More than anything, I’m glad Blues fans aren’t general managers, because holy crap have I seen some awful takes online. I agree with a lot of the comments on this video, though. This season was less painful than I was expecting. I don’t think the Blues are in too deep of a hole, but they’ve gotta get their goalies some help. If nothing else, all the bloated veteran contracts got one year shorter.
You’re not lying there. The idea that “the dumbest people are also the loudest” applies to a lot of the internet, but Blues fans in particular seem to fit that bill.
If you would have told me as a Blues fan that they would be playing meaningful games at game 80 at the beginning of the season I would have been excited. This season was the first step in a retool and it showed progress in key areas. Parayko bounced back and showed he’s a top pairing defenseman, Binnington showed he’s a top 10 goalie and Robert Thomas stepped up and has proven himself as an ELITE center in the NHL. Are there contracts that need to be moved and players that need to play up? Yes. But this season was a great step forward to build around this core. They need to move a Faulk or Krug off the books, and they need more top 6 scoring and an offensive minded d Partner for Parayko. They could go out and buy a 2C or another defenseman but I think Armstrongs mindset is for a Dvorsky and Lindstein and Snuggerud to come in and fill those holes and it would just clog things up if they signed a free agent. In Armstrong we trust…
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I think the Blues signing Bannister to a 2 year contract is them saying "give us 2 years to cook and we'll reevaluate where we are after that" In those two years, I'm hoping Kyrou and Thomas mature a bit more, our prospects find solid footing (especially on D: Perunovich and Lindstein), and front office makes some smart decisions (again, especially on the D core) If we make the playoffs at least one of those two years, that's just the cherry on top for me personally.
A lot of what hurt them was the bottom six forwards. Hayes was a disappointment and guys who did well when picked up during the year last season like Kappanen, Blais, and Vrana regressed badly.
I do worry that the team thinks they are further along in the retool than they are. Goaltending covered up a lot of weaknesses for the team. I do like Hofer, and he got better as the season went on, but I think Binnington was the better goalie. I honestly think he was better this year than 2019. However, his peaks and troughs aren’t as noticeable as Hofer’s, so I can totally understand why a lot of people put Hofer further into his development. Although you can rely on maybe 10% of what Army says, he did say that they are still mostly looking to build from within, so I don’t expect any big free agent signings. I really hope they hire a full time special teams coach. I don’t know that Neighbours gets a lot more than what he did this year, just because the Blues don’t score a lot, but I really like his game. Overall, I expect the Blues to be pretty much the same standings wise, fighting for a wild card spot. Unless we have an injury/goalie who falls back to earth. Then the team will be fighting for a lottery pick. Well, if that happens to 50, anyway. I think we could make do with one of our prospects if it was Hofer.
Need to move either Faulk or Krug, add a defensive Dman and pickup a 2C. All easier said that done. But if they did that, they could absolutely be a playoff team next season.
since dvorsky didn’t play a whole season, if you track his scoring pace for an entire juniors season, he ends up with around 110-115. That is the same as Wyatt Johnston’s junior career, which was only 1 season. If dvorsky can come to this team as the blues version of wyatt johnston(who is kicking ass left and right atm), then this team is wildcard 1 playoff calibre(i totally still this from jeremy rutherford)
I am very optimistic for next season. They showed tons of improvement this year, and probbaly should have made the playoffs. If they actually beat the teams they were supposed to beat, they would have been over 100 points. I like the progress of the young players, and we have one of the best goalie tandems in the West. Hopefully we can shed one of our D-men (Krug or Faulk), and then move Hayes to the 4th line because my god.
Army needs to SOMEHOW get rid of at least one veteran defensemen that's on a bloated contract, as well as locate a 2nd line center to boost offensive performance. Getting a true 2c allows Schenn to move to wing, where he belongs.
I think we need to see one of Perunovich or Krug (preferably Krug, but one of them) moved this summer. We can't effectively shelter/pair both up and play structured defense with 2/3 of our LD being offensive, small PMD that aren't great defensively - the Leddy/Parayko pairing can't be relied on to eat ALL the tough defensive minutes again next year. We need a better partner allowing player x/Faulk pairing to take some of those defensive zone starts and PK minutes. We need a 2C stop gap for 2-3 years to shelter/insulate and allow our kids to acclimate/grow into top 6 roles when they're ready as opposed to throwing them to the wolves in game 1. Dvorsky, Dean and Bolduc are all top 9 candidates - but should not be expected to be top 6 players from game 1 for all 82 games next year. Alexandrov/Dean are likely competing for a bottom 6 role - but I don't expect either of them to be in the top 6. I expect Lidstein to play in the SHL again next year and break camp with the Blues in 2025, competing with Snuggerud for a role in the NHL and whoever doesn't seize the role should be playing huge minutes in Springfield for the T-Birds.
Thanks for this analysis, Shannon. I would be disappointed, but not shocked if they missed the playoffs again next year. The Blues aren't as good as Dallas and Colorado, for sure, and they have to also bypass Nashville and Winnipeg, with Utah and Minnesota coming on strong from behind. Dvorsky making the team next year would go a long way to putting them back on track, and hopefully, Snuggerud will not be far behind. The goaltending was a huge plus last year and hopefully will continue to be so. The defense was better than the previous season, but still not where I would want them to be. Scandella should definitely be gone and I wouldn't mind a replacement for Krug. Bannister is fine for now as Blues coach, but I can't shake the feeling that he is just a placeholder. Don't need a rebuild, but there is still some work to be done.
I'm not super excited with Bannister, but I'm more than willing to see what he can do with a full season. Also, we have to do something in the market, make a splash somewhere. I am feeling that "squishy middle" that THG mentioned I guess.
