If there is no difference, why was your earlier post, let's tank and get a higher pick? Picking higher is always better. Also, there is a clear top 8 this year according to many. We could have been in the top 8 if our results matched our play.yes, we need high-end talent. and if we aren't gonna pick top 5 it's huge crapshoot, but we were never gonna tank bad enough to pick that high. i like our scouting team and the results they seem to be getting last few years. and i don't see huge difference between picking 8-16 this year.
Bannister must have a huge parley on the Blues giving up the most empty net goals in the past 10 years, the Blues being the first team to average 10 seconds or less of empty net play before each goal is scored, and having the Blues for the least amount of goals scored while their goalie is pulled.
He must have panicked when the Blues scored that 6 on 4 PP/Empty net goal, so he decided to leave Binner out at the next faceoff then told Faulk to “do your thing buddy” while giving him a thumbs up.
But they really arnt meaningful at all. this season has been over for months. they are not a serious playoff contending team.If you would have told me at the start of this season that the Blues would be playing meaningful games in April, I would have been surprised.
i said not huge difference. it's obviously better to pick higher than lower. i think they are on same tier, so not huge difference, but there are still preferences amongst the tier. there are 6 teams within 3 points of us. and all but the wild are actually decent shots at making playoffs in east so i anticipate a few of them will pass us now that we are realistically dead. if we aren't playing the kids remainder of the season at this point..If there is no difference, why was your earlier post, let's tank and get a higher pick? Picking higher is always better. Also, there is a clear top 8 this year according to many. We could have been in the top 8 if our results matched our play.
Again, nothing that should or could have been done about it. But we are a bottom 8 team with top half of the league first line. goalies and a surprising Neighbours. Give us average goaltending and subtract the post-coaching change bump, we would have finished in the bottom 8.
The Blues better hit on all their 1st rounders from 2023. This “re-tool” was basically a 1 yr thing where we chose one small stretch of time to strategically get worse. For the next two years this is what it’s gonna be. Unless we get incredibly lucky we aren’t getting a stud top pairing defenseman in the draft if you’re picking 14-18. Ya sure, this little run was for fun a minute but long-term it blows and it’s something many fans feared…being in that no-man’s land of not contending and not blowing bad enough for an extended period.
I would think anyone (excluding Thomas and most likely Neighbours) and anything is on the table this offseason. Actuary be damned!Don’t be surprised to see Army move our 1st and both 2nds for nhl players.
I would think anyone (excluding Thomas and most likely Neighbours) and anything is on the table this offseason. Actuary be damned!
I would rather move up spots in drafts and give our quality scouting staff a greater opportunity to get their guy than hope he falls. Dvo worked out for us last year but what happens if we win a few more games? Now we are down a tier from where our scouts defined them. Granted Dvo hasn’t become anything yet and we don’t know how the rest of the draft will course out, but I take a few spots higher over winning a few more games given where we are right now.yes, we need high-end talent. and if we aren't gonna pick top 5 it's huge crapshoot, but we were never gonna tank bad enough to pick that high. i like our scouting team and the results they seem to be getting last few years. and i don't see huge difference between picking 8-16 this year.
Short term feel good moments mean very little if it is at the expense of the long term and prolonged ones IMO. But that’s coming from a guy who is willing to sacrifice at the expense of his immediate feelings. Whether that’s a good idea or not, who knows? The human psyche is complicated.The Blues better hit on all their 1st rounders from 2023. This “re-tool” was basically a 1 yr thing where we chose one small stretch of time to strategically get worse. For the next two years this is what it’s gonna be. Unless we get incredibly lucky we aren’t getting a stud top pairing defenseman in the draft if you’re picking 14-18. Ya sure, this little run was for fun a minute but long-term it blows and it’s something many fans feared…being in that no-man’s land of not contending and not blowing bad enough for an extended period.
When Krug & Faulk lead your team in ice-time in a game to effectively save your season what more needs to be said. And they aren't going anywhere most likely for at least two years. Beating a dead horse but it is what it is...I would've been fine with bottoming out for a few years.Short term feel good moments mean very little if it is at the expense of the long term and prolonged ones IMO. But that’s coming from a guy who is willing to sacrifice at the expense of his immediate feelings. Whether that’s a good idea or not, who knows? The human psyche is complicated.
i don't mean to call you out, bc this is a common belief, but i call bs on this. tanking is fools gold. sure it would be great to get next superstar, but that isn't really the point. bottoming out has worked so well for buffalo and detroit and columbus and..They need to commit to a rebuild and stop trying to be a playoff team. Desperately trying to maintain a playoff bubble team with duct tape and zip ties for a few more years is not going to cut it. It will just extend the pain while our rivals keep getting handed superstar 18 years olds on a silver platter.
When do the Blues get their 18 year old superstar? Never? Feels like never...
i don't mean to call you out, bc this is a common belief, but i call bs on this. tanking is fools gold. sure it would be great to get next superstar, but that isn't really the point. bottoming out has worked so well for buffalo and detroit and columbus and..
