Half-Assed GDT: Game 18: Blues @ Yotes

[Blanick]

Easily the most surprising thing about him this year has been his performance in FOs


I wouldn't say a full time spot up there, but I do think he'd be better off with a center that's not Hayes(who's been his most common linemate this year by far)

I wouldn't mind trying him with Buch and Thomas. Those two with Kyrou just haven't been great together this year. They all play with similar style that when they are given time and space do great things with the puck but in tight checking games really struggle. A wrecking ball like Torp can create space for them. Kyrou on the other hand has played his best hockey with Schenn this year, those two need to be reunited. Run these lines.

Buch - Thomas - Torop
Saad - Schenn - Kyrou
Neighbours - Hayes - Kap
Blais - Sunny - Alexandrov
Vrana

 

[Majorityof1]

I don't get the Perunovich love. He is god awful. A PP specialist leading the absolute worst PP I have ever seen from a professional hockey team, and I have had regular tickets to 2 different ECHL teams. He is a turnover machine. He had a brutal turnover and penalty that thankfully led to the 2 shorties, but it was an awful play. And then he fell down to give up a breakaway. Had Mikkola made either of those plays last year, y'all would have been sending death threats to his grandma but Peronovich gets praised for it.

 

[shpongle falls]

Ugly game, nice to get the two points. Hear me out for a second. Toropchenko in the top6. I think there is another level there. His engine is unreal and I think there is some untapped offensive potential.

Torps is so good one of my faves, he’s improved every season. Not the softest hands but he’s got a pretty good shot and I love everything about his game. Hell of a find for a 4th round pick.

 

[stl76]

anyone like the yotes unis ?

Honestly...I didn't hate them

Still better than SMASHVILLE

Low bar...need a metal detector to find that one haha

love the way Kap has played since he came here

Thought he was awful the first few games, but been much better recently.

Ugly game, nice to get the two points. Hear me out for a second. Toropchenko in the top6. I think there is another level there. His engine is unreal and I think there is some untapped offensive potential.

Ehh just don't think he had the puck skills to play in the top 6. Liking him on the third line/PK tho!


Perunovich has:
1) been heavily sheltered
2) looked great the past few games IMO


EDIT:
Almost forgot - currently in first WC spot at American thanksgiving. Do with that info what you will.

 

[ezcreepin]

I don't get the Perunovich love. He is god awful. A PP specialist leading the absolute worst PP I have ever seen from a professional hockey team, and I have had regular tickets to 2 different ECHL teams. He is a turnover machine. He had a brutal turnover and penalty that thankfully led to the 2 shorties, but it was an awful play. And then he fell down to give up a breakaway. Had Mikkola made either of those plays last year, y'all would have been sending death threats to his grandma but Peronovich gets praised for it.

You have an unbelievable prescription for the glasses you're wearing. I don't see "love" for Perunovich here, but that we notice he's looked way more comfortable handling the puck and making some defensive plays. No one is going to defend the powerplay because it's been awful across the board, but to pretend like he's been beyond usable is incredibly dishonest.

As far as I know, there isn't a stat readily available for all turnovers, but we have giveaways that are an ok stat, and he's had 3. Per 60, he's basically tied with Krug and about 30 points above of Parayko. Eye test will help a little bit with that, but the games the Blues have been playing have seen possession changes every like 2 seconds. Him falling down was cringe, but sometimes it happens. If he keeps doing that then I'll criticize him.

Mikkola couldn't handle a puck to save his life and made questionable defensive decisions despite being touted as a good defense-first guy. Perunovich has been touted as a good puck moving defenseman, which in the recent games, he has been. The annoying thing about your criticism is it's the same as Dizee's. He hates Kyrou and will constantly talk shit about him without giving him credit, or if he does, it's with massive reluctance. You hate Perunovich and that's fine, but you conveniently ignore the plays he broke up with smart defensive decisions or surprising strength on the play. I can think of two off the top of my head that he broke up last night in a barn burner of a game. Also was a +3 along with Scandella in 10 minutes of even strength ice time. Whether or not +/- is a good stat, being a +3 with 10 minutes of ice when 5 goals are scored against is pretty good, and I think it's ok to note that.

 

[Reality Czech]

Ugly game, nice to get the two points. Hear me out for a second. Toropchenko in the top6. I think there is another level there. His engine is unreal and I think there is some untapped offensive potential.

