The Amazing "We Blue It" Press Conference 4/10/19

illinidave

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STLtoday article: When asked if he tried to be too fine, too perfect, on some shots, Tarasenko said: “I had eye surgery last summer, so maybe I can see better. And then try to put (the puck) in like a perfect spot.” Don't know if he was serious or not
 

stl76

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I have a question regarding Tarasenko. He seemed off all season, his shot just wasn't there and it was not very accurate. Is it possible he had a shoulder injury all season and the injury he received against the Avs was just the shoulder finally giving out? I mean, maybe I am trying to be positive here but it would make sense and if he gets fixed up the way Berglund did then he could be back with a nasty vengeance next year...right?

STLtoday article: When asked if he tried to be too fine, too perfect, on some shots, Tarasenko said: “I had eye surgery last summer, so maybe I can see better. And then try to put (the puck) in like a perfect spot.” Don't know if he was serious or not
I think he was 100% serious about the eye surgery:


Seems plausible that it would have effected his shooting. :dunno:


Re: Armstrong reading HF Boards - I'd be pretty surprised if he did himself. Maybe they have an intern or something that reads FB/Twitter/forums like this and relays that information...but that's the most I would expect.

I will say, there was one instance earlier this year when Armstrong said something very similar to what I posted on this forum, and it was a little spooky. I wrote a post about the Blues PP struggles and how if we had even a league average PP we would probably have X more goals and Y more standings points, putting us comfortably in a playoff spot. I also posted a very similar comment on one of JR's articles on the Athletic. A day or two later Armstrong did an interview w/ JR in which he mentioned that if the Blues had even a league average PP they would have Y more standings points and be comfortably in a playoff spot.

Don't get me wrong, it's a lot more likely that I state the obvious than it is that Doug Armstrong reads HF Boards or the comment section on the Athletic...just thought it was funny that we both had the same idea at roughly the same time.

EDIT: it wasn't in an interview w/ JR, it was in a injury update video on nhl.com

Post - http://hfboards.mandatory.com/posts/142536507/

Armstrong on same topic - http://hfboards.mandatory.com/posts/142613321/
 
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Bluesguru

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So you rob Peter to pay Paul. Brilliant. Hall plays on the second line with Lehtera and someone like Jaskin, Rattie, Berglund or Fabbri. He gets about as many goals as Backes and a a few more points than Steen. Of course our D is Bouwmeester, Petro, a young Edmunson and Gunnarsson, plus some rookie and Bortuzzo. Great, we score .25 goals per game more and allow .5 more.

Brilliant!

You don't have to get so nasty about it. It's not like you make the deal and your work as a GM is done. You fill in the gaps on D to make everything whole. And your Lehtera, Rattie, Berglund examples for the second line are complete exaggerations on your part. If the Blues had gotten Hall for Parayko, that would of been a steal. You don't think so, but I do.
 

Bluesguru

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Your choice of comparisons don't make a lot of sense.

Who's to say that had the Blues traded for Hall, they wouldn't have signed Beau Bennett or brought back Sobotka? Or who's to say they wouldn't have traded a 3rd rounder for Yakupov, or at least entertained the idea? Perron probably wouldn't have been signed, but that was a move done after Hall was traded, so it's irrelevant to the point anyways. Besides which, Perron was 5th on the team in scoring, so it's not like he wasn't useful.

From reading what you said, it sounds equivocal to someone yelling at a person for not buying a new car when that person went out and bought a steak. The two points don't have much to do with each other because both are mutually exclusive. One could have been done with or without the other.


Don't understand what you're saying.

I'm saying the Sobotka's, Perron's, Yakupov's, Bennett's were foolish moves on Army's part. Spending so much cap dollars on bottom 6 players is foolish.

And when you have a chance at getting Taylor Hall, try and close the deal with a different offer from a position of strength which for the Blues is defense.

If you guys don't like it, that's fine. I have a right to my opinion.

If you believe in Doug Armstrong and his work, more power to you. We got him for 4 more years.
 

BlueDream

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Don't understand what you're saying.

