The Mindless Optimism Thread

[JustOneB4IDie]

JR speculated that Backes, Oshie, Sobotka, and Roy would be available for Game 1

I saw that, I hope so.

 

[Robb_K]

Anyone hear something about the nature of Berglund's injury? Was it his hand? Arm? Shoulder?

 

[Blanick]

Anyone hear something about the nature of Berglund's injury? Was it his hand? Arm? Shoulder?

It has been speculated that it is a broken collarbone. No confirmation from anyone yet though

 

[Alklha]

JR speculated that Backes, Oshie, Sobotka, and Roy would be available for Game 1

Interesting. If Oshie is back then he should be completely fine. I'm not worried about Sobotka and Roy, I imagine that they will be fine.

Considering the thread title, I have no comment on Backes.

 

[542365]

The only optimism that I can drum up is that we were going to have to beat Chicago or Colorado to win the Cup anyway. Now, we may have to beat both without the cake walk first series we were hoping for. If the Blues have their guys back, and we see that puck possession/transition game we saw for the vast majority of the season, we can beat both teams in a 7 game series. If they're not playing well in the playoffs....their stay will be short. Get it over quickly before we get our hopes up.....

That's all I can bring to the table.

 

[superblues]

The only optimism that I can drum up is that we were going to have to beat Chicago or Colorado to win the Cup anyway. Now, we may have to beat both without the cake walk first series we were hoping for. If the Blues have their guys back, and we see that puck possession/transition game we saw for the vast majority of the season, we can beat both teams in a 7 game series. If they're not playing well in the playoffs....their stay will be short. Get it over quickly before we get our hopes up.....

That's all I can bring to the table.

Quick and painless. That's being optimistic, right?

 

[Colt 55]

My final shred of hope is yesterday I met a tour bus fulled of people from chicago and started talking with some of them about hockey. I told them looks like it will be Chicago vs St. Louis in the first round and they were worried.

Also, I believe the winner of that series wins the cup.

 

[Novacain]

I'll take some shots...

-Of all the forwards we lost, the 2 we have were the best players on the team in last years post season

-I have no expectations, so they can't disappoint me.

 

[Halak Ness Monster]

The only optimism I have is that we are in the playoffs. There was a time there were we didn't make it 5 of 6 years and hadn't even won a playoff game in like 8 or 9 years. It's nice to be in with home ice advantage.

I don't expect us to last long if we are playing Chicago in round one but hey, you never know(but really we do know)

 

[ExJbeck]

I AM being optimistic here. I'm expecting The Blues to beat Detroit. I'm hoping that Anaheim will beat Colorado, but it will be tougher to get done when they have a LOT less reason to play hard than The Avs will.

I think that a first series against The Hawks will be a lot closer than most Blues fans think. And I think The Blues are capable of winning that series, even without Tarasenko. Bot it will take a LOT of things going right for that to happen.

Fix the defense great things can happen, continue to be sloppy defensively and lose in the first round.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Rattie wins the Conn Smythe, I mean, why not?

 

[jura]

pucks on net! 5 man unit! puck management! win!
let's go blues

 

[SkyBlue]

Looking for the positive:

Based on his whole career, Miller is a much better goalie than we have seen since the trade, and he is a pending free agent. He has absolutely every motivation there can possibly be to show the NHL the best he can be this post season. By all accounts he is a "student of the game"... meaning the guy is watching video of every Hawks scorer for the next four days. You can debate the value of the lost picks etc but no serious hockey observer, including most of this board, thought the Blues were weaker this year with Miller in net. The only debate was the long term cost.

The Blues are banged up, but have clearly made the decision that resting up a key group of players (and getting them relatively healthy) was a higher priority than winning the division but starting the play-offs this banged up. Not saying there aren't real injuries, more like there always are injuries and a strategic decision appears to have been made that playing through those injuries late season would have been unnecessarily short term thinking. Go back to Hitch's comments about "it's more important how we are playing than who we are playing.." There could be a double meaning there. It is possible that "We want to win the Presidents trophy etc" was more about marketing than coaching. The truth is that the players, in particular, never cared that much about regular season standing. The level of effort made that clear the moment they clinched a playoff slot. OK, that isn't a good thing, but it isn't that awful. We have already cheered for a Blues team that gave everything it had for a President's trophy leaving nothing in the tank. It wasn't worth it.

This is the same core team, plus Miller, that has impressed us and most of the hockey world for most of the season. That wasn't a mirage -- yes they've gotten off track, and of course the Chicago Wolves don't measure up to that standard, but this team rested and healthy can be as good as you thought earlier in the season. The post season is the only season that counts and they know that too. We should (and eventually will) judge them by that standard not by the last two weeks. This board's melt down is premature.

The Hawks (clearly their arrogant fans, but hopefully somewhat their players) think the Blues are done. That is a good thing for them to keep thinking. There is no excuse for us to do the same before the first puck of the real season is dropped.

I'm not saying the route to the cup will be easy, I'm saying it never will be... thinking it could be was the mirage. If nothing else we are all clear on that now.

Let's Go Blues!!!

 

[Alklha]

Let's be honest, it is a lot more than just the "arrogant Blackhawk fans" that think the Blues are done. Every single one of us is doing our best to fight that thought process as well.

The 2 biggest reasons to be optimistic is that we now have 4 days to recover/get our **** together and we have home ice. Win Game 1 and what has happened over the past couple of weeks is completely meaningless and every one of us will be back on board.

 

[ExJbeck]

Let's be honest, it is a lot more than just the "arrogant Blackhawk fans" that think the Blues are done. Every single one of us is doing our best to fight that thought process as well.

The 2 biggest reasons to be optimistic is that we now have 4 days to recover/get our **** together and we have home ice. Win Game 1 and what has happened over the past couple of weeks is completely meaningless and every one of us will be back on board.

For sure, it's been awhile since we've practiced as well. All we can do it hope for the best. We have to win 16 games regardless and no one has won it without playing some good teams.

 

[Robb_K]

It has been speculated that it is a broken collarbone. No confirmation from anyone yet though

I don't think it is THAT bad. Korac tweeted that ALL The Blues' forwards that are out today will be back during the first series (that includes both Tarasenko and Berglund), Tarasenko probably won't be ready until Game 3 or 4, but, if Berglund has a broken collarbone, he'd be out for the entire series (and a lot more). I don't think he even had a dislocation or separation. He must have a very bad bruise or muscle strain(?).

Otherwise Korac should be more precise and specific, so as not to allow misinterpretation.

 

[Multimoodia]

Positives:

The Blues staff has done an excellent job getting jerseys ready for players they did not think they would see this year.

The ice has remained relatively frozen despite humidity and warmer temperatures

The ice dancers are looking relatively good this year. I have the number for one of them however the girlfriend seems less enthused than I do. (That may belong in the negativity thread)

Skates are looking sharp.

Louie is looking especially blue, nice job on the costume upkeep.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

I don't think it is THAT bad. Korac tweeted that ALL The Blues' forwards that are out today will be back during the first series (that includes both Tarasenko and Berglund), Tarasenko probably won't be ready until Game 3 or 4, but, if Berglund has a broken collarbone, he'd be out for the entire series (and a lot more). I don't think he even had a dislocation or separation. He must have a very bad bruise or muscle strain(?).

Otherwise Korac should be more precise and specific, so as not to allow misinterpretation.

That was my speculation, but on NBC today it was listed as "shoulder". Even if it was a mild separation, he could probably play, just be sore as hell.

Despite my better judgement, I'm starting to get a bit of true optimism going.