Defense 1st still?

[Got One Cup]

Losing Petro and Jbow is a massive hit to our defensive play. It’s been the identity of the Blues for so long but is it changing with the addition of Faulk and Krug? Will we be more run and gun or do you think the new guys can play a more conservative role without making a ton of mistakes in their own end? All I know is our crap PP better see massive improvements with these two on the 1st unit.

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[Ranksu]

No. You hope shit will stick in the wall philosophy. Hope Binny is brickwall.

 

[Celtic Note]

Losing Petro and Jbow is a massive hit to our defensive play. It’s been the identity of the Blues for so long but is it changing with the addition of Faulk and Krug? Will we be more run and gun or do you think the new guys can play a more conservative role without making a ton of mistakes in their own end? All I know is our crap PP better see massive improvements with these two on the 1st unit.

The Blues don’t have the horses on the backend to play the shutdown D game. They really will have to transition to make their game play strategy fit with their personnel. But, they may try to force the proverbial square peg into the round hole.

Berube has a big test in front of him. Was the team as constructed during the Cup run a prefect match for his system or did he craft a system that perfectly matched the team? (There are obviously some in between answers as well.) We will see how flexible he is this year with all of the changes made.

 

[Got One Cup]

The Blues don’t have the horses on the backend to play the shutdown D game. They really will have to transition to make their game play strategy fit with their personnel. But, they may try to force the proverbial square peg into the round hole.

Berube has a big test in front of him. Was the team as constructed during the Cup run a prefect match for his system or did he craft a system that perfectly matched the team? (There are obviously some in between answers as well.) We will see how flexible he is this year with all of the changes made.

This is exactly what I’m afraid of. I think we are going to bleed goals while trying to force these two to play with more structure instead of letting them do what they do best. I also don’t think we have the firepower to play a run and gun style in our foreword group. Not enough speed there imo.

 

[Brian39]

Losing Petro and Jbow is a massive hit to our defensive play. It’s been the identity of the Blues for so long but is it changing with the addition of Faulk and Krug? Will we be more run and gun or do you think the new guys can play a more conservative role without making a ton of mistakes in their own end? All I know is our crap PP better see massive improvements with these two on the 1st unit.

Our PP was 3rd best in the NHL last year. It was 24.3%.

No team has had a PP% of 30% or greater in the last 50 years, so there isn't a ton of room for improvement.

 

[Got One Cup]

Our PP was 3rd best in the NHL last year. It was 24.3%.

No team has had a PP% of 30% or greater in the last 50 years, so there isn't a ton of room for improvement.

Those numbers surprise me. Felt we were terrible in the playoffs. How many SHGs did we give up to Vancouver?

 

[Stealth JD]

The Blues power-play was a strength last year; surprising considering Tarasenko's absence. The Penalty-kill was however atrocious, and I suspect it's not going to look much better barring some re-imagination from the coaching staff. Our personnel has diminished substantially in that area, and Clifford and Krug are not of any help.

I think we'll preach team-defense and quick transitions...but I have a hard time seeing them as successful without the horses in the stable.

 

[Em etah Eh]

I thought about doing a poll predicting the blues GAA for next year but I figured we have enough negative threads going on and I didn’t want to add more to it. We were top 5 in GAA last year and I feel like we’ll be in the bottom half of the league next year due to the changes to D and the uncertainty in net.

I doubt chief is going to change things up. I feel like he only knows one way to play, and it’s the right way, if you have the personnel to do it.

 

[EastVillageBlues]

We need to make some changes to game plans, if we don't make additional personnel changes prior to the season.

You can't fit a square peg into round holes. And a D that has Krug, Faulk, Dunn, Perunovich, are not designed to be top end defensive zone coverage D corps; they would be much more naturally inclined to emphasize transition game and O-zone possession. If you add in Parayko, that's 5 of the top 7 that have nice wheels, and can at least to some degree drive breakouts and scoring chances from the point.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Our PP was 3rd best in the NHL last year. It was 24.3%.

No team has had a PP% of 30% or greater in the last 50 years, so there isn't a ton of room for improvement.

The last team with a PP of 30% or more: the New York Islanders of 1978-79 at 31.2%. Edmonton nearly got there this past season at 29.5%. I would agree, our 24.3% (21.5% net of SHGA) doesn't leave a lot of room for improvement.

[The year prior, the Islanders were at 31.4% on the PP which was 2nd to Montreal's 31.9% - and the Canadiens only gave up 1 SHG so their net was 31.4%. The last 50 years, back to '70-71, only 15 times has a team had a net PP% of 25.0 or better; the last two were Tampa 2018-19 and Pittsburgh 2017-18. Before that, you have to go back to Calgary in 1989-90.]

Our PK, on the other hand, ... we were 79.3% (18th overall), worse than that in the playoffs (74.4%). I'd take a ~20% PP if that PK would come back up toward say 84% and we had more SHG for than against.

Those numbers surprise me. Felt we were terrible in the playoffs. How many SHGs did we give up to Vancouver?

197.

