Who winds up playing on defense by season end?

Renard

Registered User
Nov 14, 2011
2,148
761
St. Louis, MO
We seem to have a lot of uncertainty on defense these days.

Many fans want to see Bouwmeester and his salary gone, but can he really be moved? I can't see much demand for his services.

Bortuzzo has had multiple "lower body" injuries in the last couple of years, and is now disabled. What's going on with him?

I thought Schmaltz had turned the corner, but the left-handed Gunnarsson took his spot as right defenseman on his first game back.

Can Walman or Mikkola make the jump to the NHL after half a season in the minors this year?
 

PiggySmalls

Oink Oink MF
Mar 7, 2015
6,107
3,516
JBow and Gunnarsson are both moveable. Just depends on how much Blues want to retain. I’d rather keep Gunny any day if I had to pick one. I would be really surprised if Blues resign Bortuzzo. He has had a good run here. I think he is going to try and get a bigger paycheck and Schmaltz is just a cheaper option without losing too much skill on the back end.
 

BlueDream

Registered User
Aug 30, 2011
25,680
14,072
One of Bouwmeester, Gunnarsson or Schmaltz will probably get traded at some point. The other guys are safe.

We all want it to be Bouwmeester but I have a feeling there's a higher chance Schmaltz is moved than the fanbase may think. The Blues are still having trouble finding him playing time and I can't imagine he's not losing some patience over it. And when he has played, he's looked fine but it doesn't seem like he's wowed enough to convince the team he has to be kept.
 

BleedBlue14

UrGeNcY
Feb 9, 2017
6,077
4,556
St. Louis
I don't think we necessarily need to trade J Bo. He just needs to have his minutes limited. He's not the 20-25 a night guy anymore, That's not saying he can't easily handle 16-18 and be a pker (barring that he learns that trying to block a pass an inch off of the crease isn't a great idea.
 
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BlueDream

Registered User
Aug 30, 2011
25,680
14,072
I don't think we necessarily need to trade J Bo. He just needs to have his minutes limited. He's not the 20-25 a night guy anymore, That's not saying he can't easily handle 16-18 and be a pker (barring that he learns that trying to block a pass an inch off of the crease isn't a great idea.
I think he actively hurts the team when the puck is on his stick. So whether he's playing 20 minutes or 15, I don't think he's helping at all. We have 7 other defensemen when healthy I'd rather watch.
 

Captain Creampuff

Registered User
Sep 10, 2012
10,969
1,816
I'd like to see JBo gone as he's fallen off a cliff. Gunnar looked decent the other night but we cant really rely on him to stay healthy or consistent as he used to be. I think Schmaltz should ask for a trade though. He hasn't shown any reason why he should be healthy scratched so far this season and on a few nights was even one of our best defensemen.
 
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