I'm saying the Sobotka's, Perron's, Yakupov's, Bennett's were foolish moves on Army's part. Spending so much cap dollars on bottom 6 players is foolish.

And when you have a chance at getting Taylor Hall, try and close the deal with a different offer from a position of strength which for the Blues is defense.

If you guys don't like it, that's fine. I have a right to my opinion.

If you believe in Doug Armstrong and his work, more power to you. We got him for 4 more years.
Yakupov and especially Bennett really didn't make much money.

You need to sign bottom 6 players. And some guys like that are worth taking a chance on.

You can't just fill out your roster with every player in your bottom 6 making 900K.

Anyways, I don't think your comparisons are really relevant either. There seems to have been a change in TOP 6 players that Armstrong is targeting, that was my point.
 

Bluesguru

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Yakupov and especially Bennett really didn't make much money.

You need to sign bottom 6 players. And some guys like that are worth taking a chance on.

You can't just fill out your roster with every player in your bottom 6 making 900K.

Anyways, I don't think your comparisons are really relevant either. There seems to have been a change in TOP 6 players that Armstrong is targeting, that was my point.

Every year in free agency you have quality players looking to sign on for cheap money. Last year you had a guy like Stafford for 800K, the other year it was Sam Gagner who signed on for 650K and scored 50 points that year. Those are just a couple examples. There’s no doubt Army has overspent too much money on bottom 6 players. Besides, if you want to get younger, you need to cultivate new young talent as well.
 

AjaxManifesto

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I liked what he said about the AHL situation. You could see where prospects looking to springboard from the AHL affiliate to the Blues would see our 2017-2018 minor league situation as a disaster to stay away from.
 

Majorityof1

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Don't understand what you're saying.

I'm saying the Sobotka's, Perron's, Yakupov's, Bennett's were foolish moves on Army's part. Spending so much cap dollars on bottom 6 players is foolish.

And when you have a chance at getting Taylor Hall, try and close the deal with a different offer from a position of strength which for the Blues is defense.

If you guys don't like it, that's fine. I have a right to my opinion.

If you believe in Doug Armstrong and his work, more power to you. We got him for 4 more years.

Complaining about Bennett undermines your credibility in a huge way with this argument. Bennett cost us no assets to acquire. His contract was below a million, which means it as 100% able to be buried in the AHL. When he was in the AHL, which he was most the season, he cost us $0 against the cap. He was with the team for 10 games (played 6, pressbox for 4). Cap is calculated per day but not per game, but let's assume he was up for the same percentage of days as games. That's 12% of the season. So he cost a whopping 78,000 against the cap. 80k is not the difference between a top 6 and a bottom 6 player. Its nothing really. Even if it mattered, we could have just had him in the AHL all year if we had someone better.

Not understanding the impact of his contract on our cap, to the point where you have complained about it multiple times, makes me doubt you know what you are talking about. Without reading anything else you have to say or really following the thread of this argument, I already side against you. I did read the rest though and your entire argument is flawed. But complaining about the cap implications is mind-bogglingly irrational.

You are using this past season's stats for Hall to bash Armstrong for a decision he made years ago. How was he supposed to know in 2 years Hall would have an MVP season and Parayko would stagnate. This is even assuming that deal was on even an option, which we don't know. Pretending it was, nobody would have predicted that then. Before this year, Hall was a pretty regular 60-point player with 1 outlier season. He put a lot of work this off-season to elevate his game working with some other superstars. Parayko's skill set had lots of people drooling with his top-pairing potential.

Also, your argument is a non-sequitur. It doesn't track as the two parts are unrelated. The decision not to offer Parayko for Hall was totally unrelated to the other decisions. Armstrong decided Parayko was more valuable than Hall in a vacuum. After that decision, he filled the roster out. But he didn't say, I don't want to trade for Hall because we need $650k to sign Beau Bennett. So why even bring up Bennett?

