Andy Roach - why didn't he get a shot?

mattihp

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Aug 2, 2004
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Uppsala, Sweden
I remember I was hyped when Andy Roach got signed by the Blues, because I had seen quite a bit of him in international competition and the odd DEL game.

When he played with the blues he played composed and added some offense from the backend, which the Blues really didn't have.

Why was his stint limited to 5 games (in which he notched 3 points)? I can't understand why on a team where Wideman led defensemen with 24 points. A full season of Roach should have had him scoring at least 10-15 points more than that while being competent enough defensively to handle the job. I even saw two of his games and it looked like he got a fair shake and didn't do any mistakes while being a good add to the powerplay.

Did they see something in him that they remembered from Tom "I have no defense" Koivisto? They seemed to experiment a bit with experienced offensive defensemen from Europe but none seemed to fit what they wanted.
 

simon IC

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Sep 8, 2007
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I had to edit my post. I didn't realize you were referring to something 15 years ago. Probably because of our depth on defense at the time.
 
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Stealth JD

Don't condescend me, man.
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Jan 16, 2006
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I only vaguely remember him from way back...but i recall him being undersized and not a great skater. If the guy was an solid defender (Mike Weaver) he can get buy with those attributes a generation before smallish defenders weren't shunned; but if he's not thought of as a good defender it's an uphill battle. And while i don't remember any glaring errors during his handful of games played, that doesn't mean he didn't have any or that the coaches didn't trust him out there to be anything more than a stopgap player. He was a predecessor to Brad Hunt; who also probably wouldn't have gotten much of a shot 15-years ago.
 

Ted Hoffman

The other Rick Zombo
Dec 15, 2002
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I was thinking this was Jame Pollock, who had a really good 2001-02 at Worcester and the next two seasons were pretty decent there, and finally got called up mid-season in 2003-04 and looked steady if unspectacular, but by which time he was guaranteed to be a Group VI free agent at season's end.

So, that tells you what I remember of Andy Roach. Nothing. Then again, that's also the 2005-06 season and I might have tried to blot all of that out of my memory.
 
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Robb_K

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Apr 26, 2007
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Roach was relatively small, and not a good enough skater, nor skilled enough, nor excellent enough at positioning and anticipating plays to make up for that. He fit the classic mold of a career AHL #3 or 4 defenceman. The Blues didn't give Brad Hunt much more of a shot, and he had a LOT more offensive skill and upside. Roach was a not-so-good NHL injury fill-in for a weak NHL team, at his best.
 

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