GDT: Game #25 | St. Louis Blues vs Anaheim Ducks | Berglund is Back Edition!

[Majorityof1]

Paragon looked pretty underwhelming against philly? What's his level of play at?

Parayko has been rock-solid defensively all season long. His offense has been spotty. He has a lot of great offensively skills but his shot is far too slow. He has not yet figured out how to utilize it properly or be successful without it as a weapon. He has also been used in a much less sheltered role, which took some adjustment. But I am happy with his play. He doesn't have the numbers to impress those that can't watch every game. And his defensive game is quiet using his reach and speed instead of his body and physicality. But that's always been his style. People compare him to Weber due to size and shot but its really an awful comparison. So when he plays a game much different from Weber, people think he is struggling. Defensively he's not.

 

[Oberyn]

Parayko's game has hit a new level as of late. He started off slow, but I'm really happy with how assertive he's been in the defensive zone and the points are starting to come as well. I don't expect him to throw bone crunching hits, but I always felt he had a little more to give considering his size and skating ability. That game against Edmonton is still fresh in my mind where he kept disrupting the Oilers transition game and pushing the puck forward.

 

[KirkOut]

Can Bouwmeester please play on the second pairing with Parayko? What has he done to warrant being on the top pair?

I agree. I’m not a Bouwmeester hater but it doesn’t make any sense tossing him out with AP for the premium matchups right now while he’s recovering (and maybe even after he recovers). He looked pretty in over his head last game

 

[KirkOut]

9 o’clock start time on a weeknight for a game being played in STL? What is this, the playoffs?

 

[Blanick]

Parayko's game has hit a new level as of late. He started off slow, but I'm really happy with how assertive he's been in the defensive zone and the points are starting to come as well. I don't expect him to throw bone crunching hits, but I always felt he had a little more to give considering his size and skating ability. That game against Edmonton is still fresh in my mind where he kept disrupting the Oilers transition game and pushing the puck forward.

His willingness to shoot has improved too. I feel like he has taken more shots in the last 5 games than he did in the previous 20.

 

[Meatball]

Paragon looked pretty underwhelming against philly? What's his level of play at?

Auto-fill strikes again!

 

[MacDonald4MVP]

Auto-fill strikes again!

Paragon sounds like cool nickname though. What are others? Only one I know is tank.

 

[KirkOut]

Paragon sounds like cool nickname though. What are others? Only one I know is tank.

Well there’s also Berg-sauce

 

[Michael Scarn]

How about stastny, always had good rep among flyers fans.

Stastny is finally playing up to his contract, somewhat. Part of that is due to him being healthy, and I think part of it is being a contract year. Has some great chemistry with Sobotka. They, along with Steen, can hold the puck in the zone and pass a team to death. That line’s only issue has been a lack of overall speed and an unwillingness for someone to man up and shoot the darn puck.

 

[MacDonald4MVP]

Parayko's game has hit a new level as of late. He started off slow, but I'm really happy with how assertive he's been in the defensive zone and the points are starting to come as well. I don't expect him to throw bone crunching hits, but I always felt he had a little more to give considering his size and skating ability. That game against Edmonton is still fresh in my mind where he kept disrupting the Oilers transition game and pushing the puck forward.

Imo hits are overvalued. There's time and space to lay some lumber, but dmean playing the body instead of puck in his own zone more often than not leads to being out of position and causing holes in coverage.

 

[shpongle falls]

Really enjoyed this interview with Kariya

 

[Blanick]

Trying out my new Blues hoodie tonight. Hopefully it can start its career 1-0

 

[Dbrownss]

Can Bouwmeester please play on the second pairing with Parayko? What has he done to warrant being on the top pair?

Pietrangelo isn't allowed to win a Norris. I won't lose my shit till after 5-10 games of his anchor weight on Petro

 

[Bye Felicia]

Anaheim at full health is probably the best team in the Pacific, but that lineup right now, woof.

 

[kducks]

Really enjoyed this interview with Kariya

Thanks for posting this, love seeing Paulie again.

 

[Stopsight]

Getzlaf always destroys the blues it seems so definitely a boon he is out


Edit: yeah just checked...for games against the 'modern' blues since 2011-12 Getzlaf is 1.16 PPG

 

[MacDonald4MVP]

Getzlaf always destroys the blues it seems so definitely a boon he is out


Edit: yeah just checked...for games against the 'modern' blues since 2011-12 Getzlaf is 1.16 PPG

I always liked getzlaf, one tough bastard. He was money in the playoffs. Ducks are lucky to have him.

 

[EastonBlues22]

Paragon looked pretty underwhelming against philly? What's his level of play at?

He's not even at 1.2k main stat yet. Still just a n00b.

 

[Brian39]

Maybe my hopes are too high, I can admit that. Even if they finish with 17, I'm not going to dog them or want them to be banished to Siberia. But at the same time if 3rd line can only contribute 17-20 goals at 5v5 in a season. The blues are in no way contenders (which is fine with me, I still see this year as a set-up year).

It's funny, because individually I'm happy with every player on the 3rd line right now. Sundqvist is playing great defensive hockey, Jaskin has looked better than he has in years, Blais is coming along nicely and Paajarvi is...fine. None of those guys is capable of driving a 3rd line. I don't think any of them are even good enough to be the '2nd' guy on a quality 3rd line. They are great support guys, but they need guys to support. As bad as that line has been offensively, I can't say that they are playing below expectations.

I think the current 3rd line of Berglund/Jaskin/Sundqvist/Blais is probably good for 25, maaaaaybe 30 even strength goals. That's still almost a 50% improvement offensively, the PP should improve with Bergy taking minutes from Sundqvist and I don't think we get any worse defensively. That's pretty nice. Adding another middle 6er takes it from pretty nice to 'almost another 2nd line', which puts us into true contender status.

 

[Vincenzo Arelliti]

Parayko did an interview and mentioned his own hesitancy. The team has really rallied behind him and are pushing him to take more shots and be more decisive offensively. He’s responded well. He will join in on the defense scoring party soon enough.

 

[Bluesnatic27]

Really enjoyed this interview with Kariya

My all time favorite player.

I’m happy to seem him in the HoF. I hope he can work in the Blues front office someday.

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

Paragon sounds like cool nickname though. What are others? Only one I know is tank.

As for ones that aren't just variants of the persons name, there's Tank for Tarasenko (as you mentioned) and also Frank for Tarasenko, God for Parayko (more of a tongue in cheek one), snake for Allen (because every athlete ever named Jake has that nickname).

Other than that is usually name variants like Steener, Schwartzy, Fabbs, Stas, Bergy, etc.

 

[Vincenzo Arelliti]

Vlad prefers Vova. He doesn’t like “tank” because he is anti-war. Careful how you pronounce that.

 

[elkranio]

Vlad prefers Vova. He doesn’t like “tank” because he is anti-war. Careful how you pronounce that.

Actually Vlad is short for Vladislav, so it's must be weird for him to be called Vlad or Vladdy.

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

Vlad prefers Vova. He doesn’t like “tank” because he is anti-war. Careful how you pronounce that.

I knew I was forgetting one.