Tuesdays With Hildy: Do the Blues Really Need a Superstar?
by hildymac on Feb 9, 2010 2:53 PM CST
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With all of the hullabaloo regarding the Blues hanging in to the bitter end for Kovalchuk, and some of the worrying from Blues fans that we don't have a sniper/superstar... well, it got me thinking. Do we NEED that guy? Do we need a franchise face, or should our franchise be a team, not someone on a Wheaties box lighting the Olympic Torch? As far as PR goes, having star power makes ad campaigns a lot easier and gift-shop revenue higher, but does one player make that difference on the ice?
The Caps' mad Russian scoring machine has put them on the map by proxy, since he's considered the league's "bad boy" superstar to Sidney Crosby's polished boy next door. Ads are everywhere with him and the team's logo on them. All of Russia seems to be Caps fans. People come to the arena to watch him, and people come to opposition arenas to do the same. All of this makes the organization bucks, and the excitement in the stands feeds down to the ice. Ovie's the complete package, and he's the superstar that makes those around him better, much like Crosby. The Capitals are simply better off now than they were before they drafted him (and yes, I realize they have Backstrom, Semin, Green, et al, but I'm writing this from a perspective of a casual hockey fan, i.e. a Caps fan from 2008.).
Look at the Blues-mania in St. Louis when we had Hull. You don't think that'd be captured again if we landed Ilya Kovalchuk? You bet it would.
Two More Words: Eric Staal
Ok, he's not the uberstar like Ovie is, but he's the star in Carolina, and he's very well known throughout the leagues fans - he's a sniper for sure. But even though he's a star, and he's a leader, his team is flailing aimlessly about in last place in the Southeast. The Leafs made that "blockbuster" trade for super talent Phil Kessel, and while he's been successful as an individual, the team hasn't benefited in the standings.
Frankly, the best example of a superstar not making a bit of difference is Kovalchuk. Eight years on the Thrashers and just one playoff trip to show for it - a trip where he was barely noticed. His random linemates over the years were not improved by playing with Kovy, because when he plays it's about himself. New Jersey's morphing their power play specifically to fit him, not the other way around - it's now Atlanta's PP unit, and everyone'll have it figured out. They're telling him to take longer shifts because that's what he's used to, shifts at the expense of established Devils players. They are tailoring their team around the superstar, and it's already causing issues 2 games in. The Thrashers, meanwhile, are having no problems outshooting their opponents without him, and are actually playing stronger team hockey. There's no one there to suck the limelight up except for everyone as a cohesive unit.
If a superstar were brought onto St. Louis, we would run the risk of the latter scenario happening. Do we want to run the risk of shaping the team to one person, and the ego that comes with that, or do we want to encourage a solid team effort every night?
On the flip side, it sure would be awesome if we could score more than 2 goals a game.
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Right now
The Blues have a collection of “nice” players. The roster is filled with second- and third-liners. In my mind, a first-line player averages nearly a point-per-game. The Blues don’t have anyone close to that. Really, only Andy McDonald has ever come to close to that in the NHL.
If you watch this team, it needs offense. Badly. Very, very badly. I watched the Capitals and Pens on Sunday and when the Caps needed to come back, you knew they were going to roll out the Ovechkin line. What line do the Blues roll out when they need a goal? Brad “One Goal in 2010” Boyes? Perron? Oshie?
Ove is a once-in-a-generation player, so wanting someone like him is a little insane. However, there are plenty of Staal-level guys out there. None of them wear the Blue note. This team simply does not have someone who can pot goals on a consistent basis. The Blues don’t need Ove, of Kovie, or any other Russian … they need someone to consistently score. None of this streaky Backes and Boyes shit.
10 goals in 12 games and than 1 goal in 30 is not going to cut it.
A team of two second lines, and two fourth lines will not get it done. This team needs THREE balanced scoring lines and one shut down line. The top-line should be anchored by a guy who gets points on a nightly basis. Until that happens, this team won’t even be in contention for a cup.
Oh
And a goalie who doesn’t suck would be great. Preferably under the age of 30. And not a career backup. Thanks.
I hear there's this Finnish kid available.
Does Barnes do groin replacements?
Reporter: There`s a "stamp out the Beatles movement" underway in Detroit. What are you going to do about it?
Paul McCartney: We`re going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit.
Not a streaky Russian?
Then I guess Semin is out. But he is the underrated sniper number 2 on the caps, and while he’s signed for one more year, he’s a UFA after that. He will probably want to stay, but also might want to test the market since he signed a one year deal so he can be a UFA.
Semin has the best hands on the Capitals, and arguably the league. Semin has more shooting skill than Ovie, but Ovie is a physical monster and Semin is not. Plus, Semin is streaky. Can win you games, can lose you games, but more often than not win.
Having Ovechkin has made the Caps what they are. Green is great, Varlamov dragged them to round 2 last year, Backstrom is amazing, but Ovie can take over games. He dragged them to the victory over the Pens. Of course, you need a #1 draft pick and amazing luck to get an Ovie.
But having some talented player to rely on can be great. Gaborik and the rangers shows this. The Rangers offense is bad so Gaborik is huge to them winning.
Who do you think is skilled enough to really help and be a star, but also the blues would be able to get?
They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
We need a scorer but
when we get one we will end up getting two or three. Perron and Oshie have the skills to be number 2 scorers but they need someone else there to elevate their game.
No one knows why, but second only to eating the brains of the living, the dead love affordable pre-fab furniture.