No, wait - it only felt like that. We gave up 2 and didn't have any ourselves.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

I thought about doing a poll predicting the blues GAA for next year but I figured we have enough negative threads going on and I didn’t want to add more to it. We were top 5 in GAA last year and I feel like we’ll be in the bottom half of the league next year due to the changes to D and the uncertainty in net.

You know, we traded away the guy who had the better GAA and SV% last season.

[lobs grenade, walks away whistling]

 

[Quaz]

You know, we traded away the guy who had the better GAA and SV% last season.

[lobs grenade, walks away whistling]

To be fair Allen got all the easy assignments. I think Binner will be fine this season. I also believe in Husso. There have been many other teams that have brought up young goaltenders and have had success. Husso has played enough in the AHL. They need to see what he can do in the big show.

 

[simon IC]

We need to make some changes to game plans, if we don't make additional personnel changes prior to the season.

You can't fit a square peg into round holes. And a D that has Krug, Faulk, Dunn, Perunovich, are not designed to be top end defensive zone coverage D corps; they would be much more naturally inclined to emphasize transition game and O-zone possession. If you add in Parayko, that's 5 of the top 7 that have nice wheels, and can at least to some degree drive breakouts and scoring chances from the point.

Parayko and Dunn are the only ones on that list that have "nice wheels". Faulk is a strong, steady skater, and hard to knock off the puck, but his straight-way speed is average at best, and he is only going to slow down. Perunovich is quick, with good stop and starts and pivots, but he is not a speed demon. Krug is not fast. His straightaway speed is below average, and although he excels in stop and starts, his reliance on short bursts and agility in tight spaces is going to wear on his lower body. Bruin fans say he is already declining. I am not saying this is you, but I am seeing a narrative forming that we are getting smaller and faster, and want to nip that in the bud. We definitely got smaller, but not faster.

 

[GoldenSeal]

I’m more concerned about the quality of Binny’s backup right now than anything else. If Binnington goes down and Husso falls apart, what do we do?

 

[BlueKnight]

Parayko and Dunn are the only ones on that list that have "nice wheels". Faulk is a strong, steady skater, and hard to knock off the puck, but his straight-way speed is average at best, and he is only going to slow down. Perunovich is quick, with good stop and starts and pivots, but he is not a speed demon. Krug is not fast. His straightaway speed is below average, and although he excels in stop and starts, his reliance on short bursts and agility in tight spaces is going to wear on his lower body. Bruin fans say he is already declining. I am not saying this is you, but I am seeing a narrative forming that we are getting smaller and faster, and want to nip that in the bud. We definitely got smaller, but not faster.

I agree with you Simon. I know a few Bruins fans around my work place and they all say the same thing Krug is already starting to decline. By the time he is past 30 he will be a shell of his former self. The Blues defense to me has always been their bread and butter. They are getting away from that, Which I don't like. They are definitely getting smaller and not faster, Which also I don't like.

 

[MissouriMook]

The last team with a PP of 30% or more: the New York Islanders of 1978-79 at 31.2%. Edmonton nearly got there this past season at 29.5%. I would agree, our 24.3% (21.5% net of SHGA) doesn't leave a lot of room for improvement.

From a pure mathematical perspective, you are correct. That said, the past couple of years when our power play hasn't scored it has looked absolutely awful. It would be impossible for me to quantify, but I feel like the hot and cold PP carried over momentum (good and bad) into subsequent 5-on-5 play, and even when you're succeeding 24% of the time, you're failing 76% of the time, which means that 3 out of 4 times, a lost PP opportunity has the potential to wreck your 5-on-5 five play after expiration if you've completely mangled your zone entries and possession and given the other team the momentum after the kill. Maybe it's just me, but it feels different when a PP expires after having a lot of chances but not scoring than it does when your team just spent 2 minutes getting their ass handed to them when they had the man advantage.

TL;DR - I feel like Krug coming in and QB-ing our PP has the potential to make us more consistent even if there isn't much room to make it more prolific.

 

[BlueOil]

Those numbers surprise me. Felt we were terrible in the playoffs. How many SHGs did we give up to Vancouver?

they were terrible for the 10 bubble games, but had a stellar powerplay most of the season

 

[ItsOnlytheRiver]

I’m more concerned about the quality of Binny’s backup right now than anything else. If Binnington goes down and Husso falls apart, what do we do?

I've seen a few posts around this forum recently lamenting the loss of Jake Allen. My question is, if we still had Jake Allen and Binnington got hurt, what would we do? We know Allen isn't backstopping anybody to a championship. In other words, who cares? I'd rather have the cheap unknown over the costly and average known. If Binnington gets hurt we will be bringing in some veteran needing work.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

To be fair Allen got all the easy assignments.

I know, I just couldn't resist taking a swing at the hornet's nest.

From a pure mathematical perspective, you are correct. That said, the past couple of years when our power play hasn't scored it has looked absolutely awful. It would be impossible for me to quantify, but I feel like the hot and cold PP carried over momentum (good and bad) into subsequent 5-on-5 play, and even when you're succeeding 24% of the time, you're failing 76% of the time, which means that 3 out of 4 times, a lost PP opportunity has the potential to wreck your 5-on-5 five play after expiration if you've completely mangled your zone entries and possession and given the other team the momentum after the kill. Maybe it's just me, but it feels different when a PP expires after having a lot of chances but not scoring than it does when your team just spent 2 minutes getting their ass handed to them when they had the man advantage.

