GDT: Blues @ Kraken| Somehow Only the 2nd Game| 9pm, TNT

[eibyyz]

*Vlad in a contract year*

Can't disagree. Who gets to pay him an 8Y/11M? I say Detroit.

 

[eibyyz]

faulk off losers

Marshal Faulk for President!

 

[Linkens Mastery]

 

[Brian39]

I want to see ROR and Kyrou stay together for an extended period. They play very different games, so I'm not that surprised that there isn't immediate chemistry. ROR was Kyrou's 4th most frequent center last year (although that may be skewed by Schenn and Barby both playing some LW minutes with him) and most of their minutes together were situational. I don't know that they will find chemistry together, but I think it is worth giving them a month or so to learn each other's tendencies to try. If nothing else, I think Kyrou stands to grow as a player from the experience.

The Buch-Thomas-Tarasenko line is awesome. Neighbours-Schenn-Barby has the makings of a great 3rd line. And I'm not too sure how you get Kyrou to 18+ minutes a night if he's not paired with either Thomas or ROR. I think that the forward group as a whole is in the best possible shape if ROR and Kyrou can find chemistry together.

At the 2 game mark (and sitting at 2-0), I'm not eager to end the ROR/Kyrou experiment. We've got 6 games in the next 10 days to finish out the month of October. Unless we start throwing away points, I'd like to see them get those games together to try and build chemistry. I really want to see how they look against a top 10 top line. We've got the Oilers twice in the next week, so that should be a good measuring stick. That also gives us more of a sample size to see where Neighbours is at.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

He seems similar to where he was in the last few regular season games and last year's playoffs. Let's hope he can keep it up all season. I don't want to see Greiss playing more than one game in the back-to-backs, and maybe a few stray games against the worst NHL teams, or severely injury-riddled teams.


Yes! Especially because The Avs lost to my Jets in OT tonight.

I do want to see greiss play more because every year, binny starts hot, then slows down until he starts sitting more which allows him to rebound. Binny is at his best as a 55 is start guy at most. Trying to play him 70 starts is gonna result in you seeing the guy we saw most of last season. Let binny have his rest. Yes the drop-off to greiss may be great, but it will be worth keeping binny at top of his game instead of a more mediocre version

 

[bleedblue1223]

I want to see ROR and Kyrou stay together for an extended period. They play very different games, so I'm not that surprised that there isn't immediate chemistry. ROR was Kyrou's 4th most frequent center last year (although that may be skewed by Schenn and Barby both playing some LW minutes with him) and most of their minutes together were situational. I don't know that they will find chemistry together, but I think it is worth giving them a month or so to learn each other's tendencies to try. If nothing else, I think Kyrou stands to grow as a player from the experience.

The Buch-Thomas-Tarasenko line is awesome. Neighbours-Schenn-Barby has the makings of a great 3rd line. And I'm not too sure how you get Kyrou to 18+ minutes a night if he's not paired with either Thomas or ROR. I think that the forward group as a whole is in the best possible shape if ROR and Kyrou can find chemistry together.

At the 2 game mark (and sitting at 2-0), I'm not eager to end the ROR/Kyrou experiment. We've got 6 games in the next 10 days to finish out the month of October. Unless we start throwing away points, I'd like to see them get those games together to try and build chemistry. That also gives us more of a sample size to see where Neighbours is at.

Yep. Lets let them have a chance to develop something, and if it doesn't, then maybe we look to swap him and Buch. The Thomas line we know works, Schenn and Barby work together, and Neighbours fits that style and makes sense to keep with Schenn. Ideally, being with ROR will help round out Kyrou's game, and Kyrou's dynamic play will benefit ROR and Saad in the offensive zone.

As long as we continue to collect points, pretty or not, we really won't have pressure to change things up.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

If Buchnevich is moved to the ROR line, who would you put on LW with Thomas and Vladdy?

Barbie could work or something like what ValHaller posted. Thomas and Kyrou should be together because they are next level hockey thinkers. As Blueston posted, Buch fits in anywhere, maybe Buch with the two youngsters and Schenn/Vladi with ROR.

 

[Brian39]

Yep. Lets let them have a chance to develop something, and if it doesn't, then maybe we look to swap him and Buch. The Thomas line we know works, Schenn and Barby work together, and Neighbours fits that style and makes sense to keep with Schenn. Ideally, being with ROR will help round out Kyrou's game, and Kyrou's dynamic play will benefit ROR and Saad in the offensive zone.

