Half-Assed GDT: Blues Wild

[sbet1998]

Ugly game after they hit 3 posts on one shift. Directly after they lost the lead and thus all momentum to a team looking for a spark playing about as hard as they can for a new coach and also to end a long losing streak. I dont think the Wild are a good team but they arent a lottery team either.

That was a trap game in all its glory. That's almost a worst case scenario in terms of trap games because the Blues arent good enough right now to weather that.

The Blues are a fringe PO team with some upside if things pan out. They're 11-9-1 with one of the worst PP's in the league. Ill take it for now at 20 games in. We all knew it wasnt going to be easy sailing this season and they're just good enough record-wise that I dont think Berube is anywhere near a hot seat yet.

What I dont want to see is a team not putting in the effort or willing to do the little things to win games. Those are easy things to control. Heads need to roll if that is the case. Kyrou being called out for his work ethic and Berube citing a lack of energy is not a great early trend..

 

[Cotton McKnight]

After the first three minutes of the game (until a Wild goal) it was hard to watch knowing the trend is losing if not scoring first.

They were trying to hurt the posts tonight or what?

 

[ChicagoIsBedarded]

Complete trap game. Couple of unlucky bounces. Could have gone either way.

2 concerning trends continue though:
1. We lose if we don't score first.
2. Yet another game going 0-fer on the PP.

21 games played. 6 PP goals on the season. A whopping 9.2% on the season so far. Could be worse... Caps fans must be tearing their hair out. But we're approaching "historically bad" territory here. Something has to change. And quick.

 

[LogosBlue]

Ugly game after they hit 3 posts on one shift. Directly after they lost the lead and thus all momentum to a team looking for a spark playing about as hard as they can for a new coach and also to end a long losing streak. I dont think the Wild are a good team but they arent a lottery team either.

That was a trap game in all its glory. That's almost a worst case scenario in terms of trap games because the Blues arent good enough right now to weather that.

The Blues are a fringe PO team with some upside if things pan out. They're 11-9-1 with one of the worst PP's in the league. Ill take it for now at 20 games in. We all knew it wasnt going to be easy sailing this season and they're just good enough record-wise that I dont think Berube is anywhere near a hot seat yet.

What I dont want to see is a team not putting in the effort or willing to do the little things to win games. Those are easy things to control. Heads need to roll if that is the case. Kyrou being called out for his work ethic and Berube citing a lack of energy is not a great early trend..

Without the excellent play from goaltenders this season, we would be bottom 5. We are one or two injuries away from a real dive.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

I have no issue with Schenn being here but he needs to be in a late-career Steen bottom-6 role, not your number 2 center. I know Dvorsky is in the pipeline, but we can't put all our eggs in that basket.

Until we get a #1 D and a #2 C, we're not contending.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Ugly game after they hit 3 posts on one shift. Directly after they lost the lead and thus all momentum to a team looking for a spark playing about as hard as they can for a new coach and also to end a long losing streak. I dont think the Wild are a good team but they arent a lottery team either.

That was a trap game in all its glory. That's almost a worst case scenario in terms of trap games because the Blues arent good enough right now to weather that.

The Blues are a fringe PO team with some upside if things pan out. They're 11-9-1 with one of the worst PP's in the league. Ill take it for now at 20 games in. We all knew it wasnt going to be easy sailing this season and they're just good enough record-wise that I dont think Berube is anywhere near a hot seat yet.

What I dont want to see is a team not putting in the effort or willing to do the little things to win games. Those are easy things to control. Heads need to roll if that is the case. Kyrou being called out for his work ethic and Berube citing a lack of energy is not a great early trend..

You nailed it. When you look up and down that lineup there are very few players that have an edge or show any fire. This team, as it's constructed, does not echo the playing style that best suits their head coach. They play soft and as soon as they face adversity in a game, absolutely nothing changes in their approach.

We need some more players that have that edge to 'em. The kind of guys that are going to drag the others into the fight. It doesn't have to be guys who are going to drop the mitts and throw their bodies around either. Guys like ROR, Steen, Perron, and Barby played a hard game and stepped it up when we went down in games. Currently those holes are filled with guys like Kyrou, Hayes, and Vrana who don't have that fire.

Neighbours seems to be stepping up to be that kind of player. Stenberg is a player that I think will develop into that kind of skilled, pain in the ass type of player. But as we consider the types of players we want to look towards in free agency, we definitely need to focus on adding the type of players that can grind out those 60 minute games where things aren't going their way.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I’m struggling to see how this group gets built from where they are to a true contender. Seems like a coaching change will be necessary sooner or later, and it better be a good hire.

I see an injury or two and a tailspin in the near future. Maybe that would be for the best at this point?

 

[Brian39]

I have no issue with Schenn being here but he needs to be in a late-career Steen bottom-6 role, not your number 2 center.

I'm not writing Schenn off as a 2C yet. He was a 2C last year (37th in points among NHL centers and was playing 2C minutes over ROR well before the trade). This year, he had a miserable start to the season, then had 10 points in 9 games and has then looked rough for the last 3 games. He has also had a rotating door of line mates this year.

I don't think anyone expects him to be a quality 2C by this team's next contention window, but I think there is a pretty wide ranges of things he could be between quality 2C and the role Steen played late in his career. I think the expectation once some of the prospects start easing in is that Schenn will be playing more of a middle 6 role vs a true 2C role and eventually becoming either a true 3C or slide to wing.

I know Dvorsky is in the pipeline, but we can't put all our eggs in that basket.

