Let's chat about Berglund

rumrokh

THORBS
Mar 10, 2006
10,107
3,285
Hm, I've watched around 10 Blues' games this season, and come to a conclusion, that Berglund and creating are mutually exclusive things. Sobotka is a way more creative player.

Keep watching, then. Berglund is a significant reason his line looks good out there. Watch him create turnovers, make simple passes, and then go to the right areas to support the play and give his linemates options. How about that pass he made to Stewart in front of the net last game? He's not Oates out there, but he does things like that almost every game.
 

bluesman11

Robert Johnson
Mar 19, 2010
868
26
Things like this generally even out by the end of the year, Berglund should get pretty close to his numbers, his luck has to change.
 

illninofan*

Guest
Zetterberg, the Sedins, they all broke out around their fifth season or so.

It's pretty much put up or shut-up time for Berglund.
 

BlueDream

Registered User
Aug 30, 2011
25,685
14,074
That time passed a long time ago. This is what Berglund is - a frustrating 3rd-line center who currently has one-third the amount of goals as Roman Polak.

I like his overall game and physical play so far, but the guy is as inconsistent as they come offensively - yes, more so than Stewart. Easily.

His line has gone quiet on the offensive side, but I still like the potential chemistry there (mainly because of the wingers though, not necessarily Berglund...)

The guy can be a valuable player but seriously, Sobotka has basically become the #2 center over him. Not too many people here should be happy about that. Expected more from Bergy but this is who he is. Around a 40-point center on average. Not much more.
 

erderuft

Registered User
Jun 28, 2011
533
0
Borås, Sweden
Who should you be most disappointed in? Berglund or Roy? Roy was bought in for big money to be our second line center, so that we could finally give Bergie a role more suited for him, being the third line guy. While the offensive numbers haven't been there, which is bad, he has been steady defensively. There's no denying that.

Roy now plays left wing on our fourth line with Lapierre and Reaves. I mean, come on...
 

Renard

Registered User
Nov 14, 2011
2,148
761
St. Louis, MO
Berglund is a marginal NHL player right now. His main weakness is his lack of speed. Add to that the fact that he is rarely physical, and has lost his scoring touch, and is not good on faceoffs, and you have the Blues' weakest link. If he was a 4th liner, that wouldn't be too bad. But because of our lack of depth at center, Berglund is in a prominent role. He plays on the PP, he plays on the PK, he centers our second line, he plays 4 on 4.

Berglund does have some skill. He is good with the puck, protects it well, is a good passer.

Sobotka needs to be given Berglund's role. But who should take over Sobotka's duties as third line center?
 

Renard

Registered User
Nov 14, 2011
2,148
761
St. Louis, MO
Who should you be most disappointed in? Berglund or Roy? Roy was bought in for big money to be our second line center, so that we could finally give Bergie a role more suited for him, being the third line guy. While the offensive numbers haven't been there, which is bad, he has been steady defensively. There's no denying that.

Roy now plays left wing on our fourth line with Lapierre and Reaves. I mean, come on...

Roy was a gamble that hasn't paid off. He looks bad in the defensive zone. He has shown a lot of offensive flash. I say - use Roy on the PP and 4 on 4. Other than that, keep him on the bench (if we don't leave ourselves short handed by committing a spot for a guy who plays so little.)
 
Apr 30, 2012
21,007
5,358
St. Louis, MO
Berglund is a marginal NHL player right now. His main weakness is his lack of speed. Add to that the fact that he is rarely physical, and has lost his scoring touch, and is not good on faceoffs, and you have the Blues' weakest link. If he was a 4th liner, that wouldn't be too bad. But because of our lack of depth at center, Berglund is in a prominent role. He plays on the PP, he plays on the PK, he centers our second line, he plays 4 on 4.

Berglund does have some skill. He is good with the puck, protects it well, is a good passer.

Sobotka needs to be given Berglund's role. But who should take over Sobotka's duties as third line center?

Oh come on. Berglund is a marginal NHL player? We all know that's just plain wrong. He is what he is. A good third line center that frustrates the hell out of you because of the flashes that he shows. But his overall game this year has actually been pretty good. If he weren't so snake bitten he'd have decent numbers right now.
 