On paper they remind me of Calgary - good #1 goalie, decent depth, couple of holes in the roster. Unlike the Flames, I think the Blues can still live-up to their potential. But, since they share a division with Nashville, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Dallas, Colorado, and potentially even Utah, it'll be WAY tougher to make the playoffs unless EVERYONE takes a step back. I'd lean towards short re-tool, but with the right moves in the off-season, pushing for playoffs could work-out, too.
Hey Shannon love the channel been watching for years, keep up the great work! Armstrong said he’s looking to extend Buch not trade him. And Blues prospects were just on the cover of the prospect edition of the hockey news so I think they are better off there than you have credit. Blais was awful he’ll be gone with the other ufas. Blues should add Chandler Stephenson or Adam Henrique to fill the top 9 and add a bottom 6 guy until Dvorsky/Snuggerrud and others make the team. Hayes should be moved or bought out or on 4th line. Obviously move Krug if you can but if not his NTC is down to 15 teams or something so becomes more do able then. Tucker and Kessel should take on more ice time on defense. Bolduc should be a solid top 9 guy and see what Dean does. I expect them to push for a playoff spot all season and I think they can get in.
I like our young players coming up. If we can somehow trade Krug and add a top flight blue liner to go along with Parayko and maybe an Armstrong surprise, yaneverknow..
Their record last year was due in large part to goaltending. The D were not that much improved. I think the Blues will compete for a wild card next season, but not much more. The Krug and Kyrou contracts are major problems.
I would like to see the Blue get bigger on defense. The 18/19 team was much bigger than the current defense. Saying goodbye to Krug would help, but they need to pick up at least one good/big defenseman through free agency. That first draft pick should also go to a defenseman. I'd let all the UFA's go. It would be cool to make a pitch for Brady Tkachuk realizing we'd have to give up a lot to get him.
For years you guys had seemingly the biggest defensemen. It was like running into a mountain every time you entered the offensive zone. That’s why I’ve always scratched my head when they got Krug, I get it was to replace Petro but he just doesn’t seem to be a fit.
@@ianhall6614 My theory is that Armstrong thought the league was going to become quicker and faster, so he got that kind of defenseman. He was wrong, still need big d-men with reach. Can't have too many small guys.
I think the Blues need a year of certainty. Change sometimes works immediately. Sometimes it needs to simmer. What can they next year... better question is what can they do in the draft?
Lifelong Blues fan here. I agree with the evaluation that the Blues can continue to improve if they can keep the defense from being porous. That said, they will have three defensemen returning: Faulk, Parayko, and Leddy. (I don't count Krug because I think they will be successful at moving him this offseason, though probably at a bit of a loss.) None of those three is a stalwart. All three are, to a large extent, offensively-minded blueliners. The last really good stand-up d-man this team had was Joel Edmundson. Again, not counting Pietrangelo because he was a generational talent and it was a massive mistake letting him go, obviously. I don't see a lot of great two-way defensemen in the free agent pool (do we ever?). I can see Perunovich being developed for a bit longer, as he has shown the ability but not the consistency. Even so, he's not a top-4 defenseman. Is there an NHL-ready defenseman who will land for the Blues at 16? Is there a deal that can be made to move up? Can the Blues avoid replaying the Erik Johnson blunder? Sooooooo many questions, and not a lot of good answers. Honestly, I have no problem with Drew Bannister, but I think Berube was asked to fall on his sword when the problem wasn't him, and that's where I have the most concern: every GM eventually wears out their ability to work with any specific team, and I think Armstrong has worn out here. Not a bad GM by any account; not a stupid person; not really the biggest problem we have. But he showed that he kind of doesn't have any cards to play since he let most of the significant talent from three years ago walk with almost no return. That he refused to call it a rebuild was, I think, forced on him by ownership: they didn't want a rebuild, and they shouldn't honestly have had to endure one. But Armstrong made some serious miscalculations. And in all seriousness, he let three superstars leave the team with absolutely zero return. It didn't take a rocket scientist or even a medical genius to see Tarasenko was damaged goods and needed to be dealt before he finally was, and they could have gotten much more for him. Had that been the mindset, they may have been able to give Pietrangelo what he wanted and this team looks enormously different with that single addition. Anyway, long story ending, I don't believe Armstrong is the GM to get this team over the hump, even if Bannister might be the coach to do it. I fully expect to see yet another awful signing this offseason to fill a need with someone who is far too much of a risk, rather than maybe making a deal to get a real d-man off the trade pile. Maybe Armstrong will surprise me. Just know that I won't be holding my breath.
I think they could use a retool but at the same time if you have that contention window keep going for it until you just can't anymore, a lot of young guys who are good and have the potential to win, I think the future isn't ideal, but they could be good with some minor defensive improvements and goaltending continuing to do well.
Without our goaltending we would be around 25th-30th in the standings. I’m beyond bummed that Snuggerud decided not to sign this season but I understand that he doesn’t want to get slotted in to another crap season, better to wait for Hayes’ contract to expire and the team to bring up Dvorsky, Bolduc, Dean and Theo Lindstein so that all of a sudden it’s a younger team like an Anaheim or AZ (Utah)
It's a tough call still. Krug and Faulk are good defensemen, but they are not working well together at the moment. If they keep them together another year, "which is more than likely. I don't see them making it past a game 6 in playoffs. Regardless, it would be nice to see them maybe sign a guy like Stamkos for 2yrs at 9 million to help develop the younger guys and make a push for playoffs easier.
The big issue is defense. They’ve got prospects I feel can fill that depth scoring role. Defense is the big weakness and cannot be fixed from within. They really lack any top tier defensive prospects.
