Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 
Forums :: Blog World :: Jason Millen: Blues swat the Blue Jackets, look to tame the Panthers
Author Message
Jason Millen
St Louis Blues
Location: Saint Louis, MO
Joined: 01.28.2016

Feb 5 @ 2:55 PM ET
Jason Millen: Blues swat the Blue Jackets, look to tame the Panthers Blues swat the Blue Jackets, look to tame the Panthers
agame99
Vegas Golden Knights
Joined: 06.29.2018

Feb 5 @ 3:31 PM ET
Hey, don’t look now, but as of today, the Blues are 3 points out of a wildcard. 6-3-1 in last 10 games and playing a hell of a lot better and healthier. Could be becoming the team we’d thought they’d be.
lastmanback
St Louis Blues
Location: Catawissa, MO
Joined: 03.07.2008

Feb 5 @ 3:55 PM ET
I think the three after Fl will tell us where this team is headed. Tampa and home and home with the Preds. If you can't get 3-4 points out of that, we are just pretending.

They need to break the rest of the season down to 5 game sets, and go 3-1-1 per set. That should get them in, and then they have a shot at making some noise.
carcus
St Louis Blues
Location: #Winnington
Joined: 02.12.2009

Feb 5 @ 5:51 PM ET
Looking at the points to date, lower 90s might get the wild card spots this year.

Unless a few teams that have all hovered around .500 pts percentage all of a sudden start winning at a .65+ clip.

If the Blues get 60% of the remaining available points, they are going to be right at 90 points.
BluemanGuruu
St Louis Blues
Location: trustinjarmo knows nothing, MO
Joined: 06.28.2007

Feb 5 @ 6:25 PM ET
Fabbri needs to play.

How Steen and Maroon are in over him makes little sense.
BluemanGuruu
St Louis Blues
Location: trustinjarmo knows nothing, MO
Joined: 06.28.2007

Feb 5 @ 6:27 PM ET
I think the three after Fl will tell us where this team is headed. Tampa and home and home with the Preds. If you can't get 3-4 points out of that, we are just pretending.

They need to break the rest of the season down to 5 game sets, and go 3-1-1 per set. That should get them in, and then they have a shot at making some noise.

- lastmanback

That's kind of what I said in the last thread.

Still you have to beat Florida, especially with the teams that lost yesterday and play again today. They have to least hold their place.
BluesDroogie
St Louis Blues
Location: St. Louis, MO
Joined: 06.12.2014

Feb 5 @ 7:29 PM ET
Schwartz, Bozak, and Steen.

This line scares me and not in a good way
eggsegan
Joined: 02.26.2007

Feb 5 @ 7:35 PM ET
Schwartz, Bozak, and Steen.

This line scares me and not in a good way

- BluesDroogie


All three are relatively responsible defensively. All three are struggling offensively. Hopefully they can have some decent possession shifts...
BluesDroogie
St Louis Blues
Location: St. Louis, MO
Joined: 06.12.2014

Feb 5 @ 7:40 PM ET
All three are relatively responsible defensively. All three are struggling offensively. Hopefully they can have some decent possession shifts...
- eggsegan

Well I know I shouldn't expect any goals from that line. Ha ha. Damn our pp sucks.
eggsegan
Joined: 02.26.2007

Feb 5 @ 11:42 PM ET
Well I know I shouldn't expect any goals from that line. Ha ha. Damn our pp sucks.
- BluesDroogie


True! What a weird game...
BluemanGuruu
St Louis Blues
Location: trustinjarmo knows nothing, MO
Joined: 06.28.2007

Feb 6 @ 2:16 AM ET
Holy crap!!! They pulled it off.

This has been a strange year. Hell Chicago has a chance 3 games below .500.

Pundits are saying the west is weak, but honestly I'm not so sure that's true.
DutchSenators
Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Joined: 06.07.2015

Feb 6 @ 4:15 AM ET
Binnington going on a Hamburglar-esque run?!
lastmanback
St Louis Blues
Location: Catawissa, MO
Joined: 03.07.2008

Feb 6 @ 11:06 AM ET
Our 5 on 5 play has been pretty good over the last month. With the PP just sucking, would it be crazy just to ditch the PP 'units' and just continue to roll your lines? I don't see where it could be any worse.
BluemanGuruu
St Louis Blues
Location: trustinjarmo knows nothing, MO
Joined: 06.28.2007

Feb 6 @ 12:02 PM ET
Our 5 on 5 play has been pretty good over the last month. With the PP just sucking, would it be crazy just to ditch the PP 'units' and just continue to roll your lines? I don't see where it could be any worse.
- lastmanback

They did this some years back under Hitch when the pp just sucked.