As long as we continue to collect points, pretty or not, we really won't have pressure to change things up.

To the bolded: That would put Kyrou on his off wing. I think he is at his best coming off the right boards, so I'm not wild about putting him on the left side. I'm comfortable with Buch going wherever and slotting Buch into the RW spot with ROR is all good with me. But I don't want to see a Kyrou-Thomas-Tarasenko line. I could see that line being brutal defensively.

I think you are looking at wither Kyrou or Tarasenko on the 3rd line if Buch takes the RW spot with ROR and I don't love that.

 

[ValHaller]

Barbie could work or something like what ValHaller posted. Thomas and Kyrou should be together because they are next level hockey thinkers. As Blueston posted, Buch fits in anywhere, maybe Buch with the two youngsters and Schenn/Vladi with ROR.

My exact thought process bolded. We also have seen ROR - Tarasenko work quite well together. Had the pleasure of seeing that in person at game 4 of the SCF.

 

[PocketNines]

One of my concerns about Kyrou is while his skills are worth 65 million dollars, that still doesn't buy you versatility in your lineup. He is good with Thomas, but most are going to be good with an elite passer. The focus should be on pushing Kyrou to grow his game and I agree about keeping him with ROR longer, as out of sync as they look now.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Allowing ROR and Kyrou time to gel would be great if they gel. I think the gelling part should primarily take place off ice. Is there any sort of real friendship and connection between those two?

It matters.

If ROR and Kyrou can build something off ice, then they’ll have a higher chance of succeeding on ice.

Otherwise, didn’t Chief break up that duo last night? My viewing was intermittent, but I saw Kyrou without ROR at times.

 

[PJJJP]

What about a top 6 of Buch-ROR-Tarasenko and Saad-Thomas-Kyrou, while keeping the 3rd line together. I hate breaking up Thomas/Tarasenko/Buch line tho,

 

[bleedblue1223]

And long-term, with the assumption Tarasenko walks, Kyrou can probably slot in on the Thomas line to keep the elite offensive line going.

 

[ValHaller]

I can't be the only one who thinks Saad isn't good enough to play in the top 6 every night, right? If needed, he can play up to be in a shutdown role like last season, but do we really want him up there over the other options?

 

[bleedblue1223]

I can't be the only one who thinks Saad isn't good enough to play in the top 6 every night, right? If needed, he can play up to be in a shutdown role like last season, but do we really want him up there over the other options?

He's good for a quiet 50ish points that provides good defense. That's pretty much what we want from a winger on O'Reilly's line. He's basically right with Barbashev for the 7th/8th amount of ice time for forwards, so it's where I'd put him.

 

[PocketNines]

He's good for a quiet 50ish points that provides good defense. That's pretty much what we want from a winger on O'Reilly's line. He's basically right with Barbashev for the 7th/8th amount of ice time for forwards, so it's right where I'd put him.

Saad is great value. He has a very specific job, neutralize Makar in the playoffs while chipping in supplementary scoring.

So far the score is Saad 1, Makar 0.

 

[joe galiba]

our 3rd d pair looked like a train wreck to me

 

[rumrokh]

our 3rd d pair looked like a train wreck to me

Mikkola is shaky, but Bortuzzo looks cooked. Didn't help that the Blues were also shoving them out there with the 4th line a little too often. Maybe they thought all those guys needed more PK practice.

 

[BlueOil]

i agree with keeping ROR and kangaroo together for a bit to see if they can find some chemistry. it feels like it's been forever, but it's only been two games. i do wonder if we see Neighbours slide into that spot later in the year. i don't think he's ready for top line minutes, but maybe he and Saad rotate in-game depending on the circumstances. leaving the second line in tact is also my preference. thomasov is the best version of thomas.

Neighbours-O'Reilly-Kyrou
Buchnevich-Thomas-Tarasenko
Saad-Schenn-Barbashev

 

[bleedblue1223]

With a healthy lineup, the 3rd pair is the clear area for Army to upgrade. Bortz should be a 7th at this point, but I don't see Mikkola staying for next season either. Not sure how close Kessel is to being ready, but would be nice if we could acquire a LD partner for him.

 

[taylord22]

One of my concerns about Kyrou is while his skills are worth 65 million dollars, that still doesn't buy you versatility in your lineup. He is good with Thomas, but most are going to be good with an elite passer. The focus should be on pushing Kyrou to grow his game and I agree about keeping him with ROR longer, as out of sync as they look now.

