Do You View This Team as a Legitimate Cup Contender?

[EastonBlues22]

He seems much better on right side of that coin than the left.

Did he seem much better playing with worse players than when he played with better players? How about in man-to-man vs zone?

There's a number of variables up in the air here...stability and scope of role, now being full-time on the right side, quality of line mates, overall quality of the team, what defensive system will be used, etc. We have a tentative grasp on some of those things, but definitely not all of them...much less how much each will affect his performance in what direction.

Way too many things in flux to say with any confidence that Faulk will be better, or worse, because "X."

 

[Blueston]

Did he seem much better playing with worse players than when he played with better players? How about in man-to-man vs zone?

There's a number of variables up in the air here...stability and scope of role, now being full-time on the right side, quality of line mates, overall quality of the team, what defensive system will be used, etc. We have a tentative grasp on some of those things, but definitely not all of them...much less how much each will affect his performance in what direction.

Way too many things in flux to say with any confidence that Faulk will be better, or worse, because "X."

There are obviously a variety of factors, but biggest issue to me was he rarely looked comfortable. The proverbial “thinking too much”. Not that other factors don’t matter, but confidence goes long way and he seemed to struggle with it last year. Giving him regular role where he can settle in will tend to lead to better play.

 

[EastonBlues22]

There are obviously a variety of factors, but biggest issue to me was he rarely looked comfortable. The proverbial “thinking too much”. Not that other factors don’t matter, but confidence goes long way and he seemed to struggle with it last year. Giving him regular role where he can settle in will tend to lead to better play.

We'll certainly find out.

Not that he was amazing in Carolina when he was on the right side, but any sort of improvement would be welcome improvement.

 

[joe galiba]

There are obviously a variety of factors, but biggest issue to me was he rarely looked comfortable. The proverbial “thinking too much”. Not that other factors don’t matter, but confidence goes long way and he seemed to struggle with it last year. Giving him regular role where he can settle in will tend to lead to better play.

i think that has a lot to do with it
when he was playing on the left side he looked unsure and there were times he was on the wrong side of the ice
when he was playing on the right it was with Dunn and he seemed to fighting his instincts whether to step or drop

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

On the other hand, Faulk played 66% of his ES shifts (and 60% of all his shifts) with one of Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, or Parayko last season...a group that as a whole is much better than the group of guys he'll be spending most of his time with this year.

So there's a very logical reason why he might be worse, too.

Not saying one trumps the other. Just saying there's two sides to this coin.

It would be nice to see he and his partner defending a rush and know who is taking which guy. It was painfully common for his pairing to look like they were deciding who would peel off double coverage of the puck carrier and go deal with the 2nd man in. Pietro and Faulk on the same side of the ice became almost a running joke. I just think when a guy has to rethink his instincts to adapt to his off side, it’s not a recipe to see his best play regardless of who he is paired with. I’m judging this entirely by what I saw with my own eyes.

 

[EastonBlues22]

It would be nice to see he and his partner defending a rush and know who is taking which guy. It was painfully common for his pairing to look like they were deciding who would peel off double coverage of the puck carrier and go deal with the 2nd man in. Pietro and Faulk on the same side of the ice became almost a running joke. I just think when a guy has to rethink his instincts to adapt to his off side, it’s not a recipe to see his best play regardless of who he is paired with. I’m judging this entirely by what I saw with my own eyes.

I agree.

I just also think that playing with those guys helps mask a number of those issues. It's not like there won't be missed assignments or defensive gaffes when he's sharing the ice with guys like Krug or Dunn. It won't be the same sort that you described above (unless, perhaps, they play man-to-man this upcoming season), but there will still be plenty.

Playing with someone worse than you defensively and having the responsibility to cover for their brain farts is also not a recipe for one's best play, and can be quite uncomfortable in its own way. I can vouch from personal experience, and it's a big reason why guys who can carry a pairing are so valuable. Faulk has never been a standout defender, or even a defense first guy. Even in Carolina he was normally paired with a more defensively conscious partner. His defensive game is going to be under a lot of pressure this coming season that he's not used to having, even if his pairing is sheltered (and I fully expect it to be).