TL;DR - I feel like Krug coming in and QB-ing our PP has the potential to make us more consistent even if there isn't much room to make it more prolific.

I agree, when we were good we looked really good. When we didn't, 5 people from the stands would have looked better. The point about play after an effective/ineffective PP is interesting; maybe all the self-proclaimed analytics experts should look at that. Maybe combine that with something on winning faceoffs and efficiency [who turns a won faceoff into a scoring chance / goal more often] and more generally possession efficiency [who does the most when they have the puck, given the amount of time they have the puck].

 

[EastVillageBlues]

Parayko and Dunn are the only ones on that list that have "nice wheels". Faulk is a strong, steady skater, and hard to knock off the puck, but his straight-way speed is average at best, and he is only going to slow down. Perunovich is quick, with good stop and starts and pivots, but he is not a speed demon. Krug is not fast. His straightaway speed is below average, and although he excels in stop and starts, his reliance on short bursts and agility in tight spaces is going to wear on his lower body. Bruin fans say he is already declining. I am not saying this is you, but I am seeing a narrative forming that we are getting smaller and faster, and want to nip that in the bud. We definitely got smaller, but not faster.

By nice wheels, I don't just mean olympic speed skating on straightways, and people who are familiar with hockey seldom do.

Krug, yes, his straightaway speed over distance is average at best, but acceleration and lateral movements are fairly elite, which is often allows him the ideal angles for moving in from the point and putting pucks on net. Faulk is similar, his speed is slightly above average, but his skating is not only strong, but agility is superior; all you have to see is the all star competitions that he participated in. Perunovich is definitely quick, and also has above average speed, definitely not going to lose a foot race against most skaters in the NHL, he's not going to blow anyone away, but he doesn't need to with his agility.

Faster, yes we do indeed get faster, a bit on straight line speed, but much more in terms of the D-corps ability to do quick break outs, and accelerate through the neutral zone after broken plays. I'm not sure what you mean by "nip it in the bud", but the narrative you are pushing is inaccurate at best.

 

[Celtic Note]

By nice wheels, I don't just mean olympic speed skating on straightways, and people who are familiar with hockey seldom do.

Krug, yes, his straightaway speed over distance is average at best, but acceleration and lateral movements are fairly elite, which is often allows him the ideal angles for moving in from the point and putting pucks on net. Faulk is similar, his speed is slightly above average, but his skating is not only strong, but agility is superior; all you have to see is the all star competitions that he participated in. Perunovich is definitely quick, and also has above average speed, definitely not going to lose a foot race against most skaters in the NHL, he's not going to blow anyone away, but he doesn't need to with his agility.

Faster, yes we do indeed get faster, a bit on straight line speed, but much more in terms of the D-corps ability to do quick break outs, and accelerate through the neutral zone after broken plays. I'm not sure what you mean by "nip it in the bud", but the narrative you are pushing is inaccurate at best.

Quick breakouts are more closely tied to how quickly you think the game and how well you can make a pass than it is about skating in the backend. Quick passes will always beat quick skaters.

 

[EastVillageBlues]

Quick breakouts are more closely tied to how quickly you think the game and how well you can make a pass than it is about skating in the backend. Quick passes will always beat quick skaters.

Yeah, that's probably Faulk's primary weakness. Thankfully, for our other PMDs, they generally have good vision of the ice and anticipation of developing plays; if we keep Dunn (which is by no means certain), we should have one of the best groups of personnel for breakouts both in terms of passing to streaking forwards and skating the puck out of danger. None of them is Paul Coffey, but they are all fairly mobile D-men that can get the job done one way or another.

 

[Ranksu]

I've seen a few posts around this forum recently lamenting the loss of Jake Allen. My question is, if we still had Jake Allen and Binnington got hurt, what would we do? We know Allen isn't backstopping anybody to a championship. In other words, who cares? I'd rather have the cheap unknown over the costly and average known. If Binnington gets hurt we will be bringing in some veteran needing work.

Hard to know, Husso might be good at behind of ex-blues d-core, but I really don't know how 'left' our goaltenders will be in the games. Breakaway after another breakaway.

 

[Quaz]

Hard to know, Husso might be good at behind of ex-blues d-core, but I really don't know how 'left' our goaltenders will be in the games. Breakaway after another breakaway.

It will be interesting to see what the lineup looks like at the start of the season. Moves can still be made. what if they ended up with:

Krug Parayko
Scandella Faulk
Mikkola Gunner

I think that lineup would be good enough defensively. I also think Husso will be a lot better this year than most people think.

 

[Ranksu]

It will be interesting to see what the lineup looks like at the start of the season. Moves can still be made. what if they ended up with:

Krug Parayko
Scandella Faulk
Mikkola Gunner

I think that lineup would be good enough defensively. I also think Husso will be a lot better this year than most people think.

Could be better idk.

I still would hold on our 2021 1st round pick.