I know it's still early, but the Blues have been struggling ever since the season started.
Their goaltending and defense have been great, but their offense cannot score, and I don't know why. When you look at their top 9, they have amazing depth:
But they just haven't been performing at all. They have the 2nd least amount of goals scored in the entire league, and only have 4 goals in the last 5 games. Boyes, Backes, Kariya and Berglund in particular have been very bad. Boyes, who is usually our best sniper, only has 2 goals. I know slumps happen but this has been going on for almost a month and a half now.
I just wanted other people's thoughts on the Blues. Was last year a fluke, or will they turn it around and make the playoffs?
I believe they will turn it around, but gosh, it's frustrating right now.
I know it's still early, but the Blues have been struggling ever since the season started.
Their goaltending and defense have been great, but their offense cannot score, and I don't know why. When you look at their top 9, they have amazing depth:
But they just haven't been performing at all. They have the 2nd least amount of goals scored in the entire league, and only have 4 goals in the last 5 games. Boyes, Backes, Kariya and Berglund in particular have been very bad. Boyes, who is usually our best sniper, only has 2 goals. I know slumps happen but this has been going on for almost a month and a half now.
I just wanted other people's thoughts on the Blues. Was last year a fluke, or will they turn it around and make the playoffs?
I believe they will turn it around, but gosh, it's frustrating right now.
The Blues aren't a team that I follow as closely, but at first glance, I'd think the problem is maybe with chemistry.
Is Tkachuk really a good #2 center? Weren't his best days in the past at left wing? not to mention his best days being in the past...
Maybe Kariya has also had to adjust his game to play on that line. Who is the playmaker on this unit? My guess is it'd probably be Kariya, who would likely benefit more from a playmaking center next to him.
Backes might also be better on the right winger, playing a north-south game... he's good on the boards and can be a more effective power forward playing the wing position, instead of having the 2-way responsibilities at center.
It looks like a lineup of players that might not be best fits together playing out of their natural positions. Maybe this is because some of Blues youngsters aren't ready for bigger roles? Berglund, for example, I'd think would be a solid fit beside Backes and/or Kariya.
again, it's looking at the roster at first glance there... admittedly I haven't followed much of the Blues this season at all, and I'm totally off with this chemistry/positioning issue?
another issue that has a huge impact on the effectiveness of the forwards is their puckmoving ability from their defense... how mobile a group are they as a whole - have they been effective in getting the puck to the forwards on the fly?
The blues have amazing depth? Thats the overstatement of the century. Their blueline is fantastic and goalie isn't too shabby, but right now id take the leafs offense over the blues offense. Highly over-rated if you think their offensive has any depth whatsoever.
Know what? I'm sick of this, slow starter crap. So basically a guy is being paid millions to **** the bed for half the season, then to only hope he rebounds and picks it up second half? Us fans here recognize these traits immediately just by looking at stats. Why is this acceptable within the team? For multiple years, even.
Another thing.. STL doesn't have AMAZING depth. They have a few up and coming young stars who still need to prove themselves, IMO. Grouped with a few aging vets on the downswing of their career, coupled with underachieving supposed star talent.
Chris Mason is really the only thing between STL becoming a basement dweller and an average team.
Oshie and Berglund are having sophomore slumps, and its possible that Backes overachieved last year. Basically, they're relying on a TON of youngsters who are probably simply feeling the pressure, in addition to facing tougher checking from teams that underestimated the Blues last year after their putrid first half.
I'm sure they'll come around. Perron, Oshie, Berglund, and Backes are probably just going through some growing pains.
I think adding Eller is huge for this team. He looks like a very talented "glue" guy. If they keep him up with Oshie, etc....they should be coming around soon.
Know what? I'm sick of this, slow starter crap. So basically a guy is being paid millions to **** the bed for half the season, then to only hope he rebounds and picks it up second half? Us fans here recognize these traits immediately just by looking at stats. Why is this acceptable within the team? For multiple years, even.
Another thing.. STL doesn't have AMAZING depth. They have a few up and coming young stars who still need to prove themselves, IMO. Grouped with a few aging vets on the downswing of their career, coupled with underachieving supposed star talent.
Chris Mason is really the only thing between STL becoming a basement dweller and an average team.
Respect. Couldn't agree more. Ever since their amazing run to the playoffs last season their expectations have been set too high.
The blues have amazing depth? Thats the overstatement of the century. Their blueline is fantastic and goalie isn't too shabby, but right now id take the leafs offense over the blues offense. Highly over-rated if you think their offensive has any depth whatsoever.
You do realize Toronto has 1 decent top 6 player while St-Louis has easily 5-6.
If they do, I hope it's not until Wednesday at the earliest.
Basically they are a team with a lot of youngsters. Sure they have Andy Mac, Kariya, Tkachuk and Boyes but none of those players are world beaters, they need that entire top nine to be rolling in order to win a lot of games, and given that the rest of those players are very young the fact that consistency has been an issue is hardly surprising.
Playing in such a tough division, a mediocre stretch is not going to get you too many points either.
I know it's still early, but the Blues have been struggling ever since the season started.
Their goaltending and defense have been great, but their offense cannot score, and I don't know why. When you look at their top 9, they have amazing depth:
But they just haven't been performing at all. They have the 2nd least amount of goals scored in the entire league, and only have 4 goals in the last 5 games. Boyes, Backes, Kariya and Berglund in particular have been very bad. Boyes, who is usually our best sniper, only has 2 goals. I know slumps happen but this has been going on for almost a month and a half now.
I just wanted other people's thoughts on the Blues. Was last year a fluke, or will they turn it around and make the playoffs?
I believe they will turn it around, but gosh, it's frustrating right now.
I wouldn't exactly call that amazing depth. You guys might be overrating them a bit. You definitely could use some help up front. But there's no doubting you have a solid goaltender and a good young defensive group.