They need a top 6 center and a big good D man. They have enough D men who are fast and great skaters. If Neighbours improves more and Dvorsky fits as a top 6 player then they will make the playoffs. Thomas will be a 100 point player, I believe, and the goaltending is excellent. The future is bright for this team.
Can they trade away a decent number of their bad long-term deals that also have stipulations? Extremely doubtful. Their GM got them a cup but also gambled away their future on unproven youngsters. I respect him trying instead of letting the team stagnate, but it didn't pay off.
If the team is really trying to build from within, I think you just stick with the bad contracts and by the time the young guys are ready, either they’ve been LTIRed out or they’ll be easier to trade/buy out
Definitely need to get rid of the Krug contract. Dvorsky is going to be a legend. I'm also really excited for Linstein to make the next step as well, I think he will be a force on the back end. Bright future but we also need a superstar imo, the central is so stacked and chicago wont be shit forever.
100% agree that a superstar would really aid the team. The central is a 3 headed monster right now with Dallas, Winnipeg, and Colorado. We have to bolster our offensive game and Thomas can’t do it by himself
@@junebugflyin7350 I mean we got Thomas and Binnington who are elite and I hope Dvorsky can become an Oshie 2.0 however we need like a Clayton Keller on Thomas’s wing
@@mason698 Well Binnington isn’t going to help with offense of course. I hope Dvorsky gets a good amount minutes this year but we’d need a developed and established guy to join Thomas’s line. I’d take Keller for sure
They are only 5 wins away from being a 100pt team. If they can move Krug that would go a long way for them, there has been some minor talk of them buying him out if they can't trade him. But if they can go after a guy Like Lindholm if Van doesn't resign him then I can definitely see that putting them into the playoffs. In reality they could go after Lindholm and Zadorov w/the cap space they have but after next year Neighbors, Hofer, & Toropchenko are all RFA and then Buchnevich is a UFA if they keep him around. So they kind of need to save some of that 15m in cap space to use on those RFA because it's not like the cap is going to jump up enough and they don't have any significant UFA after next year to free up more space. But a #2 center and dman would do wonders for this team.
The record doesn’t tell an accurate story of this season. They were bad for multiple stretches of the season and had to fire Chief not even half way through. It was incredible that they were somehow playing meaningful games down the stretch but I think that was more attributed to other teams in the west playing poorly. Not to mention we got swept in the season series to the worst team in the NHL.
With the exception of Parayko, based on how they played last year, the defense is composed of a bunch of guys who’d be in the 3rd pairing on a Cup contender. Unfortunately, Krug, Faulk, and Leddy are all paid like top 4 defensemen, they have no movement clauses, they’re all signed for 2 years or more, and they’re all over 32. The latter means odds are they’re not going to get any better. It’ll take a miracle to move any of them. This is reason enough for the Blues to be a fair - at best - to a poor team for at least 2 more years. To add to the above defense woes, as others point out, there’s only 1 defensemen in the Blues system who projects to be a top 4 guy. Related note: I believe the reason Binnington improved last year was because he learned how to play behind a crappy defense. He’d been spoiled by the previous Blues teams, especially the 2019 one. Yes, the offense was also underwhelming. But there’s much already mentioned talent on the way to fix that. Admittedly, it’ll be a couple of years before that talent starts to really show. Hence, another reason why this team isn’t going to make any noise in the league for at least 2 more seasons. (Moody Kyrou will make things less painful if he plays like he wants to justify his salary in every game rather than only every 3rd or 4th one. ) Nothing would make me happier than for Armstrong to pull some rabbits out of his hat to prove me wrong on the above.
The Blues D, as you mentioned, needs the most work. I feel good about the forwards (we need a true shut-down line but I don't know what that looks like with the current roster). I am very much looking forward to how the Blues fill Scandella's slot and if they choose to keep Kapanen and/or Rosen. I'm just happy that Parayko made a comeback this year. I got to meet him out n about town and he's the nicest guy. I really want him to succeed.
I am very interested in seeing how Dvorsky pans out, he was slaying it in the minors. As for people calling Neighbors goals all garbage goals, the Blues have needed that front of net rebound presence for a while now. Keep taking out that trash Jake!! As for Bannister I am happy with the 2 year deal, but I was not happy on the letting go of Chief as a kickstart to mediocrity. It was hard being the highest point team that did not make the playoffs.
I hate the phrase ‘garbage goals’, there’s nothing garbage about them. They should be called ‘net front goals’. Players who get those goals work just as hard as the periphery skilled guys. Furthermore, to get those goals players take more punishment and risk getting seriously hurt by the puck. Last, if it’s so easy to score ‘net front goals’ then why is it so hard to find players who are willing to play that style?
I think they make the playoffs next year. I thought they would this year going in and they were there up until the end. I think the ceiling is still a wild card next year unless some big changes happen this offseason on the blue line. I think it'll take until next offseason for those big changes to come though.
I'd be looking at Vegas. I think they probably shed some cap and re-sign Chandler Stephenson as their 2C behind Eichel, possibly making William Karlsson too expensive to deploy as a 3C making 5.9 AAV for 3 more years... Vegas has made a habit of getting pennies on the dollar to dump good players for less than they're worth in order to make room to sign a bigger fish. Or Stephenson walks and we should absolutely be making a pitch to sign him in Free Agency this summer for our 2C role (or Monahan/Lindholm) so we can push Schenn down to 3C or have him play RW, as Schenn just hasn't been cutting it as the 2C and we cannot afford to neuter Buchnevich by playing him as the 2C again for extended periods of time.
Then use the Kyrou and Faulk money to sign a couple of forwards with some grit. I have always liked Faulk. Maybe he was injured more than they say. He just didn’t play real well this year.
