Blues Discussion Thread 2018-2019 - Part III

[EastonBlues22]

Part II

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[Xerloris]

We need to fix this f***ing power play bullshit. Fire whoever is in charge of it. Seriously, shits an embarrassment.

 

[JoshFromMO]

I miss the Roar Bacon season. It really seemed like things were clicking with the team

 

[LetsGoBooze]

I miss the Roar Bacon season. It really seemed like things were clicking with the team

It's 2 games in....

 

[Blueston]

When healthy I'd match our 18 skaters up against pretty much anybody. This team has a lot of talent throughout lineup. Question how good we can be, however, if our goalie is again one of worst starters in league and coach isn't much better. Going to be interesting season.

 

[Ranksu]

I'll take this kind of start in season compare what we had last season which imo blinded our vision how good our team, player structure and playbook really was and eventually dropped us from Cliff down to hell. Now coaching staff have to adjust different lines and tactics. Hopefully it will wake up players too.

 

[BlueDream]

It's 2 games in....

Plus, everyone here hated that team going in lol. That was when we acquired Brouwer, nobody was optimistic about them.

 

[TruBlu]

The roster is new. I'm going to give them 10 games to get some chemistry before I judge. LGB!

 

[The Note in MI]

The roster is new. I'm going to give them 10 games to get some chemistry before I judge. LGB!

I like it

 

[Waterbuf]

Robert Thomas = more ice time or demoted after 9 games?

 

[HighNote]

Robert Thomas = more ice time or demoted after 9 games?

Yeah, he's not getting sent down. As for ice time, I'd like to see him play more than 6 minutes, not sure why he got so little ice time against Chicago.

 

[simon IC]

I am really missing Brodziak right now.

 

[ezcreepin]

I'm giving this team till the end of October before I start calling for heads or asking for a potential trade. The percent of teams that make the playoffs by the end of November if they are currently out of a spot is like 30% or less. We managed to miss the playoffs last year despite having a great start, and I don't like to play against the numbers. I also don't think it's particularly useful to be "finding your game" a month and a half into the season, especially if you've had a training camp with your entire roster. If this team is still playing poorly defensively and sporting the worst powerplay, then a coach or coaches have to go (in my humble opinion). If everything is clicking and we're still giving up 4-5 goals a game, then the obvious answer is to get rid of Allen, no matter how much he's kept us in games.

 

[Dbrownss]

I'm giving this team till the end of October before I start calling for heads or asking for a potential trade. The percent of teams that make the playoffs by the end of November if they are currently out of a spot is like 30% or less. We managed to miss the playoffs last year despite having a great start, and I don't like to play against the numbers. I also don't think it's particularly useful to be "finding your game" a month and a half into the season, especially if you've had a training camp with your entire roster. If this team is still playing poorly defensively and sporting the worst powerplay, then a coach or coaches have to go (in my humble opinion). If everything is clicking and we're still giving up 4-5 goals a game, then the obvious answer is to get rid of Allen, no matter how much he's kept us in games.

Washington was pretty bad to start last year iirc

 

[The Note]

This team is displaying all of the same flaws last years team suffered from. Sure it’s only two games, but I don’t think this coaching staff can/will make the necessary adjustments. The personnel is much better, at a certain point the scheme -and the people responsible for it- need to be held culpable.

 

[Default]

Anything still involving Hitch's system needs to go.

 

[ezcreepin]

Washington was pretty bad to start last year iirc

6-6-1
The difference between the Caps starting off like that vs the Blues is that they had a great coach in Trotz, an elite center in Backstrom, generational winger in Ovie, and a legit starter in Holtby. Really though, they only had 2 disastrous games during October (8 and 6 goals against), but admittedly I didn't watch any Caps last year so I don't remember how good or bad they were. I do know that Holtby had an uncharacteristically bad year, so that didn't help their start I guess.

I think our personnel rivals the Caps, and I think that with the right coach we could absolutely win the cup. Our forward group is deeper than I've ever seen, defense when healthy is pretty insane, and god forbid when Jake is playing like a competent goalie, he is exactly what you want; steady. I don't even think Allen has to be an elite goalie like Quick was or Lundqvist was, he just needs to be league average or slightly better. Even something like that would be sufficient (I think) to compete for the central and go deep in the playoffs. There doesn't seem to be a good list of names to take over the coaching position though so this seems like a moot point talking about this.

 

[Dbrownss]

6-6-1
The difference between the Caps starting off like that vs the Blues is that they had a great coach in Trotz, an elite center in Backstrom, generational winger in Ovie, and a legit starter in Holtby. Really though, they only had 2 disastrous games during October (8 and 6 goals against), but admittedly I didn't watch any Caps last year so I don't remember how good or bad they were. I do know that Holtby had an uncharacteristically bad year, so that didn't help their start I guess.

