Let's Go Blues

https://www.nhl.com/blues/news/schwartz ... -282270748

This awesome offseason just keeps rollin'...

I don't love this contract; it's not much smarter than it would have been to give Backes what he was asking for. Steen did a good job of leveraging Army's fear of losing him for nothing a year after losing Backes & Oshie/Brouwer for nothing. But he's a good leader and it's not an Ott-type deal. I do...

Sobotka's doing what he thinks is best for him. It is unreasonable for anyone to expect any different. That Sobotka was not under contract when he signed with Avangard is not some technical nicety. He had not signed, so he was not under contract. That's how the IIHF interprets it. Related: he didn't...

Having to address one weak area with cap room coming free in the near future is a far cry from a contending window closing. Contending windows close when a team doesn't have defense and/or goaltending - see Vancouver as an example. I don't really disagree. The Blues window certainly hasn't closed a...

Again, it's not a closed issue but I think there's a lot of whistling past the graveyard right above here. Window means a period of having a realistically good chance at winning it all each season. Every year since Hitchcock's first full one, the Blues are projected as one of the most likely teams t...

The contention window for this team is not closing. Not sure where that language is coming from. I can see both sides. I've wondered about this myself. Consider: we just saw two of the core players whose maturation represented the opening of this window leave for nothing in Backes and Oshie (in the...

If you look at the roster for the Blues as it's built right now, they don't have a lot of size to play in front of the net. And when I say a lot, I say almost none. Let's sum up. Two of the team's best playoff performers and the two key big body forwards are gone so the veteran coach in his mid-60s...

PP and PK success were due to Muller and Shaw, respectively, both who are on cusp of being head coaches. Then the players for executing the system. Well that doesn't bode well, does it? Don't need to be great at scoring because they keep the puck out of their own net. OK, while I agree in general o...

All Sobotka has to do is report, because the contract is a foregone conclusion when/if he reports. He's obligated to play under the one year arbitration deal awarded back in 2014. As of August 4th, Armstrong was "finalizing paperwork" to bring Sobotka back. I get that but it just seems like there's...

Toasted Oates wrote:Enough about Sobotka. He does not cure what ails this team.

As much as I like the guy: absolutely. And, you know-there's the sticky little thing where it's mid-August and he's not actually signed in any case.

“You’re imagining line combinations, all types of stuff,” Hitchcock said. Hitchcock...found some positives in the flexibility he’ll have with his forwards. Ah. So it's that time again. Hockey season, when Hitchcock shows that after X years, he still has no idea what any of his ideal line combos are...

Nice to see some good things about this kid. It does look like he can finish from the highlight video but his skating also looks ponderous to me.

I can't really question any of the reports based on the miniscule sample in which I've seen him. They all seem to agree he's a few years out though.

This forum be all like

I'm still salty about that Sillinger for Shishkanov trade. You can't tell me we couldn't have got a draft pick out of a team somewhere. It's impossible to like that trade in hindsight but at the time, Shishkanov was 22, just a few years removed from being a high second-rounder and had been effectiv...

NHL Blues article about turning the page They mention Jordan Schmaltz as being on the cusp. He might be on the cusp but with Pietrangelo, Shattenkirk, Parayko, and Bortuzzo all being right defenseman, Schmaltz is a long shot to make the team. If Shattenkirk ever gets traded, he might be a 7th defen...

Barclay's is a nice building but just doesn't have the sight lines for hockey. I can't see the owners giving up some it's already-limited capacity to fix that. Flushing makes perfect sense. LIRR and the subway literally drop you off at the front door of Barclay's, which is nice when you plan on guzz...

http://www.lighthousehockey.com/2016/7/21/12249516/report-islanders-owners-talking-to-queens-about-arena-project-yeah-sure They should just up and move to Seattle, let Quebec have expansion team #32. I can spit on Citi Field from my school, I drive past it twice a week going from my day school job ...

I don't think this was "the" reason we traded Elliott, but I believe we'd be over the cap had we kept Elliott (assuming Sobotka does in fact come back). I know that it's allowed in the offseason, but what's the impact on day 1 of the regular season? You're forgetting Hutton-his hit is $1.125M and E...

Gotta keep in mind: whoever replaces Backes doesn't have to be a Backes clone. He just has to fill the role Backes projected to realistically: third line center with good faceoff numbers and lots of hits.

I don't think this was "the" reason we traded Elliott, but I believe we'd be over the cap had we kept Elliott (assuming Sobotka does in fact come back). I know that it's allowed in the offseason, but what's the impact on day 1 of the regular season? You're forgetting Hutton-his hit is $1.125M and E...