We need to let Kapanen, Blais, and Vrana go and replace them with 1-2 more effective wingers. Dvorsky and maybe Stenburg will help fill these gaps as well. Rosen and Scandella need to go as well, Perunovich and Kessel fit in just fine. I think honestly our defense isn’t in bad shape, our offense (or lack thereof) was the killer for us this year. Goaltending is not a problem.
The teams playing in the playoffs play a team game. When I watch the Blues (as a lifelong fan) I don't see them "buying" in. I see players looking for that highlight reel goal and then checking out for 40 minutes. Just my opinion.
For the life of me, I do not understand why people want to get rid of Faulk. He has been one of our most consistent defensemen over the past several years. For my money, keep Faulk, Letty and Parayko, the other three D-men are interchangeable/replaceable
I like to think the San Jose Sharks were the bane of St. Louis this season. If you only manage to earn 1 out of a possible 6 points against the worst team in cap era history, you don't deserve to be in the playoffs.
@@tbell61 Being an Avs fan, I have no love at all for St. Louis, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't rooting for them to make the playoffs down the stretch. Bumping the Vegas Injured Reserves to 9th in the conference would've been hilarious after Mark Stone did his magic trick for the third year running.
As a blues fan, this season was a huge success in my eyes. Going into the season I had felt like Berube wasn't the coach for this team anymore and we lacked cohesion. The switch to Bannister seemed to help bring the team together. I viewed this season as the second year in a rebuild with lots of potential for the future. Missing the playoffs by a few games seemed to signal the rebuild was over and we are back. Will we win the cup next year? No. But we should be back in the playoffs to get some of these young guys ready for the future.
Blues fan since 1968. We are in good hands with GM Armstrong. I see Faulk possibly getting moved instead of Krug. Anything we can get for Kyrou is a bonus. Maybe our number 1 pick, Kyrou, other players, Faulk or Krug. Who knows.
blues shouid still be looking to beef up their prospects list and add young players. schenn, krug and buchnevich should all be moved out. all free agents should be shown the door. try to find a few young players that other teams are trying to move on from and hope that you get lucky with one of them. dont worry about playoffs next year and hold back from using capspace unless its to pick up a player another team must move for cap resons and they fit the blues age gruop. blues are a couple of years from being a playoffs team.
I don’t know that I’m capable of optimism as long as Armstrong is still running things. His poor decisions with Dmen contracts and his unwillingness to look outside the organization for star power has crippled this team and Berube being used as a scapegoat left a bad taste in a lot of our mouths.
What are you talking about? Army constantly makes trades for players looking for outside talent. He traded for Buchnevich, O'Reilly, Krug, Schenn. More than half the roster on the cup team was from trades. Berube was not used as a scapegoat, but a shake up was needed. Krug is a bad contract, and his worst mistake in STL was letting Petro walk. Parayko is underpaid, and Faulk is a decent contract, especially if he can get over whatever injury plagued him this year.
This isn't the year to care about missing the playoffs. Every single underdog got stomped in round 1. There's a handful of teams just crushing the other 24 lol. In the east there were multiple spots open at the end of the season but it didn't matter bc the top teams were just going to mow them down.
Im very positive with them this year, they were ahead of where I thought theyd be, Parayko looked like the Parayko he could be, again a similar sentiment as the other people here we gotta move faulk or Krug, and maybe pick up a few pieces here and there, very solid year from where we thought we were
Everything about this team has just felt flat the last two seasons. They have no consistency or passion. And promoting Bannister was not a step in the right direction. I’m not optimistic about the next season at all.
If they don’t make it, they can always hire Berube back. An odd situation they’re in. Can’t say they even have a window to be open or closed, as to making the dance. They have zero chance of winning a Cup though, but a 7th/8th Spot isn’t out the question.
This team will have no success until they get rid of Kyrou. Hes a Maple Leaf if Ive ever seen one. Bennington hands down should have won the Vezina. They are not going to split the net. Benningtons contract is the best one in the entire league. If anything Hofer gets traded for a defenseman
@@MikeHoncho610 True, but sign him to a prove it deal and see how he does with that media pressure off. Plus Kyrou will be gone, which sounds great to me. That guy...
More than anything, I’m glad Blues fans aren’t general managers, because holy crap have I seen some awful takes online. I agree with a lot of the comments on this video, though. This season was less painful than I was expecting. I don’t think the Blues are in too deep of a hole, but they’ve gotta get their goalies some help. If nothing else, all the bloated veteran contracts got one year shorter.
You’re not lying there. The idea that “the dumbest people are also the loudest” applies to a lot of the internet, but Blues fans in particular seem to fit that bill.
I've seen a lot of stupid takes from yourself tbh.
@@justinscott8769 I am once again asking you to find ANYTHING better to do than picking fights with strangers online
If you would have told me as a Blues fan that they would be playing meaningful games at game 80 at the beginning of the season I would have been excited.
This season was the first step in a retool and it showed progress in key areas. Parayko bounced back and showed he’s a top pairing defenseman, Binnington showed he’s a top 10 goalie and Robert Thomas stepped up and has proven himself as an ELITE center in the NHL.
Are there contracts that need to be moved and players that need to play up? Yes. But this season was a great step forward to build around this core.
They need to move a Faulk or Krug off the books, and they need more top 6 scoring and an offensive minded d Partner for Parayko.
They could go out and buy a 2C or another defenseman but I think Armstrongs mindset is for a Dvorsky and Lindstein and Snuggerud to come in and fill those holes and it would just clog things up if they signed a free agent.
In Armstrong we trust…
100% agreed. A lot needs to be done, but I was very surprised by this team.
