GDT: Chapter #4 | St. Louis Blues @ Chicago Blackhawks | "Yeah.. It is another book one, deal with it."

[Robb_K]

So wait, Schenn gets run over and no call?

Consistent with Tarasenko being pulled down earlier, and no call then, either.

 

[rumrokh]

The D core IS fine. They are simply playing lousy defence right now, as are the forwards. That's more on Yeo and Van Ryn than on Pietrangelo, Edmundson, and Parayko. Although all 3 should be trying to play harder and smarter on their own. Dunn is playing poorly, and so is Bouwmeester, at times. Schmaltz has been both good and bad. But, I thing the top 6 are okay. They just need to play a different system. I don't like whay Yeo and Van Ryn have them doing. And there had better be a change very soon.

Dunn was one of the best Blues in game 1 and was still fine in game 2. Have you seen him play poorly since then?

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Positives:
Nice pushback after going behind by 2 on the road.
Allen made some big time saves when they needed them.
Schenn and Perron are showing chemistry.
O’Reilly looks to be what we hoped he would be.
The team consistently winning more face offs is going to lead to better possession and ultimately more points over the season. This was a weak spot last year.
Fabbri and Schwartz weren’t in the line-up, amd they will be.

 

[Robb_K]

I think we need a fundamentals coach. Start with a defense first system, one that emphasises working as a 5 man unit and stresses communication. Once that is established, (and it may take a while and bruise some egos!) THEN you start on offensive plays and creativity. We have the talent, it just needs to be made to work as a team. No more individual efforts.

That's my biggest complaint about Yeo and Van Ryn (along with so few minutes for Kyrou and Thomas). I've never liked Yeo's work with this team. I hope he's gone soon (Davis Payne treatment).

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Dunn was one of the best Blues in game 1 and was still fine in game 2. Have you seen him play poorly since then?

He was playing poker in the press box and made some pretty bad calls.

 

[Robb_K]

Dunn was one of the best Blues in game 1 and was still fine in game 2. Have you seen him play poorly since then?

His play has been inconsistent on defence since Game 1, from what I remember. He's made several good plays, but also some judgement errors that led to defensive breakdowns. He's still young and that's to be expected. he'd be looking a lot better if The Blues were playing a tighter system, and the forwards and defencemen were more coordinated (smaller gaps and switching, instead of trying to fight through picks to play man on man when that isn't practical). The Blues have played better team defence with this same entire corps of defencemen, and forwards of similar defensive skill. It seems to me that the problem is more what their coaches are trying to get them to do.

 

[mk80]

Alain Vigneault right now firing up his resume and cover letter

 

[Robb_K]

I think coaching looks like a problem. But I think it’s unrealistic that Armstrong would really make a change any time soon, especially if they’re playing .500 points hockey and still in the playoff hunt st that point. Fans can talk about it a lot, but I think this is fanciful thinking right now.

Davis Payne was relieved of duty after a very small amount of games, and The Blues' record was really not all that bad, and they hadn't dropped out of the playoff race. I think it's possible that D. Armstrong could decide that Yeo is not looking like he's going to fix the overall team defensive problem, and he's not the right man to coach this roster.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Davis Payne was relieved of duty after a very small amount of games, and The Blues' record was really not all that bad, and they hadn't dropped out of the playoff race. I think it's possible that D. Armstrong could decide that Yeo is not looking like he's going to fix the overall team defensive problem, and he's not the right man to coach this roster.

I hope you’re right, but I think the circumstances were a lot different. Armstrong has not hired Payne, amd I think the availability of Hitchcock has more to do with acting more quickly.

I don’t think a ‘shake up’ trade is possible with the cap situation.

Is there a coach Armstrong trusts like Hitchcock who is out there available? Tippetts is the only one that I’d guess might be in that category.

 

[GoldenSeal]

If the Blues had to work with what they had to replace Yeo, what about someone like Brodeur as coach?

 

[simon IC]

If the Blues had to work with what they had to replace Yeo, what about someone like Brodeur as coach?

He currently has a pretty good gig with the NJ organization. Executive director of business development, or something like that. I doubt he's available.

 

[Robb_K]

I hope you’re right, but I think the circumstances were a lot different. Armstrong has not hired Payne, amd I think the availability of Hitchcock has more to do with acting more quickly.

I don’t think a ‘shake up’ trade is possible with the cap situation.

Is there a coach Armstrong trusts like Hitchcock who is out there available? Tippetts is the only one that I’d guess might be in that category.

Aren't both Vigneault and Tippett available?

 

[mk80]

Aren't both Vigneult and Tippett available?

Tippet is not technically. He was hired by the NHL Seattle group as a consultant.

 

[Robb_K]

Tippet is not technically. He was hired by the NHL Seattle group as a consultant.

Not good. He'd have been my first choice.

 

[Captain Creampuff]

Thoughts on Maroon so far? I'm unimpressed.

I noticed multiple instances where he looked for any support from Tarasenko but there never was any. He's great at cycling the puck and opening up the ice with O'Reilly but Tarasenko has just been piss poor this season. I would like to see Tarasenko and Perron switch spots until Fabbri is able to take over for Maroon. Fully healthy I would like to see

Fabbri-O'Reilly-Tarasenko
Schwartz-Schenn-Perron
Steen-Bozak-Kyrou
Maroon-Thomas-Barbashev

Also I've wanted AV for awhile.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

I'd love AV, his fast and relentless style is what this team needs.

 

[Mafisen]

New member on this board and I'm going to start with a bang .

Cash in on Tarasenko. *runs*

Someone above said he's been piss poor so far and I agree. I feel he's regressing bit by bit season by season. He can still score (or can he) but his general play is frustrating. If he had a bit of Ovechkin in him he could be devastating, but he's too comfortable.

