2017-2018 Blues (Hockey) Season

[tlombard]

Not thrilled with blowing two multiple goal leads in the first three games but I absolutely cannot complain about a 3-0 start to the season. At least the two games where they gave away the extra point, the extra point went to Eastern Conference teams and not Division rivals.

[JCShutout]

Beating the Rangers in MSG in their 2nd game in 2 nights (and 3rd game in 4 nights) is pretty darn impressive.

[MrCrowesGarden]

Jaden and Brayden got something going.

[tlombard]

I was texting with a friend who lives in Las Vegas last night during the Golden Knights game so I pulled it up and was listening to the game and thought it odd that they appear to have a one man radio booth. Is that common? I'm so used to the Blues duo that it really stood out to me. Their guy did a darn solid job though. I enjoyed listening to him.

I did find it pretty funny when one of the on air promos he did was for some pizza place but instead of plugging the pizza, he was talking about the fish tacos. My friend said she's never been to that place yet but she's going to check it out for me soon and let me know if the fish tacos really are the best thing from there.

[IMADreamer]

I sat during the anthem before the blues game. People were not amused.

I was wondering if someone did this at a Blues game how it would go. How bad was it??

I mean, I'm 6'2 280lbs and despite a gut, pretty solid. No one is going to seriously try anything, but I had two guys saying some things, typical "libtard, you are disrespected the troops" stuff and one guy was tugging my shirt trying to get me to stand up. I just ignored them, wasn't going to engage or provoke anything. My point certainly wasn't to cause trouble. The guy tugging on my shirt got snotty with me at the first intermission and I told him it was my right to not stand. He mouthed off some crap and then dropped it.

For the record I was not the only person either. I saw a few others doing it too. My gf was in the bathroom. lol After the game I let the people go in front of me so I could kind of keep an eye on them as we left.

If I attend a Cards game next year I will not stand there either. I already got some crap a couple years ago for not standing for "God Bless America." I actually thought that guy was going to punch me.

[TheoSqua]

I'm a bit worried about the Blues at this point.

Going 4-0 is great, and the top two lines have looked really good. But the team's underlying performance has been atrocious.

Just like in Baseball, advanced stats in Hockey don't paint the entire picture. But they generally give you enough broad strokes to predict future results within a few degrees of accuracy. A team with a .450 BABIP is likely going to see their offense fall and a staff with a FIP 2 runs higher than their staff ERA is going to see their runs go up. Same thing.

Looking at http://corsica.hockey/team-stats/ the Blues aren't just below average in possession stats and other advanced metrics. They're like last-in-the-league in possession so far. Their save percentage is an unsustainable high 95%, and their shooting percentage is several percentage points above average.

That means that if they keep up their current level of play that their goals scored is going to go down and their goals given up is going to go up.

Individually, the team only has two players with possession numbers over 50% - Schwartz and Schenn. Everyone else is below average. The team hasn't received a single point from their bottom 6 forwards or their bottom defensive pairing.

Looking at GS/60 and CF% a lot of the bottom of our roster has been truly atrocious. Brodziak, Upshall and Thornburn are only barely better. Sundqvist has been very poor defensively and has done jack all on offense. Defensively Gunnarson and Bortuzzo may be the worst defensive paring in the NHL so far with the team having 37% possession while on the ice. (I checked, they're literally dead last in the NHL among qualified players)

The current rank of worst players in possession among players with 50 minutes of ice time:
1.) Gunnarson
2.) Bortuzzo
4.) Dunn
6.) Tarasenko
9.) Parayko
13.) Sobotka
19.) Stastny

That's a huge chunk of the team who is currently playing like worst-players-in-the-league bad.

The good news is a lot of underperformers are players who, historically, have been solid possession players. So we can expect Stastny, Sobotka, Parayko, and Tarasenko to get better. Which should help mitigate Schenn and Schwartz falling back to earth (because they're basically carrying the team right now). Bortuzo and Gunnarson can't be this bad - they're still NHL players - just like most #4 starter-quality pitchers in baseball won't sport a 9.00 ERA for an entire season if they're healthy.

The other nice thing is that Steen and Boumeester should be back soon. Neither one of them are world savers, and both of them are past their prime when they were league-leaders in possession numbers. But both of them are better than the trash players like Gunnarson and Bortuzzo are currently putting up.

