LGB]

Kyrou’s problem isn’t defense, it’s being a giveaway machine, and I don’t see that ever changing unfortunately. He’s not a bad player, but not a cornerstone.

 

[ToniJ1960]

Kyrou’s problem isn’t defense, it’s being a giveaway machine, and I don’t see that ever changing unfortunately. He’s not a bad player, but not a cornerstone.

stranger things have happened

 

[Brian39]

Didn't see much of this one but by all account Neighbors was a beast again. Thomas is quietly T-14 in overall points. Beyond impressive considering his defensive responsibilities. He should get Selke votes.

Tied with Makar, Marner, and M Tkachuk for those wondering. All 3 of those guys have an O zone start rate of 57% or higher while Thomas clocks in at 48% (at 5 on 5). He is 8th in points among centers.

Thomas is having an unbelievable year in all 3 zones. He's on pace for 92 points while playing against elite competition, starting in the D zone more often than not, and without a stud 2C behind him to draw away some defensive matchups. Way more takeaways than giveaways, over 50% on the dot by a decent margin (although not as good as a couple months ago), and he's on the top PK and PP unit. he should absolutely be getting Selke talk.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Tied with Makar, Marner, and M Tkachuk for those wondering. All 3 of those guys have an O zone start rate of 57% or higher while Thomas clocks in at 48% (at 5 on 5). He is 8th in points among centers.

Thomas is having an unbelievable year in all 3 zones. He's on pace for 92 points while playing against elite competition, starting in the D zone more often than not, and without a stud 2C behind him to draw away some defensive matchups. Way more takeaways than giveaways, over 50% on the dot by a decent margin (although not as good as a couple months ago), and he's on the top PK and PP unit. he should absolutely be getting Selke talk.

I can remember which article or writer said it, but they said that if the Blues make the playoffs, Thomas has to be top 10 in the Hart. That's the type of season he's having. Now, it's not just him, but he's the main driver of this team.

 

[bleedblue1223]

It was just one of those twitter advanced stats guys, but point still remains, Thomas has been incredible this season.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Robert Thomas is ELITE!

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Tied with Makar, Marner, and M Tkachuk for those wondering. All 3 of those guys have an O zone start rate of 57% or higher while Thomas clocks in at 48% (at 5 on 5). He is 8th in points among centers.

Thomas is having an unbelievable year in all 3 zones. He's on pace for 92 points while playing against elite competition, starting in the D zone more often than not, and without a stud 2C behind him to draw away some defensive matchups. Way more takeaways than giveaways, over 50% on the dot by a decent margin (although not as good as a couple months ago), and he's on the top PK and PP unit. he should absolutely be getting Selke talk.

I don't know where to find monthly splits on zone starts and the like, but his FO% has really seemed to fall off when Bannister took over, so I'm quite curious what sort difference in deployment Thomas has received since the coaching change.
October: 54.0%
November: 57.6%
December: 49.6%(52.1% w/ Berube, 47.6% w/ Bannister)
January: 46.5%
Febuary thus far: 45.7%

 

[joe galiba]

Kyrou’s problem isn’t defense, it’s being a giveaway machine, and I don’t see that ever changing unfortunately. He’s not a bad player, but not a cornerstone.

well, Thomas and Buchnevich have more giveaways than Kyrou

 

[ezcreepin]

And Kyrou is not in the same category as any of them.

Dude is on quite literally the same pace as Kessel point wise

 

[LGB]

well, Thomas and Buchnevich have more giveaways than Kyrou

It’s a bad stat then

 

[LGB]

well, Thomas and Buchnevich have more giveaways than Kyrou

Buch has been pretty bad at holding possession and extending plays this year though and Thomas probably has a lot more puck touches so I guess this isn’t absurd. However, the main issue with Kyrou probably doesn’t show up in the giveaway stat but I would still call them giveaways. It’s way too easy to check him if he doesn’t have a speed advantage. He cannot handle contact and doesn’t handle the puck well under pressure. I think he neuters Thomas in some ways. Remember when the Buch - Thomas - Tarasenko line would dominate possession and finish with beautiful OZ passing sequences? Kyrou doesn’t have the small area skills to allow plays like that to occur. I think ideally he is a guy you put on a transition focused matchup dependent scoring line that probably should be your third line.

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

Can we like, sticky the Leaf's game thread for all-time? I laughed so hard when Robb, "found his way back there," lol. It should be a shrine to Robb.

I thought I was going crazy when I kept seeing two GDT’s at the top

 

[Xerloris]

He is in the same classification of one-way floaters. He isn’t a Kane or Ovie talent. But, he is easily as good as a 2016 Cup season Phil Kessel. His 2021 year was better than Phil’s 2016 and Tarasenko’s Cup year. Point being, you could win with a Kyrou type player if you could win with a 2016 Kessel or a 2019 Tarasenko.

Saying he's not on the same level as them has absolutely nothing to do with stats.

Dude is on quite literally the same pace as Kessel point wise

Same reply as above. If you have your choice between any of those players and Kyrou, in the cup finals to win you a game? Are you going to choose Kyrou? You're a damn fool if you do.

 

[Fez Whatley]

Buch has been pretty bad at holding possession and extending plays this year though and Thomas probably has a lot more puck touches so I guess this isn’t absurd. However, the main issue with Kyrou probably doesn’t show up in the giveaway stat but I would still call them giveaways. It’s way too easy to check him if he doesn’t have a speed advantage. He cannot handle contact and doesn’t handle the puck well under pressure. I think he neuters Thomas in some ways. Remember when the Buch - Thomas - Tarasenko line would dominate possession and finish with beautiful OZ passing sequences? Kyrou doesn’t have the small area skills to allow plays like that to occur. I think ideally he is a guy you put on a transition focused matchup dependent scoring line that probably should be your third line.

He's the Kessel to our soon to be Thomas - dvorsky 1 2 punch

 

[LGB]

He's the Kessel to our soon to be Thomas - dvorsky 1 2 punch

That would be nice. Not expecting Dvorsky to be a strong 2C soon though. Realistically that’s probably 4-5 years away.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

That would be nice. Not expecting Dvorsky to be a strong 2C soon though. Realistically that’s probably 4-5 years away.

I don't think it will be soon, but I do think it will be sooner than that. I'm thinking 3 years myself.