Really impressive job by Torpo. Was just thinking during the game that he just "gets it" a lot more than most players his age. He knows his limitations and doesn't try to do too much. He just makes the smart play and always gives 100% effort. He's turning into a solid PKer and a guy Chief can put on the ice and not worry about him being outmatched.

Hayes has definitely exceeded my modest expectations so far this year. His faceoff skills were solely needed with ROR's departure and he brings a much needed veteran presence. Solid game from him.

Aside from that I guess the defense sucks again? Dreadful coverage on most of those Arizona goals. That would have been a tough pill to swallow if we had choked this game away. Looked like an amateur pick up game out there.

 

[Majorityof1]

You have an unbelievable prescription for the glasses you're wearing. I don't see "love" for Perunovich here, but that we notice he's looked way more comfortable handling the puck and making some defensive plays. No one is going to defend the powerplay because it's been awful across the board, but to pretend like he's been beyond usable is incredibly dishonest.

As far as I know, there isn't a stat readily available for all turnovers, but we have giveaways that are an ok stat, and he's had 3. Per 60, he's basically tied with Krug and about 30 points above of Parayko. Eye test will help a little bit with that, but the games the Blues have been playing have seen possession changes every like 2 seconds. Him falling down was cringe, but sometimes it happens. If he keeps doing that then I'll criticize him.

Mikkola couldn't handle a puck to save his life and made questionable defensive decisions despite being touted as a good defense-first guy. Perunovich has been touted as a good puck moving defenseman, which in the recent games, he has been. The annoying thing about your criticism is it's the same as Dizee's. He hates Kyrou and will constantly talk shit about him without giving him credit, or if he does, it's with massive reluctance. You hate Perunovich and that's fine, but you conveniently ignore the plays he broke up with smart defensive decisions or surprising strength on the play. I can think of two off the top of my head that he broke up last night in a barn burner of a game. Also was a +3 along with Scandella in 10 minutes of even strength ice time. Whether or not +/- is a good stat, being a +3 with 10 minutes of ice when 5 goals are scored against is pretty good, and I think it's ok to note that.

I can think of several; plays more than 3 where he turned it over. Last game against Anaheim, twice when when pressured, he threw the puck right to a Duck in the slot. Luckily the goalie was on. There is at least one other time where he held the puck behind our net for 15 seconds before throwing it down the ice to nobody for an icing. Just looking at the 2 turnovers last game and the two this game and its 4 turnovers in 2 games, which is more than your stat. 3 of them in the past two games led to PRIME scoring chances, and one led to us being short handed. That is from the 3rd pairing heavily sheltered D who isn't producing any offense.

The play he broke up? It was a 1 on 3 while we were on the PP. Sure he was the first guy back, but with 2 more Blues coming back hard in support, the offensive player had no options. Perunovich's only job was to stand his ground. That is exactly what I am talking about. He made an easy play that any player in the NHL should mak,e and people are praising him like a toddler who hit the ball off the tee for the first time in t-ball.

That defense first D who makes questionable decisions and can't handle the puck to save his life? Mikkola? He has twice as many points per game as Perunovich and infintely more goals. Shouldn't we expect offense from the guy we have to heavily shelter on defesne. Both of his points are secondary assists anyone could have made.

So yes, I have a problem with Perunovich and its exacerbated by this fanbase. They pick players to hyper focus on in a neagative way, like Mikkola or Kyrou. And they pick players that get every pass for bad plays (until they get tired of them and the script flips). I absolutely have players I dislike, but I also have a track record of giving credit where credit it due. Its not due for Perunovich. And I am not going to sing his praises for having a positive plus minus when he is heavily sheltered getting 10 minutes 5 on 5 with 65% o zone start and a +.95 save percentage and like a dozen total shifts against top line players over 9 games.

 

[BluesHockeyGuy]

I'll add they scratched Jacub Vrana for his poor defence and the Blues just gave up 5 goals against and won 6-5?

I don't particulary like how Berube is singling out just one player like that, how is Vrana going to get his confidence back if Berube doesn't play him and he constantly scratches him?

Jacub Vrana does have a history at being scratched so I just wonder if there are other issues at play here?