I think our personnel rivals the Caps, and I think that with the right coach we could absolutely win the cup. Our forward group is deeper than I've ever seen, defense when healthy is pretty insane, and god forbid when Jake is playing like a competent goalie, he is exactly what you want; steady. I don't even think Allen has to be an elite goalie like Quick was or Lundqvist was, he just needs to be league average or slightly better. Even something like that would be sufficient (I think) to compete for the central and go deep in the playoffs. There doesn't seem to be a good list of names to take over the coaching position though so this seems like a moot point talking about this.

I couldn't remember their exact record, but I did remember people were talking like it was time for them to blow it up.

 

[PiggySmalls]

The roster is new. I'm going to give them 10 games to get some chemistry before I judge. LGB!

You are being a heck a lot more patient than I am. I’d feel the same way if it wasn’t for the glaring problems we had last year still remain. Our D-Corps isn’t really new and yet we cannot get out of our own damn zone to save our life. Our movement through the neutral zone looks like old people trying to walk into the sizzler on senior discount night.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I’m also not going to read too much into 2 poor games to start.

There’s tons of new guys, lots of new combos and pairings, injuries already (I think they really missed Eddie), and more rookies than normal all making rookie mistakes (Kyrou and Blais have been brutal defensively, Thomas alright and Schmaltz looked good his 1 game).

This is a good team on paper but it would be no surprise to me if it takes them a while to gel and all get on the same page.

Even if they gel, they’re still far from a perfect team but I think they’re clearly better than they’ve shown the first 2 games. I’ll re-evaluate at the end of October.

 

[TruBlu]

You are being a heck a lot more patient than I am. I’d feel the same way if it wasn’t for the glaring problems we had last year still remain. Our D-Corps isn’t really new and yet we cannot get out of our own damn zone to save our life. Our movement through the neutral zone looks like old people trying to walk into the sizzler on senior discount night.

I think the return of Edmundson will do wonders for our D. I'm with you on the zone entries, but also not happy with the power play. I think the reason it looks better is simply because the quality of our personnel on it is much better than last year. It is just so static in structure. Watching Chicago move their guys around and set "picks" to open up lanes shows what a power play should look like. Watch teams defend against our power play. They very seldom have to move out of position. They can pick a zone and just shift left and right to line up with the guys out on the point. They had a really good possession the other night, but even that didn't look fluid.

 

[Dbrownss]

You are being a heck a lot more patient than I am. I’d feel the same way if it wasn’t for the glaring problems we had last year still remain. Our D-Corps isn’t really new and yet we cannot get out of our own damn zone to save our life. Our movement through the neutral zone looks like old people trying to walk into the sizzler on senior discount night.

Watch how other teams leave the zone. Their forwards are much lower then ours, they go up the wall if the d is under pressure then bump it to the middle and either the center swings in and pushes out or the dman is off the the races takes the puck with him. If that option is cut off, they just pass to the opposite side. We just go up the wall and force it every time. They try to push it to the Blue line and the other team just pinches and were stuck. When our defense try to skate it out, they glide out and get caught from behind. If thats the option, they need to already be at full speed leaving the zone...

 

[bleedblue1223]

Edmundson will make a big impact. We felt it when he was out last season too. He's the only capable defender we have on the left that can handle big assignments. Right now, we don't really have a top-pair, since Bouwmeester is taking Petro down with him, Dunn is still more of a Shattenkirk type in the defensive end, and Butler is Butler.

As for the offense, hopefully they just need time to gel as a group or the coaches just need to find the right combinations.

 

[BlueDream]

Defensive pairs at practice:

Edmundson-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Jerabek-Bortuzzo
Dunn-Schmaltz

Eddy will really stabilize that top pairing and the trickle down effect should be helpful. I'm also eager to see what we have in Jerabek. Wouldn't mind if Dunn sat for a game tbh.

 

[taylord22]

Defensive pairs at practice:

Edmundson-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Jerabek-Bortuzzo
Dunn-Schmaltz

Eddy will really stabilize that top pairing and the trickle down effect should be helpful. I'm also eager to see what we have in Jerabek. Wouldn't mind if Dunn sat for a game tbh.

If Dunn sits, the 90/91 PP unit probably gets a bit neutered. I agree he's made some mistakes, but shift to shift, I'm not sure he's made more mistakes than Bouw, for instance.

Who knows, though...maybe it will be good for him.