St. Louis Blues 2010 Regular Season Thread

[longhornbaseball]

I like Chris Stewart.

[MrCrowesGarden]

Four terrible f-ups by the refs tonight but the game is still tied at 3.

This picture kind of sums up the night:

[longhornbaseball]

Yeah, I like Stewart.

[MrCrowesGarden]

Yeah, I like Stewart.

Amen. Those fans who didn't like him because of his stoic appearance have to love the fight from Monday and the "take that" fist pump tonight.

[TheoSqua]

I watched the highlights of the game tonight. Man that last move by Stewart was phenomenal.

I think that the blues completely over invested in defense during the rebuild. From 2006 to 2009 the Blues had 7 first round picks and four of them were Defensemen. Johnson, Pietrangelo, Cole, and Runblad. Dmen are just too volatile to invest in like that. It was nice to see Armstrong come in and course correct, trading Runblad for Tarasenko and now Johnson for Stewart.

Finding a #4 d-man is a heck of a lot easier than finding a few guys who can score 30+ goals a season. Getting Shattenkirk on top of all that is just icing on the cake.

[TheoSqua]

To give an example of what Armstrong has done, imagine what the draft would be like if we had hindsight for the first round:

2005: Oshie is likely the best candidate for that pick.
2006: they'd take Jonathan Toews instead of Erik Johnson. Still take Berglund.
2007: they'd took Logan Couture instead of trading down for Lars Eller and the guy we traded for D'Agstini (Couture has 25g and 44p this season). Still take Cole and Perron.
2008: Pietrangelo is likely the best candiate
2009: The Blues take Louis Leblanc instead of David Runblad.

That would give the Blues these top six forwards: Toews, Berglund, Couture, Perron, Oshie.
On Defense they'd still have: Pietrangelo and Cole.
And they'd have an exciting young forward in Louis Leblanc heading towards the season.

It'd leave holes in defense and goaltending, but the offense would be better off than it was at the start of the season and Toews would be the franchise player.

Now in the one year since Armstrong took over we have:
These top six forwards: Stewart, Berglund, Perron, Oshie.
And on Defense: Shattenkirk, Pietrangelo, Cole.
And an exciting young forward in Tarasenko.
And a potential franchise goalie in Halak.

Having Toews and Couture over Stewart is an obvious bonus to the offense, but I think overall the team is better off with Stewart/Shattenkirk/Halak than they would be with Toews and Couture.

That Armstrong was able to turn a logjam at defense (Cole, Pietrangelo, Johnson, Runblad, Nikitin...5 young defensemen is way too many) and an underachieving forward into a potential franchise goalie, a potential 40 goal scorer, and another young high-cieling d-man is pretty awesome.

One interesting tidbit: Lars Eller was thought pretty highly as the best of the young forwards the Blues drafted. He hasn't shown that potential yet, but he was highly touted. Shattenkirk was picked immediately after Eller in the 2007 draft.

[Popeye_Card]

With Jackman and Steen out, Jello (and McDonald) take their A's. Understandable given that one of the D's will wear an A and Jello is a good choice, but interesting nonetheless.

[longhornbaseball]

I would guess both will get A's next year with Steen and Jackman. Backes gets the C and officially becomes Captain America.

[Popeye_Card]

I know Backes is the popular fan choice and perhaps makes the most sense given his new deal, but I would not be surprised (or upset) if Jackman is the captain next season.

[longhornbaseball]

I know Backes is the popular fan choice and perhaps makes the most sense given his new deal, but I would not be surprised (or upset) if Jackman is the captain next season.

I was surprised when Brewer got it over Jackman. I would say:
3:2 Backes
5:1 Jackman
10:1 Steen
50:1 Lidstrom...