 

[Oberyn]

Perunovich hasn't been great so far but I also acknowledge that he's missed a lot of hockey in the past few years. He's had some glaring mishaps and I've seen unforced errors on his part that were pretty egregious. His ability to move the puck and his breakouts have looked fine by my standard.

My biggest issue with him right now is his extreme reluctance to shoot the puck. I understand he's a pass first guy, but he's sitting at 5 SOG in 9 games while getting tons of PP time. Even Tucker's got more shots than him and he's been scratched for the past two weeks and gets no PP time. The Blues typically have Schenn and Buchnevich around the front of the net and both are pretty good at deflections/getting to rebounds. That's never going to be utilized if Perunovich decides to make the 13th consecutive pass on the PP when Thomas/Kyrou are feeding him layups. I have to think some part of our awful PP can be attributed to overpassing the puck. Just get the f***ing puck on net dude.

 

[Reality Czech]

I'll add they scratched Jacub Vrana for his poor defence and the Blues just gave up 5 goals against and won 6-5?

I don't particulary like how Berube is singling out just one player like that, how is Vrana going to get his confidence back if Berube doesn't play him and he constantly scratches him?

Jacub Vrana does have a history at being scratched so I just wonder if there are other issues at play here?

I don't know it's because of his defense per se, but I'm guessing Berube doesn't like his compete level or he's not doing what the coaches are asking him. Vrana does have a history of clashing with coaches in the past, but I hope that he's past all of that and it's not a matter of his attitude. Regarding today's game, as Schenn said post game that in a sloppy game like this teams get away from their system. I'm not sure that Vrana would have made such a big difference either way in that mess of a game.

It seems like Blais, Alexandrov and Vrana are in a rotation for the 11-13 forward spots. Alexandrov has sat his share of games, and they scratched Blais for a couple as well. It wouldn't surprise me if Vrana plays instead of one of those two guys in the next couple of games. If one of them can find a way to impact games more often then it will be a lot harder for Berube to take them out of the lineup.

 

[PJJJP]

If only we could score on the PP. Can't keep relying on the PK to score goals

 

[Frenzy31]

If only we could score on the PP. Can't keep relying on the PK to score goals

Maybe we should just offer the PP to the other team and take the PK instead?

 

[Spektre]

I'm not convinced 25 and 18 are the future

They’re both good players but neither can carry a team.

It always amazes me how some players are over analyzed and others seem to get a pass.

Berube and others act like back checking and being defensive responsible 95% of the time is the litmus test for NHL players.

It’s nice when offensive superstars have a 2 way game but I think it’s goofy to expect it (imo).

If you ask Armstrong, and most likely Beeube, to choose 1 player of any era to start a franchise with, and most likely the answer is Gretzky. I would take Lemieux but meh.. my point remains.

I 100% realize nobody is as offensively gifted as those 2 but there has to be some kind of sliding scale for defensive expectations. I don’t really care if Thomas coasts sometimes coming back if he’s also leading the team in scoring. The fact is that publicly Berube, and to a large extent Armstrong, act like all NHL players have to fit into this cookie cutter mold.

Vrana has not been given a realistic opportunity to see where he can land on the sliding scale offensively. He’s been stuck with Hayes for most of the season. This is my rub with Berube singling out Vrana.

On the flip side, it would be irresponsible of Berube to not try to coach a player into being a better version of themselves. However, this is Vrana’s 8th season. It makes more sense to me to put him in a position to utilize his strengths and shelter his deficiencies, rather than trying to reinvent the player.

That’s are just my opinions and obviously the organization thinks differently.

 

[Robb_K]

I wouldn't mind trying him with Buch and Thomas. Those two with Kyrou just haven't been great together this year. They all play with similar style that when they are given time and space do great things with the puck but in tight checking games really struggle. A wrecking ball like Torp can create space for them. Kyrou on the other hand has played his best hockey with Schenn this year, those two need to be reunited. Run these lines.

Buch - Thomas - Torop
Saad - Schenn - Kyrou
Neighbours - Hayes - Kap
Blais - Sunny - Alexandrov
Vrana

Yes, Toropchenko apparently has been working on his scoring moves and stickhandling in close, and shooting. He has better control on his finishing of scoring attempts on his drives to the net, and so, is scoring on more of his opportunities.

 

[Reality Czech]

They’re both good players but neither can carry a team.

It always amazes me how some players are over analyzed and others seem to get a pass.

