Your TDL Preference/General TDL Talk

[bleedblue1223]

Btw who is dealing our defensive system? Clearly it isn't perfect.

Van Ryn runs the defense.

 

[Zizzle]

Then it bring me to back as to way they would bring in Faulk to play him where he isnt good.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

So now that we’ve gotten Scandella to play on the shutdown pairing, I’m curious to see if Army still goes after a forward. I personally think he does, even if Vladi comes back before the playoffs.

With that said, a forward would likely have to go back to make it work cap wise. I’m not thinking it’d be DLR or Mac, so that leaves me with Blais, Sanford, and Barbashev. I doubt Army moves Kostin or Kyrou, seeing as he refused to for ROR.

Of those 3 mentioned, who would you guys be most comfortable giving up for an upgrade?

It was easily Sanford for me until the last 12 games. But is he finally breaking out? Or is this just a really good hot streak? It’s making me question whether I want to give him up, or someone like Blais, who had a hot start and kinda fizzled out a bit before getting hurt.

 

[Dbrownss]

So now that we’ve gotten Scandella to play on the shutdown pairing, I’m curious to see if Army still goes after a forward. I personally think he does, even if Vladi comes back before the playoffs.

With that said, a forward would likely have to go back to make it work cap wise. I’m not thinking it’d be DLR or Mac, so that leaves me with Blais, Sanford, and Barbashev. I doubt Army moves Kostin or Kyrou, seeing as he refused to for ROR.

Of those 3 mentioned, who would you guys be most comfortable giving up for an upgrade?

It was easily Sanford for me until the last 12 games. Is he finally breaking out? Or is this just a really good hot streak?

He didn't score tonight, made a few mistakes but was very solid. His scoring is unsustainable but as long as he stays engaged, he's a good player to have that can get incendiary hot

 

[Robb_K]

So now that we’ve gotten Scandella to play on the shutdown pairing, I’m curious to see if Army still goes after a forward. I personally think he does, even if Vladi comes back before the playoffs.

With that said, a forward would likely have to go back to make it work cap wise. I’m not thinking it’d be DLR or Mac, so that leaves me with Blais, Sanford, and Barbashev. I doubt Army moves Kostin or Kyrou, seeing as he refused to for ROR.

Of those 3 mentioned, who would you guys be most comfortable giving up for an upgrade?

It was easily Sanford for me until the last 12 games. But is he finally breaking out? Or is this just a really good hot streak? It’s making me question whether I want to give him up, or someone like Blais, who had a hot start and kinda fizzled out a bit before getting hurt.

I certainly wouldn't want to see Barbashev traded off. And Blais is playing fairly well. I don't know if another team would accept him as the forward in a package for a Top 6er. IF they DO, then the draft choice they'd receive would have to be The Blues' #1 choice. That would be TERRIBLE, for them to give up both their top 2 choices for next draft, when they need to replenish their prospects pool, to have some low-cost contracts come in when they have to resign several players to high-cost contracts.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

He's probably not going against PP1 units though, and he doesn't account for much time on the PK either compared to others. That's where the flaws in those numbers come out.

Eh, i think faulk is actually ok at one and one defending. His problem is offensive turnovers from his easily blocked shots or bad passes and his pinching up on offense getting caught out of position.

Since he doesnt try to pinch up on offense on penalty kill i can see him being okay there since it doesnt provide him the temptation to do his bad habits which he does on 5 vs 5

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

He clearly isn't being used properly, but it's also because there isn't a clear role for him. He'd ideally with a left-handed partner that is solid defensively, that allows Faulk to play a bit more free, and he supplements 2nd pairing minutes with PP time. Bouwmeester was probably his ideal partner here, but he was on the shutdown pair with Parayko. Faulk hasn't gotten his PP time because Pietrangelo has been great on the top unit, and then he competes with Dunn and Parayko for minutes on the 2nd.

Faulk is still a solid enough 2-way defender, but he doesn't have a clearly defined role, and there was a disconnect between the coaching staff and Armstrong on how he'd be used. He's having a season like he had in 17/18, which isn't good, but he bounced back from that season in 18/19.

The odd thing is that while it should be the ideal pairing for Faulk on paper, he has abysmal underlying stats when paired with JBo. I think an unfortunate part of our dilemma on defensive pairings is that Dunn hasn't taken the step forward that many expected him to. If he had progressed to be at least average defensively, we could park him on the Petro pairing, let Faulk run the 3rd pairing and hope that he'd feast on lower competition.

