This reminds me, whatever happened to those post-game, 3 stars of the game polls? I enjoyed those.
Maybe it was Easton that did them?
Half-Assed GDT: Dallas St. Louis: Christmas Hangover
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Maybe it was Easton that did them?
Robb_K
Registered User
Blues win it! Gutsy win! They made it hard for themselves with their Power Play failures, but gathered up their energy, especially to combat the Stars' onslaught during the last 5 minutes. Bannister is now 5-1 as head coach with The Blues. A far cry from how they were playing at the end of Berube's run with them. The Blues are moving up into playoff position. They could still use a new power play coach. Their penalty killing teams are improving, nicely.
It's a LOT easier to enjoy this level of play than how they were playing before the change.
Nice to see Hofer, Perunovich, and Neighbours improving steadily, and playing so well. I can't wait to watch Snuggerud, Bolduc, Dean, Dvorsky, Stenberg, and Lindstein join them in playing with The Blues on The NHL level.
It's a LOT easier to enjoy this level of play than how they were playing before the change.
Nice to see Hofer, Perunovich, and Neighbours improving steadily, and playing so well. I can't wait to watch Snuggerud, Bolduc, Dean, Dvorsky, Stenberg, and Lindstein join them in playing with The Blues on The NHL level.
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542365
2018-19 Cup Champs!
- Mar 22, 2012
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Those were really fun. I'm going to start them up again. First one is up here.
I only got to see the first period of the game, but it looks like Hofer was excellent. Perunovich-Scandella pairing was a positive in terms of shot attempts for and against, which I think is the first time I remember seeing them go positive as a pairing. Other two pairings were out attempted a combined 50-17, which is....not ideal...
mk80
Registered User
- Jul 30, 2012
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He's still in the ECHL, this year he's with Orlando. Which as far as ECHL stops could go is surely among the top places to be. Colten Ellis
Edit: Funny enough looking at their roster, the Solar Bears are carrying 3 goalies, another of the 3 is former Blues prospect Evan Fitzpatrick
Apparently so!
TheDizee
Trade Jordan Kyrou ASAP | ALWAYS RIGHT
- Apr 5, 2014
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i admit to a bit of hyperbole. i love harley's future, but he is still a bit shaky to be their 2nd best guy. lindell has slipped. he may be better than most of our guys, but that is low bar. the rest are just bottom pair fodder. they need another top 4 guy to reach their goals.
tonight i thought was one of his best games.
really encouraged by hofer tonight. he has potential to be #1 guy but has been super inconsistent to date.
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Reality Czech
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- Apr 17, 2017
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Quite possibly his best game as a Blue. He looked shaky earlier this year, but that's probably normal for most rookies. Peru still has to be sheltered quite a bit but he's slowly looking more and more like an NHL player.
Obviously Hofer saved our butts last night, but I thought the team had a bend-but-not-break effort. Keeping the Stars to 1 goal is no easy task, and while they had plenty of chances I also saw plenty of Blues players making good plays on defense as well. Saad looks like he has finally found his game after being somewhat invisible the first few months of the year. We desperately need some secondary scoring and him and Neighbours have been providing that lately.
Parayko made some big plays on defense and I saw Krug make several big stops as well. I know he's the popular whipping boy, but hopefully people can give him credit when he's playing well. I'd say he's been our 2nd best defenseman this year without a doubt and has looked much better in his own end than usual. Something seems off with Faulk this season, and his turnover at the blue line led to Dallas' only goal.
That was a fun game to watch. Not sure how long this team can sustain this level of play but I will enjoy it while it lasts!
Celtic Note
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I think like most young guys he just needs playing time.
Brian39
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- Apr 24, 2014
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'Consistency' and '23 year old rookie goalie' rarely go together.
23 is still pretty damn young by goalie standards. He is the 6th youngest goalie to play any time at all in the NHL this year. 4 of the 5 younger goalies started the season in the AHL and got their NHL time due to injuries. Those 4 guys have combined for 9 total games played (Wolf has played 5, Greaves has 2, and Askarov/Chrona each have 1). Devon Levi rounds out the list of NHL goalies younger than Hofer. That made Hofer the 2nd youngest goalie to make an NHL team out of training camp.
He has been moving up the ranks in our system for years now and we got an NHL taste of him for the last 2 years. Combine those NHL cups of coffee with tangibly positive development each year since he was drafted and it is easy for us to forget that he is still pretty damn young by NHL goalie standards.
"Inconsistent backup" is very much on the optimistic side of his development trajectory and I'd say that hoping/expecting him to be anything more right now is simply unrealistic. He would be an extreme, extreme outlier if he were ready for more.
Not trying to call you out on your expectations/thoughts on Hofer. I recognize that your comment is one of encouragement. But I thought it was a good jumping point for my thoughts on Hofer as we stand at the end of 2023. I've seen a number of people (here, elsewhere online, and in person) who have wanted to send him to the AHL due to his inconsistency. I think that would be a mistake because damn near every goalie is going to have struggles in their early-to-mid 20s. We should be letting him work through them at the NHL level this season and I think his last 2 games have demonstrated that he is capable of working through them at the NHL level.
He is now 7-5 with a .912, a positive GSAA, and a quality start rate of .545 for the season. He is on pace for 26 starts and his raw numbers are better than Binner's. I do not think that means he has been better than Binner and workload and opponents faced very, very much impacts those numbers. But I point them out because I think those numbers very much tell you that he has been effective in the role he has been given. He's going to have bad nights, but that is part of developing a 23 year old rookie goalie.
Thanks. I agree with you. When I have called him out in past (“not an nhl goalie“) it was meant as snap shot of where I see his development. I have thought he looked like future nhl starter since i saw him in WJC, but that is long path that is seldom straight. He continues to be right on schedule to reach that potential, and he needs to play nhl games to continue to grow. bc we ain’t contenders we can afford to let him battle through the normal growing pains.
