Goaltenders
50 Corey Crawford
33 Scott Darling

Defensemen
6 Michal Kempny
17 Ville Pokka
32 Michal Rozsival
42 Gustav Forsling
43 Viktor Svedberg
45 Dillon Fournier
57 Trevor van Riemsdyk

Forwards
8 Nick Schmaltz
11 Andrew Desjardins
14 Richard Panik
15 Artem Anisimov
16 Marcus Kruger
22 Jordin Tootoo
38 Ryan Hartman
41 Mark McNeill
48 Vinnie Hinostroza
53 Brandon Mashinter
64 Tyler Motte
70 Dennis Rasmussen
82 Alexandre Fortin
- breadbag

NHL Network tn so my first look at Fortin and Forsling against a mostly NHL Blues' lineup. 👍👍 will have to renew my NHL
Game Center live subscription after Wednesday's season opener on NBCSN

Kind of thinking Forsling is going to be headed to Sweden after this game.

Kind of thinking Forsling is going to be headed to Sweden after this game.
- matt_ahrens

I think he sticks he has looked good. Motte has impressed me as well.

DeBrincat with another 2 goals tonight. He now has 4 goals and 3 assists in his first 3 games for Erie in the OHL.

DeBrincat with another 2 goals tonight. He now has 4 goals and 3 assists in his first 3 games for Erie in the OHL.
- EbonyRaptor

Glad to hear -- I wonder how much playing against the speed and skill of the big boys in training camp gives him a leg up against the lesser competition of the OHL.

Glad to hear -- I wonder how much playing against the speed and skill of the big boys in training camp gives him a leg up against the lesser competition of the OHL.
- Hank_Greenberg

A lot of the OHL players were in NHL training camps so a lot of them would have an advantage over the 16 and 17 year old guys.

Kind of thinking Forsling is going to be headed to Sweden after this game.
- matt_ahrens

Flipping between the Hawks and the Cubs, but I'm not seeing any Blackhawk showing very well tonite.

Flipping between the Hawks and the Cubs, but I'm not seeing any Blackhawk showing very well tonite.
- StLBravesFan

Eh, the Kruger line looks good - solid possession with no OZS so far, plus Motte and Hartman look like they're handling the Blues regulars well. I like Ras too - good faceoffs so far even if one of the few he lost lead to a goal. TVR has looked solid after being kind of off his last showing.

Rozsival is the only one painful to watch. I haven't hated Svedberg, which is saying a lot for me (still not good). Not a lot of possession or just zone time happening for the lower lines.

Eh, the Kruger line looks good - solid possession with no OZS so far, plus Motte and Hartman look like they're handling the Blues regulars well. I like Ras too - good faceoffs so far even if one of the few he lost lead to a goal. TVR has looked solid after being kind of off his last showing.

Rozsival is the only one painful to watch. I haven't hated Svedberg, which is saying a lot for me (still not good). Not a lot of possession or just zone time happening for the lower lines.
- L_B_R

Meh - teamwise, no offensive zone pressure or even presence - SAT = 20-42 - somehow the defense has kept the puck off of Crawford, mostly.

To be expected, with only Desi, Panik, Kruger and TVR representing last year's regulars in front of Crawford.

Meh - teamwise, no offensive zone pressure or even presence - SAT = 20-42 - somehow the defense has kept the puck off of Crawford, mostly.

To be expected, with only Desi, Panik, Kruger and TVR representing last year's regulars in front of Crawford.
- StLBravesFan

Weird - you just repeated what I said about "not a lot of possession or just zone time happening", except I made the accurate distinction that the exception is Kruger's line (at least after 2 periods). They're all getting drilled in the 3rd now, though. You picked commented on the one thing we both agreed about

I'll add that Forsling is having a rough game and Fortin made his first big mistake with a huge turnover. Guys like Schmaltz, Hinostroza, etc have been invisible.

I think Moose has done pretty well these last two games. I am feeling like he may end up as 4L-C while Kroogs centers L3?

Oilers squeezed all they could and got a decent deal for someone they did not want.
"Potential" on Yakupov is now 4 years running in the NHL, so he is closer to being a 1st round bust than a top 6 winger on a playoff team.
- Al

We'll take a 15-20 goal third line winger, thank you. I know I'm being optimistic.

The person who tipped me on this back in July and kept me abreast the other day also informed me this morning:

The Hawks offered Pokka (as theorized elsewhere) and a 3rd round pick, which EDM agreed to. The Hawks also had as a condition EDM retaining $1.5 million in salary. That's where it died.

StL's offer was basically $1.5 million better. And no, I, for one, am not blaming Bowman for THAT.
- John Jaeckel

So same basic deal except cap hit? I know I have only watched a couple of hawks games in the last few weeks and they are preseason but from what i have watched, Pokka has been terrible in his own end. Turnstyle comes to mind.