Multimoodia

Sicker Than Usual
Nov 6, 2010
3,187
101
The Range
Berglund is a marginal NHL player right now.
No, and this statement makes it relatively obvious that you either: do not watch any other team other than the Blues or you are not aware of which player Berglund is.
Berglund is the #21 with a Bluenote on his chest. Swedish guy. May or may not say "Bork Bork Bork" in the kitchen.

His main weakness is his lack of speed.
Not what I would ascribe his main weakness as (I would say consistency) but I can certainly agree his lack of acceleration hurts, particularly when playing with much faster players such as MPS, Schwartz, Tarasenko, etc.

Add to that the fact that he is rarely physical
Not as much as we would like him to be but he does use the body more often than "rarely"

and has lost his scoring touch, and is not good on faceoffs
Cannot argue that.

and you have the Blues' weakest link.
Have you heard of this Morrow guy?

He plays on the PP
Not all that much as of late (thankfully)

he plays on the PK
He should, he is a very effective defensive center. If he could win faceoffs with more consistency he would even be ideal.

he centers our second line, he plays 4 on 4.
Agreed, there should be a better center playing in the second center role as long as the Blues have a glorified second line center playing in the top position.

Berglund does have some skill. He is good with the puck, protects it well, is a good passer.
...This is where you lose me. Berglund is a shooter, his passing is barely passable.



In summation:
Berglund would be a great 3rd line center and a passable 2nd line if he could learn to consistently get the same good results night-to-night. Or he would be fine if the Blues had Joe Thornton on the top line.
I do not foresee the Blues attaining that true #1 center and I do not see the Berglund suddenly figuring out how to play as Angry Berglund every night.
Frankly, if the Canadiens are as serious as some of their fans are for trading Pleks for Stewart and a 3rd the Blues should hop all over that thus giving them a plethora of centers and moving Bergie down to 3rd line where he should be.
Alas I doubt they are and as such the onus is on the Blues to find a good second line center to push Berg down a line.
 

bleedblue1223

Registered User
Jan 21, 2011
51,762
14,675
The only problem I have with Berglund lately is that he is trying his best to channel his inner Brad Boyes. Just high and wide after high and wide.

The rest of his game has been solid and nitpicking anything else is just having unrealistic expectations for him. I'm tired of people talking about his lack of speed and lack of vision. Look at how big he is, he was never going to have great speed and he's never had great vision, so people can get over that fact.
 
Apr 30, 2012
21,007
5,358
St. Louis, MO
The only problem I have with Berglund lately is that he is trying his best to channel his inner Brad Boyes. Just high and wide after high and wide.

The rest of his game has been solid and nitpicking anything else is just having unrealistic expectations for him. I'm tired of people talking about his lack of speed and lack of vision. Look at how big he is, he was never going to have great speed and he's never had great vision, so people can get over that fact.

That's the problem. People just can't accept the fact that at this point, he is what he is.
 

Hooliganx3

Registered User
Oct 28, 2010
6,878
2
Berglund is a marginal NHL player right now. His main weakness is his lack of speed. Add to that the fact that he is rarely physical, and has lost his scoring touch, and is not good on faceoffs, and you have the Blues' weakest link. If he was a 4th liner, that wouldn't be too bad. But because of our lack of depth at center, Berglund is in a prominent role. He plays on the PP, he plays on the PK, he centers our second line, he plays 4 on 4.

Berglund does have some skill. He is good with the puck, protects it well, is a good passer.

Sobotka needs to be given Berglund's role. But who should take over Sobotka's duties as third line center?

That is biggest load of uneducated crap I have seen on here. Lately that is saying a whole lot.
 

BlueDream

Registered User
Aug 30, 2011
25,685
14,074
I'm not worried about Berglund at all. You just aren't going to see consistency from every player every year.
Yeah but Berglund is never consistent.

The whole consistency thing is pretty much blown out of proportion regarding him and a couple others on this team, but the fact does remain that Vladimir Sobotka is just about taking over Berglund's role, which isn't exactly ideal.
 

Daley Tarasenkshow

Schennsational
Nov 7, 2012
5,878
286
St. Louis MO
Yeah but Berglund is never consistent.

The whole consistency thing is pretty much blown out of proportion regarding him and a couple others on this team, but the fact does remain that Vladimir Sobotka is just about taking over Berglund's role, which isn't exactly ideal.

True, but that's just what happens when younger and better players play over you. Berglund has done everything the same this year as he did last year, the only difference is his stats and his scoring. You can get mad at his consistency but not his output since he's been lowered in playing time.
 