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I’m not entirely convinced the Blues are a playoff team.

No Pietrangelo. No Tarasenko. No Jake Allen (nobody can argue that he outplayed Binnington a year ago).

There’s a lot of question marks. Is Binnington the guy that won the Stanley Cup or was that more the mirage?

Who is filling that hole of Tarasenko?

Can Torey Krug play big boy minutes or does he need to be the most heavily sheltered defenseman in the league like he was in Boston, and if so, can we do that?

Can Justin Faulk be counted on?

Can Parayko be a number 1 D or is he actually just a good 2D?

I’m not sure how anyone can objectively call this team a contender, especially in a division with the defending Western Conference champs in addition to the Colorado Avalanche.

 

[The Note]

I’m not entirely convinced the Blues are a playoff team.

No Pietrangelo. No Tarasenko. No Jake Allen (nobody can argue that he outplayed Binnington a year ago).

There’s a lot of question marks. Is Binnington the guy that won the Stanley Cup or was that more the mirage?

Who is filling that hole of Tarasenko?

Can Torey Krug play big boy minutes or does he need to be the most heavily sheltered defenseman in the league like he was in Boston, and if so, can we do that?

Can Justin Faulk be counted on?

Can Parayko be a number 1 D or is he actually just a good 2D?

I’m not sure how anyone can objectively call this team a contender, especially in a division with the defending Western Conference champs in addition to the Colorado Avalanche.

I do think they’ll make the playoffs either as the 3rd Central team or a WC. Having said that, I agree there are far too many question marks for them to be considered a legitimate threat to come out of the West (even though the Conference outside of Vegas/Colorado/Dallas admittedly does stink).

 

[Renard]

We sure didn't look like a contender when Mike Yeo was coaching here in the fall of 2018.

Yes, we will miss Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester and Tarasenko. But we are allowed to play others in their place. Maybe some people will come through and surprise us.

I thought the Islanders would stink after Tavares left, and thought Toronto would be unstoppable. But I was wrong on both counts.

 

[Vektor]

I’m not entirely convinced the Blues are a playoff team.

No Pietrangelo. No Tarasenko. No Jake Allen (nobody can argue that he outplayed Binnington a year ago).

There’s a lot of question marks. Is Binnington the guy that won the Stanley Cup or was that more the mirage?

Who is filling that hole of Tarasenko?

Can Torey Krug play big boy minutes or does he need to be the most heavily sheltered defenseman in the league like he was in Boston, and if so, can we do that?

Can Justin Faulk be counted on?

Can Parayko be a number 1 D or is he actually just a good 2D?

I’m not sure how anyone can objectively call this team a contender, especially in a division with the defending Western Conference champs in addition to the Colorado Avalanche.

The west is too weak for them to miss. Far worse versions of the Blues have made the playoffs in recent history. If last year's version of the Stars can make it to the cup then so can this Blues team. Even without Pietrangelo the Blues are much better on paper than Dallas.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I’m not usually big on making predictions, and I usually don’t vote in those types of polls. I figure, I’m going to root for them the same either way, and as all Blues fans well know only one team wins the Cup in a given year...and it’s not likely to be the Blues even under the best circumstances. Tampa was the class of the league the past 2 seasons, and they were still not a likely Cup winner. If you could take the field in a bet, you’d be wise to do so.

But my sense is that the Blues’ fate will be tied more closely to the quality of play in goal than to the quality of Faulk’s play, or even the defense in a larger sense. If Binnington comes to camp and looks like the guy we saw in Edmonton, the season is probably going to be a disappointment. Husso will hopefully be great, but I don’t think anyone thinks it’s a good plan to have him taking the starter’s load if there is a more experienced option. Is it a situation where the league has found an exploitable tendency that Binnington can’t easily correct? If you ask Vancouver fans, I think they’d say it is. I have more confidence in Binnington’s competitive nature, but I still see that as the Blues’ biggest vulnerability going into the season.

