Perunovich

[oldwpgjet]

Been keeping an eye on Perunovich and looks like he has been a scratch every game so far. Doesn't seem like the right way to develop a young dman. Curious to see if he can put his injury problems behind him as he had pretty impressive ahl stats( between injuries) but being scratched every game and not getting any playing time Play him or send him down so he gets some playing time or trade him. I don't follow St. Louis too closely other than Binnington and Perunovich so Thoughts??

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[Majorityof1]

Been keeping an eye on Perunovich and looks like he has been a scratch every game so far. Doesn't seem like the right way to develop a young dman. Curious to see if he can put his injury problems behind him as he had pretty impressive ahl stats( between injuries) but being scratched every game and not getting any playing time Play him or send him down so he gets some playing time or trade him. I don't follow St. Louis too closely other than Binnington and Perunovich so Thoughts??

Is he young? He is 25. That is almost middle-aged in the NHL. We have no choice but to keep him up. He isn't good enough to play, especially when we have a similar player in Krug in the lineup. He isn't worth anything in trade. But his potential is enough that some team might grab him off waivers as a flyer. He will get in a game as soon as we get an injury or want to shake up the line up. I assume we will try 7 D soon and have him as a pure offensive guy. If he can take advantage of his opportunities and play halfway decent, he'll get 40+ games this year. That is a big if because...you know, he sucks.

 

[Quaz]

Perunovich would have to clear waivers to go to the AHL and would probably get claimed. I would like to see him play. I think he could bring better value than both our current 3rd pair D as he is better at retrievals and zone exits than either of them. Berube is making coaching decisions like his job is on the line. The 3rd pair of Tucker - Scandella isn't getting much playing time either.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Been keeping an eye on Perunovich and looks like he has been a scratch every game so far. Doesn't seem like the right way to develop a young dman. Curious to see if he can put his injury problems behind him as he had pretty impressive ahl stats( between injuries) but being scratched every game and not getting any playing time Play him or send him down so he gets some playing time or trade him. I don't follow St. Louis too closely other than Binnington and Perunovich so Thoughts??

Agree they need to get him in a game but don’t see them trying to send him to Springfield. They’d have to put him on waivers and I’d say there’s a high chance he’d get claimed.

The defense was pretty bad last night. I wouldn’t be surprised if Perunovich gets in there at some point on this road trip - either tomorrow in CGY or Friday in VAN. If it were me, I’d put him in against CGY. Sit one of Tucker or Scandella.

Same could be said for Bortuzzo (except we know what he is. He doesn’t have the development potential of Perunovich). At some point, I think they’re going to have to make a decision. Don’t think they’re going to be able to keep 8 d-men long term. Maybe an injury solves the problem for them but if not, I see a trade coming at some point. Perhaps with Borts being the most likely to head out.

 

[oPlaiD]

Is he young? He is 25. That is almost middle-aged in the NHL. We have no choice but to keep him up. He isn't good enough to play, especially when we have a similar player in Krug in the lineup. He isn't worth anything in trade. But his potential is enough that some team might grab him off waivers as a flyer. He will get in a game as soon as we get an injury or want to shake up the line up. I assume we will try 7 D soon and have him as a pure offensive guy. If he can take advantage of his opportunities and play halfway decent, he'll get 40+ games this year. That is a big if because...you know, he sucks.

Tucker got 7 minutes last night so we basically had 5 defensemen. Shouldn't be hard to get Perunovich more minutes even if you want to shelter him in that context with a 6 defenseman lineup. But I mean based off what Tucker and Scandella have done so far this season, it's hard for me to believe Perunovich would be worse.

 

[Majorityof1]

Tucker got 7 minutes last night so we basically had 5 defensemen. Shouldn't be hard to get Perunovich more minutes even if you want to shelter him in that context with a 6 defenseman lineup. But I mean based off what Tucker and Scandella have done so far this season, it's hard for me to believe Perunovich would be worse.