I think if they can find a way to get a 2c they hve a good chance. Its the offensive depth that was the issue all year.
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I think the Blues signing Bannister to a 2 year contract is them saying "give us 2 years to cook and we'll reevaluate where we are after that"
In those two years, I'm hoping Kyrou and Thomas mature a bit more, our prospects find solid footing (especially on D: Perunovich and Lindstein), and front office makes some smart decisions (again, especially on the D core)
If we make the playoffs at least one of those two years, that's just the cherry on top for me personally.
I think Perunovich showed us what he is.
Thomas is already a superstar lol
A lot of what hurt them was the bottom six forwards. Hayes was a disappointment and guys who did well when picked up during the year last season like Kappanen, Blais, and Vrana regressed badly.
It hurt to see Blais do nothing.
I do worry that the team thinks they are further along in the retool than they are. Goaltending covered up a lot of weaknesses for the team. I do like Hofer, and he got better as the season went on, but I think Binnington was the better goalie. I honestly think he was better this year than 2019. However, his peaks and troughs aren’t as noticeable as Hofer’s, so I can totally understand why a lot of people put Hofer further into his development.
Although you can rely on maybe 10% of what Army says, he did say that they are still mostly looking to build from within, so I don’t expect any big free agent signings. I really hope they hire a full time special teams coach.
I don’t know that Neighbours gets a lot more than what he did this year, just because the Blues don’t score a lot, but I really like his game.
Overall, I expect the Blues to be pretty much the same standings wise, fighting for a wild card spot. Unless we have an injury/goalie who falls back to earth. Then the team will be fighting for a lottery pick. Well, if that happens to 50, anyway. I think we could make do with one of our prospects if it was Hofer.
your right about people thinking that the team is futher along in the retool then they are
Need to move either Faulk or Krug, add a defensive Dman and pickup a 2C.
All easier said that done. But if they did that, they could absolutely be a playoff team next season.
I'd say they could stand to move both.
@@TravsTackett they could but those guys have some control over that too
Fearless prediction…Dvorsky will make the team out of training camp and be in the conversation for the Calder.
Those last two games against the Sharks really hurt them in the end
I’m a little surprised they kept bannister. I thought the San Jose blowout loss was the end of his audition
since dvorsky didn’t play a whole season, if you track his scoring pace for an entire juniors season, he ends up with around 110-115. That is the same as Wyatt Johnston’s junior career, which was only 1 season. If dvorsky can come to this team as the blues version of wyatt johnston(who is kicking ass left and right atm), then this team is wildcard 1 playoff calibre(i totally still this from jeremy rutherford)
I am very optimistic for next season. They showed tons of improvement this year, and probbaly should have made the playoffs. If they actually beat the teams they were supposed to beat, they would have been over 100 points. I like the progress of the young players, and we have one of the best goalie tandems in the West. Hopefully we can shed one of our D-men (Krug or Faulk), and then move Hayes to the 4th line because my god.
Army needs to SOMEHOW get rid of at least one veteran defensemen that's on a bloated contract, as well as locate a 2nd line center to boost offensive performance. Getting a true 2c allows Schenn to move to wing, where he belongs.
I think Dvorsky is gonna be the 2C nect season.
Bolduc and Thomas is gonna be good
There's defiantly chemistry there
I think we need to see one of Perunovich or Krug (preferably Krug, but one of them) moved this summer. We can't effectively shelter/pair both up and play structured defense with 2/3 of our LD being offensive, small PMD that aren't great defensively - the Leddy/Parayko pairing can't be relied on to eat ALL the tough defensive minutes again next year. We need a better partner allowing player x/Faulk pairing to take some of those defensive zone starts and PK minutes.
We need a 2C stop gap for 2-3 years to shelter/insulate and allow our kids to acclimate/grow into top 6 roles when they're ready as opposed to throwing them to the wolves in game 1.
Dvorsky, Dean and Bolduc are all top 9 candidates - but should not be expected to be top 6 players from game 1 for all 82 games next year. Alexandrov/Dean are likely competing for a bottom 6 role - but I don't expect either of them to be in the top 6. I expect Lidstein to play in the SHL again next year and break camp with the Blues in 2025, competing with Snuggerud for a role in the NHL and whoever doesn't seize the role should be playing huge minutes in Springfield for the T-Birds.
Thanks for this analysis, Shannon. I would be disappointed, but not shocked if they missed the playoffs again next year. The Blues aren't as good as Dallas and Colorado, for sure, and they have to also bypass Nashville and Winnipeg, with Utah and Minnesota coming on strong from behind. Dvorsky making the team next year would go a long way to putting them back on track, and hopefully, Snuggerud will not be far behind. The goaltending was a huge plus last year and hopefully will continue to be so. The defense was better than the previous season, but still not where I would want them to be. Scandella should definitely be gone and I wouldn't mind a replacement for Krug. Bannister is fine for now as Blues coach, but I can't shake the feeling that he is just a placeholder. Don't need a rebuild, but there is still some work to be done.
I'm not super excited with Bannister, but I'm more than willing to see what he can do with a full season. Also, we have to do something in the market, make a splash somewhere.
I am feeling that "squishy middle" that THG mentioned I guess.
Thanks for the breakdown sir
On paper they remind me of Calgary - good #1 goalie, decent depth, couple of holes in the roster. Unlike the Flames, I think the Blues can still live-up to their potential. But, since they share a division with Nashville, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Dallas, Colorado, and potentially even Utah, it'll be WAY tougher to make the playoffs unless EVERYONE takes a step back. I'd lean towards short re-tool, but with the right moves in the off-season, pushing for playoffs could work-out, too.