 

[Bluesguru]

Might have a hole on D to fill and definitely need a proven backup in net. But there’s plenty of time for Army to observe and react to fine tune team. Blues definitely are Cup contenders.

 

[TruBlu]

I’m not usually big on making predictions, and I usually don’t vote in those types of polls. I figure, I’m going to root for them the same either way, and as all Blues fans well know only one team wins the Cup in a given year...and it’s not likely to be the Blues even under the best circumstances. Tampa was the class of the league the past 2 seasons, and they were still not a likely Cup winner. If you could take the field in a bet, you’d be wise to do so.

But my sense is that the Blues’ fate will be tied more closely to the quality of play in goal than to the quality of Faulk’s play, or even the defense in a larger sense. If Binnington comes to camp and looks like the guy we saw in Edmonton, the season is probably going to be a disappointment. Husso will hopefully be great, but I don’t think anyone thinks it’s a good plan to have him taking the starter’s load if there is a more experienced option. Is it a situation where the league has found an exploitable tendency that Binnington can’t easily correct? If you ask Vancouver fans, I think they’d say it is. I have more confidence in Binnington’s competitive nature, but I still see that as the Blues’ biggest vulnerability going into the season.

I've voiced this concern for a while. Our SC season was built on great goaltending. I personally don't think he's going to see the same level of success he did in his first season because he's not coming in as an unknown. Add to that we got rid of Allen, who demonstrably, has been a great back up guy; and we replaced him with an unproven goaltender even at the AHL level. I think the Petro drama has underscored that fact. We have probably taken a bigger hit in the goaltending area than our D corps.

 

[Thallis]

The west is too weak for them to miss. Far worse versions of the Blues have made the playoffs in recent history. If last year's version of the Stars can make it to the cup then so can this Blues team. Even without Pietrangelo the Blues are much better on paper than Dallas.

Can you give an example? Only one that comes to mind is the 2008 team, but just making the playoffs for that team was miraculous. I don't think this team is better than any of the Hitch era teams.

 

[ItsOnlytheRiver]

I've voiced this concern for a while. Our SC season was built on great goaltending. I personally don't think he's going to see the same level of success he did in his first season because he's not coming in as an unknown. Add to that we got rid of Allen, who demonstrably, has been a great back up guy; and we replaced him with an unproven goaltender even at the AHL level. I think the Petro drama has underscored that fact. We have probably taken a bigger hit in the goaltending area than our D corps.

What does our backup goaltender have to do with winning a cup? Even if I were to buy into this theory that it’s a factor then Allen being gone can only be a positive. The guy has proven many times he’s not up for the big moment, or if you prefer, just not very good. He had a nice regular season and a nice couple games in the playoffs before reverting back to being Swiss cheese just when you thought he might save us. It was clearly the easiest cost cutting decision of the offseason by DA. Can’t say I blame him.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

I've voiced this concern for a while. Our SC season was built on great goaltending. I personally don't think he's going to see the same level of success he did in his first season because he's not coming in as an unknown. Add to that we got rid of Allen, who demonstrably, has been a great back up guy; and we replaced him with an unproven goaltender even at the AHL level. I think the Petro drama has underscored that fact. We have probably taken a bigger hit in the goaltending area than our D corps.

If you think Allen is better than Binnington, then I agree
If you think Allen will finally get it together mentally for the playoffs and would do better than Binnington ever will again, then I agree.
If you think Parayko can step up his game to fill Pietrangelo's role + Faulk/Krug will combine to fill Parayko's spot and Edmundson's spot [which Faulk purportedly plugged] + Scandella fills Bouwmeester's spot, then I agree.

I suspect there will be lots of arguments here over whether goals allowed were the fault of the defense or the fault of the goaltender, though. I also think the margin of error for this team is much smaller than it was last year, or the year prior. It's like 2017-18 thin, where when everything was going great we were fantastic - but when something slipped, the dominos fell quickly.