Blues88

Registered User
Apr 27, 2009
1,896
46
St. Louis
Who should you be most disappointed in? Berglund or Roy? Roy was bought in for big money to be our second line center, so that we could finally give Bergie a role more suited for him, being the third line guy. While the offensive numbers haven't been there, which is bad, he has been steady defensively. There's no denying that.

Roy now plays left wing on our fourth line with Lapierre and Reaves. I mean, come on...

If you must disappoint yourself, I'd throw the emotion towards Roy. We knew we weren't getting Mr. Sabre Derek Roy, but I think we expected a bit more playmaking ability as opposed to reduced minutes, reduced responsibility, and a lot of weird shot selections. He hasn't been bad.....but he's shown early that he can't handle the role he was brought in for, at least not with this team.

Berglund has done everything except score goals. I'm not brushing his lack of accuracy and his trouble getting to good areas to shoot under the rug. But if we're going to criticize him this season, it would almost exclusively concern his lack of scoring. If Roy can be a presence on the PP, great, play him where you can and hope he gets favorable match ups. Leave some of the heavy defensive lifting to Berglund.

Berglund is a marginal NHL player right now. His main weakness is his lack of speed. Add to that the fact that he is rarely physical, and has lost his scoring touch, and is not good on faceoffs, and you have the Blues' weakest link. If he was a 4th liner, that wouldn't be too bad. But because of our lack of depth at center, Berglund is in a prominent role. He plays on the PP, he plays on the PK, he centers our second line, he plays 4 on 4.

Berglund does have some skill. He is good with the puck, protects it well, is a good passer.

Sobotka needs to be given Berglund's role. But who should take over Sobotka's duties as third line center?

I don't know what you mean by "rarely physical" for starters. He hits, he strips pucks, and he seems to be a nightmare below the goal line and along the wall for the opposition. His speed isn't incredibly but he isn't slow. Look at how well he's been back-checking. He doesn't need to throw huge checks to be effective, but when he does, he's burying people.

His puck sense is probably better than its ever been because he's been with the same linemates pretty consistently. He may not be the scorer on that line, but he needs to find a way to turn the cycle into chances for Tarasenko and Schwartz. He's done that, but they all could use a jump offensively in my opinion. He's been an effective, puck possession center for them. If anything, his line has been able to sustain pressure in the zone, some that have led directly to goals.

Sobotka is the best faceoff guy on the team, an attribute Berglund has never perfected. He seems to take more shots, but I'm not sure he's better in the 2c role than Berglund. And Berglund is most certainly an NHL'er. We do have a lack of center depth, but Berglund isn't the problem, especially when he's at least keeping the puck out of our end when he isn't scoring.
 

ManyIdeas

Registered User
Feb 14, 2012
6,356
915
St. Louis
Something I would like to see is Berglund forcing his way behind the net with Schwartz for the cycle and letting Frank find space.
 

bleedblue1223

Registered User
Jan 21, 2011
51,762
14,675
He's bound for a crazy hot streak that will bring his shooting % from 3% up to his career average of 12%. Even in his bad years, he was at 10%, so he's bound to pick up the scoring.

Same can be said for Stewart, who currently has a shooting % lower than his bad season here, so both of them will eventually pick it up.
 

TheOrganist

Don't Call Him Alex
Feb 21, 2006
3,855
1,084
Of the two historical offensive whipping boys, Berglund is a 100% more impactful player than Stewart. I thought Berglund looked great offensively in the three game last week. He's playing with two really good players, starting in the offensive zone nearly 60% of the time, and generating a ton of chances. He's genuinely snakebitten. Unlike our linebacker on skates Stewball, you can tell Berglund's points are coming.
 

BlueDream

Registered User
Aug 30, 2011
25,685
14,074
Of the two historical offensive whipping boys, Berglund is a 100% more impactful player than Stewart. I thought Berglund looked great offensively in the three game last week. He's playing with two really good players, starting in the offensive zone nearly 60% of the time, and generating a ton of chances. He's genuinely snakebitten. Unlike our linebacker on skates Stewball, you can tell Berglund's points are coming.
Stewart has been scoring more than Berglund lately so I disagree that "unlike Stewball, you can tell Berglund's points are coming." Berglund has never scored like Stewart has.
 

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