St. Louis Blues 2010 Regular Season Thread

[Popeye_Card]

I'm a bit concerned about D going into next season. Perron should help our puck control, and we generally have good defensive forwards, but breakaways like last night should be rare events. They haven't been iin recent weeks. The Calgary game was full of them.

I do really like the scoring depth though.

[JackofDiamonds]

I'm a bit concerned about D going into next season. Perron should help our puck control, and we generally have good defensive forwards, but breakaways like last night should be rare events. They haven't been iin recent weeks. The Calgary game was full of them.

I do really like the scoring depth though.

Polak should be at full strength (read: stupid strong), Shattenkirk and Pietrangello will be studs, Jackman will be the lockdown defender he usually is (yeah I said it), Coco isn't changing, we sign a free agent (Brewer again?), and the Nikitin/Cole combo should make strides. I am irrationally exuberant for next season.

Backes/Stewart/Healthy Perron/Big Berglund playing like Big Berglulnd/Healthy Oshie/Healthy McDonald? I really like that top 6. Add in a Tarasenko, Steen, Sobotka line and we're deep. Then there's D'Agastini, Porter/Schwartz/Cracknell, and the fighter (probably Reaves since he can do more than Cam Smash)...

Woo! Who's ready for hockey?m [expletive] this baseball crap, we suck again.

[JCShutout]

In an ideal ownership situation, I'd say find a way to acquire a top level scorer. Since that won't happen, my hope is for us to add a good checking forward, in addition to keeping the majority of the team together.

Backes, Stewart, Perron, McD, Berglund, Steen, Oshie and D' are a very solid top 8. I'm not too confident in the bottom 4, which is why I'd love a shutdown forward. (I'm not going to count on Tarasenko to do anything but play at Peoria.)

Petro, CaptainKirk, Cola and Polak are a nice top 4. Between Jax, Nikitin and Cole, you gotta figure Jax will win a spot as he's a vet, though I'd rather have Cole/Nikitin and a better veteran Dman.

So I guess I'd hope to either trade Jax for a defensive center and sign someone decent to play defense, or just sign a good defensive forward. It would be nice to sign a decent backup G, but I would make that a secondary priority to a defensive forward.

[longhornbaseball]

Woo! Who's ready for hockey?m [expletive] this baseball crap, we suck again.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4jGSvxC ... re=related][/youtube]

[Popeye_Card]

Berglund didn't make the cut for your top 7?

Not sure why we'd spend too much effort on finding a defensive forward. We have Sobotka and Crombeen on the 4th line, who are both good defensive forwads, and physical to boot. But I guess if we want to bring in a defensive wing, that can be found for fairly cheap. Or if we want a center, Ryan Johnson and John Madden are both UFA's.

[JCShutout]

Berglund didn't make the cut for your top 7?

Not sure why we'd spend too much effort on finding a defensive forward. We have Sobotka and Crombeen on the 4th line, who are both good defensive forwads, and physical to boot. But I guess if we want to bring in a defensive wing, that can be found for fairly cheap. Or if we want a center, Ryan Johnson and John Madden are both UFA's.

Oops, I totally missed Bergie. Edited in.

I'm okay with Sobotka and Crombeen. I'm not sure how I feel about McRae or Porter. I'm sure I want Janssen cut. Also, there isn't much organizational depth, so another capable top 9 guy would be nice when injuries hit.

I really wish we could move Jax and replace him with a better defensive defenseman. We've got to get a little better at keeping the puck out of the net.

That and, talking about spending effort, who/what/where else are we going to spend our effort? I think the team is pretty well set and I think next year we're a playoff team.

[longhornbaseball]

Lidstrom or Ehrhoff please.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I meant to comment earlier on Longhorn's projections, but they do look good. I won't be expecting those kinds of totals from D'ags and Steener next year... not because I don't like them or don't think they aren't good, but if everyone really does play healthy, they're going to be relegated to third-line duty. But, if those guys make up 2/3rds of your 3rd line, you should be in good shape.

AFA another D-man, my guess is we'll go for either Brewer or Roman Hamrlik. I would like to see a push for Robyn Regehr.

[Popeye_Card]

On strictly defensive terms, you will be hard pressed to find a better d-man than Jackman. He gets blamed for a lot of the Blues' ills on D, but it is completely undeserved. I'm trying to find the numbers, but I read a study a couple months ago comparing GA averages for when a player is on the ice vs. off, comparing PK and PP time separately. Jackman was near the top of the league in goal suppression.

I'd like Jackman to be healthier, and he does struggle with moving the puck up the ice. But I can't ask for a better defender.

[TheoSqua]

Yep. Jackman plays a lot of ice time on a team that gives up a lot of goals and he's still +2. That means he's just about average.....with a lot of ice time covered. So I don't mind him. (The Blues are +3 even strength 186 - 183...and +1 on the PP 52 - 51)

This is the third year in a row (likely) that the Blues will not be negative in goals +/-. You'd think scoring more than the other teams over 3 years would give the team a better record than they've had.

Also has anyone noticed just how good of a season David Backes has had? Not only does he have 30 goals and 61 points....he's +30....good for 4th in the league (and the best forward in the league).