Berube and others act like back checking and being defensive responsible 95% of the time is the litmus test for NHL players.

It’s nice when offensive superstars have a 2 way game but I think it’s goofy to expect it (imo).

If you ask Armstrong, and most likely Beeube, to choose 1 player of any era to start a franchise with, and most likely the answer is Gretzky. I would take Lemieux but meh.. my point remains.

I 100% realize nobody is as offensively gifted as those 2 but there has to be some kind of sliding scale for defensive expectations. I don’t really care if Thomas coasts sometimes coming back if he’s also leading the team in scoring. The fact is that publicly Berube, and to a large extent Armstrong, act like all NHL players have to fit into this cookie cutter mold.

Vrana has not been given a realistic opportunity to see where he can land on the sliding scale offensively. He’s been stuck with Hayes for most of the season. This is my rub with Berube singling out Vrana.

On the flip side, it would be irresponsible of Berube to not try to coach a player into being a better version of themselves. However, this is Vrana’s 8th season. It makes more sense to me to put him in a position to utilize his strengths and shelter his deficiencies, rather than trying to reinvent the player.

That’s are just my opinions and obviously the organization thinks differently.

Good points. I think Thomas can be the backbone of our team, maybe similar to ROR, but he isn't dominant enough to carry a team as you said. Kyrou isn't consistent enough to be put in the highest tier of wingers but he does appear to be more engaged on the defensive side compared to last year. If a player contributes enough offensively then the coach may be able to tolerate less than stellar defensive play, which Vrana hasn't really done in my opinion.

I think Vrana sitting has as much to do with getting Alexandrov into games as it is a "punishment" for Vrana. Alexandrov has only played 4 games this season so he does need to get reps if he's going to improve. As I said earlier, one of those two or Blais are the most likely candidates to sit. Blais hasn't done much offensively but I did see a graphic that he's 3rd in the league in hits. So he is bringing something to the table at least.

I do hope they give Vrana a chance to play with Thomas at some point, simply because I'd like to see if our best passer can bring out the best in Vrana. But I don't see Berube as the kind of coach to reward a player unless he "earns it" in his eyes.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

I like what I'm seeing from Peru and Perry these last few games. So even if this season is a bust, I like the progress: Perry reborn, Peru living up to his potential.

 

[BluesHockeyGuy]

I heard berube wa

I don't know it's because of his defense per se, but I'm guessing Berube doesn't like his compete level or he's not doing what the coaches are asking him. Vrana does have a history of clashing with coaches in the past, but I hope that he's past all of that and it's not a matter of his attitude. Regarding today's game, as Schenn said post game that in a sloppy game like this teams get away from their system. I'm not sure that Vrana would have made such a big difference either way in that mess of a game.

It seems like Blais, Alexandrov and Vrana are in a rotation for the 11-13 forward spots. Alexandrov has sat his share of games, and they scratched Blais for a couple as well. It wouldn't surprise me if Vrana plays instead of one of those two guys in the next couple of games. If one of them can find a way to impact games more often then it will be a lot harder for Berube to take them out of the lineup.

Berube has said he wants more intensity out of him and he wants him to be hard on pucks, he also says Vrana only looks to score? and he wants more than just scoring? so should he just give up scoring, that is what got him in the NHL to begin with.

I understand the intensity level and being hard on pucks, but when Berube said Vrana only looks to score is puzzling isn't that what scorers do?

For all I know he could be snapping at coaches in practice, but he doesn't seem like the type to do that especially with Berube who was an enforcer in the NHL, who knows what's going on with Vrana?

 

[TheDizee]

They say teams ina playoff spot at Thanksgiving are almost locks to make it but I think the blues won't sniff a spot this year. They've played putrid hockey since that great win vs Tampa, it's so bizarre

 

[BlueDream]

They say teams ina playoff spot at Thanksgiving are almost locks to make it but I think the blues won't sniff a spot this year. They've played putrid hockey since that great win vs Tampa, it's so bizarre

They might sneak in though just because of how bad the Western Conference is.

The West has like 6 solid teams. After that, everyone else sucks (right now at least).

 

[TheDizee]

They might sneak in though just because of how bad the Western Conference is.

The West has like 6 solid teams. After that, everyone else sucks (right now at least).

rather take another top 10 pick over a 1st round sweep