Now you are entitled to your opinion, but what's the point of posting it if not to discuss with others? I am no fan of Armstrong. There is plenty to take him to task for. I just have no idea why you are choosing these particular moves
 
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Bluesguru

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Complaining about Bennett undermines your credibility in a huge way with this argument. Bennett cost us no assets to acquire. His contract was below a million, which means it as 100% able to be buried in the AHL. When he was in the AHL, which he was most the season, he cost us $0 against the cap. He was with the team for 10 games (played 6, pressbox for 4). Cap is calculated per day but not per game, but let's assume he was up for the same percentage of days as games. That's 12% of the season. So he cost a whopping 78,000 against the cap. 80k is not the difference between a top 6 and a bottom 6 player. Its nothing really. Even if it mattered, we could have just had him in the AHL all year if we had someone better.

Not understanding the impact of his contract on our cap, to the point where you have complained about it multiple times, makes me doubt you know what you are talking about. Without reading anything else you have to say or really following the thread of this argument, I already side against you. I did read the rest though and your entire argument is flawed. But complaining about the cap implications is mind-bogglingly irrational.

You are using this past season's stats for Hall to bash Armstrong for a decision he made years ago. How was he supposed to know in 2 years Hall would have an MVP season and Parayko would stagnate. This is even assuming that deal was on even an option, which we don't know. Pretending it was, nobody would have predicted that then. Before this year, Hall was a pretty regular 60-point player with 1 outlier season. He put a lot of work this off-season to elevate his game working with some other superstars. Parayko's skill set had lots of people drooling with his top-pairing potential.

Also, your argument is a non-sequitur. It doesn't track as the two parts are unrelated. The decision not to offer Parayko for Hall was totally unrelated to the other decisions. Armstrong decided Parayko was more valuable than Hall in a vacuum. After that decision, he filled the roster out. But he didn't say, I don't want to trade for Hall because we need $650k to sign Beau Bennett. So why even bring up Bennett?

Now you are entitled to your opinion, but what's the point of posting it if not to discuss with others? I am no fan of Armstrong. There is plenty to take him to task for. I just have no idea why you are choosing these particular moves

You don’t need to see this years stats to know Hall was an outstanding talent and a bargain at 6M for 4 years. He should have been snatched up.

Bennett was a wasted signing. Armstrong called it an off season when he signed him up in June instead of leaving cap space open and giving free agency a chance to play out.

Small signings add up on the cap and Army has done plenty of that.
 

stl76

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Don't understand what you're saying.

I'm saying the Sobotka's, Perron's, Yakupov's, Bennett's were foolish moves on Army's part. Spending so much cap dollars on bottom 6 players is foolish.

And when you have a chance at getting Taylor Hall, try and close the deal with a different offer from a position of strength which for the Blues is defense.

If you guys don't like it, that's fine. I have a right to my opinion.


If you believe in Doug Armstrong and his work, more power to you. We got him for 4 more years.
People have as much right to criticize your opinion as you have to post it.

Personally, I saw nothing wrong with any of the signings you're criticizing. Complaining about Bennett's cap hit, seriously?
 

Majorityof1

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You don’t need to see this years stats to know Hall was an outstanding talent and a bargain at 6M for 4 years. He should have been snatched up.

Bennett was a wasted signing. Armstrong called it an off season when he signed him up in June instead of leaving cap space open and giving free agency a chance to play out.

Small signings add up on the cap and Army has done plenty of that.

No small signings don't always add up. Bennett may have been a wasted signing but he didn't effect anything. Signing him did not change the amount of cap space available at all. If the player is in the AHL, a little over a million dollars of that players salary does not count against the cap. So if a player makes $2M, only a million counts against the cap. If a player makes less than a million, which Bennett did, NOTHING counts against the cap. You can add 0 + 0 + as many 0's as you want, the answer is always still zero. Signing cheap depth under a million is just smart if you have room in your budget. Give them a chance in cap to prove they can play, if they don't you waive them. If they get claimed, no harm, no foul. If they go to the AHL, you have a decent call-up with ZERO cap implications until you need them. Not understanding this most very basic rule of roster construction negates your opinion on any personnel move that relates to the cap.
 
