9/22 Blues Games vs. Columbus

[Robb_K]

Blues best team (by far) in St. Louis game. They are tied 1-1 at the end of 1st, on a nice feed by Tarasenko to Stastny.

Blues trail 2-0 in Columbus. Beach has leveled a couple of players, and took the penalty whose PK gave up the 2nd goal. Brouwer leveled Jack Johnson in front of the net on The Blues' PP. I like the sound of that!

[Robb_K]

In Columbus, Jaskin scores on a feed from Schmaltz! Blues cut the lead in half, now trailing 2-1.

[Robb_K]

Blues' "A" team lead 3-2 in St. Louis after goals by Tarasenko and Steen! Blues "B" team lost 4-1 to Jackets' "A" team in Columbus, but were in a 1 goal game until an empty-netter was scored in the last seconds. But, they gave up a goal in the mandatory (inneeded) 3 on 3 test OT.

[Robb_K]

I got to see a 3 minute stream of part of The 3rd. Blues now lead 4-2 on a PPG by Pietrangelo. The announcer (streamer) said that he thinks Fabbri actually tipped it in, He says that Copley is looking sharp. He knows now why they made that deal.

[Robb_K]

Blues lead 5-2! Asuchuck from Trupp and Doty!!!

[Robb_K]

Blues win St. Louis game 5-2. Copley looked very sharp according to reports from a couple of posters at the game. Fabbri looked good, as did Parayko, Tarasenko and Steen. Backes and Schwartz looked rusty.

[Robb_K]

Nobody cares about pre-season games, eh? Or are ALL of you at the game?

[Robb_K]

Parayko had 2 assists, 1 credited hit, but also made another good one, played just about 22 min,. had 4 SOG, was +1, played 2 min on the PP, and was made 3rd Star of the game.

[ComradeT]

Was at the game here in StL. Tarasenko/Stastny/Steen line looked sharp. Tarasenko is the same beast he was last season. Silky smooth hands to both dish it and score it. Stastny seems to gel very well with those two. Backes/Fabbri/Schwartz had its moments but couldn't really quite get it going most of the game. Barbashev was disappointing, but possibly due to playing with Ott and some other guy I can't remember. He does look a bit light and was knocked off the puck too easily. Could be first-game jitters too.

Pietro looked great, stifling the opposition attack and carrying the Blues forward. Bouw was good, Parayko as well. Vanelli, Butler and Lindbohm solid but not spectacular.

Copley was great indeed. Two periods, no goals (one goal?). Had some pretty good saves.

Great game overall, especially having the option to sit wherever the hell we wanted. So we did sit wherever the hell we wanted. And when we got bored there, we switched seats. Loved it! Preseason rocks!!

[Robb_K]

Was at the game here in StL. Tarasenko/Stastny/Steen line looked sharp. Tarasenko is the same beast he was last season. Silky smooth hands to both dish it and score it. Stastny seems to gel very well with those two. Backes/Fabbri/Schwartz had its moments but couldn't really quite get it going most of the game. Barbashev was disappointing, but possibly due to playing with Ott and some other guy I can't remember. He does look a bit light and was knocked off the puck too easily. Could be first-game jitters too.

Pietro looked great, stifling the opposition attack and carrying the Blues forward. Bouw was good, Parayko as well. Vanelli, Butler and Lindbohm solid but not spectacular.

Copley was great indeed. Two periods, no goals (one goal?). Had some pretty good saves.

Great game overall, especially having the option to sit wherever the hell we wanted. So we did sit wherever the hell we wanted. And when we got bored there, we switched seats. Loved it! Preseason rocks!!

Copley gave up one goal. But it was on a deflection, on which he had no chance to stop. So, he did well, even though he didn't have almost any tough chances.

[APOD]

Elliott and Copley looked really good in the practice the other day, Allen not so much, but maybe its a little rust. Glad to hear Copley was sharp in this game too makes this trade even better.

Steen/Stastny/Tarasenko < that's the line I have been anticipating all summer and I am happy to see its working, I hope it stays that way all year.

Parayko is going to really make it hard on the coaches to cut him. Loving this kid already. I'll call it right now and say we trade Gunnerson before the deadline.