Our best line last night was arguably one that only took a few shifts together. Thomas centering Barbie and Neighbors. There are still some confidence issues with Thomas. Or rather, deference issues. He sliced through the NZ coverage and got behind the net with ease and just went to work. He knew he HAD to take over with those guys.

When he plays with Tarasenko or one of the other vets, or even Kyrou...he defers far too often. The player he seems to mesh the best with is Buch. They're excellent acting as bumpers for one another when they hit hard ice. He did not have that, last night, and needs to learn that the team is better off having him just try and take over.

He's been the originator of more goals than what shows up on the stat sheet, and is becoming superb at causing disruptions...the kind that allow our back-checkers extra time to get back. His 'problem/thing to work on' feels like it's the opposite of Kyrou — it's learning that he's more times than not, the best player out on the ice.

By contrast, Kyrou seems to think very little of opposing defenders and it often results in incidental contact that leads to dead pucks. In theory, O'Reilly is a good linemate for corralling those dead pucks, but I think you have to have another winger that can skate and read off Kyrou. The sure-fire answer is Buch. So the dilemma is, do you optimize the Kyrou or the Thomas line. Thomas needs less 'help', but that line is a proven commodity.

Lots of intriguing parts/solutions in the lineup, but it's strange how narrow they feel when looking through the Kyrou lens. He's chaos, but it's not a complete negative (i.e. Yakupov). It's the weird timing and angles off both the shot and pass. I think O'Reilly will figure out how to adjust, but that other winger spot is going to be a revolving door. I could also see a fair amount of in-game swaps depending on the opponent of Barbashev coming up and Kyrou going down to play with Schenn/Neighbors. And frankly, there is something about Neighbors game that makes me wonder if that's not a match. He has a bit of Oshie'esque chaos in his game, too.

 

[Reality Czech]

All of the "Parayko is better than Pietrangelo" takes that floated around before Petro left, especially by analytics people, really aged poorly.

Wow this game is.... just a little bit more eventful than the last one.

Don't remember that at all. Maybe there were a few people who claimed that, but the majority knows Petro is the better overall player. In fact, reading through this GDT I found myself disagreeing a few of your posts. Our defense contracts aren't "comically bad." Having 3 guys with different skill sets who can play 20+ mins a night at $6.5 million isn't bad at all. Have you seen some of the contracts being given out to d-men lately?

I know it's easy to pile on after a bad game, but some of the takes in this thread are pretty extreme I'd say. If these things become a trend then it's time to worry, but I'll allow guys to have a bit of rust at the start of the season.

Nice to see Faulk pick up where he left off. He was our team MVP last year in my opinion and impacts the game in so many ways. Very fun player to watch and root for.

 

[Allens Five Hole]

Mikkola is shaky, but Bortuzzo looks cooked. Didn't help that the Blues were also shoving them out there with the 4th line a little too often. Maybe they thought all those guys needed more PK practice.

Thought Mikkola was absolutely atrocious last night and the advanced stats bear that out. That third pair is in immediate need of upgrading or it'll end up our death knell.

I don't think Leivo will see much more ice time after that showing, either.

On a positive note, Leddy had a great game by the eye test and the advance metrics.

 

[rumrokh]

Thought Mikkola was absolutely atrocious last night and the advanced stats bear that out. That third pair is in immediate need of upgrading or it'll end up our death knell.

I don't think Leivo will see much more ice time after that showing, either.

On a positive note, Leddy had a great game by the eye test and the advance metrics.

Yea, Mikkola sucked. But while he was doing bad things, he also did a few good things, too. Those don't balance out, but Bortuzzo might as well have not been on the ice. Maybe that's splitting hairs, but I think the coaching staff thought the same because (without checking a shift chart) it looked like they had just about every other defenseman fill in for Bortuzzo on that pairing in the third period, but they continued to put Mikkola out there.

 

[Robb_K]

Allowing ROR and Kyrou time to gel would be great if they gel. I think the gelling part should primarily take place off ice. Is there any sort of real friendship and connection between those two?

It matters.

If ROR and Kyrou can build something off ice, then they’ll have a higher chance of succeeding on ice.

Otherwise, didn’t Chief break up that duo last night? My viewing was intermittent, but I saw Kyrou without ROR at times.

It would be ideal if ROR and Kyrou could click in their play together, AND Kyrou could improve his defensive play greatly by taking direction and tips from ROR. That's a must for Kyrou to improve, to be worth his big contract, and to help make all 3 scoring lines defensively adequate.