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Bluesguru

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People have as much right to criticize your opinion as you have to post it.

Personally, I saw nothing wrong with any of the signings you're criticizing. Complaining about Bennett's cap hit, seriously?

There's nothing to criticize. I didn't criticize anyone's opinion------ did I?
The Bennett thing is an example of another worthless signing.
The guy couldn't even crack this lineup. I guess Stafford for 150K more wouldn't of been better?
Basically I said Hall was worth getting for Parayko.
And that Army has spent way too much money on bottom 6 feeders.
If you don't think so - then fine.
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
 

stl76

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There's nothing to criticize. I didn't criticize anyone's opinion------ did I?
The Bennett thing is an example of another worthless signing.
The guy couldn't even crack this lineup. I guess Stafford for 150K more wouldn't of been better?
Basically I said Hall was worth getting for Parayko.
And that Army has spent way too much money on bottom 6 feeders.
If you don't think so - then fine.
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
What? There is absolutely something to criticize, namely your opinion. Also gonna criticize the weird box thingy you're using in your post...what is that all about?
 
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ChuckLefley

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You don't have to get so nasty about it. It's not like you make the deal and your work as a GM is done. You fill in the gaps on D to make everything whole. And your Lehtera, Rattie, Berglund examples for the second line are complete exaggerations on your part. If the Blues had gotten Hall for Parayko, that would of been a steal. You don't think so, but I do.
Who’s being nasty?
The problem isn’t whether it is a good value deal, it’s about looking at the entire picture at that time. At that time we would have decimated the right side of our D. We would have Hall who was a 20-25/50-60 guy. Going into the season the second line looked like it would be the guys I mentioned. Fill in the gaps? With what, youngsters not ready for the NHL? Veteran UFA’s not worth the money? Trade more guys? The problem is you can’t look at the big picture in the time frame it was happening. All you do is look at it today and we have no idea what today would look like if that deal had gone down. Maybe things work out and we are the best team in the NHL. Maybe Parayko is exactly what the Oilers need and they are the best team in the NHL and Hall has another injury ravaged season. None of us know what would have happened and to make it sound like it was a given is ludicrous.
If that trade was made now it would be a steal, but we still would have issues on D, but not as bad as back then as some of our young D has become more seasoned in the NHL.
 

Bluesguru

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What? There is absolutely something to criticize, namely your opinion. Also gonna criticize the weird box thingy you're using in your post...what is that all about?

I was at work and I guess the internet was slow and it kept freezing up so I had to type my message in Excel and then do a paste into the message box - ha.

You guys need to relax. You take this stuff way too seriously. Have some fun with it. We're all Blues fans with different opinions. That's what this forum is for. So have fun with it.
 

ChuckLefley

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You guys need to relax. You take this stuff way too seriously. Have some fun with it. We're all Blues fans with different opinions. That's what this forum is for. So have fun with it.
That’s kind of funny coming from you and your posts in this thread.
 

Bluesguru

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That’s kind of funny coming from you and your posts in this thread.

Good one. Yep, I'm guilty of getting carried away too. But I only get carried away in defending my point. But I don't jump on people's posts and make snotty remarks and try to rub them the wrong way.

Again, lets be friends and take it easy. I like the Chuck Lefley avatar.
 

mk80

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Well to get this thread back on the tracks, here are my thoughts on it:

1. I was glad to hear Armstrong put the blame on his shoulders publicly. We can criticize some of Yeo's decisions and say he didn't get the team motivated, etc. but for me Armstrong taking the blame ensures me that he his going to put it upon himself to fix this roster moving forward.

2. As a critic of DA (and I always say we would be better off without him and going a different direction) his responses to questions gave me a better feeling of confidence that he will make the right moves this summer. One thing I'm worried about given that we had plenty of young players is he'll overdo it on bringing in veterans.

3. I like the comments about peaks and valleys, that has been true for us even with Hitch that when we are cold, we are ice cold! But this is the first I can remember it being addressed in a press conference like this, and I think what Yeo and DA was spot on.