 

[BlueKnight]

After the stuff happening the last few weeks I've processed everything about this upcoming season and beyond. I'm usually an upbeat, optimistic and positive person but I just don't see anything to be positive about the Blues future. I just don't see the Blues winning another cup in the future. Losing Pietrangelo is massive and it hurts. Sure the Blues went out and go Torey Krug but Pietrangelo is on another level on both ends of the ice and Krug is rather fairly one dimensional and a massive massive downgrade from Pietrangelo. That's why a player of Petro's caliber is very important to have if you want to win a Stanley cup. The Blues blew their chances of winning another cup when they thought Petro wasn't important enough to keep.

Another thing that I'm not positive about is Binnington and the goaltending in general. Is Binnington starting to turn into another Matt Murray? No matter what he needs to be better. Will he bounce back? I sure hope so. And there's Husso who is unproven and has a lot of ???? on him or will be pull a Binnington? Who knows. If they both struggle out of the gate and combine that with a porous defence It's not going to look pretty I just cringe thinking about it.

 

[TruBlu]

What does our backup goaltender have to do with winning a cup? Even if I were to buy into this theory that it’s a factor then Allen being gone can only be a positive. The guy has proven many times he’s not up for the big moment, or if you prefer, just not very good. He had a nice regular season and a nice couple games in the playoffs before reverting back to being Swiss cheese just when you thought he might save us. It was clearly the easiest cost cutting decision of the offseason by DA. Can’t say I blame him.

If you think that having a solid proven back up in net isn't important, then there's not much left to talk about. Secondly, if you think that we are better off with Husso as a backup instead of Allen....again...not much left to talk about. I'm not saying it wasn't a smart move to free up cap using Allen since we got a decent return, but we now have a guy that hasn't proven he can cut it even at the AHL level. Even if Binny returns to form, a moderate groin pull could be the difference between a playoff berth and being out of the race two months in with Husso backing him. My whole point of my post was that the downgrade to our goaltending this offseason was bigger than the downgrade to our d corps.

 

[ItsOnlytheRiver]

If you think that having a solid proven back up in net isn't important, then there's not much left to talk about. Secondly, if you think that we are better off with Husso as a backup instead of Allen....again...not much left to talk about. I'm not saying it wasn't a smart move to free up cap using Allen since we got a decent return, but we now have a guy that hasn't proven he can cut it even at the AHL level. Even if Binny returns to form, a moderate groin pull could be the difference between a playoff berth and being out of the race two months in with Husso backing him. My whole point of my post was that the downgrade to our goaltending this offseason was bigger than the downgrade to our d corps.

Ah man, I hadn’t considered Husso may have to start some games. You know, considering a minor groin injury to our goalie might cost us the playoffs it was actually a pretty shrewd move by DA to let Pietro walk. Talk about a boat anchor of a contract that would have been just to not get us the playoffs anyway. Dude is playing that 4D chess game.

 

[Ranksu]

If you think that having a solid proven back up in net isn't important, then there's not much left to talk about. Secondly, if you think that we are better off with Husso as a backup instead of Allen....again...not much left to talk about. I'm not saying it wasn't a smart move to free up cap using Allen since we got a decent return, but we now have a guy that hasn't proven he can cut it even at the AHL level. Even if Binny returns to form, a moderate groin pull could be the difference between a playoff berth and being out of the race two months in with Husso backing him. My whole point of my post was that the downgrade to our goaltending this offseason was bigger than the downgrade to our d corps.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

If you think that having a solid proven back up in net isn't important, then there's not much left to talk about. Secondly, if you think that we are better off with Husso as a backup instead of Allen....again...not much left to talk about. I'm not saying it wasn't a smart move to free up cap using Allen since we got a decent return, but we now have a guy that hasn't proven he can cut it even at the AHL level. Even if Binny returns to form, a moderate groin pull could be the difference between a playoff berth and being out of the race two months in with Husso backing him. My whole point of my post was that the downgrade to our goaltending this offseason was bigger than the downgrade to our d corps.