 

[The Note in MI]

I haven't been following the box scores - have the Hawks been putting up a ton of goals each game or do Toews/Kane/Debrincat have all of their goals?

As previously mentioned, 72% of them. Which is not surprising but also not sustainable. The Hawks remind me of our start last year, they’re riding a hot couple of players and I fully expect them to slump when their production regresses to the mean. They won’t be able to sustain this sort of offensive output from just three players and the rest of their squad does not look dangerous. They’ve also feasted on some defensively inept teams (Blues x2, Ottawa and Toronto)

Blais has been noticeably better than Thomas thus far. Tonight and the other 3 games.

The difference between Blais and Thomas to me so far has been assertive play. Blais looks more confident and aggressive. Thomas looks nervous AF. He looks like he’s worried he’ll get the Dunn or Thorburn treatment if he makes a mistake. What he doesn’t realize is that he’ll get it regardless... I want to see him on the PK. He has a really active stick and he needs some ice time to adjust here. Him watching doesn’t make him catch the speed of the NHL right now. I don’t expect him to see PP or 3v3 play etc but give him some more minutes to acclimate. More on this later.

Schenn is a beast
Perron played well
Allen kept us in the game

Tarasenko, ROR, Maroon line is a liability defensively...mainly due to the wingers

Defense plays so soft/backs way too far away from any puck handler

We have to be the slowest team in the NHL...painfully slow

To the bolded:
Maroon and Tarasenko shouldn’t be playing together. That whole line is WAY too slow to be getting 20 min a night. Their transition play is sloppy and SLOWWWW. As we’ve all been echoing for what seems like ever, Fabbri needs to be on the LW with Tank and ROR. Need some speed for them to use. Having two guys who are worried about flying the zone and playing way too high looking for offense in Tank and Maroon, against top lines, is not a recipe for good play.

We look incredibly slow in transition partially because of personnel being average in skating but also so much standing still.

 

[TarasenkosForearm]

I'd love AV, his fast and relentless style is what this team needs.

Agreed

 

[bluesfanforlife1992]

I am slowly starting to not like Yeo more and more especially with his decision making.

Why play Thorburn today for less than 2 minutes??? Why not go 11 F 7 D (As much as I am not a fan of that, but that is basically what we did)

Dunn needs to be playing instead of sitting on the bench. Yes I get Dunn played poorly during camp and has made several bad decisions in games to start the season, but come on.

Can we end the top line experiment???

Our lines (when healthy should be something like this)

15-90-91
17-10-57
7-21-20
49/9-36-9/33
(Sosh 86)(Thor 22 or whoever)

27-6
55-29
43-19
41

New lines for now (going with Schwartz is only out a couple games so I will keep him in this.)(For 1LW, play it by committee on who is playing the best.)
9/49/33/36-90-91
17-10-57
7-21-20
Kid line in whatever combo

 

[The Note in MI]

I'm thinking a halfass GDT is in order maybe today.

 

[carter333167]

IMO, I have yet to see a play by Blais that makes me say wow, even with a lot of ice time. Thomas by contrast, even with so few minutes, always seems on the edge of impressing (as is kyrou). It also is clear that Thomas is one of the few Blues who can consistently see and execute a great tape to tape pass. There really is no argument for bringing him along slowly, as the third line vets look generally unimpressive and the team isn’t playing well. Might as well give the kid more time bc he possesses a skil set that few of our players have. In sum, Yeo is bungling the entire affair.

 

[BlueDream]

IMO, I have yet to see a play by Blais that makes me say wow, even with a lot of ice time. Thomas by contrast, even with so few minutes, always seems on the edge of impressing (as is kyrou). It also is clear that Thomas is one of the few Blues who can consistently see and execute a great tape to tape pass. There really is no argument for bringing him along slowly, as the third line vets look generally unimpressive and the team isn’t playing well. Might as well give the kid more time bc he possesses a skil set that few of our players have. In sum, Yeo is bungling the entire affair.

That's no surprise though, Thomas and Kyrou clearly have the talent to be top 6 players in the future. They have higher upside than Blais and always have.

I doubt Blais ever becomes a top 6 player tbh. I think he could be a 3rd liner though, which is perfectly fine considering he was a 6th round pick.

So, I'm not really expecting Blais to "wow" me. I do like his physical play though as a 4th liner right now, and he has the ability to chip in some offense down there. His play is a little erratic at times though so there's certainly room for improvement.

 

[carter333167]

That's no surprise though, Thomas and Kyrou clearly have the talent to be top 6 players in the future. They have higher upside than Blais and always have.

I doubt Blais ever becomes a top 6 player tbh. I think he could be a 3rd liner though, which is perfectly fine considering he was a 6th round pick.

So, I'm not really expecting Blais to "wow" me. I do like his physical play though as a 4th liner right now, and he has the ability to chip in some offense down there. His play is a little erratic at times though so there's certainly room for improvement.

I agree and that’s my point. We are giving more time to a guy who might at best be a fringe third liner and not giving time to a guy who seems labeled for at least a second line or perhaps first line position. We need to develop him now as we aren’t playing all that well with the current system and we pretty much are going all in for the next 2-4 years.

 

[BlueDream]

I agree and that’s my point. We are giving more time to a guy who might at best be a fringe third liner and not giving time to a guy who seems labeled for at least a second line or perhaps first line position. We need to develop him now as we aren’t playing all that well with the current system and we pretty much are going all in for the next 2-4 years.

Oh my bad I should have read that more clearly. Yeah I agree then. I don't understand Thomas consistently getting 8 minutes or under. He managed the 4th line awful once again last night.

And Yeo almost seems like one of those guys that wants to look like he's right. He seems too stubborn to change his ways.

Going to be interesting to see if Dunn is back in the lineup tonight. If he isn't... yikes.