GDT #49: Blues @ Coyotes | 8:00 pm CT | BSMW, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues finished their season-long homestand with a 3-4-0 record, falling to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

The game played out in similar fashion to Saturday's matchup with Chicago, where the Blues were unable to overcome an early deficit despite strong play in the final two periods.

"You can't (always come from behind) in this League, it doesn't matter who you're playing against," said Torey Krug, returning to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 23 following a lower-body injury. "We showed some fight, and at times we're capable of (erasing deficits), but when points are at a premium we just can't put ourselves in that position."

Krug had an encouraging return to play, adding two assists to give him a personal five-game point streak (including games before the injury). With Krug and Vladimir Tarasenko both back in the lineup, the Blues hope to have a strong road trip before the All-Star break next week.

The Blues begin their three-game Central Division slate against the rebuilding Arizona Coyotes before traveling to Colorado and Winnipeg.

They'll face the Coyotes with a record of 23-22-3, worth 49 points and sixth place in the division.

COYOTES The Arizona Coyotes are in the midst of a rebuild, reflected in their struggling record so far this season. A shootout win over the Red Wings on Jan. 17 ended a nine-game losing streak, though they were held scoreless in the two games immediately following.

The Coyotes hope that an impressive win over the Pacific-leading Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday will provide some momentum as they near the All-Star break. Clayton Keller - selected as the team's All-Star for the second consecutive year - recorded his second career hat trick to lead the way as the Coyotes won 4-1 at their new home arena.

Arizona is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks despite putting up a season-high 39 shots on goal.

Looking for contributions from their younger players, Arizona rookie Matias Maccelli had a promising season until suffering a lower-body injury in late December. Maccelli's 22 points in 30 games ranked No. 2 among NHL rookies prior to his injury. He was set to be out at least six weeks at the time.

The Coyotes host the Blues at Mullett Arena with a record of 15-28-5, worth 35 points and seventh place in the Central Division.

HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues went 3-1-0 against Arizona last season with a 19-12 goal differential. Thursday night will mark the first time ever that the Blues play at Mullett Arena.



PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Torey Krug, whose two assists vs. Buffalo brought his total to seven points over his last five games played (dating back to Dec. 16). Krug has 12 points in 22 career games against Arizona, and his plus-12 rating shares his highest against any opponent.

COYOTES Shayne Gotisbehere, who leads Coyotes defensemen with 29 points this season. Gotisbehere has eight points in 10 career games against the Blues and is currently in his second season in Arizona.



BLUE NOTES
With his next win in goal, Jordan Binnington will take sole possession of No. 4 in franchise history in wins. He is currently tied with Grant Fuhr at 108... Craig Berube will take sole possession of No. 3 for the most games coached in franchise history on Thursday, passing Brian Sutter... Ivan Barbashev is expected to dress in his 400th career NHL game in Arizona... Seven of the Blues' nine games in February will be on home ice.

The St. Louis Blues will continue playing catch-up in their quest for the postseason when they face the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night in Tempe, Ariz.

The Blues lost ground in the playoff race when they won just three times during a seven-game homestand that ended Tuesday. That struggle left them six points out of the final Western Conference playoff slot through Tuesday's games.

The predicament puts extra focus on Thursday's matchup at Mullett Arena. The game will open the Blues' three-game road trip leading into the NHL All-Star break.

"We have to go into Arizona and take care of business there and then focus on the next one after that," Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said. "There's nothing more to it. We're in a hole, and we got to start digging out. If we look too far ahead, we're not gonna get anywhere."

The rebuilding Coyotes have lost 12 of their last 14 games. But the Blues can't take anything for granted after losing to the Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres by 5-3 scores in their last two games.

In both losses, St. Louis failed to defend the center of its defensive zone in front of goaltender Jordan Binnington.

"We're asking him to make saves that I don't know if there's any goalies in the league that can make," Faulk said.

Blues defenseman Torey Krug said: "Our slot was just wide open; they could've just camped out there and the puck would end up on their stick."

The Blues are allowing an average of 3.56 goals per game this season, eighth-worst in the NHL through Tuesday.

"I think there's times that we chase too much instead of just keeping them on the outside and having a little composure, protecting that slot area and waiting for a broken play or blocked shot or anything like that," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We've just got to have more patience there, and we really don't."