Ultimately if Armstrong can bring in that top center and perhaps a veteran (who can still play) scoring winger to add into the top 6. I believe that's the biggest test on whether he's worth having in the position or not. Getting Fabbri back into the mix next season will be a huge addition again.
 

simon IC

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What I found really interesting about this presser was Yeo's comments about the slump. He basically said they were focusing too much on offense. If I may extrapolate on that, it became a situation of our best players frantically trying to score goals, and in the process, got away from overall team defense. The result was too many individual efforts, and a breakdown cohesively. They no longer functioned as a five man unit, and instead worked individually, and in the end they got exactly the opposite of what they were trying to achieve. Less goals were scored, and more were allowed. I have always espoused a defense first philosophy, (as evident on my avatar :)), and I find it disappointing that many here seem to equate "defense" with "boring", because it really isn't. I have seen many really exciting 1-0, or 2-1 games in my time, including a good one in Las Vegas tonight. I agree that we need more skilled players in our top 9, we most definitely do! But first, we have to get this team playing back to basics hockey. That means functioning as a five man unit, forwards being more aware defensively, and playing disciplined, but opportunistic hockey. No more trying to make the "perfect play" on the perimeter on the PP, and just going to the net. Create traffic and whack in "garbage goals" Shoot first, aim later. Honestly, just put it on net and wait for the rebounds. (I'm looking at you, Vova!) This team is trying tp be too pretty. Anyway, rant done. :)
 

BluesTraveller

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Didn't want to start a whole thread for this and this seemed like an end of year thread.

I like to look at the cost per point (or Win) that the Blues get for the cap they spend. I don't personally think if a player costs way more per point they contribute than the team average necessarily means they are a waste of cap space. Injuries (see JBo) can skew the numbers a lot. I do appreciate players that provide value by costing less than the average on the team. Brodziak provided a lot of value, somewhat due to the circumstances presented. If Stastny had not been traded, his value would not have been so high.

cD46Kxc.png


Red font denotes an ELC player
Cap Hit is equal to the 'Accumulated Daily Cap Hit' from CapFriendly.com
Players traded away are not accounted for
A true stack ranking would account for the whole league and comparing players who play the same position.
 

ChuckLefley

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Good one. Yep, I'm guilty of getting carried away too. But I only get carried away in defending my point. But I don't jump on people's posts and make snotty remarks and try to rub them the wrong way.

Again, lets be friends and take it easy. I like the Chuck Lefley avatar.
Except you do. You’ve done it to me and to others in this thread. You claimed I was being nasty to you when I said nothing even remotely nasty.

It seems to me you need to look in the mirror.

To the wolves sitting around waiting to jump on people (like the one who posted here before): Nowhere have I said I am perfect or that I have never said anything harsh.
 

Majorityof1

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Except you do. You’ve done it to me and to others in this thread. You claimed I was being nasty to you when I said nothing even remotely nasty.

It seems to me you need to look in the mirror.

To the wolves sitting around waiting to jump on people (like the one who posted here before): Nowhere have I said I am perfect or that I have never said anything harsh.

So to recap for those following along at home, in emojis:


BG - :soap:

CL - :rant:

BG - :nono:

CL - :madfire:

BG - :booboo: :heart::heart::heart:

CL - :deadhorse

Everyone else - :facepalm:

Me = :coyotes(Pretend that's a wolf, not a coyote)
 

simon IC

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So to recap for those following along at home, in emojis:


BG - :soap:

CL - :rant:

BG - :nono:

CL - :madfire:

BG - :booboo: :heart::heart::heart:

CL - :deadhorse

Everyone else - :facepalm:

Me = :coyotes(Pretend that's a wolf, not a coyote)
Love it! We are the Blue Wolves. ( I am the old decrepit one in the corner, with one eye, that drools constantly... :))
 

yogintheaveragebears

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I know we just got back on track so I apologize before hand and now am going to put my foot in my mouth for the mods but we're(not really plural) complaining about signings but make no mention of upshall and expecially brodziak making nothing (sorry guys)
 

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