We'll take a 15-20 goal third line winger, thank you. I know I'm being optimistic.
- Jason Millen

You have reason to be - paired with defensive forwards and with the support of a good blueline that the Blues have, Yak could do very well. The Blues' third line is better than the Oiler 3rd/4th lines in years past, so upgrade already. Lower risk for the Blues than the Hawks since the Blues had more cap space.

So, does the egg squarely land in your face, wonthecup, if yakupov craps the bed in St. Louis?
- wiz1901

Flip a coin

NHL Network tn so my first look at Fortin and Forsling against a mostly NHL Blues' lineup. 👍👍 will have to renew my NHL
Game Center live subscription after Wednesday's season opener on NBCSN
- EnzoD

ENZO, did the subscription get better at the very end of the year. I have been debating between what i usually do (center ice) and the game center subscription. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

You have reason to be - paired with defensive forwards and with the support of a good blueline that the Blues have, Yak could do very well. The Blues' third line is better than the Oiler 3rd/4th lines in years past, so upgrade already. Lower risk for the Blues than the Hawks since the Blues had more cap space.
- L_B_R

Similar to my thoughts. Low risk, potential high reward. Also, i'd rather take the risk reward on him vs Sobotka and Yak actually makes less than Sobotka would have.

ETA - easily could be a 1 year bust though. i still say between the pipes may be the biggest Blues issue this season but few share my opinion (darn blue koolaid)

So same basic deal except cap hit? I know I have only watched a couple of hawks games in the last few weeks and they are preseason but from what i have watched, Pokka has been terrible in his own end. Turnstyle comes to mind.
- Jason Millen

Not exactly the same - Pokka is likely to be a bottom pair guy eventually with some movement up if he develops well over the next few years. Considering he just turned 22, he's on a generally acceptable development curve for d-prospects. He'd have more potential than the ECHLer the Blues gave up, anyway, which was obviously just a throw in to move the contract for the Blues. The Hawks deal would slightly better, but EDM was obvs stuck on not having to retain anything / less than the Hawks could handle.

Not exactly the same - Pokka is likely to be a bottom pair guy eventually with some movement up if he develops well over the next few years. Considering he just turned 22, he's on a generally acceptable development curve for d-prospects. He'd have more potential than the ECHLer the Blues gave up, anyway, which was obviously just a throw in to move the contract for the Blues. The Hawks deal would slightly better, but EDM was obvs stuck on not having to retain anything / less than the Hawks could handle.
- L_B_R

50 contract max made including a contract a necessitiy, assuming Pochiro's counts.

From what I have seen of Pokka (crazy small sample), I hope the Hawks keep him on the 3rd NHL pair. He seemed behind most of the Blues AHL d-men that were in camp when they went up against the Caps players.

I should quality my statement in that, for me, i treat really small samples of players like this as the sample can sometimes tell me enough to know they are a very long shot to be productive NHL players or they show enough to tell me that they might have enough to become productive NHlers but I haven't seen enough to know for sure. My batting average on the former is well above hall of famer level.

I wonder what Wiz would think of that statement...

In other NHL news, Radko Gudas at it again tonight. He must have 9 no suspension lives and i have no idea which life he is on.

50 contract max made including a contract a necessitiy, assuming Pochiro's counts.

From what I have seen of Pokka (crazy small sample), I hope the Hawks keep him on the 3rd NHL pair. He seemed behind most of the Blues AHL d-men that were in camp when they went up against the Caps players.

I should quality my statement in that, for me, i treat really small samples of players like this as the sample can sometimes tell me enough to know they are a very long shot to be productive NHL players or they show enough to tell me that they might have enough to become productive NHlers but I haven't seen enough to know for sure. My batting average on the former is well above hall of famer level.

I wonder what Wiz would think of that statement...
- Jason Millen

I'm the type of person that very much argues against small sample sizes because they statistically are, more often than not, misleading to meaningless (good or bad). That said, I don't think Pokka has looked all that good and believe he's still a ways away from the NHL, just that he's a young 22 year old so he has time. It's not like he's making the team this year lol. He still has more value than a guy who can't even make it into the AHL lbr.

TVR hasn't been too bad tonight.

Good thing we didn't trade him for Yak.

Forsling had a tough night. Didn't look like he was NHL ready tonight. Fortin had one nice play but other than that he was pretty invisible. Same with Hinostroza - one nice play and not much else. Hartman and Motte both played well.

Meh - teamwise, no offensive zone pressure or even presence - SAT = 20-42 - somehow the defense has kept the puck off of Crawford, mostly.

To be expected, with only Desi, Panik, Kruger and TVR representing last year's regulars in front of Crawford.
- StLBravesFan

The Blues played their regulars but weren't pushing too hard. Even so, 2-1 isn't a bad score given 5 of the top 6 forwards and the 4 top D-men all sat out for the Hawks.

Here is what I think the lines will be opening night if there isn't a trade before then:

Panarin - Toews - Panik
Motte - AA - Kane
Hartman - Kruger - Hossa
Desi - Rass - Tootoo

Why was Svedberg called back up anyhow?