So where do we go from here?

We just need to keep doing what we’re doing. Out with the old, in with the new. Replacing Cajanek and Weight with Perron and McDonald is a heck of a start. Losing a Rucinsky and gaining an Oshie will be a nice change to look forward to.

Agreed. Out with the old and in with the new. While Legace has played well this year, how long will this “tweaked knee” thing hold on? I would land or grow a marquee goalie and land a stud of a scorer along with a line of roughians to guard the whole lot. We have a great start in the roughian department.

The cycling in of more defensive-minded or two-way defensemen would help. It pathetic how little offensive punch our defense has. Polak and Wagner replacing Bachman and McKee would be nice to see.

How about players playing with more of an edge? Jackman until recently had lost his grit, but seemed to regain it right before the concussion. Tkachuk used to be a bear, but now has much less crunch to his game. Backes hasn’t lived up to his power forward potential. We need more player who play like this is still the Chuck Norris Division.

I don’t know if their needs to be a change in the assistant coachign ranks, but someone needs to remidn the player that it helps to get close in front of the net and not spend so much time along the board or behind the net looking for a pretty pass.

Do the Blues have anybody who just like to run around and hit? I’m thinking an Ian Laperriere, Tyson Nash, Jordin Tootoo type. Our energy guys have energy, but they don’t seem to draw many retaliation penalties.

What was I thinking. I meant more offensive minded defensemen.

I agree, the team is basically on the right track. It’s all about drafting well and I think that the Blues scouting staff is one of the best in the league.

Look at Detroit, they have made a lot of brilliant draft picks by taking high-risk/reward type players. And somehow those jackoffs do it so late in the draft. Holmstrom (10th Rnd.), Zetterberg (7th), Datsyuk (6th), and Lidstrom (3rd) are good examples. I think that the Blues are doing a good job of this by swinging for the fences with picks like Oshie, Perron, and Eller. Both Oshie and Perron were head scratchers at the time, and are already looking pretty good, and we’ll see how suprise-pick Eller performs at the WJCs. Backes and Stempniak were mid-round picks who might not be Datsyuk and Zetterberg, but are panning out nicely.

On defense I think that the future looks good for the Blues with Polak, Cole, Johnson, and Wagner all either in St. Louis or on their way.

I’m still not sure who will be the goalie who can take the Blues to the Cup, but that is probably a few seasons away anyway.

As for this season, I know it’s a pipe dream, but how fucking sweet would it be if the Blues could be the team to bring Selanne out of retirement. I bet a top line of Kariya/ McDonald/Selanne with a second line of Boyes/Tkachuk/Perron would be able to score at least one goal on Osgood.

That’s it for me, feel free to rip apart my logic and tell me what a douche I am.

Your logic is fine. It’s your handle that is douchey, Manbones. That really sounds like a gay bar.

I don’t think we’ll ever see Selanne in a Blues uniform, BUT if he were to be inserted into this lineup, I don’t see it happening at the expense of the Kariya/Boyes pairing. I think the first two lines would look more like Boyes/Tkachuk/Kariya and Stempniak/McDonald/Selanne. I think Perron would be the odd man out, unless AM decides to reunite the Stempniak/McClement/Backes line and use Perron with Selanne and McDonald.

Great start! For me, first, the Blues need a standout goalie. Manny has been great for the most part this year, but I think he’s playing at the top of his game, and a goaltender who has another gear is important.

Next, this team needs a #1 defenseman. When Bryce Salvador is your team’s best d-man, and Eric Brewer fills the role of a #1, it’s not an ideal situation. The Blues have great depth at defense, but the best of them are a #2 at best. I think Erik Johnson has the potential to be a #1; I think he’s going to be the best 2-way defenseman in the NHL in 3 years, but we’ll see how smart he gets in that time. Pronger in his MVP year was the most dominant player on the ice, his vision and anticipation snuffed out a lot of potential threats before they developed. Johnson has the physical potential. I’ve been impressed all season.

The team also needs more of a physical presence up front. Backes is a good start, as long as he remembers that he’s a big guy, but we need more than just him.

i agree about the defense. i think we need defensemen that are capable of playing in the new nhl, that means good passing, speed and hopefully some grit as well. but we are definitely in need of player like rafalski or campbell to create more offense on defense or someone like shea weber but healthier.

i’m liking guys like porter we have in the system. a checking forward with some decent hands. i’d like to see backes like when he was scoring two goals a game. as one buddy of mine likes to say you need four line that can produce of course the production goes down as you get to the bottom but there’s still some potential to score. two speedy guys and one big guys with some speed, all with decent hands, the big guy goes to the net and viola goals. that’s what my friend says and there’s truth to it.

i’d like to see more players like perron but of course stronger or lee but slightly bigger. btw manbones, perron was no surprise, only a surprise cause most scouts said that there wasn’t but maybe one player capable of playing in the nhl from that draft this year and that was jame van reimsdyk. obviously, there’s a sort of gap in the knowledge of the effects of this new style of game in the nhl. that’ll soon change.

1: powerplay

2:powerplay

3:powerplay

4:offense form the d

5:powerplay

any1 have any ideas how many more points we would havee with a #11 ranked pp? we would have an extra goal every 4th game. i’ll tell you where. currently tied for eith place with games in hand instead of in 10th place.

currently tied for EIGHT place. if you go through the result and add a goal to the first gme and every fourth afterwards OR the 4th game and every fourht afterwards we pick up two points (and actually remove points from pther teams) didnt try adding to second or thiird game and every fourth. amuse yourselves :)

hmm me thinks a pp goal would have been at least one point tonight too..

The power play actually looked better from a technique standpoint last night; they had legit chances instead of watching Kariya stick handle on the half board while the rest of the team looked at him. With Boyes on the point, though, we need another trigger down low. Rucinsky had that chance, but he looked to make a pass and that hesitation allowed Nabokov to get over. Lift the puck and it’s in anyway.

Grrr…

i’m like my buddy…boyes is far too good down low to be up on the point. personally i’d like to see the ol’ ej and wagner combo on the points. in the past the few times it’s happened it has been impressive.

the other thing i’m not at liking is on the five on threes and hell the five on fours is the scheme the blues utilize. what i have noticed watching a lot of other nhl teams with good pps(center ice feeds my addiction), is they tend to use what is known as the umbrela style. one guy high in the middle of the point, two guys playing the side boards, one guy screening the goalie and another roamer adding support and fucking up the other team’s box and creating seems and crashing the net on shots for the rebounds the guy screening has trouble corralling.

i especiall prefer to the system the blues employ on five on threes. they have been far too stagnet on the five on threes. that is the time you want to create an opening for a back door or lure someone out of postion to gain numbers down low.