It was easily Sanford for me until the last 12 games. But is he finally breaking out? Or is this just a really good hot streak? It’s making me question whether I want to give him up, or someone like Blais, who had a hot start and kinda fizzled out a bit before getting hurt.

It seems like he's turned a corner IMO. Usually his hot streaks have only lasted 3-4 games before he'd fall back to his usual lackadaisical play. But even on nights he hasn't scored in the last 12+ games, he's using his big body to be physical, and he's much more engaged on a shift to shift basis. While I certainly don't expect him to be scoring at the rate he has been recently, but he certainly looks like a he can be solid 45ish point forward through his prime.

 

[kimzey59]

So now that we’ve gotten Scandella to play on the shutdown pairing, I’m curious to see if Army still goes after a forward. I personally think he does, even if Vladi comes back before the playoffs.

With that said, a forward would likely have to go back to make it work cap wise. I’m not thinking it’d be DLR or Mac, so that leaves me with Blais, Sanford, and Barbashev. I doubt Army moves Kostin or Kyrou, seeing as he refused to for ROR.

Of those 3 mentioned, who would you guys be most comfortable giving up for an upgrade?

It was easily Sanford for me until the last 12 games. But is he finally breaking out? Or is this just a really good hot streak? It’s making me question whether I want to give him up, or someone like Blais, who had a hot start and kinda fizzled out a bit before getting hurt.

I hope he does go after a forward. We need somebody to put next to Thomas/Bozak that can produce.

And the answer is easy; you move Blais. I like the kids hustle and kamikaze style, but he just doesn't produce.

 

[Majorityof1]

Salary retention plays a factor in the price too.

Yes, but with 75% of the season gone, they are only covering $630k. I think most GMs would gladly fork over that cash for a 2nd round pick.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I hope he does go after a forward. We need somebody to put next to Thomas/Bozak that can produce.

And the answer is easy; you move Blais. I like the kids hustle and kamikaze style, but he just doesn't produce.

This is kinda what I’m thinking. I love watching Blais play, but I think if I had to choose, it’d be him. I know Barbie has bad analytics, but he produces, and I love him with Sundqvist. Also, you can never have too many people who play center.

One benefit, if said player was a rental, would be that it opens up a spot for Kyrou/Kostin in the group of twelve next season.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

We need a solid "stay at home" Dman.

Got my wish

 

[simon IC]

He clearly isn't being used properly, but it's also because there isn't a clear role for him. He'd ideally with a left-handed partner that is solid defensively, that allows Faulk to play a bit more free, and he supplements 2nd pairing minutes with PP time. Bouwmeester was probably his ideal partner here, but he was on the shutdown pair with Parayko. Faulk hasn't gotten his PP time because Pietrangelo has been great on the top unit, and then he competes with Dunn and Parayko for minutes on the 2nd.

Faulk is still a solid enough 2-way defender, but he doesn't have a clearly defined role, and there was a disconnect between the coaching staff and Armstrong on how he'd be used. He's having a season like he had in 17/18, which isn't good, but he bounced back from that season in 18/19.

Wow, sorry , but I have to emphatically disagree with the bolded statement. Faulk is very, very far from being a solid, two -way defender. He is only successful defensively when he is defending one on one, where he likes to charge the puck carrier. Even then, his stick checking is not very strong. His positional awareness is very poor, and so is his decision making on when to pinch. I really think he has difficulty in reading, and even more so, anticipating, a play.

 

[The Note]

"Army says unless something changes with health updates on Tarasenko between now and Monday, Blues would only be interested in hockey trades, not rentals."

I'd have to imagine the Scandella trade is the only local activity we will see at this point.

 

[Ranksu]

Wow, sorry , but I have to emphatically disagree with the bolded statement. Faulk is very, very far from being a solid, two -way defender. He is only successful defensively when he is defending one on one, where he likes to charge the puck carrier. Even then, his stick checking is not very strong. His positional awareness is very poor, and so is his decision making on when to pinch. I really think he has difficulty in reading, and even more so, anticipating, a play.

