Blues Playing On The Edge

I predict the Blues will continue to do what they’ve done all season — put together stretches of good play followed by long losing streaks. They are a marginal playoff team and I’d rather see them stand pat or make minor trades involving losing none of their prospects and risk missing the playoffs rather than trading off any youth for a proven veteran. If they were to trade one NHL defenseman not named Johnson or Wagner for a good return, that would be acceptible.

I agree with the pagan. I can see the Blues making a trade, but I assume they’re smart enough to deal away a defenseman for a forward and not move any youth/picks.

That said, if Jackman were to re-sign here, it’s gonna cost at least 5 mil (and he’d likely get more on the open market). Are you going to spend $15 mill on Jackman, Backman, McKee and Brewer? I bet one of those guys goes for a forward.

I’ll keep my prediction the same as the start of the year: Blues hover between the 7 and 10 spot in the West all year. I bet we don’t know if they’re in or not until April.

goes for a forward: wishfull thinking if the blues are playoff bound

jackman can be rented, the other not wagner not johnson not salavador d-men have to be bought and the bounty on their heads is huge.

as crappy as backman is playing, he is due a 1 mill raise next season, you know what brewer and mckee are making (although brewer will surpase mckees money next season i believe.

only likely things the blues have to sell for a rental/playoff push:

jeff woywitka, marek schwarz, and/ or picks

likely dumps could be

jackman, rucinsky, and/or hinote

perfect storm situation would be needed (and we had one with the weight/mcdonald trade already) for a big contract d-man, or a dissapearing forward (backes, jay m, mike j etc)

so where does this leave the blues?

needing a power play. i’m past the “brewer is (overpayed) scum” situation into the “blues better fix the pp”. as a whole the blues special teams are under 100% (pp% +pk) which is the benchmark for acceptability) and with mike \johnson eating ice time, and the inability to find d-men capabile of manning the point, i really dont understand why some of the defenseive forwards and 3rd line O with rivermen who have skills in open spaces. if they score on the pp, they stay, if not they leave. we can drop the pk 5 points if we also raise the pp% 9 points.

nothing sounds fairer to me. nothing sounds as immediately implementable, and no excuses (and this is BLUE NOTE CODE) are acceptable for power play failure to last 40 games.

Jeremy Rutherford in his Morning Skate blog posted Saturday quoted Murray saying that the reason Steven Wagner was getting sent down to Peoria was “asset management.” Rutherford took that as a sign that they are showcasing a defensman to make a trade. Due to contract size and status, that would mean the Blues would like to deal Jackman, Salvador or Backman (who has only a $2.3 million cap hit vs. his $3 million+ salary, according to a comment on the blog from some guy named Gaz).

I would be shocked to see the Blues trade picks or a prospect before the deadline because it goes against everything Davidson has said the last two years. But they need to be less gritty and more skilled at forward. Also, a little more leadership wouldn’t hurt. Pie in the sky wishes, I know.

I do not think the Blues will make the playoffs. And I hate myself for believing that.

i was readuing that thinking that meant they wanted wagner to get ice time, not press room time, i also half considered doing a top 11 other things the blues management considered calling the wagner demotion… but failed to drink enough to start one

11. defensive mobility

10. promotion by demotion

9. effective positioning

8. youth movement

7: we pay brewer to much to not play him so we do things like this

6: the “Peoria already had a jersey with his name on it” stratagey

5: my lucky astrology mood watch told me to

4:let’s tell strickland its “asset management” he’ll buy into it!

I think the Blues only have two concerns.

A) inconsistant defense corps
B) power play MUST improve

to kill two birds with one stone, perhaps we could trade McKee (a defensive-defenseman) for a worthy powerplay quarterback defenseman.

or Brad Shaw (our resident defense coach) needs to work a little harder/smarter or use a different game plan.

I’m damn proud of our penalty killers, but on PP and even strength, it seems the D is sluggish.

I’ll add a third concern

C) playing a shutdown defensive style after getting an early one-goal lead.

That only works if you’re perfect. There’s no room for error. That’s what has been costing the Blues a point or two in a lot of recent games, but I don’t see Murray opening up the offense much. I get the feeling we’re going to see a lot more tight defensive hockey.

