Half-Assed GDT: Defending Stanley Cup Champions vs Gimped birds or something

[AjaxManifesto]

Some of you make way more of ONE PLAY than is necessary. Pouloit was sent down because there's no room for him right now. Bort is back (suspension). Gunny is back (cold).

You think they will send Bort down? Or Gunny?

They signed Pouloit for a reason...they can bring him up when needed and then send him back down. He's a solid D man with NHL experience.


Read the Athletic.
Can the Blues continue to cope with their endless list of...

“That’s never an issue, I don’t think, the character of our team,” Berube said afterward. “Our organization (has) done a great job of finding players that can come up and do the job up here. We’ve got a deep farm team, and whether it’s from drafting and free-agent signings, like Walker and Pouliot, they came up and filled in real nice.”

:

“The nice thing with Derrick, this is doing it the hard way,” McDonald said. “He played 62 and 71 games the last two years in the NHL, and as a 25-year-old, you’re looking to build off that and stay in the NHL. But this is exactly why we signed him as a player in the summertime. We knew our top seven was going to be tough to crack, but we knew he was a kid that if we needed him right away, he was there, and if we needed him in a month or two, he’d be there.

“For Derrick, a lot of the 20 games that he played (in San Antonio), he was the best defenseman on the ice for both teams, and he’s had games where he was the best player on the ice for both teams. So, he’s a guy that has a lot of poise, makes good decisions, and you’re comfortable watching him with the puck on his stick. He was a real difference-maker for San Antonio these first couple of months.”

 

[AjaxManifesto]

They tried to shelter him to keep him from getting exposed and, well, we can’t unsee what happened. He wasn’t bad until he had to make a play 1 on 1 against guy I’ve never heard of and he looked like he was waiving red cape as Binnington was gored by no name bull. Then took bad penalty. And that is likely last we will ever see of him. I hope.

Nope. Read the Athletic article that I posted.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

If a top player undressed him, it’s one thing. But that was against protected matchups and immediately after getting embarrassed by giving up a clear breakaway goal on a play where he started with possession of the puck.

Nope. Read the Athletic article that I posted.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Nope. Read the Athletic article that I posted.

I bet he’s not the guy they call up next time the same position is needed. Those nice public comments stand in contrast to the fact Berube stapled him to the bench after the plays I’m making too much about, for 6 minutes total ice time.

‘He was always going down when Bortuzzo came back. Who ever said otherwise?

 

[Hrkac Circus]

Pouliot get his money so I hope next time we'll see call-up Mikkola or Borgman or even Walman in.


This is pathetic defence.

You're a call-up and make a play like that and your first thought on the bench is "I wonder what time the flight to San Antonio leaves tomorrow..."

 

[AjaxManifesto]

I guess we always need somebody to trash....even in a 5-2 win over the Penguins.

Best of luck to you Derek. Your name is trash here with some in Blues HFboards.

 

[Blueston]

it was 1 1st for Schenn and 1 1st to get rid of Lehtera.

That is fantasy. That isn't what happened.

 

[Blueston]

Nope. Read the Athletic article that I posted.

Please. They didn't give him another shift after his penalty in 2nd.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I guess we always need somebody to trash....even in a 5-2 win over the Penguins.

Best of luck to you Derek. Your name is trash here with some in Blues HFboards.

He made two terrible plays. I'm not trashing him. One play led directly to a goal, and the other led to a forced penalty to save a clear breakaway, when he had solo possession of the puck an instant before. Those are big mistakes, and could have cost the game (since the Blues had only scored 1 goal at the time). Its not like it was garbage time errors after the outcome was decided.

Why are you so fixated on posters identifying Pouliot's errors? Is there someone on defense you think he should be playing above? Of course not. We're all glad to see either Bortuzzo or Gunnarsson return to the line-up.

I hope Pouliot is ready next time he's needed. He'll probably still be playoff depth. With his experience, hopefully he has more to offer than what he showed. But I'm not going to pretend his play was good enough, it was not.

 

[Stlblue50]

It was top 10 protected anyway, so there was never really a chance for something dramatic.

That’s right, forgot about that. I’m now remembering all of those people that wanted the Blues to tank to the bottom 10 so they could keep last year’s pick.

And/or they didn’t want the Blues to fall in the 11-15 range and lose a really solid pick. So a full blowup of the team was needed lol

 

[Brian39]

Nope. Read the Athletic article that I posted.

Pouliot played poorly against the Pens.

Pouliot is getting sent down because Bortz is returning, not because of his poor play against the Pens.

Both of those statements can be true and it is bizarre to watch you trying to push a narrative that Pouliot played well and that the coach didn't bench him. He played 6 minutes on Saturday and his very last shift was his skate back to the bench after the penalty he took midway through the 2nd. He literally didn't touch the ice again after that. The fact that the organization and coach are saying positive things about a guy who is still part of the organization doesn't alter the very obvious fact that Berube didn't trust him on Saturday.