Krug returned Tuesday from a lower-body injury that had sidelined him since his last game on Dec. 23. Winger Vladimir Tarasenko returned from a broken hand that had shelved him since Dec. 31.

On the other hand, the Blues placed winger Pavel Buchnevich on injured reserve with an ankle injury that required minor surgery. And captain Ryan O'Reilly remained out with a foot injury.

This will be the Blues' first game this season against the Coyotes, who are coming off of a 5-2 loss to visiting the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

Like Berube, Arizona coach Andre Tourigny wants to see better defensive zone coverage from his team.

"I did not like our start; we were a little bit sloppy on our assignments defensively," Tourigny said. "There was about [a minute] there in the second where we gave up two goals, and that broke the game a little bit.

"But we were able to crawl back, we had a lot of fight, and the guys never quit. I like the way we arrived in the third. We put pucks at the net, recovered loose pucks, put a lot of bodies at the net, and we played with a lot of passion."

[WaukeeBlues]

I almost hope the Blues lose tonight. Getting sick of it.

For every savvy move Army makes (Buch, ROR) he's got a clunker of a decision that more than "makes up for it" and puts the Blues roster in a net negative and it's been happening for years.

This is squarely on Army and I hope he tries to fix it.

[glen a richter]

How many goals for Arizona on their first 7 shots? I'm setting the over/under at 3 and taking the over.

[Portland Blues]

5-0 Arizona. Dang...

[JCShutout]

Oof. … yeah. Just oof.

[theohall]

If that didn't cement the Blues in the Seller's market, I don't know what will.

And can we please move on from Pitlick and Brown, somehow??

[glen a richter]

I've been thinking about the Blues as sellers and obviously that's the best move but once again they're hamstrung by all those damn NTC's.

If they can work around that problem by convincing any litany of players that it's in their best interest to be traded to contenders then by all means definitely do it but I think they're going to be handcuffed if say for example Tarasenko doesn't want to go to Vancouver or Parayko doesn't want to go to San Jose.

Right now I'd be actively trying to get rid of O'Reilly (more on that later), Tarasenko, Barbashev, Parayko, Krug, Mikkola and Binnington. No shot of them all being traded but that's the order I'd be pursuing.

O'Reilly would fit well on the Rangers, and I've been bandying this around in my mind... I'd love to get Brennan Othmann from them, the fact that he's their #1 prospect notwithstanding, O'Reilly plus one of our glut of defensive prospects (Beck, Galloway, Gaudet) and a later round pick for Othmann, a 1st and a conditional (?) 2nd. He goes 1st because he's the one devoid of a NTC so the easiest to move.

Tarasenko would fit well on the Islanders. They're a talented team that's had their scoring dry up big time and they've dug themselves into quite the hole in the 3 way race between them, the Rangers and the Devils for the title of most likely NY Metro area team to go deep into the playoffs. I'd offer Tarasenko for Beuvillier and picks. Their prospect pool is thin.

Barbashev, man they should have traded him last off season when his stock was sky high. The return now would be a pick, at best. What could work is packaging him with O'Reilly and get a bigger return from the Rangers, especially as I see it he'd more than likely re-sign long term with them so somewhere down the pike he could play with his brother if and when he makes it to the NHL.

Parayko, tough to move. That contract is a major albatross and his play hasn't just tailed off, it's fallen off the cliff. As much as I'd like to offload him, it'll be tough to find a team willing to take on the hit for a guy who only hits opponents by sheer accident and is obviously not the same player since he hurt his back. Krug, same deal--too much money for a small defenseman who has obviously lost a step.

Mikkola I'd move only on account of the fact that Tucker can take his spot, he's an impending UFA and would, IMO, be very easy to move. Shop him around and take whichever team is offering the best pick(s).

Binnington... what's there to say about ol' Jordan? He had a magical half season, was doing pretty decent up to until the league shut down, then came back a shell of his former self. He was about to rekindle the magic before Kadri took him out and then he's been an utter trainwreck this season, save for a handful of games where you get hope only to watch it get dashed all over again. He cashed in on the Cup run and they traded Husso instead, never mind Husso was supposed to be the goalie of the future and missed his shot because of his injury when they were forced to bring up Binner instead. Sometimes I wonder, if Husso had never gotten hurt in 18-19 what would the trajectory of this team have been now? What if Binner had gotten lit up against Philly instead of shutting them out? What team out there would be willing to trade for a guy who's paid like a starter but should probably be a 1A, a hot head who can't get out of his own way? Toronto? Buffalo? I don't think the return for him would be nearly what one would expect from a guy who was a Cup champion, arguably one of the biggest reasons the team won the Cup. He's just not him anymore.