Until we get a #1 D and a #2 C, we're not contending.

We don't have all our eggs in that basket. We traded Barby for a 20 year old center that was drafted 30th overall. We selected a center with the 25th overall pick at this past draft. Dvorsky should be ahead of both these guys on the 'hopeful future 2C' depth chart given his talent and draft pedigree, but it isn't like these were nothing acquisitions.

 

[ezcreepin]

I mean Blais is just another 4th liner, who cares.

Toropchenko has more goals than Jordan Kyrou. That’s a more appropriate player to call out here.

Edit: they have the same amount of goals. I thought Toro had 5 instead of 4, but point still stands.

My argument to that would be that 20 points in 31 games last year doesn't signal 4th liner, and I think the eye test would also agree with me there. Now I'm not going to disagree that there were many factors that allowed him to produce at that clip, but for the majority of his career when he starts to get going, he always gets hurt. I think last year was the first year he showed that he could remain healthy while getting hot, but this year has been a bit disappointing for him when we consider the roster.

Vrana definitely hasn't really grabbed a spot in the top 9 and I think it wasn't until recently that Kap grabbed hold of a top 6 spot. And Neighbours as well; he hadn't taken a massive step until 6 or 7 games ago. There was plenty of time for Blais to re-establish himself after this past offseason, but looks like he is who we thought he was. So I guess circling back to your initial point, yes, I think now I've come around that he's just a 4th liner *shrug*

 

[Brian39]

This will probably be my 50th post on the topic, but I'm continuing to lose my mind at the way our coaching staff appears to be actively trying to run out a bad top PP unit. On the 4 minute PP following the high stick on Sunny, we had a sustained period of zone time at the start of the PP where we didn't have a one-time option on either side of the ice. Not after a zone entry where guys had to rotate out of their ideal spots, not after a partial change. Off the faceoff at the start of a 4 minute must-score PP.

What are we doing?

We're in the bottom 10 of shots, shot attempts, and unblocked shot attempts per 60 on the PP this season. Generating shots is a noticeable problem for the PP, so why on Earth are we still structuring our PP to encourage tic-tac-toe passing plays through the middle of the ice instead of giving Krug or Perunovich the option of a one pass one-time threat? It's the simplest, most reliable way to generate a scoring chance on the PP. But sure, we definitely don't need any of those right now. Let's put all of our eggs into multi-pass plays to hit the guy in the slot and when that doesn't work we can settle for wrist shots on a set goalie from a forward whose blade is on the boards-side instead of the slot-side of his body. Totally a recipe for a competent PP.

The PP construction still being this bad is just baffling to me. The players are also not executing, but we are essentially asking damn near every member of the PP to remove their best tool from the toolbox before sending them out on the job.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Yea it's driving me crazy as well. Kyrou and Krug struggle to find the sweet-spot where he wants it to tee it up, Kyrou looks like he's ready to rock it, but then always stops the pass with his foot or something. Not sure what that's about. I would really enjoy seeing a top PP with Peru at the top, Kyrou and Vrana on the sides for one timers, Buch in the bumper, and Thomas in front of the net, where he can slide out and accept a pass below the goal line.

 

[Xerloris]

This will probably be my 50th post on the topic, but I'm continuing to lose my mind at the way our coaching staff appears to be actively trying to run out a bad top PP unit. On the 4 minute PP following the high stick on Sunny, we had a sustained period of zone time at the start of the PP where we didn't have a one-time option on either side of the ice. Not after a zone entry where guys had to rotate out of their ideal spots, not after a partial change. Off the faceoff at the start of a 4 minute must-score PP.

What are we doing?

We're in the bottom 10 of shots, shot attempts, and unblocked shot attempts per 60 on the PP this season. Generating shots is a noticeable problem for the PP, so why on Earth are we still structuring our PP to encourage tic-tac-toe passing plays through the middle of the ice instead of giving Krug or Perunovich the option of a one pass one-time threat? It's the simplest, most reliable way to generate a scoring chance on the PP. But sure, we definitely don't need any of those right now. Let's put all of our eggs into multi-pass plays to hit the guy in the slot and when that doesn't work we can settle for wrist shots on a set goalie from a forward whose blade is on the boards-side instead of the slot-side of his body. Totally a recipe for a competent PP.

The PP construction still being this bad is just baffling to me. The players are also not executing, but we are essentially asking damn near every member of the PP to remove their best tool from the toolbox before sending them out on the job.

I just really don't think our coaches are good at the x's and o's. If you want a motivational speaker Berube is great but we need someone that can actually come up with systems.

 

[Blueston]

I just really don't think our coaches are good at the x's and o's. If you want a motivational speaker Berube is great but we need someone that can actually come up with systems.

the smart guy moved to boston.

 

[Reality Czech]

Predictable loss. Minny was fired up trying to impress the new coach and deserved to win. Despite that, we still had a chance to tie the game numerous times but couldn't finish chances. Of course fans lose their minds any time the Blues lose, but this one doesn't bother me too much.

That being said, I thought Vrana and Perunovich looked awful. Seemed like something bad happened every time they touched the puck. An ill-advised pass and turnover by Vrana led to the rush which allowed Minnesota to score their first goal. Perunovich looks like a nervous kid every time he touches the puck. Not sure either of those guys need to be in the lineup right now. Saad looks like total garbage as well and Kyrou is gonna have to start actually producing offensively. He looks like a 3rd line hustle guy right now. Too many passengers.

 

[DeuceNine]

My hot take is if we had even a competent, average powerplay, we'd lead the division.