He got 8 minutes, but they were mainly defensive minutes. That is 8 minutes more than you want Perunovich playing defense. But I said it before. I want the Blues to lose for a better draft pick and to show how bad some of our players are and how badly they need to go.. Let Perunovich play.

 

[Blueston]

He got 8 minutes, but they were mainly defensive minutes. That is 8 minutes more than you want Perunovich playing defense. But I said it before. I want the Blues to lose for a better draft pick and to show how bad some of our players are and how badly they need to go.. Let Perunovich play.

how much of it was playing d for entire time bc he and marco could never get to puck. i'd wager a quicker guy, more skilled guy, can get to puck and get it out so he doesn't have to defend. i'm not saying that peru is that guy (although i think he is worth a shot), but i can't say enough how poorly matched tucker and marco appear to be.

 

[Majorityof1]

how much of it was playing d for entire time bc he and marco could never get to puck. i'd wager a quicker guy, more skilled guy, can get to puck and get it out so he doesn't have to defend. i'm not saying that peru is that guy (although i think he is worth a shot), but i can't say enough how poorly matched tucker and marco appear to be.

It was because of zone starts. They may suck at getting the puck out, but they also started in their own zone a bunch. We shelter Krug exclusively. We cannot shelter our 3rd pair as well. If Peru can somehow get the puck from the opposing team to transition it, then sure, he would be helpful. But he has never shown the ability to defend well enough to get the puck from the opposing team.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

It was because of zone starts. They may suck at getting the puck out, but they also started in their own zone a bunch. We shelter Krug exclusively. We cannot shelter our 3rd pair as well. If Peru can somehow get the puck from the opposing team to transition it, then sure, he would be helpful. But he has never shown the ability to defend well enough to get the puck from the opposing team.

The obvious solution is to pair Krug and Perunovich, exclusively offensive zone starts. (I was joking when I starting typing this, but now I wonder if maybe they'd try it.)

I also am finding myself rooting for losses. Not loudly, and I feel guilty about it this early in the year, but I have no hope for this season for anything better to happen. I guess if they win more games and finish better, if that reflects young players surpassing expectation I'd cheer that too. But the young players that really matter aren't on the roster yet. Hofer maybe?

 

[Quaz]

If Spurgeon and Fox can defend at their size maybe Perunovich can too. He played top pair in college. Although I didn’t get the impression that the coaching staff has a lot of confidence in him based on the preseason.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Too small and gets hurt

 

[Blueston]

It was because of zone starts. They may suck at getting the puck out, but they also started in their own zone a bunch. We shelter Krug exclusively. We cannot shelter our 3rd pair as well. If Peru can somehow get the puck from the opposing team to transition it, then sure, he would be helpful. But he has never shown the ability to defend well enough to get the puck from the opposing team.

i don't think there is a zone where you could consistently start marco-tucker combination and expect good things.

If Spurgeon and Fox can defend at their size maybe Perunovich can too. He played top pair in college. Although I didn’t get the impression that the coaching staff has a lot of confidence in him based on the preseason.

just bc there are 2 short guys in league who excel defensively doesn't mean that peru can defend at that level. i'm about the same height as miro heiskanen; why wasn't i ever a norris contender?

 

[Xerloris]

The obvious solution is to pair Krug and Perunovich, exclusively offensive zone starts. (I was joking when I starting typing this, but now I wonder if maybe they'd try it.)

I also am finding myself rooting for losses. Not loudly, and I feel guilty about it this early in the year, but I have no hope for this season for anything better to happen. I guess if they win more games and finish better, if that reflects young players surpassing expectation I'd cheer that too. But the young players that really matter aren't on the roster yet. Hofer maybe?

St the very least we would understand the plan for the season and we could enjoy the shitshow. Although, maybe 2 of them combined could look like half of a Hughes?

 

[kimzey59]

The obvious solution is to pair Krug and Perunovich, exclusively offensive zone starts. (I was joking when I starting typing this, but now I wonder if maybe they'd try it.)