Looking at the stats - Schwartz - Schenn - <insert scrub winger here> - Pietrangelo - Edmundson are basically the best 5-player lineup in the league right now. Then the rest of the team is a smoldering pile of dog poo that has Tarasenko's ungodly wrist shot.

Either Pietrangelo is winning the Norris, Schwartz the selke, and Schenn the Richard Rocket and they're basically going to drag this team into the playoffs, or the rest of the team will need to get it together before the above players start coming back to earth.

[cardinalkarp]

I'm a bit worried about the Blues at this point.

Going 4-0 is great, and the top two lines have looked really good. But the team's underlying performance has been atrocious.

Just like in Baseball, advanced stats in Hockey don't paint the entire picture. But they generally give you enough broad strokes to predict future results within a few degrees of accuracy. A team with a .450 BABIP is likely going to see their offense fall and a staff with a FIP 2 runs higher than their staff ERA is going to see their runs go up. Same thing.

Looking at http://corsica.hockey/team-stats/ the Blues aren't just below average in possession stats and other advanced metrics. They're like last-in-the-league in possession so far. Their save percentage is an unsustainable high 95%, and their shooting percentage is several percentage points above average.

That means that if they keep up their current level of play that their goals scored is going to go down and their goals given up is going to go up.

Individually, the team only has two players with possession numbers over 50% - Schwartz and Schenn. Everyone else is below average. The team hasn't received a single point from their bottom 6 forwards or their bottom defensive pairing.

Looking at GS/60 and CF% a lot of the bottom of our roster has been truly atrocious. Brodziak, Upshall and Thornburn are only barely better. Sundqvist has been very poor defensively and has done jack all on offense. Defensively Gunnarson and Bortuzzo may be the worst defensive paring in the NHL so far with the team having 37% possession while on the ice. (I checked, they're literally dead last in the NHL among qualified players)

The current rank of worst players in possession among players with 50 minutes of ice time:
1.) Gunnarson
2.) Bortuzzo
4.) Dunn
6.) Tarasenko
9.) Parayko
13.) Sobotka
19.) Stastny

That's a huge chunk of the team who is currently playing like worst-players-in-the-league bad.

The good news is a lot of underperformers are players who, historically, have been solid possession players. So we can expect Stastny, Sobotka, Parayko, and Tarasenko to get better. Which should help mitigate Schenn and Schwartz falling back to earth (because they're basically carrying the team right now). Bortuzo and Gunnarson can't be this bad - they're still NHL players - just like most #4 starter-quality pitchers in baseball won't sport a 9.00 ERA for an entire season if they're healthy.

The other nice thing is that Steen and Boumeester should be back soon. Neither one of them are world savers, and both of them are past their prime when they were league-leaders in possession numbers. But both of them are better than the trash players like Gunnarson and Bortuzzo are currently putting up.

Looking at the stats - Schwartz - Schenn - <insert scrub winger here> - Pietrangelo - Edmundson are basically the best 5-player lineup in the league right now. Then the rest of the team is a smoldering pile of dog poo that has Tarasenko's ungodly wrist shot.

Either Pietrangelo is winning the Norris, Schwartz the selke, and Schenn the Richard Rocket and they're basically going to drag this team into the playoffs, or the rest of the team will need to get it together before the above players start coming back to earth.

Good [expletive]......but not great news for us Blues fans.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I guess I'm not overly worried, though the possession numbers will even out. The big thing is Steen and J-Bo getting back. Sobotka shouldn't be on your top line. Tage Thompson needs more time in the minors (not his fault he was forced into action.) Chris Thorburn has been the slug I expected him to be.

[TheoSqua]

Yep. It's only 4 games which is a tiny samply size. The only reason I was looking is because I was curious what impact the injuries are having, and you can really see the impact in the team's possession numbers.

Players like Gunnarson, Thorburn, and Upshall just aren't good enough at this stage in their careers to depend upon. I feel like the team knows that because Gunnarson and Upshall were both on the outside looking in before these injuries piled up.

I just don't believe the team is good enough in spite of the injuries. Steen / Berglund / Bouwmeester aren't going to anchor the team, but they're better than the bottom line crap the team is putting out right now. If Steen / Berglund mean players like Sunqvist and Paajarvi are on the 4th line and Upshall / Thorburn are sitting in plain clothes, then that impact will be huge on the team.

If we can get lucky and keep winning games before they show up then even better.

[Farewell Friends]

I don't pay that much attention to hockey, but that was outstanding stuff, Theo.