What a weird hill to die on.

Edit: and you should read the article you posted instead of just cherry picking quotes. It was obviously written either entirely or almost entirely before the Saturday game. Notice how the article talks about Friday in the past tense but uses phrases like "Going into Saturday's game..." and doesn't reference any details from Saturday's game at all. Your quote from Berube is referring to Friday's game and that is obvious from the context of the article.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

What a weird hill to die on.

Edit: and you should read the article you posted instead of just cherry picking quotes. It was obviously written either entirely or almost entirely before the Saturday game. Notice how the article talks about Friday in the past tense but uses phrases like "Going into Saturday's game..." and doesn't reference any details from Saturday's game at all. Your quote from Berube is referring to Friday's game and that is obvious from the context of the article.

Wow. Some of you have issues.

I read the whole article. I highlighted the parts about Pouloit. There was no was no cherry picking. Tell me what I left out that was key to trashing Pouloit?

He was not expected to break into the top 7. I noted that. He is expected to be available for call up and has played well in the AHL thus far.

So he had a bad game against the Pens. If thats your criteria (to trash a player based on a single game) you better do that to the whole roster.

I'm done with this. Some of you need a scapegoat at all times...even in a 5-2 win.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Why are you so fixated on posters identifying Pouliot's errors?

I made the mistake of looking at Pouloit in the context of an AHL/NHL depth guy getting called up for a few games. I tend to look at his upside based on what's in the Athletic and not a single game where he gets trashed.

Sorry to upset the narrative around here and look at the bigger picture.

I'm done.

 

[simon IC]

Wow. Some of you have issues.

I read the whole article. I highlighted the parts about Pouloit. There was no was no cherry picking. Tell me what I left out that was key to trashing Pouloit?

He was not expected to break into the top 7. I noted that. He is expected to be available for call up and has played well in the AHL thus far.

So he had a bad game against the Pens. If thats your criteria (to trash a player based on a single game) you better do that to the whole roster.

I'm done with this. Some of you need a scapegoat at all times...even in a 5-2 win.

Why are you so upset at criticism of Pouliot? I wouldn't say he was "trashed". DLR and Brouwer have received much harsher criticism from posters on this board.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Why are you so upset at criticism of Pouliot? I wouldn't say he was "trashed". DLR and Brouwer have received much harsher criticism from posters on this board.

Easy...what will be the key to our success this year?

 

[Brian39]

Wow. Some of you have issues.

I read the whole article. I highlighted the parts about Pouloit. There was no was no cherry picking. Tell me what I left out that was key to trashing Pouloit?

He was not expected to break into the top 7. I noted that. He is expected to be available for call up and has played well in the AHL thus far.

So he had a bad game against the Pens. If thats your criteria (to trash a player based on a single game) you better do that to the whole roster.

I'm done with this. Some of you need a scapegoat at all times...even in a 5-2 win.

You responded to 2 separate posts discussing his poor play Saturday by saying "Nope. Read the Athletic article that I posted." Both those posts were in response to you saying that you disagreed about poor play and said he was fine.

So if you weren't trying to imply that the comments were made after Saturday's game and reflected the organizations thoughts about his play Saturday, were you instead trying to imply that those comments made it impossible for him to play poorly on Saturday? You flatly refused to engage in discussion about on-ice play by citing that article.

Talking about a player having a bad game within the GDT for that game is pretty far from "needing a scapegoat" or "trashing a guy." Disputing the notion that a player was 'fine' by highlighting 2 glaring mistakes through 6 minutes of play is far from trashing a guy. Some would call it a discussion, taking place on some type of 'board' designed for that purpose. Pouliot made 2 really bad plays on Saturday in 6 minutes of ice time, lost the coach's trust (for that night) and get benched. There is nothing crazy about discussing that.

 

[KirkOut]

aren't you the guy who got up in arms when posters were criticizing Paajarvi during one of his many 6 point seasons here, saying that our internet comments were hurting Paajarvi's feelings?

They are pro athletes. If they aren't doing well, we (you know, the people responsible for the team's income) have a right to point out their flaws.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

aren't you the guy who got up in arms when posters were criticizing Paajarvi during one of his many 6 point seasons here, saying that our internet comments were hurting Paajarvi's feelings?

They are pro athletes. If they aren't doing well, we (you know, the people responsible for the team's income) have a right to point out their flaws.

No

 

[AjaxManifesto]

You responded to 2 separate posts discussing his poor play Saturday by saying "Nope. Read the Athletic article that I posted." Both those posts were in response to you saying that you disagreed about poor play and said he was fine.