I also am finding myself rooting for losses. Not loudly, and I feel guilty about it this early in the year, but I have no hope for this season for anything better to happen. I guess if they win more games and finish better, if that reflects young players surpassing expectation I'd cheer that too. But the young players that really matter aren't on the roster yet. Hofer maybe?

IMO it's a bit early to be rooting for losses.
At the moment; we are solidly in contention for a Wild Card spot. In terms of points% we're actually in a 3-way tie for the two Western WC spots.
What's really hurting us is that we already have a game in hand on a lot of the League(we're one of three teams with only 5 games played so far; 9 teams have already played 7games).

I get wanting another high pick to accelerate the rebuild; but I still want us pushing for the PO's until that becomes unrealistic.

 

[BlueDream]

IMO it's a bit early to be rooting for losses.
At the moment; we are solidly in contention for a Wild Card spot. In terms of points% we're actually in a 3-way tie for the two Western WC spots.
What's really hurting us is that we already have a game in hand on a lot of the League(we're one of three teams with only 5 games played so far; 9 teams have already played 7games).

I get wanting another high pick to accelerate the rebuild; but I still want us pushing for the PO's until that becomes unrealistic.

Lol this team would get crushed in a playoff series. The way they play isn’t conducive to playoff success at all.

So no it’s not too early to root for losses. Thinking about the playoffs is really just being naive.

 

[Reality Czech]

If Spurgeon and Fox can defend at their size maybe Perunovich can too. He played top pair in college. Although I didn’t get the impression that the coaching staff has a lot of confidence in him based on the preseason.

In the limited time he's not been injured, Perunovich was pretty atrocious defensively. He could have won the 6th D spot in training camp but Tucker beat him out. Plus Tucker's skill set is much more needed on this team than Perunovich.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

IMO it's a bit early to be rooting for losses.
At the moment; we are solidly in contention for a Wild Card spot. In terms of points% we're actually in a 3-way tie for the two Western WC spots.
What's really hurting us is that we already have a game in hand on a lot of the League(we're one of three teams with only 5 games played so far; 9 teams have already played 7games).

I get wanting another high pick to accelerate the rebuild; but I still want us pushing for the PO's until that becomes unrealistic.

I had low expectations coming in, and ignoring the win/loss results, I thought Binnington has looked sharp. But I also was left thinking this team doesn’t have anything special to be competitive this season.

It’s hard to fall out of the playoff race. The way the NHL does points keeps things artificially close unless you are abysmal.

I won’t root openly for bad results, but I won’t feel like there is a lot to pay attention to that matters to me until some of the new wave of young prospects break into the roster. This just looks like a milquetoast nothing of a season, between the past and the future.

 

[DatDude44]

Scandella isn’t helping us defensively, Krug isn’t helping us offensively.

May as well play the middle aged kid

 

[joe galiba]

In the limited time he's not been injured, Perunovich was pretty atrocious defensively. He could have won the 6th D spot in training camp but Tucker beat him out. Plus Tucker's skill set is much more needed on this team than Perunovich.

what is Tucker's skill set?
6-2 and 205?
ok in front of his net and in the corner?
he is mean to people after the play?

when I watch him I see a smaller, slower Bortz (and I mean current Bortz, not young Bortz) with Mikkola's puck skills

 

[Brian39]

It was because of zone starts. They may suck at getting the puck out, but they also started in their own zone a bunch. We shelter Krug exclusively. We cannot shelter our 3rd pair as well. If Peru can somehow get the puck from the opposing team to transition it, then sure, he would be helpful. But he has never shown the ability to defend well enough to get the puck from the opposing team.

We have been getting so out-possessed that we really haven't been able to shelter anyone from a zone-start perspective. Small sample size, but Tucker and Scandella actually have the two highest O-zone start percentages among the blue line and are 3rd/4th highest in O-zone faceoff percentage. However, they are 5th/6th in high danger chance percentage and expected goal percentage. Them getting caved in hasn't been all about zone starts. Meanwhile, Krug is 4th highest in O-Zone start percentage and 5th highest in O-Zone faceoff percentage. We really haven't been sheltering Krug this year (from a zone start standpoint).