They've been relying on binnington standing on his head for too long. They need to score and take the pressure off the goaltender.
This is the retool. Our year of pain was 22-23.
Like the Wings the Blues will be dangerous in two years!
They did better this season than I expected them to.
Hey Shannon love the channel been watching for years, keep up the great work! Armstrong said he’s looking to extend Buch not trade him. And Blues prospects were just on the cover of the prospect edition of the hockey news so I think they are better off there than you have credit. Blais was awful he’ll be gone with the other ufas. Blues should add Chandler Stephenson or Adam Henrique to fill the top 9 and add a bottom 6 guy until Dvorsky/Snuggerrud and others make the team. Hayes should be moved or bought out or on 4th line. Obviously move Krug if you can but if not his NTC is down to 15 teams or something so becomes more do able then. Tucker and Kessel should take on more ice time on defense. Bolduc should be a solid top 9 guy and see what Dean does. I expect them to push for a playoff spot all season and I think they can get in.
I like our young players coming up. If we can somehow trade Krug and add a top flight blue liner to go along with Parayko and maybe an Armstrong surprise, yaneverknow..
Their record last year was due in large part to goaltending. The D were not that much improved. I think the Blues will compete for a wild card next season, but not much more. The Krug and Kyrou contracts are major problems.
I would like to see the Blue get bigger on defense. The 18/19 team was much bigger than the current defense. Saying goodbye to Krug would help, but they need to pick up at least one good/big defenseman through free agency. That first draft pick should also go to a defenseman. I'd let all the UFA's go. It would be cool to make a pitch for Brady Tkachuk realizing we'd have to give up a lot to get him.
For years you guys had seemingly the biggest defensemen. It was like running into a mountain every time you entered the offensive zone. That’s why I’ve always scratched my head when they got Krug, I get it was to replace Petro but he just doesn’t seem to be a fit.
@@ianhall6614 My theory is that Armstrong thought the league was going to become quicker and faster, so he got that kind of defenseman. He was wrong, still need big d-men with reach. Can't have too many small guys.
I think the Blues need a year of certainty. Change sometimes works immediately. Sometimes it needs to simmer. What can they next year... better question is what can they do in the draft?
Lifelong Blues fan here. I agree with the evaluation that the Blues can continue to improve if they can keep the defense from being porous. That said, they will have three defensemen returning: Faulk, Parayko, and Leddy. (I don't count Krug because I think they will be successful at moving him this offseason, though probably at a bit of a loss.) None of those three is a stalwart. All three are, to a large extent, offensively-minded blueliners. The last really good stand-up d-man this team had was Joel Edmundson. Again, not counting Pietrangelo because he was a generational talent and it was a massive mistake letting him go, obviously. I don't see a lot of great two-way defensemen in the free agent pool (do we ever?). I can see Perunovich being developed for a bit longer, as he has shown the ability but not the consistency. Even so, he's not a top-4 defenseman. Is there an NHL-ready defenseman who will land for the Blues at 16? Is there a deal that can be made to move up? Can the Blues avoid replaying the Erik Johnson blunder? Sooooooo many questions, and not a lot of good answers. Honestly, I have no problem with Drew Bannister, but I think Berube was asked to fall on his sword when the problem wasn't him, and that's where I have the most concern: every GM eventually wears out their ability to work with any specific team, and I think Armstrong has worn out here. Not a bad GM by any account; not a stupid person; not really the biggest problem we have. But he showed that he kind of doesn't have any cards to play since he let most of the significant talent from three years ago walk with almost no return. That he refused to call it a rebuild was, I think, forced on him by ownership: they didn't want a rebuild, and they shouldn't honestly have had to endure one. But Armstrong made some serious miscalculations. And in all seriousness, he let three superstars leave the team with absolutely zero return. It didn't take a rocket scientist or even a medical genius to see Tarasenko was damaged goods and needed to be dealt before he finally was, and they could have gotten much more for him. Had that been the mindset, they may have been able to give Pietrangelo what he wanted and this team looks enormously different with that single addition. Anyway, long story ending, I don't believe Armstrong is the GM to get this team over the hump, even if Bannister might be the coach to do it. I fully expect to see yet another awful signing this offseason to fill a need with someone who is far too much of a risk, rather than maybe making a deal to get a real d-man off the trade pile. Maybe Armstrong will surprise me. Just know that I won't be holding my breath.
I'd feel better if Krug was gone.
I think they could use a retool but at the same time if you have that contention window keep going for it until you just can't anymore, a lot of young guys who are good and have the potential to win, I think the future isn't ideal, but they could be good with some minor defensive improvements and goaltending continuing to do well.
Without our goaltending we would be around 25th-30th in the standings. I’m beyond bummed that Snuggerud decided not to sign this season but I understand that he doesn’t want to get slotted in to another crap season, better to wait for Hayes’ contract to expire and the team to bring up Dvorsky, Bolduc, Dean and Theo Lindstein so that all of a sudden it’s a younger team like an Anaheim or AZ (Utah)
It's a tough call still. Krug and Faulk are good defensemen, but they are not working well together at the moment. If they keep them together another year, "which is more than likely. I don't see them making it past a game 6 in playoffs. Regardless, it would be nice to see them maybe sign a guy like Stamkos for 2yrs at 9 million to help develop the younger guys and make a push for playoffs easier.
Please Doug do not trade Buch
Think they need 2 defensemen...and 2 forwards...no cast-offs from other teams...
The big issue is defense. They’ve got prospects I feel can fill that depth scoring role. Defense is the big weakness and cannot be fixed from within. They really lack any top tier defensive prospects.
Exactly, except for Lindstein (SP?), the defensive core development pool is depressingly bare.
