Tuesdays With Hildy: Building Blocks or Tinker Toys - Who Do You Value Most on a Team?

Cam and BJ…and Steen….

Where would the Blues be without CamTits?!

The problem is we have absolutely no idea how much intangibles help/hurt. We have absolutely no idea where the hell the blues would be without Mr. Tits. They could have a player who would have scored 5 more goals in Cam’s place and we’d be 4 points closer to a playoff spot. Or he could be a spark that the team needs and without him we’d be closer to the Oilers. Especially on this team, we need production, particularly in the form of more goals and less goals allowed, particularly in the third period. My honest opinion is that better players that score more goals and allow less goals are more valuable than players that have important intangibles and don’t score or prevent goals as often as those that apparently lack the intangibles. Obviously the best is the players who produce and have intangibles, a la Alex Steen, although I’d like to see that on a bigger scale.

Also, what qualifies you as a player who has intangibles? A player that doesn’t score very much? A fighter? A veteran? A player who’s played for the highest stakes? Someone who loosens up the locker room? I could potentially see a case for every Blue having intangibles, but what really counts?

That this team would be better with say Eller instead of any of our three “physical only” guys. Wouldn’t we rather have a 3rd line that is a positive offensive matchup vs the opposing 3rd line rather than one that breaks even at best on goals?

It may just be that I never played hockey past pee-wee, but I’ve never really understood the whole goon aspect in hockey. To me, it’s like putting a fullback as a QB whose only purpose is to get no-gains but run hard in the process or a basketball player whose sole purpose is to commit punishing fouls. Do you want to play against those guys physically? Not really, but I’d rather have the opposing team “enjoy” being down 1-0 than have them “fear” being on the ice in a 0-0 game.

As for Janssen and fighting: it energizes the other team too! I know there seem to be momentum shifting fights yes……but that also goes both ways!

All in all though, it certainly doesn’t seem like we are physically wearing down the other team throughout a game into the 3rd period…

I know a lot of you didn’t like Jammer when he was here, but he was my favorite Blue when he was here. So now you’re thinking . . . why is this fuckhead rooting for a guy who skates well but only in a straight line, can’t shoot the puck to save his own cock and has hands of stone that are used to pass the puck to people who don’t exist?

Mostly because he would do whatever the team asked him to do, and not say a Goddamn thing about it. He would do his job. And there is a lot to be said about doing your job. Other team’s goalie needs to be plastered into the webbing? There was Jammer. Some dickhead from the other team deserves to have his teeth knocked into the 22nd century? There was Jammer. Grinder? Yeah, Jammer would grind. Lane-filler on a power play? Well, when he stood still long enough, Jammer could do that too. (We’ll let the whole “tiger-striped eyebrows” thing from 2000 slide, because let’s face it . . . that was just fucked up.)

Look, I’m not going to say that intangibles alone will win you games. Collective team efforts and scoring goals wins games. But if you ask me who my favorite players on the team are . . . it’s the ones I can identify with. And those guys tend to have the intangibles. I could identify with Jammer because he didn’t have as much skill as the other players on the team and gave off a “Hey, I could probably do that!” type of vibe. And he didn’t mind doing the odd jobs on the team.

Intangibles=Momentum=Invisibile=Witchcraft

You need guys who can score. You need d-men. You also need penalty killers and guys who do the little things. Jay wins faceoffs, plays smart, kill penalties, chips in some offense. He is the king of the little things. Teams that win don’t do it with guys like Silent Jay. To me, that’s the most valuable asset. That and goaltending. But I haven’t seen a good goalie in St. Louis since Grant Fuhr so …

but not intangibles makes it to the playoffs everyyear.

ya gots untangiblles without stats and you draft early and often

I’ll take the stats, obviously. Goals are goals and saves are saves. But that’s if you have the talent. What worked for the Blues last year was the big hits and the crazy non-stop energy. Janssen, Beej, etc. can be a bit of a liability from time to time, but when the supposed blue chip guys aren’t doing their job, I’d rather have a few extra grinders in the lineup.

The Blues have a lot of guys who are basically 2nd or 3rd line scorers being asked to be 1st line scorers; they need to rely on energy and grit until guys like Perron, Berglund, and Backes develop into true first liners.. if ever.

Also, I wouldn’t call Boyes, McDonald, and Kariya “power forwards”. Sort of a semantics thing, sorry, but I had to point that out. Power forwards would be guys like Walt, Backes, Winchester (sorta), and Berglund (also sorta).

Good teams need a balance of both.

But if I was building a team from scratch, the first two things I’d get are solid goaltending and defensemen who can make the breakout pass and have a cannon on the point. My belief is offense flows from defense. The third thing I’d add is the elusive, unquantifiable Team Chemistry™.