I got the season tickets this year expecting them not to make the playoffs (before the Kariya signing.) I saw a team a year away, and I think even with Kariya (who, overall, I think has been worth the investment) they’re closer to that line, but I’m not sure they’re there yet.

Power play? Nothing movement and a little more compete on the boards – we are a little undersized on the halfs- wouldn’t cure. Need a quicker trigger on the halfs, too. I don’t like watching players try to create their own shot on the PP (Yes, David Perron and Lee Stempniak, this means you – get to a shooting spot as quick as you can and let it go.) It’s also much easier to defend stationary players and a stationary puck. I know that’s not what’s being coached; but too frequently our PP looks an awful lot like the LA Lakers: one guy with the ball/puck and 4 guys standing around watching.

the goalie guy’s spot on about the power play. although i have no problem with perron creating a good shot down low(he’s got a snipe). the first pp on saturday i saw backes screening the tender then all of a sudden and without the puck he broke the shit mold that was pp’s past and skated into the slot towards the puck and he drew two players with him amazingly enough and suddenly seams opened up and whoever had the puck at the time hit such an instant state of shock they coughed it up.

when the pp moves it becomes harder to defend b/c amazingly enough the team on the pp has one extra guy.

 i liked it more when perron would skate into the low slot and get a one timer off, something i used to see often when hullie was around but not as much since.

i’d love to see linglet get a five game audition. i watched him friday night and was stunned he’s in the ahl.

blues make the playoffs. offense wins games defense wins championships. of course the new nhl you need skill and offense generated at all four lines especially the first three with fair chip in from the fourth. the blues have basically two scoring lines and some pieces.

jamal mayers is the best fourth liner in the nhl. he’s good enough to fill in here and there on higher lines for injuries but on the whole he’s still just the best fourth liner in the nhl.

ryan johnson, dj king, dan hinote, mike johnson. that’s too many of the same ilk on the roster. i like players who work hard but we need goals and we need some from the pk. yes that’s right the pk. we need short handed goals.

what makes the blues pk so great are the defensemen most especially salvador. the other factor is goaltending. after that it’s more of a scheme for the forwards. though sometimes a ryan johnson body sacrefice is a good play. someone like mcdonald would be great on the pk. it’ll keep the point men on the opposing team honest.

i predict the blues will figure out their offensive woes and become a strong team going into the playoffs. the team the higher placed teams fear to play in the first round. i’ll go further, blues make at least the second round of the playoffs. when you’ve starved you feast when it’s your turn in the buffet line.

Chris, the only reason that I prefer that players not create their own shot on the PP is that it’s much easier to defend. Right now, teams are generally playing a passive box against the Blues with aggressive pursuit by the D on the halfs (and we don’t win a lot of those battles…) It cuts down passing angles across the box and minimizes point shooting angles. If players don’t move, the box doesn’t move, and to be successful on the PP you’ve got to break down the box or collapse it.

Both Perron and Stempy’s favorite move is curling off the left half boards towards the circle to get their shot. (If I know it, you can bet every team in the NHL knows it.) The other team anticipates, and gets on top of them before they can do anything. We need to focus on getting both players opportunities off the pass there and in the slot – especially Perron, cuz he has a hell of a snipe. He’s beat some pretty good goaltenders short side this year.

Long term wish: a coupla players with quick releases.

As for Brett Hull, the main thing that made him such a great goal scorer (other than the shot, of course) was his ability to find the open space on the ice in time to receive a pass and then get the shot off. No fakes, nothing fancy. That’s not something you can teach, unfortunately. You can get your players to release quicker, but the vision and understanding of the flow of the game… nope. It’s talent.

goalie guy we’re saying the same thing except i like perron’s made shot off a curl. i know you don’t but i prefer his on a pp than lee’s. but you’re correct it is easier to defend. and i loved how perron earlier in the season was going into the slot all the time. i think someone told him not to go there or something.

yeah me and you got the idea down exactly about the other team’s passive box against us. the battles on the half are the most frustrating since the blues need to out number their oppenent here two to one. silliest shit i’ve seen in a long time is five guys standing out their on the ice on a power play. there was a five on three not too long ago and i was sickened by the lack of movement. shocked, stunned not able to comprehend how this is a five on three in the nhl.