They need a top 6 center and a big good D man. They have enough D men who are fast and great skaters. If Neighbours improves more and Dvorsky fits as a top 6 player then they will make the playoffs. Thomas will be a 100 point player, I believe, and the goaltending is excellent. The future is bright for this team.
Can they trade away a decent number of their bad long-term deals that also have stipulations? Extremely doubtful.
Their GM got them a cup but also gambled away their future on unproven youngsters. I respect him trying instead of letting the team stagnate, but it didn't pay off.
If the team is really trying to build from within, I think you just stick with the bad contracts and by the time the young guys are ready, either they’ve been LTIRed out or they’ll be easier to trade/buy out
Definitely need to get rid of the Krug contract. Dvorsky is going to be a legend. I'm also really excited for Linstein to make the next step as well, I think he will be a force on the back end. Bright future but we also need a superstar imo, the central is so stacked and chicago wont be shit forever.
100% agree that a superstar would really aid the team. The central is a 3 headed monster right now with Dallas, Winnipeg, and Colorado. We have to bolster our offensive game and Thomas can’t do it by himself
@@junebugflyin7350 I mean we got Thomas and Binnington who are elite and I hope Dvorsky can become an Oshie 2.0 however we need like a Clayton Keller on Thomas’s wing
@@mason698 Well Binnington isn’t going to help with offense of course. I hope Dvorsky gets a good amount minutes this year but we’d need a developed and established guy to join Thomas’s line. I’d take Keller for sure
@@mason698Dvorsky is going to be leagues ahead of Oshie 😂
They are only 5 wins away from being a 100pt team. If they can move Krug that would go a long way for them, there has been some minor talk of them buying him out if they can't trade him. But if they can go after a guy Like Lindholm if Van doesn't resign him then I can definitely see that putting them into the playoffs. In reality they could go after Lindholm and Zadorov w/the cap space they have but after next year Neighbors, Hofer, & Toropchenko are all RFA and then Buchnevich is a UFA if they keep him around. So they kind of need to save some of that 15m in cap space to use on those RFA because it's not like the cap is going to jump up enough and they don't have any significant UFA after next year to free up more space. But a #2 center and dman would do wonders for this team.
The record doesn’t tell an accurate story of this season. They were bad for multiple stretches of the season and had to fire Chief not even half way through. It was incredible that they were somehow playing meaningful games down the stretch but I think that was more attributed to other teams in the west playing poorly. Not to mention we got swept in the season series to the worst team in the NHL.
With the exception of Parayko, based on how they played last year, the defense is composed of a bunch of guys who’d be in the 3rd pairing on a Cup contender. Unfortunately, Krug, Faulk, and Leddy are all paid like top 4 defensemen, they have no movement clauses, they’re all signed for 2 years or more, and they’re all over 32. The latter means odds are they’re not going to get any better. It’ll take a miracle to move any of them. This is reason enough for the Blues to be a fair - at best - to a poor team for at least 2 more years.
To add to the above defense woes, as others point out, there’s only 1 defensemen in the Blues system who projects to be a top 4 guy.
Related note: I believe the reason Binnington improved last year was because he learned how to play behind a crappy defense. He’d been spoiled by the previous Blues teams, especially the 2019 one.
Yes, the offense was also underwhelming. But there’s much already mentioned talent on the way to fix that. Admittedly, it’ll be a couple of years before that talent starts to really show. Hence, another reason why this team isn’t going to make any noise in the league for at least 2 more seasons. (Moody Kyrou will make things less painful if he plays like he wants to justify his salary in every game rather than only every 3rd or 4th one. )
Nothing would make me happier than for Armstrong to pull some rabbits out of his hat to prove me wrong on the above.
The Blues D, as you mentioned, needs the most work. I feel good about the forwards (we need a true shut-down line but I don't know what that looks like with the current roster). I am very much looking forward to how the Blues fill Scandella's slot and if they choose to keep Kapanen and/or Rosen. I'm just happy that Parayko made a comeback this year. I got to meet him out n about town and he's the nicest guy. I really want him to succeed.
I am very interested in seeing how Dvorsky pans out, he was slaying it in the minors. As for people calling Neighbors goals all garbage goals, the Blues have needed that front of net rebound presence for a while now. Keep taking out that trash Jake!!
As for Bannister I am happy with the 2 year deal, but I was not happy on the letting go of Chief as a kickstart to mediocrity.
It was hard being the highest point team that did not make the playoffs.
I hate the phrase ‘garbage goals’, there’s nothing garbage about them. They should be called ‘net front goals’. Players who get those goals work just as hard as the periphery skilled guys. Furthermore, to get those goals players take more punishment and risk getting seriously hurt by the puck. Last, if it’s so easy to score ‘net front goals’ then why is it so hard to find players who are willing to play that style?
I think they make the playoffs next year. I thought they would this year going in and they were there up until the end. I think the ceiling is still a wild card next year unless some big changes happen this offseason on the blue line. I think it'll take until next offseason for those big changes to come though.
They still want to move Krug.
I think they have the right coach to work with the next couple of rookies. That wll be fun to watch. Playoffs next year are a coin flip.
Losing 3 games to San Jose tells me they did not GAF. Unacceptable in their lack of will to win.
I had no idea disqualified teams could trade during the playoffs, does this ever happen?
Two happened this year. One between OTT and WIN and one between NJD and MON. Can’t remember who was traded.
We need a 2C and it looks like we wont be able to get one without trading Buch.
I'd be looking at Vegas. I think they probably shed some cap and re-sign Chandler Stephenson as their 2C behind Eichel, possibly making William Karlsson too expensive to deploy as a 3C making 5.9 AAV for 3 more years... Vegas has made a habit of getting pennies on the dollar to dump good players for less than they're worth in order to make room to sign a bigger fish.