[cprice12]

Parayko is going to really make it hard on the coaches to cut him. Loving this kid already. I'll call it right now and say we trade Gunnerson before the deadline.

I'll echo your comments about Parayko. He looked very good...had a couple of assists.
The man is huge, very Pronger-like...but with a bit more mass.

I made a point to watch him at one of the practices...and he impressed me. Hopefully he keeps improving and can make the club...or at least be a late season call up.

[glen a richter]

When I first heard about Parayko as a guy to watch, climbing the depth chart, I really started focusing on what he was doing both before and after signing and playing with the Wolves. I'd rather have him on this team right now than Gunnar or Bouw. Trade them both for all I care, Parayko is a freaking workhorse and we're going to enjoy watching him in the note for quite a while.

[APOD]

Left-Right
Bouw-Pie
Gunnar-Shatty
Lindbohm-Bortz
Butler-Parayko
Benoit-Harrold


Paraykos only flaw here is that he is right handed. Solve this by splitting 7th D with Bortz for this year. Trade Gunnar move lindbohm with Shatty and play Butler on the 3rd pair. Unless the coaches feel comfortable playing two right handed D on a line together.

My guess is that he will be cut simply for that fact.

[ecbm]

Glad to hear about Parayko. Nothing but raves about this kid for a while now. I hope he gets his. I don't want to see Butler on the roster when healthy though so maybe just move one of the old hands...or just wait for the inevitable injury...

[glen a richter]

Aside from being a local boy, I don't see the allure of Butler. The guy just isn't that good, and certainly not good enough to crack this roster for any reason other than being a local boy. I'd be trying to move Gunnar or Bouw to let Parayko get the #6 spot, but short of that he should be #7 and get plenty of time as such.

[theohall]

Aside from being a local boy, I don't see the allure of Butler. The guy just isn't that good, and certainly not good enough to crack this roster for any reason other than being a local boy. I'd be trying to move Gunnar or Bouw to let Parayko get the #6 spot, but short of that he should be #7 and get plenty of time as such.

As APOD pointed out, replacing Gunnar or Bouw with Parayko doesn't work due to the right versus left thing. It matters at the NHL level.

[APOD]

http://war-on-ice.com/playertable.html? ... tseasons=1

http://hockey.dobbersports.com/frozenpo ... 5%3AR%3A99

Butler really isn't bad I'm not sure what the flack is about he is a good 7th D and honestly Bortuzzo gets the in because the boy can lay the body all night, look at his hits last year !157!

[cprice12]

Aside from being a local boy, I don't see the allure of Butler. The guy just isn't that good, and certainly not good enough to crack this roster for any reason other than being a local boy. I'd be trying to move Gunnar or Bouw to let Parayko get the #6 spot, but short of that he should be #7 and get plenty of time as such.

As APOD pointed out, replacing Gunnar or Bouw with Parayko doesn't work due to the right versus left thing. It matters at the NHL level.

I absolutely do NOT want to get rid of Bouwmeester in a dump move. Not right now.
Up until he got hurt last year, he had been great for us since we acquired him. He never fully recovered from his injury, which played a role in his sub par play.
I fully expect him to return to his pre-injury form now that he is 100%...and it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone if that indeed happens.

[cprice12]

Aside from being a local boy, I don't see the allure of Butler. The guy just isn't that good, and certainly not good enough to crack this roster for any reason other than being a local boy. I'd be trying to move Gunnar or Bouw to let Parayko get the #6 spot, but short of that he should be #7 and get plenty of time as such.

As APOD pointed out, replacing Gunnar or Bouw with Parayko doesn't work due to the right versus left thing. It matters at the NHL level.

Having a righty and a lefty paired on defense is an ideal situation, but it's not something that should be forced at the expense of talent, especially when the talent gap is pretty huge.
Besides, there are a lot of defensive pairings in the NHL that aren't righty-lefty.
If Parayko is ready, he should absolutely replace Butler. He should be light years better when ready and it would be insane to keep Butler over him...again, if Parayko is ready that is.

But looking at righty-left pairings... Edmundson is a lefty and Parayko is a righty.
In the next few years that could be a killer pairing and something to really look forward to.