Again, this is probably a result of spending so much time in our own zone more than a conscious effort to use Krug there. But so far, we can't pin the Scandella-Tucker pair's struggles on our sheltering of Krug.

I want Perunovich playing tonight and I genuinely don't care who of Krug, Scandella, or Tucker comes out of the lineup to make it happen. We have been absolutely putrid at getting the puck out of our own zone and we aren't even using Scandella or Tucker on the PK in a meaningful way (they are 5th and 6th in PK time). I'm also very much okay with running 11F and 7 D to make it happen.

 

[Brian39]

If Spurgeon and Fox can defend at their size maybe Perunovich can too. He played top pair in college. Although I didn’t get the impression that the coaching staff has a lot of confidence in him based on the preseason.

Size is far from Perunovich's only issue defensively. His defensive hockey IQ is awful by NHL standards. He puck watches and loses guys in coverage way too often. His gap control is bad. He consistently misjudges his ability to win a race to contested pucks and fails to realize that he's going to badly lose a race until he is enormously out of position to do anything of use when the opponent gets the puck. He has very little ability to win board battles if the result of the race is a true 50/50 battle.

When he arrives to a contested puck first, he has a good first pass and can skate himself out of trouble. But his issues in-zone are numerous when the other team has the puck and his poor defensive IQ reduces the frequency that he gets to contested pucks first with enough time/space to make a play.

Size is an issue for him, but it is far from the only thing holding him back defensively.

 

[Blueston]

what is Tucker's skill set?
6-2 and 205?
ok in front of his net and in the corner?
he is mean to people after the play?

when I watch him I see a smaller, slower Bortz (and I mean current Bortz, not young Bortz) with Mikkola's puck skills

i think it's premature to flush tucker, but he hasn't been good. at all. game still seems a bit fast for him. if he can slow game down, which i think is still possible, he has a chance to be a solid player. if not, well, slow processing and slow skating don't suggest a successful nhl career.

 

[joe galiba]

i think it's premature to flush tucker, but he hasn't been good. at all. game still seems a bit fast for him. if he can slow game down, which i think is still possible, he has a chance to be a solid player. if not, well, slow processing and slow skating don't suggest a successful nhl career.

a 7th round pick given no chance to make it has gotten in 30 something NHL games to this point, cool story, I hope he improves, but he doesn't even have one attribute that stands out, he is only average size for a NHL d-man, his skating is very subpar, his passing and vision isn't good
he tries hard and is willing to use his body but Mikkola was too, AND he could skate AND had really good size AND he still sucked, Tucker doesn't even have the size or the skating, but he has all the other attributes that Mikkola didn't bring to the table

 

[Blueston]

a 7th round pick given no chance to make it has gotten in 30 something NHL games to this point, cool story, I hope he improves, but he doesn't even have one attribute that stands out, he is only average size for a NHL d-man, his skating is very subpar, his passing and vision isn't good
he tries hard and is willing to use his body but Mikkola was too, AND he could skate AND had really good size AND he still sucked, Tucker doesn't even have the size or the skating, but he has all the other attributes that Mikkola didn't bring to the table

i think this is right. and to be clear, he would need to significantly improve to be as good as miko (in spite of how bad miko puck skills were). miko has plus size and skates well for his size, as you mentioned. but miko always panicked with puck and that held him back. tucker can't even get to puck. i think tucker's upside is a 4/5 d (think marco back when he was younger) but more likely he is 6/7 struggling to find a spot in the lineup. and since we stink this year, feels like a good time to give him some runway to see what he can do (and peru and alexandrov too) since we have the luxury of losses not really hurting us.

 

[Quaz]

i don't think there is a zone where you could consistently start marco-tucker combination and expect good things.


just bc there are 2 short guys in league who excel defensively doesn't mean that peru can defend at that level. i'm about the same height as miro heiskanen; why wasn't i ever a norris contender?

I’m saying that his size is not an excuse as to why he can’t defend in the NHL. He hasn’t played enough to know for sure, but the small sample size doesn’t look good so far.