2013-2014 Midway Recap

[dmiles2186]

After the completion of the game against the BJ's on Saturday night, the Blues officially reached the midway point of the season. 41 games down, 41 games to go. Let's recap and hand out some awards, shall we?

Record: 29-7-5, 63 Pts

Division Standing: 2nd in Central, trail Chicago by 4 points with 4 games in hand

Chicago 45 GP 29 7 9 67
St. Louis 41 GP 29 7 5 63
Colorado 42 GP 26 12 4 56
Minnesota 44 GP 22 17 5 49
Dallas 42 GP 20 15 7 47
Winnipeg 45 GP 19 21 5 43
Nashville 43 GP 18 19 6 42

Leading Scorers

Alexander Steen 35 GP 24 14 38 +15
T.J. Oshie 41 GP 8 29 37 +14
David Backes 36 GP 16 16 32 +13
Jaden Schwartz 39 GP 15 17 32 +23
Kevin Shattenkirk 40 GP 6 25 31 +13

THE AWARDS SECTION

Team MVP:

Best Moment of the Season Thus Far:

Most Surprising Player:

Gut Punch Moment of the Season:

Other:

[dmiles2186]

THE AWARDS SECTION

Team MVP: Alex Steen

Best Moment of the Season Thus Far: Comeback against Chicago

Most Surprising Player: The jump Jaden Schwartz has made

Gut Punch Moment of the Season: The attendance

Other: Elliott coming to save the day again, Senko scoring goals like a fiend, Hitch getting win #100 as Blues coach, Osh/Backes/Shatty all making the US Olympic team, and Shatty putting up great offensive numbers. Plus, the team as a whole is scoring at a clip we haven't seen in a couple of decades. We didn't need goal scorers, they were here all along.

[crazyhorse]

This
http://www.csnne.com/blog/bruins-talk/h ... ocid=yahoo

[ComradeT]

Before I say what I'm about to say, for the record, I think Steen is awesome and I hope he comes back soon and continues to score at the same pace.

But guys, could it be that changes caused by absence of Steen (and maybe Backes for a couple of games there) actually propelled other Blues players to the form they are currently in?

[dmiles2186]

Before I say what I'm about to say, for the record, I think Steen is awesome and I hope he comes back soon and continues to score at the same pace.

But guys, could it be that changes caused by absence of Steen (and maybe Backes for a couple of games there) actually propelled other Blues players to the form they are currently in?

It is possible. Although, the argument could be made that because of the success of the Steen-Backes-Oshie line, it's allowed the other 9 forwards to slot into consistent roles for a majority of the season on lines 2-4. I don't think either argument is wrong. In fact, it could bolster the team as we move forward in the back half of the season.

[not_a_wings_fan]

I think the change has more to do with dumping Perron for a bag of pucks in the off season. I would suspect he's just as much the crybaby bitch he seems to be, and now he is having a career year on a last place team...and no one here is lamenting a damn thing.

The team is a team, and that's what really matters.

[glen a richter]

Here's my midway recap. This team is frikken awesome. This team has the best chance of any Blues team since I've been a fan of winning The Cup. This team's only weakness, imho, is Halak (and Berglund and Stewart but I'll give them a break for the time being). Now I know there's been talk tossed around of them trading for Ryan Miller and that's been kind of pooh-poohed. But really, I'm kind of all for it. Halak and a pick for Miller might help this team a lot. Buffalo would love to have the pick, and Miller would obviously be a rental until Allen was ready to step in as the #1 next season. But it doesn't implode the roster and it can't really do anything but improve matters.

[cardsfan04]

I don't know what to say about this team. We are exceeding my high expectations. A couple of things feel different this year than the past few, even when we were having success.

1. I expect to win every night. In the past, I hoped we would win, I thought we might, etc. This year, I expect a win every single game. I don't expect to go undefeated or anything. I just always expect victory before the puck is dropped.

2. If we fall behind, I'm not worried. In the past, if we got a lead, I felt pretty comfortable. This year, I feel comfortable behind, ahead, tied, whatever. Take the Columbus game, for example. Down 2-0, not playing real well. I still felt like we were about to step it up and come back. The ability to score goals and not rely on defense is really nice.

Other than that, what strikes me about this team is how deep it is. We haven't been blasted by injuries per se, but we haven't lacked them either. And, we haven't missed a beat on any of them. Halak gets sick. Elliott steps up. Steen, Backes, Sobotka, etc, go down. Jaskin, Porter and Cracknell step up. I have zero complaints about this team. I can't find one. I guess that's a byproduct of 30 wins in 42 games.

[cardsfan04]

THE AWARDS SECTION

Team MVP: Alex Steen

Best Moment of the Season Thus Far: Comeback against Chicago

Most Surprising Player: The jump Jaden Schwartz has made

Gut Punch Moment of the Season: The attendance

Other: Elliott coming to save the day again, Senko scoring goals like a fiend, Hitch getting win #100 as Blues coach, Osh/Backes/Shatty all making the US Olympic team, and Shatty putting up great offensive numbers. Plus, the team as a whole is scoring at a clip we haven't seen in a couple of decades. We didn't need goal scorers, they were here all along.

Those are pretty much mine.

I think Schwartz is in the discussion for MVP (and will pass Steen if he's out much longer). But, what this team needed most was for somebody to step up offensively. Steen did that in amazing fashion, so I give him the nod.

Agree on the comeback against Chicago. I'm still kicking myself for that game. I actually had a date to the game that night, but cancelled at the last second because I'm sick. I don't normally skip Blues/blackhawk games (I even went while getting over the flu a few years ago) for anything. But, I just couldn't make it. Next day I hear people saying it's the best game they ever went to. Such an amazing game and that place must have been rockin.

For most surprising, I'm actually going to go Steen I guess. I mean, I'm not surprised that he's one of our best players. But, I am very surprised at how dominant he was to start the season. Schwartz has exceeded my expectations, but I predicted him to have a breakout year before the season started. I thought he finished last season as strong as almost anybody.

Agree on attendance. We gotta sell that place out every single night. Empty crowds are so disappointing.