He can't read the play that well so I guess that's why it looks like he's late majorit time. I view Faulk's defensive stick is poor level, almost every time he tries play physical game 1on1. I don't know is that, 'cus he doesn't trust his defensive stick play or lack of hockey IQ. 60 games has played and I think we've seen what Faulk is.

I really like his few skills 1) ability to carry puck and find passing lane + sharps passing 2) amazing slapshot, 1-timer. Only problem we can't see those, 'cus he isn't played at powerplay 3) can play his offside and it doesn't affect his game that much (compare to Pietro for example). 4) efforthless skating and smooth east - west skating, would be perfect at blueline (powerplay).

So our coaching staff is limiting his best attributes and forcing him to play PK which is his weakest area of game.

 

[Reality Czech]

I don’t understand the infatuation with Kovalchuk. Where would you put him? When you start looking at who would come out of the line-up, keeping in mind the effectiveness of the 3rd and 4th lines last playoffs, I lose my enthusiasm for him. He’s not a guy that I could see playing well in that 5-man unit forecheck style. And if he’s not, all he can do is be a liability.

Absolutely. For all the hype about his offense, he's still a huge defensive liability. I watched one of the games on NHL.tv when he had the OT winner. The announcers mentioned that he was out of position on the tying goal that led to OT. But that wasn't mentioned much after the game.

While it would be amusing to see Kovy and Chief try to coexist, it's not worth the risk and would be a huge distraction we don't need.

 

[Robb_K]

Absolutely. For all the hype about his offense, he's still a huge defensive liability. I watched one of the games on NHL.tv when he had the OT winner. The announcers mentioned that he was out of position on the tying goal that led to OT. But that wasn't mentioned much after the game.

While it would be amusing to see Kovy and Chief try to coexist, it's not worth the risk and would be a huge distraction we don't need.

He's become available to ANY NHL team MANY times over his career because he keeps bouncing back and forth to and from The KHL, and also because he has been dropped (cut loose, - told to leave) as a failed experiment, several times. And yet, The Blues never even seriously considered signing him (only in unsubstantiated rumours). Why do you think that is? Because his defensive play has always been nonexistent, because he is about as much of a NON-team player as a hockey player can be, and because he decides to leave teams of his own accord, without warning, even when his team hasn't got a problem with him (which isn't often). The bottom line is that the odds are overwhelming that he will hurt a team a lot more than help it. At the very best, the only decent chance for him to fulfill a need for a team, is as a very short slump-ender. He can supply an offensive boost for a team in a scoring slump for a few to several weeks. After that he will end up being a large detriment to that team, and they'll regret ever having acquired or signing him. He is the exact opposite of the type player the all-for-one, hard-checking, 200-foot-playing Blues have, want, and need. He'd ruin team chemistry, and take the players' minds off of playing their game, and in doing that, he'd give up more goals than he'd add.

 

[The Note]

Namestikov to COL for a 4th.

 

[Alklha]

Islanders acquire Pageau. 1st & 2nd, a big return.

 

[Xerloris]

So now that we’ve gotten Scandella to play on the shutdown pairing, I’m curious to see if Army still goes after a forward. I personally think he does, even if Vladi comes back before the playoffs.

With that said, a forward would likely have to go back to make it work cap wise. I’m not thinking it’d be DLR or Mac, so that leaves me with Blais, Sanford, and Barbashev. I doubt Army moves Kostin or Kyrou, seeing as he refused to for ROR.

Of those 3 mentioned, who would you guys be most comfortable giving up for an upgrade?

It was easily Sanford for me until the last 12 games. But is he finally breaking out? Or is this just a really good hot streak? It’s making me question whether I want to give him up, or someone like Blais, who had a hot start and kinda fizzled out a bit before getting hurt.

There is noway Blais or Barbashev gets moved. We absolutely need Blais and his physical play and taking away such an important piece to our 4th line is like shooting yourself in the foot. Sanford absolutely needs to be the one to go because he is far to inconsistent.

 

[The Note]

Seems too high for Pageau

 

[TheDizee]

lmao isles are crazy

 

[Alklha]

Wonder how much that Pageau trade skews the market.

 

[Blueston]

I'd like to see us acquire another depth defenseman for mid-late pick, like we did with MDZ last year. Aside from that I lean towards standing pat.

 

[The Note]

quite a haul for Trocheck, who I’ve always liked.

 

[Dbrownss]

Kreider staying in NY, JGP staying the east.......no potential power shift in the west.