End of the day, when the deadline has come and gone, I think two guys will be traded, we'll have a new prospect, a couple of extra picks and that's that. It's just too hard to move so many of these players. Army set the team back a decade with these NTC's, it's really as simple as that.

Also, I'm getting sick of hearing all these assclowns on Twitter screaming BEDARD! At the moment the Blues are 10th worst in the league. The separation is big though, there's no way they're finishing in the bottom 5 and there's no way they're winning the lottery if they're anywhere from 5-10. Will they get a really sweet draft pick? Yes. Will they get Bedard or Fantilli? Not a prayer.

[WaukeeBlues]

I've been thinking about the Blues as sellers and obviously that's the best move but once again they're hamstrung by all those damn NTC's.

If they can work around that problem by convincing any litany of players that it's in their best interest to be traded to contenders then by all means definitely do it but I think they're going to be handcuffed if say for example Tarasenko doesn't want to go to Vancouver or Parayko doesn't want to go to San Jose.

Right now I'd be actively trying to get rid of O'Reilly (more on that later), Tarasenko, Barbashev, Parayko, Krug, Mikkola and Binnington. No shot of them all being traded but that's the order I'd be pursuing.

O'Reilly would fit well on the Rangers, and I've been bandying this around in my mind... I'd love to get Brennan Othmann from them, the fact that he's their #1 prospect notwithstanding, O'Reilly plus one of our glut of defensive prospects (Beck, Galloway, Gaudet) and a later round pick for Othmann, a 1st and a conditional (?) 2nd. He goes 1st because he's the one devoid of a NTC so the easiest to move.

Tarasenko would fit well on the Islanders. They're a talented team that's had their scoring dry up big time and they've dug themselves into quite the hole in the 3 way race between them, the Rangers and the Devils for the title of most likely NY Metro area team to go deep into the playoffs. I'd offer Tarasenko for Beuvillier and picks. Their prospect pool is thin.

Barbashev, man they should have traded him last off season when his stock was sky high. The return now would be a pick, at best. What could work is packaging him with O'Reilly and get a bigger return from the Rangers, especially as I see it he'd more than likely re-sign long term with them so somewhere down the pike he could play with his brother if and when he makes it to the NHL.

Parayko, tough to move. That contract is a major albatross and his play hasn't just tailed off, it's fallen off the cliff. As much as I'd like to offload him, it'll be tough to find a team willing to take on the hit for a guy who only hits opponents by sheer accident and is obviously not the same player since he hurt his back. Krug, same deal--too much money for a small defenseman who has obviously lost a step.

Mikkola I'd move only on account of the fact that Tucker can take his spot, he's an impending UFA and would, IMO, be very easy to move. Shop him around and take whichever team is offering the best pick(s).

Binnington... what's there to say about ol' Jordan? He had a magical half season, was doing pretty decent up to until the league shut down, then came back a shell of his former self. He was about to rekindle the magic before Kadri took him out and then he's been an utter trainwreck this season, save for a handful of games where you get hope only to watch it get dashed all over again. He cashed in on the Cup run and they traded Husso instead, never mind Husso was supposed to be the goalie of the future and missed his shot because of his injury when they were forced to bring up Binner instead. Sometimes I wonder, if Husso had never gotten hurt in 18-19 what would the trajectory of this team have been now? What if Binner had gotten lit up against Philly instead of shutting them out? What team out there would be willing to trade for a guy who's paid like a starter but should probably be a 1A, a hot head who can't get out of his own way? Toronto? Buffalo? I don't think the return for him would be nearly what one would expect from a guy who was a Cup champion, arguably one of the biggest reasons the team won the Cup. He's just not him anymore.

End of the day, when the deadline has come and gone, I think two guys will be traded, we'll have a new prospect, a couple of extra picks and that's that. It's just too hard to move so many of these players. Army set the team back a decade with these NTC's, it's really as simple as that.