I’m tired of people thinking that Oshie is a goal scorer. He plays with more heart than just about anyone on the team but he is a third line 2 way player (he is one of my favortie players don’t get me wrong). Ya he can chip in here or there with about 10-20 goals a season but just about everyone of the blues top 8 forwards can do that. Boyes is still a mystery on how he can squeeze a puck through a two inch gap in the corner but miss an open net by twenty feet. I think in order for the Blues to be a top 5 team in the west we need to have at least one 40 goal score (not named Boyes) and yes because of this player others will produce more but until then, we are going hope that the people will magically score way more goals than we should expect from them (Backes)
Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.
Jim Morrison
To be fair,
I don’t think we know what exactly Perron, Oshie, & Berglund are going to develop into. I know I felt a lot better after reading Tomorrow’s Blues’ assessment of their development as compared to other mid-1st-round forwards in recent drafts, and really they’re pretty much on pace. It looks like next season (Oshie’s & Berglund’s 3rd, Perron’s 4th, I think) is when the improvement should REALLY start to happen.
Not to mention those 3 guys have been on a (relatively) crappy team that as a whole has sucked on offense the whole time they’ve been here. It seems to me like Oshie in particular has gotten better since he got moved back to center, which if I understand correctly is his natural position.
Now I don’t know if he will ever be a 40-goal scorer or not, but I think it’s a discredit to say he’s never going to be more than a 3rd liner. I’ve already seen him score a few goals here (the Vancouver goal last year comes to mind), that I can’t imagine any of our 3rd/4th-line forwards scoring.
I think it’s just a little too soon to tell on The Kids.
I hate to be the Devil's Advocate but...
It’d be a mistake to think that merely adding a superstar player would be a panacea for all that ails the Blues. It’s easy to think about adding a 40 goal scorer, mentally distribute those goals amongst the games we lost, and think about how many more we might have won. The big assumption is that we bring in someone and in addition to their own skills they make us better. What if our players bring down the superstar. That sounds more negative than I want it to, but…
What are our young players good at? They skate well, they are strong on the puck, good defensively despite their youth, and they for the most part bring a lot of energy. But nobody seems to be able to make a proper pass, receive a pass, or put a quality shot on goal. Would Kovalchuk fix these things? Moreover how can he score if the other players can’t properly set him up?
The deficits we’re bringing to the ice are mental, not physical. There’s no focus, no attention to detail, and no situational awareness. I don’t think adding a superstar level player is guaranteed to fix these things. A superstar can take a playoff team and make them a Stanley Cup team. But I’m not convinced a superstar can take a lottery team and make them a playoff team.
Yes
We need a superstar. We don’t have a #1 or an ACTUAL allstar at any position. In the past, we’ve had success as a team, but part of that is having someone who is a legitimate NHL star. Hell even some upper echelon players could be noted. Success doesn’t rest on one individual for sure, but it surely doesn’t hurt.
Pronger, MacInnis, Demitra, Hull, Demitra, Joseph, Fuhr, Oates and the list goes on. We need to sell sell sell!
Here's CapGeek.com's list of pending UFAs.
Go window shopping – who do you grab? Marleau’s looking fairly good to me, Frolov could be ok… and that’s about it. The free agent splash this year, if you take out Kovy, isn’t too huge. Lidstrom’s the biggest name, and he’s probably going to re-sign with Detroit. Poni’ll probably be picked up by someone and might potentially sign with them.
http://www.capgeek.com/contracts.php
Reporter: There`s a "stamp out the Beatles movement" underway in Detroit. What are you going to do about it?
Paul McCartney: We`re going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit.
I dunno . . .
the Blues have been successful in both directions. They were awesome with Brett Hull sniping like a . . . uhh, sniper . . . then when he left, they were solid with Pronger and Chopper at the blue line and a couple waterbugs in front to pot goals.
Then of course there was the early era where Red Berensen was pretty much the true star, but he had some nice players around him too. It wasn’t all him.
I dunno. I’d rather have a couple handfuls of nice players than one true stud. It makes me feel better, I guess.
"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." -- Don Marquis
The Blue Note Zone - Because you KNOW you want to know more about the St. Louis Blues!
No doubt Ovie puts butts in seats
When my season ticket group divvied up tickets for this season, the first game I picked was the Capitals visit on Saturday
The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. But that's the way to bet. - Damon Runyon
thats the one ill be at
and targeted from the beginning of the season
Pujols takes out "I" in BIG and "A" in MAC, previously considered to be an unyielding, consonant threat
I think a lot of it is going to come down to what happens at the deadline.
Looking at the prospective free agents, there REALLY isn’t many that are going to be available worth signing, much less people under 30. I think a trade is the way we’re going to have to go. Regardless, I say resign Mason. He’s as good as we’re going to get and as long as his pay increase isn’t to outrageous, I say keep him.
Forwards, there’s just not much out there. I wouldn’t mind Fedetanko, but I don’t see him leaving Pittsburgh.
Honestly, I think we have superstars in the making here. Perron, Oshie, and Berglund all have potential to be great. Its been a bad year for the team in general and I thinking giving up on any of our young guys would be completely stupid at this point. Sure it would be nice to have Kovy, but I really don’t see him fitting well in our system. For the most part our forwards are pretty good two way players, and he’s well not. Sure an AO would be great here, but it seems at this point, we would have to give up WAY to much talent at this point to get one. See what happens next year, and then worry about picking up a real superstar.
Barret Jackman is my hero.
Fueled. These new shores burn. Shadow, my sweet shadow, to you I look no more.
Crosby and Malkin. Two girls, one cup.
I wish at one point we would have reunited Selanne and Kayria
we have to much 2 way on offense and to much one way on D. I would like to see more one way offense and 2 way defense.
Why is patience a virtue and procrastination a sin...I mean whats wrong with patiently procrastionating?
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