It worked out pretty well for Tampa, Chicago, Washington, Pittsburgh, LA, Colorado. Trying to compete for the playoffs every year has not worked out for Nashville, Calgary, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Philadelphia, or the Islanders either. Tanking has a better hit rate than not tanking.i don't mean to call you out, bc this is a common belief, but i call bs on this. tanking is fools gold. sure it would be great to get next superstar, but that isn't really the point. bottoming out has worked so well for buffalo and detroit and columbus and..
I do get the idea behind it, so I'm not saying it's all wrong, but I think we need to distinguish between "really bottoming out and doing it in style" and "bottoming out, but not intending to do so." I suspect one of those explains more than the other.It worked out pretty well for Tampa, Chicago, Washington, Pittsburgh, LA, Colorado. Trying to compete for the playoffs every year has not worked out for Nashville, Calgary, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Philadelphia, or the Islanders either. Tanking has a better hit rate than not tanking.
The key to all of this is the timing. And more likely than not, it involves handing the reins to Hofer and hoping he can do the job. I don't think this is an incorrect view, but I think the "how" could be a real impediment and it could easily turn into a slow churn since "stay competitive, make the playoffs" is a high short-term concern.If Dvorsky, Stenberg and Lindstein turn out to be the real deal – let's just say for sake of argument all three turn out to be top 6/top 4 stalwarts – then I think you have the makings of a core given the quality goaltending + Thomas and Neighbours. Supplementing the forward roster would not be daunting if you have two real centers in Thomas and Dvorsky and also two real scoring capable shit disturbers who play the game with 200' intensity in Neighbours and Stenberg.
Parayko + Lindstein + Kessel is a chunk of what you would need on the back end but it's not all of it. You'd be in position to make a trade for one of the two big pieces you'd still need with that. But you really need the one guy we always talk about and most likely they have to draft that other guy, which as we have been focused on all season is probably doable this year if only they were to get a top 12 pick. They are about two extra losses away from the top 12, but it feels honestly like an impossibility to me that the outcome of this "race" will be that the Blues somehow plunge below the other teams. It has been incredibly frustrating all year to watch them just relentlessly keep themselves from getting what they need.
Agree with this that there are pieces in place down the road but that's the problem...it's down the road. And they are missing numero uno piece of a gifted two way, all-situations defenseman which they could've acquired through the draft if Armstrong was willing for the team to suck for two more years while we rode out some really shitty contracts. The timeline actually would've been perfect to suck for two more years. Then Krug, Faulk & Schenn are all on the way out, 85% of your most important prospects have ripened and are ready to produce at the NHL level, and you have two more drafts of accruing some even more integral pieces. It's fairly idiotic, narrow minded thought process of trying to resurrect the roster.If Dvorsky, Stenberg and Lindstein turn out to be the real deal – let's just say for sake of argument all three turn out to be top 6/top 4 stalwarts – then I think you have the makings of a core given the quality goaltending + Thomas and Neighbours. Supplementing the forward roster would not be daunting if you have two real centers in Thomas and Dvorsky and also two real scoring capable shit disturbers who play the game with 200' intensity in Neighbours and Stenberg.
Parayko + Lindstein + Kessel is a chunk of what you would need on the back end but it's not all of it. You'd be in position to make a trade for one of the two big pieces you'd still need with that. But you really need the one guy we always talk about and most likely they have to draft that other guy, which as we have been focused on all season is probably doable this year if only they were to get a top 12 pick. They are about two extra losses away from the top 12, but it feels honestly like an impossibility to me that the outcome of this "race" will be that the Blues somehow plunge below the other teams. It has been incredibly frustrating all year to watch them just relentlessly keep themselves from getting what they need.
I think the only two not intending to there are maybe LA and Colorado? The Blues are also a maybe in there we did willingly exit the lockout with Patrick Lalime as our goalie and Eric Brewer as our 1D. Honestly now that I think back that was more of an intentional tank too with the Lauries stripping the team to make it easier to sell. There's degrees of rebuilds, like you can point to Vancouver as not bottoming out, but they were absolutely rebuilding and picked 5, 5, 7, 10 4 years in a row and that's where they got Pettersson and Hughes. The point is that pushing for the playoffs forever is purgatory. We either get really lucky like Boston, we have a bad year and hit hard on a top 5 pick like Dallas did, or we all get tired enough of mediocrity that we commit after wasting a few years. We're 2 years in now how patient are we willing to be?I do get the idea behind it, so I'm not saying it's all wrong, but I think we need to distinguish between "really bottoming out and doing it in style" and "bottoming out, but not intending to do so." I suspect one of those explains more than the other.
The last rebuild netted us ej and Petro and oshie and bunch of other guys who had little to do with Cup. Petro was important part of it, but ROR and binny and jaybo and parayko and tank and Schwartz and the rest weren’t because we bottomed out.The last full rebuild the Blues went through seemed to work out with getting a Cup. If they would have embraced more of a rebuild approach before this season started, it would have helped. Getting a top 5 pick is not fool's gold.
Are you saying the Blues stand to get just as good of a prospect at 15-16th overall vs 5th overall?