Or Stephenson walks and we should absolutely be making a pitch to sign him in Free Agency this summer for our 2C role (or Monahan/Lindholm) so we can push Schenn down to 3C or have him play RW, as Schenn just hasn't been cutting it as the 2C and we cannot afford to neuter Buchnevich by playing him as the 2C again for extended periods of time.
Then use the Kyrou and Faulk money to sign a couple of forwards with some grit. I have always liked Faulk. Maybe he was injured more than they say. He just didn’t play real well this year.
We need to let Kapanen, Blais, and Vrana go and replace them with 1-2 more effective wingers. Dvorsky and maybe Stenburg will help fill these gaps as well.
Rosen and Scandella need to go as well, Perunovich and Kessel fit in just fine.
I think honestly our defense isn’t in bad shape, our offense (or lack thereof) was the killer for us this year. Goaltending is not a problem.
The teams playing in the playoffs play a team game. When I watch the Blues (as a lifelong fan) I don't see them "buying" in. I see players looking for that highlight reel goal and then checking out for 40 minutes. Just my opinion.
For the life of me, I do not understand why people want to get rid of Faulk. He has been one of our most consistent defensemen over the past several years. For my money, keep Faulk, Letty and Parayko, the other three D-men are interchangeable/replaceable
I like to think the San Jose Sharks were the bane of St. Louis this season. If you only manage to earn 1 out of a possible 6 points against the worst team in cap era history, you don't deserve to be in the playoffs.
Yeah, I'm still pissed about those games against the Sharks! 😡
@@tbell61 Being an Avs fan, I have no love at all for St. Louis, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't rooting for them to make the playoffs down the stretch. Bumping the Vegas Injured Reserves to 9th in the conference would've been hilarious after Mark Stone did his magic trick for the third year running.
Don't forget two regulation losses against Columbus.
@@defaultuser1447 What kind of trash team loses to Columbus in regulation? (Please don't look up the Avs' regular season record.)
As a blues fan, this season was a huge success in my eyes.
Going into the season I had felt like Berube wasn't the coach for this team anymore and we lacked cohesion.
The switch to Bannister seemed to help bring the team together.
I viewed this season as the second year in a rebuild with lots of potential for the future. Missing the playoffs by a few games seemed to signal the rebuild was over and we are back. Will we win the cup next year? No. But we should be back in the playoffs to get some of these young guys ready for the future.
Blues fan since 1968. We are in good hands with GM Armstrong. I see Faulk possibly getting moved instead of Krug. Anything we can get for Kyrou is a bonus. Maybe our number 1 pick, Kyrou, other players, Faulk or Krug. Who knows.
Faulk....someone please take him...
blues shouid still be looking to beef up their prospects list and add young players. schenn, krug and buchnevich should all be moved out. all free agents should be shown the door. try to find a few young players that other teams are trying to move on from and hope that you get lucky with one of them. dont worry about playoffs next year and hold back from using capspace unless its to pick up a player another team must move for cap resons and they fit the blues age gruop. blues are a couple of years from being a playoffs team.
I don’t know that I’m capable of optimism as long as Armstrong is still running things. His poor decisions with Dmen contracts and his unwillingness to look outside the organization for star power has crippled this team and Berube being used as a scapegoat left a bad taste in a lot of our mouths.
What are you talking about? Army constantly makes trades for players looking for outside talent. He traded for Buchnevich, O'Reilly, Krug, Schenn. More than half the roster on the cup team was from trades. Berube was not used as a scapegoat, but a shake up was needed. Krug is a bad contract, and his worst mistake in STL was letting Petro walk. Parayko is underpaid, and Faulk is a decent contract, especially if he can get over whatever injury plagued him this year.
Barely missing hurts! Blues fans have every right to be upset
This isn't the year to care about missing the playoffs. Every single underdog got stomped in round 1. There's a handful of teams just crushing the other 24 lol. In the east there were multiple spots open at the end of the season but it didn't matter bc the top teams were just going to mow them down.
Im very positive with them this year, they were ahead of where I thought theyd be, Parayko looked like the Parayko he could be, again a similar sentiment as the other people here we gotta move faulk or Krug, and maybe pick up a few pieces here and there, very solid year from where we thought we were
Everything about this team has just felt flat the last two seasons. They have no consistency or passion. And promoting Bannister was not a step in the right direction. I’m not optimistic about the next season at all.
I would much rather move Faulk over Krug. I thought Krug played much better when paired with Kessel.
If they don’t make it, they can always hire Berube back.
An odd situation they’re in. Can’t say they even have a window to be open or closed, as to making the dance. They have zero chance of winning a Cup though, but a 7th/8th Spot isn’t out the question.
This team will have no success until they get rid of Kyrou. Hes a Maple Leaf if Ive ever seen one. Bennington hands down should have won the Vezina. They are not going to split the net. Benningtons contract is the best one in the entire league. If anything Hofer gets traded for a defenseman
Totally agree on Kyrou. Trade him and Perunovich to Toronto for Marner.
@@mazukakaimarner is the exact same kind of player. Selfish.
@@MikeHoncho610
True, but sign him to a prove it deal and see how he does with that media pressure off. Plus Kyrou will be gone, which sounds great to me. That guy...
@@mazukakai I think it will get better as Marner matures. Kyrou on the other hand yeah…don’t let the door hit ya 👋
Who the heck is Bennington?
Blues fan here since 1988 (8 yr old witnessed Hull and Federko on the same line). This team would be in th playoffs if they didnt lose to SJ twice!!!