OT: Blues @ 2018-19 season

[Ranksu]

Schwartz - Schenn - Kyrou
Steen - Bozak - Tarasenko
Fabbri - Berglund - Perron
Soshnikov - Sobotka - Jaskin

Thorburn/Barbashev/Thomas/Thompson

Edmundson - Pietrangelo
Dunn - Parayko
Jbo/Gunnar - Bortuzzo/Schmaltz

Walman/Mikkola

Allen
Johnson
Husso

Click to read more...

 

[Linkens Mastery]

WildCard or Miss. I'm happy with the moves Army made, but, goaltending and coaching is gonna hold the team back, IMHO

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Voted for 2nd round "rpimd" team....whatever that means.

I think we call it a successful if we get that far in 2018-2019. The target years are 2020 and 2021.

 

[Ranksu]

Voted for 2nd round "rpimd" team....whatever that means.

I think we call it a successful if we get that far in 2018-2019. The target years are 2020 and 2021.

2nd round.

 

[Stealth JD]

waaaaay too soon. Let's wrap up training camp before deciding.

 

[542365]

I don’t know that we’re 100% done with the off-season as trades could still surface from teams that missed out on their guy in free agency, but as it stands our forward group is brutal unless a prospect or two has an instant impact and Fabbri can actually still play hockey. Defense is still good and I love the strides I saw in Vince Dunn down the stretch. He could be a real impact Dman this year. Goaltending is suspect at best. Feels like a bubble team. I’ll say we finish 7th in the West and lose to San Jose in the first round.

Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko
Steen-Bozak-Perron
Sobotka/Fabbri-Thomas-who the f*** knows
Soshnikov-Barbashec-Jaskin

Pretty brutal.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

I think we can compete with Colorado for 3rd in the division so long as Yeo's hands never touch the PP.

I think Minnesota will decline a bit, and Dallas's D isn't good enough, especially without Hitch at the helm.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Wild card team and a quick first round exit where Perron gets benched yet again

 

[LGB51]

Very underwhelming pull, bottom of the Central.

 

[Stealth JD]

The roster today is tied with Chicago, Dallas, Colorado & Minnesota in the group of pretenders, clearly behind the cream of the crop Nashville & Winnipeg. I wouldn't be surprised to see any of these teams take last place next year.

And if you're playing the role of pretender, save your money, play/develop your kids, take your lumps and get yourself a franchise-altering talent with much needed and well timed top-10 draft pick.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

3rd place in the Central at worst. I think people are forgetting how bad our top 9 was this past year. I think Sobotka+Gunnarsson will he moved, maybe Berglund too. Could see Army trying to make a swing for another top 6 winger.

 

[67Blues]

So basically, the Blues went out and filled some holes, granted, not rockstar moves, but filled holes that were lacking at the end of the season. No one else in the Central has done anything yet to improve their team outside of STL (I'm not thinking CHI made any real moves). We missed the playoffs by one point in a year where Allen took a two month sabbatical, Tarasenko shot his worst % in his career, we had a lot of injuries, and we finished the year with Brodziak as our #2C. To add, we have some of our exciting prospects ready to make the step up who we didn't trade away.

Yeah, the bottom of the Central here we come!

 

[Ranksu]

I think we can compete with Colorado for 3rd in the division so long as Yeo's hands never touch the PP.

I think Minnesota will decline a bit, and Dallas's D isn't good enough, especially without Hitch at the helm.

Watch out Heiskanen's perform. He's stud in both ends. He'll give us more grey hairs. And can't forgot Honka who is in my mind one of the biggest uprising offensive dmens in next season.

 

[Ranksu]

waaaaay too soon. Let's wrap up training camp before deciding.

you can change your vote and I set poll for 3 month period, so early october is last days for vote.

 

[Stealth JD]

without another trade or two for the top-6, this club battles Chicago, Minnesota and Dallas for the basement.

 

[Vektor]

Very underwhelming pull, bottom of the Central.

Dramatic. Not saying the Blues are going to compete to win the division but unless there are a ton of injuries we certainly won't be at the bottom.

 

[67Blues]

 

[Fez Whatley]

We have perron instead of sobotka in the top 6. It's clear, we are the worst in the central.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

This team goes to the second round if:

1) Everybody plays to their potential
2) They are mentally tough and start and finish games...unlike last year
3) Jake is more consistent...unlike last year
4) The PP is league average or better...unlike last year
5) One or more of the youngsters has a breakout year

Seems like a long list, buts it's more doable than throwing everything at a ROR trade or winning the "we are somebody because JT likes us and we bought him with bags of gold" approach.

 

[TheDizee]

dont see this team getting out of the first round

the core is still really soft, still hoping to see maroon being signed and moving out sobotka.

 

[The Note]

1st round loss is the ceiling. Another wasted year of Petro, Schenn, Tarasenko, and Schwartz.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

We went to the Conference Finals with a forward group of

Schwartz-Lehterä-Tarasenko
Fabbri-Stastny-Brouwer
Steen-Backes-Berglund
Upshall-Brodziak-Reaves

How is that ANY better than what we have now?

Schenn >> Backes
Perron > Brouwer
Thomas > Lehterä
Stastny <= Bozak

 

[AjaxManifesto]

dont see this team getting out of the first round

the core is still really soft, still hoping to see maroon being signed and moving out sobotka.

Let's see how "soft" they are in the first month or two.

Maroon would be a nice pickup if the price is right and it's done with the long term strategy in mind.

 

[TheDizee]

We went to the Conference Finals with a forward group of

Schwartz-Lehterä-Tarasenko
Fabbri-Stastny-Brouwer
Steen-Backes-Berglund
Upshall-Brodziak-Reaves

How is that ANY better than what we have now?

Schenn >> Backes
Perron > Brouwer
Thomas > Lehterä
Stastny <= Bozak

b/c our 2nd and 3rd lines were better than what we have now. they created mismatches vs the other teams we played. which is why you saw the brouwer line be so productive in rounds 2 and 3 especially. the steen line shut down other teams 1st lines and allowed the brouwer line to go against teams 3rd lines.

who is the shutdown line now for us? a line with sobotka AND berglund on it? they both play like little kittens. both of them were healthy scratches down the stretch. then you got perron who was a healthy scratch for vegas in the finals. those 3 are mentally soft players. a roster with all 3 of them wont go far unless that changes. steen has lost a step now and is always banged up. bozak is a 45 point player who scored 11 goals and got 5million for it. the team has too many mediocre players on it. it basically relies on the D contributing with goals way more than they should be asked. if parayko ever decides to maximize his talents then that would help alot.

its gonna be another year of hoping our best players carry the team. i think the team could be good but its banking on 3 huge ifs. they need the pre-injury schwartz, they need allen to not be a headcase and they need fabbri to be what he was before he got hurt and after his slow start the following year. not realistic to expect all that to happen.

 

[LGB51]

Dramatic. Not saying the Blues are going to compete to win the division but unless there are a ton of injuries we certainly won't be at the bottom.

I think the chances are much higher that they end up near the bottom then competing to win the division. You're being way to optimistic about this lineup.