Do I like the idea of Husso in over Allen? Not particularly, but Allen had to get moved because he was carrying a $4.35 million cap hit and Armstrong signed Husso to a 1-way contract and Armstrong needed cap space to go sign someone to replace Pietrangelo if he wasn't bringing Pietrangelo back. We've discussed the pros and cons of Allen getting his deal (reminder: I'm in the camp that says it was a dumb unforced move), but that contract set the price tag for Binnington after he backstopped us to the Cup. If you thought Allen was a reliable enough backup to stick with, then there was no reason to sign Husso to a 1-way contract for '20-21 - but again, the need for cap space meant someone making ~$4.X million had to go, and it wasn't going to be the guy who stood tall and won 16 playoff games between April and June a year ago.

 

[TheGoldenGod]

Things I’m excited see:
- Thomas continued NHL growth
- Parayko as a #1
- Krug and how he fits
- Kyrou as a regular

Things I question:
- PK
- Decreased size/shutdown options on D
- 5v5 finishing
- Husso

I think we’re a good team and have some exciting pieces, but when compared to a few of the other top teams around the league, I would put us just below the tier of the legitimate cup contenders going into the season. We’re still a good spot though.

 

[TruBlu]

Do I like the idea of Husso in over Allen? Not particularly, but Allen had to get moved because he was carrying a $4.35 million cap hit and Armstrong signed Husso to a 1-way contract and Armstrong needed cap space to go sign someone to replace Pietrangelo if he wasn't bringing Pietrangelo back. We've discussed the pros and cons of Allen getting his deal (reminder: I'm in the camp that says it was a dumb unforced move), but that contract set the price tag for Binnington after he backstopped us to the Cup. If you thought Allen was a reliable enough backup to stick with, then there was no reason to sign Husso to a 1-way contract for '20-21 - but again, the need for cap space meant someone making ~$4.X million had to go, and it wasn't going to be the guy who stood tall and won 16 playoff games between April and June a year ago.

I understand the decision. The thread title asks if we are cup contenders. The point of my post was to convey that I think the change in goaltending from last season to this season is a much bigger vulnerability than the d corp change from last season to this season.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Do I like the idea of Husso in over Allen? Not particularly, but Allen had to get moved because he was carrying a $4.35 million cap hit and Armstrong signed Husso to a 1-way contract and Armstrong needed cap space to go sign someone to replace Pietrangelo if he wasn't bringing Pietrangelo back. We've discussed the pros and cons of Allen getting his deal (reminder: I'm in the camp that says it was a dumb unforced move), but that contract set the price tag for Binnington after he backstopped us to the Cup. If you thought Allen was a reliable enough backup to stick with, then there was no reason to sign Husso to a 1-way contract for '20-21 - but again, the need for cap space meant someone making ~$4.X million had to go, and it wasn't going to be the guy who stood tall and won 16 playoff games between April and June a year ago.

Is the bolded really a point? Didn’t he need that cap space either way? If it wasn’t for a replacement, it was for Pietro’s salary.

Does Husso’s waiver status come into it? I’m thinking of the desire to allow his development and trying to avoid a Bishop situation where a veteran backup is blocking a possibly better young goalie who would be available for a lesser dollar amount.

I don’t remember any posters here really criticizing the Allen trade. It was pretty unanimous that it was a good move, and a surprise to many that he held the value he did (though I expected him to hold value). But similarly, I think many (not most) here also feel Allen was a great backup this past season. He just got too expensive in that role for the team salary structure. I really won’t be surprised if he ends up subbing in for an injured Price and carrying the load well for Montreal at some point.

The points you made above reflect a lot more on Husso than on Allen. Armstrong is betting on him. That’s why the one-way contract was given. Armstrong wasn’t suddenly in a pickle over that. These are two related moves that were always connected (Husso’s contract and trading Allen).

 

[SaintLouHaintBlue]

I've actually seen Husso play in person, a couple of times - at some AHL games.
None of the games went well, but in at least one of those games, he got lit up like a Christmas tree, pulled early, and didn't seem to confident.

What is the background on why he projects so well in the NHL?
I don't follow him all the time - there's probably a lot that I'm missing, but in my limited sample size eyeball test, things don't seem to project to well.