It's ridiculous with that kind of talent that the pp sucks. With the way they have dominated periods more and more I don't know how they haven't generated more pp opportunities either. Tbh, not just being a homer, but the Blues have really been screwed by the officiating this year. From the illegal stick call that the NHL said was not the point of the rule(over came that one), to a host of weak calls against that are not called both ways.

BluemanGuruu
St Louis Blues
Location: trustinjarmo knows nothing, MO
Joined: 06.28.2007

Feb 6 @ 12:05 PM ET
Did anyone catch the article where Tarasenko alluded to overcoming some off ice stuff in the dressing room but refused to elaborate?

There was something wrong. Apparently, they figured it out. How much does anyone want to bet that it stemmed from Allen and the amount of new players?
eggsegan
Joined: 02.26.2007

Feb 6 @ 7:00 PM ET
Did anyone catch the article where Tarasenko alluded to overcoming some off ice stuff in the dressing room but refused to elaborate?

There was something wrong. Apparently, they figured it out. How much does anyone want to bet that it stemmed from Allen and the amount of new players?

- BluemanGuruu


My gut says you hit the nail on the head. If anything, players having to come to the realization that they’re not top 3 or top 6 guys can be tough, especially when rookies or new guys are taking “their spot”. Couple that with tensions or mistrust of the guy between the pipes?

I wonder if Schenn had hurt feelings about bringing in a guy like O’Reilly. Philly figured out that he was more useful to them as a winger, but he didn’t want to accept that...

Seems like, more and more, teams are using centers on the wing so that guys can specialize as a left or right dot face off guy. Also, having a backup in the dzone... Schenn should recognize that as an asset rather than feeling bad he’s not playing the pivot.
BluemanGuruu
St Louis Blues
Location: trustinjarmo knows nothing, MO
Joined: 06.28.2007

Feb 7 @ 11:48 AM ET
My gut says you hit the nail on the head. If anything, players having to come to the realization that they’re not top 3 or top 6 guys can be tough, especially when rookies or new guys are taking “their spot”. Couple that with tensions or mistrust of the guy between the pipes?

I wonder if Schenn had hurt feelings about bringing in a guy like O’Reilly. Philly figured out that he was more useful to them as a winger, but he didn’t want to accept that...

Seems like, more and more, teams are using centers on the wing so that guys can specialize as a left or right dot face off guy. Also, having a backup in the dzone... Schenn should recognize that as an asset rather than feeling bad he’s not playing the pivot.

- eggsegan


Schenn was a young player in Philly and did not get much of a chance to play center. They had enough centers to say whoa that's a mistake and not allow him time to develop.

I remember listening to some post game comments back in December I think it was and it was after an ugly loss and Schenn clearly rips Steen and Jeremy Rutherford also noticed this and wrote about it a little bit.

Rutherford identified three players that were rumored to be an issue on some level or other: Tarasenko(murmurs of him being perceived as selfish), Pietroangelo and Steen and that having to with some rift left over from Backes.

We even talked about the latter last season.

It looks like this season Tarasenko's shoulder took some time to heal, which is about the same time frame it took Berglund in both seasons where he had shoulder surgeries to start looking dominate. Berglund is a much better player than people realize. He was never going to be Forsberg but a very effective player nonetheless, even without a lot of speed as the game became faster. Wish we could add him.

Somehow the Blues need to subtract Steen.

If they could snake Mark Stone while getting rid of two contracts like Steen and Bouwmeester I would give up a prime prospect and picks. I'm not suggesting those two are part of the package. I think JayBo can be moved to a number of teams for some picks. As the Blues play better, I think the GM also needs to consider with an objective eye, just how good or bad is this team. I think it's clear this team has construction issues; too many slow players. The reason I would go after a player like Stone is not only is production continually going up, but he controls the game significantly in the right ways: creating turnovers, take aways, driving play and capitalizing on those which is to me the difference between being a good player and entering elite.

Fabbri needs to get some ice out there and not insignificant amounts. This team has got to get him going because he can be a difference maker. If it's not this season then it's the next.

Schwartz must be playing injured or slightly scared. A good article looked at his goals last year versus this year and there is just the slightest difference between a lot of his shots right now and him scoring last year. There is a slight delay in his shot but the other issue was he was not getting as close in but that seems to have changed in the past month. Most of this is just luck or randomness. if his shooting percentage doubled right now it's still half his career total and yet he would be scoring just a little less than his career clip. Playing with Bozak and Steen is not going to help him.