So if you weren't trying to imply that the comments were made after Saturday's game and reflected the organizations thoughts about his play Saturday, were you instead trying to imply that those comments made it impossible for him to play poorly on Saturday? You flatly refused to engage in discussion about on-ice play by citing that article.

Talking about a player having a bad game within the GDT for that game is pretty far from "needing a scapegoat" or "trashing a guy." Disputing the notion that a player was 'fine' by highlighting 2 glaring mistakes through 6 minutes of play is far from trashing a guy. Some would call it a discussion, taking place on some type of 'board' designed for that purpose. Pouliot made 2 really bad plays on Saturday in 6 minutes of ice time, lost the coach's trust (for that night) and get benched. There is nothing crazy about discussing that.

My intent was to refute that he got sent down for a bad play or two. Maybe I want careful in specifying that exactly.

He was never going to stay long given our roster. He had one bad game that you all over reacted to. Read the damn article...even if it's dated from Friday. He's here for a reason.

BTW where's the cherry picking from the article? Did I miss a quote about him?

 

[simon IC]

Easy...what will be the key to our success this year?

I am not sure where you are going here, but I am guessing that the answer you are looking for is "depth". You would be absolutely right that depth is key to our success, but that doesn't mean that our depth players should be free of criticism.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

I am not sure where you are going here, but I am guessing that the answer you are looking for is "depth". You would be absolutely right that depth is key to our success, but that doesn't mean that our depth players should be free of criticism.

Bingo


And depth goes beyond stretches of games. It goes into individual games where guys make a dumb play, or have whole bad games, and others step up to overcome these problems.

Pouloit, who I hardly know, had a bad game. 24 hours before Chief praised him. 24 hours before that he was a top guy in our AHL team.

So yeah, I'm pushing back in here when I see people say so-in-so is going back down to the AHL for a bad game. Maybe, just maybe, they are going back down because we are deep and need to keep guys on hand in the AHL. Maybe guys will have bad games now and then. Just a thought.

 

[Brian39]

My intent was to refute that he got sent down for a bad play or two. Maybe I want careful in specifying that exactly.

He was never going to stay long given our roster. He had one bad game that you all over reacted to. Read the damn article...even if it's dated from Friday. He's here for a reason.

BTW where's the cherry picking from the article? Did I miss a quote about him?

Cherry picking was probably the wrong term. My point was that you were leaving out the context that these comments were made before Saturday and you were using them to dispute the fact that he had a bad game Saturday. I didn't mean to imply that you selected only positive quotes while ignoring negative quotes, but rather that you appeared to be implying that the organization was praising him after the game Saturday to dispute the criticism in here.

Edit: FWIW, we are in agreement about the reason he was sent back to the AHL. I believe he was 100% going back Sunday barring an injury, regardless of his play Saturday. I think anyone who believes he was demoted as a result of his play is being silly, but I also think it is fair to say that his game Saturday did nothing but hurt Berube/Army's opinion of him. I'm not going to pretend I know how long Berube's leash will be with him, but I wouldn't be surprised if his benching Saturday is part of the decision next time we are deciding what D to call up.

 

[simon IC]

Bingo


And depth goes beyond stretches of games. It goes into individual games where guys make a dumb play, or have whole bad games, and others step up to overcome these problems.

Pouloit, who I hardly know, had a bad game. 24 hours before Chief praised him. 24 hours before that he was a top guy in our AHL team.

So yeah, I'm pushing back in here when I see people say so-in-so is going back down to the AHL for a bad game. Maybe, just maybe, they are going back down because we are deep and need to keep guys on hand in the AHL. Maybe guys will have bad games now and then. Just a thought.

Fair enough. It is very easy to forget that these players are also human beings.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I don’t think it’s remotely debatable that Pouliot was going down at the end of Bortuzzo’s suspension no matter what. Why is that even a discussion? I also don’t believe anyone seriously thinks differently.

I also don’t think I said anything mean-spirited about Pouliot or that he wasn’t a useful depth player. He simply had a horrible call-up. For a guy with so many NHL games under his belt, I’m sure he was very disappointed in himself.

 

[Blueston]

I don’t think it’s remotely debatable that Pouliot was going down at the end of Bortuzzo’s suspension no matter what. Why is that even a discussion? I also don’t believe anyone seriously thinks differently.

I also don’t think I said anything mean-spirited about Pouliot or that he wasn’t a useful depth player. He simply had a horrible call-up. For a guy with so many NHL games under his belt, I’m sure he was very disappointed in himself.

Agreed. He was benched in game due to bad play. He was demoted bc Borts is back. He coulda looked like Bobby Orr against Pens and he would be in SA now. But his chances of being next man up next time did likely take hit with his poor play.