Also, I'm getting sick of hearing all these assclowns on Twitter screaming BEDARD! At the moment the Blues are 10th worst in the league. The separation is big though, there's no way they're finishing in the bottom 5 and there's no way they're winning the lottery if they're anywhere from 5-10. Will they get a really sweet draft pick? Yes. Will they get Bedard or Fantilli? Not a prayer.

Tarasenko would fit like a glove in either of Carolina or New Jersey, IMO. The Devils especially have the picks and prospects to swing the other way too.

ROR has no trade protection and despite his desire to stay, I think he gets dealt too. Maybe he re-signs in the offseason.

I vehemently disagree with you on Binnington. He's been the Blues best player this year and usually is on most nights he's playing. This would be way, way worse without him. Regardless, he's not going anywhere. For better or worse he's the Blues starting goaltender for the foreseeable future.

The defense is absolutely trainwreck and it's entirely Army's fault. He seems to think that a collection of average to above-average defenders makes up for an utter lack of elite talent once he let Petro walk. We're seeing the results of that faulty logic laid out before us. The worst part is, there's absolutely no fix. Every single one of these guys have multi-year contracts and full no-trade clauses, so they're not going anywhere and we're utterly stuck with them. I hope for Parayko this is "big contract syndrome" where a player's performance takes a huge hit on that first year of their new shiny big contract before they gather themselves and get their heads right. I hope.

Army's decisions on Pietrangelo and Perron have come to look about as bad as they could've been. Defense has gone to crap and the team chemistry/identity has too. This is all squarely on Army. His job to fix it. Not sure he can.

[glen a richter]

Binner's been in a steady decline since the Cup. Yes, a big part of that is obviously that the team in front of him sucks to high heaven but the goalies job is to be the last line of defense. When things go south for him, he really goes south. I think it all gets into his head and he needs a shrink more than anything else.

If there's a full on rebuild then Hofer should get the reins next year and everyone grows up together. If it's just bits and pieces changing then by all means don't make Hofer suffer with the same crap team in front of him, and hold onto Binnington instead.

Here's the conundrum... Binner was never supposed to be "the man". Husso was. The whole chain of events that's ensued since 2019 happened because of 2019. If Binnington doesn't win the Cup, if the Blues bowed out in the 2nd round against Dallas, he doesn't get nearly the contract he got. He does get to be a nice footnote in Blues history, but the goalie plan moves forward with Husso as it was intended. Interestingly, it was Husso's knee that got is Binnington and the Cup and it was Binnington's knee that stalled last seasons run. In any event, Binnington got where he is, and got the Blues into this situation by complete accident.

In any event, Army didn't stick to the process, his judgement got severely clouded and we saw that shake out immediately when he was tossing around NTC's and messing with the defense. Explain to me a valid reason for any of the following:

1) Why did anyone deserve a NTC (here's specifically looking at Parayko and Binner), in spite of having won the Cup?
2) Why did Edmundson get traded for Faulk and then Faulk signed to a big deal with a NTC?
3) Why did Petro not get a NTC and they let him walk while Krug, the same douchebag who took out Robert Thomas, got a big deal? Keeping Eddy and Petro would have been more competitively prudent and fiscally responsible.
4) Why did Leddy get the big deal and Perron didn't? One could reasonably argue that O'Reilly needs Perron and the locker room needs him as well to keep things loose. Something that doesn't show up in data but has a big impact on the team as a whole. If Leddy was supposed to be the guy who can bring out the best in Parayko, I don't think you could partner 55 with Bobby Orr right now and it would make a difference. His problems run deeper than who his defensive partner is and it's just trying to create a solution by throwing money at it... money that could have been better spent keeping the heart of the locker room beating with Perron still around. DP was done dirty by the organization and I wouldn't blame him one bit if he never set foot in St. Louis again after he retires.
5) Why do Army and Co. keep bringing in guys like Pitlick and Brown when Nikita Alexandrov should clearly be getting the ice time? Heck, I'd rather see Hugh McGing get a shot.

Lastly, I have to wonder how much of this cluster-eff of a season can also be attributed to the loss of Jim Montgomery. Dude has Boston humming. You'd have to be quite the gambling man to not take the Bruins to win the Cup this year. We lose Monty, get MacTavish. I'd say that's not an even swap. Not to begrudge the man his right to pursue a coaching gig and that's about the only thing here that's not Army's fault, but that was as big a loss this team has had recently.