What a summer it has been for us Blues fans. There has been a lot going on in the NHL and in St.Louis. Where should we begin?......
-How about that steal we got in the draft there. Dougie Armstrong just being him self and grabbing a first round talent in the second round in Vince Dunn. Kids an offensive dynamo from the back end. 56 pts in 68 games from the blue line. From what I remember he put up 4 bingos in 1 playoff game this year to. It will take him a bit to crack the Blues line up, like most young d men he needs to develop his own end and gain some strength to battle against men.
- Vladis Back BABY!!!!! 8 more years of watching this guy make goalies cringe.
60 Million well worth it. ------------------------->
- Sad day it was when Oshie left to Washington, especially when all we got was Troy Brouwer, Phoenix Coppley and a 3rd round pick. Oshie is worth more then that. I am hoping Dougie has something for us up his sleeve before next season. All the best Osh, once a Blue always a Blue.
What I feel we need heading into the next season would be a bonified 1st line center. Dont get me wrong Backes is a great player my favourite Blue. He is a 2nd line center though. Finding a 1st line player will be difficult but it is not out of the picture. Blues have pieces and prospects teams want. If we could just shift Backes down to the 2 spot it woudl be a phenomenal addition. In Dougies defence he did sign Stastny last year but he has been sitting in the 3 spot for 7 million. Someone who is available at the moment is Eric Staal, perfect St louis Blues player. imagine playing against Eric Staal first then bang David Backes comes at you. With those kinds of centers and Paul Stastny comes at you third I feel the Blues would be in the hunt for a deeper playoff run if Dougie could pull something off to aquire Staal if he is available. The guy has a cup ring and would look nice between Tarasenko and Schwartz.
Wow, If anyone has been watching the news with hockey the past 48 hours and I am not talking about the Stanley Cup Finals here folks (although we should be ). I am talking about the absolute Debacle down in Arizona.
If you have not heard the news here it is. The Mayor of Glendale, Arizona has decided to end the lease agreement with the Arizona Coyotes and wants to re negotiate the contract. Now we all know hockey in the desert was a bad idea in the first place, the amount of ups and downs( mainly downs) has been plenty over the many years the 'yotes have been there. Just been one problem after another since the move from Winnipeg to Phoenix/Glendale. Now here are my thoughts on the disaster of a situation.
- Look they have No one there EVER, Dumb by the NHL to have them there in the first place Bettman should have picked a better pet project. The people who are there have no emotion anyway half them are just people from Canada flying down and watching cheap hockey. Move the team back to downtown Phoenix more fans will show from what i have heard and read myself. Glendale is a battle for people to get to.
1. Why would the City of Glendale sign a deal where they pay 15million a year to a team that they already built a $220+million Arena for they were just begging to get screwed in the first place. I do not blame the Coyotes for getting as much as they can they lost so much money as it is.
2. The Coyotes should just leave that disaster of a city and maybe go play in the Downtown arena with the Suns, think about it. - easier for people to commute to and from, and your dealing with a bigger city who would love to fill their arena schedule 41 more times a year. Plus you can laugh at Glendale for have a 220+ million dollar building sitting there empty.
- Check out the passion from this fan, the Coyotes should give her season tix for life based on this speech alone.
3. Let's go over potential landing spots for the Yotes. As far as I can tell Quebec and Vegas are out of the question. Bettman and the rest of the NHL owners arent willing to give up $500million each in expansion fees. So that leaves places with ready NHL arenas.
Portland- Has had signs of hockey success with the WinterHawks in the WHL who do sell out their playoff games and are high on the regular season tickets sold. They have a ready arena for Hockey with the Moda Centre ( home of the Portland Trail Blazers NBA). Can hold up to 19 500 people or so, already has the ability to play hockey ( Winterhawks are a tenant). Be a viable solution for the NHL.
In my mind these are the only two viable locations if the team decides to relocate, Kansas City has popped up in the Relocation talk but to me that makes ZERO sense. They have really never had much for hockey there and I don't think in a short term move it would really do well. Portland and Seattle have WHL hockey there and the cities know hockey very well.
All in All this is a disaster that is happening in the midst of a BRILLIANT Stanley Cup Final.
I have the Lightning in 7 because why are the Blackhawks allowed to win the cup every 2nd year Kane and Toews win enough already.Would love to see Stamkos get a cup especially after Marty St.Louis left for Greener grass and a eastern conference exit.......
P.S for Fun lets name the new Franchises.
Seattle would probably go back the the Metropolitans, or a fresh start With Earthquakes or Orcas/ Blackfish. Some Good choices.
Portland now this would be a tricky one to name. I have seen Mountaineers pop up which I bleieve is the front runner because they have NBA Trail Blazers and the MLS Timbers. Porland Lunberjax anyone??
Sorry been gone so long, I have been getting settled and had absolutely no idea what to write about after that debacle the Blues pulled against the Wild. I did not want to write a pissed off blog.
First off it was an awful series and myself and every other fan expected a bit more. After thinking long and hard about what happened, I picked out three reasons why we got knocked out.
1. Devan Dubnyk: kid got hot at the right time and it helped the Wild immensely.
2. Goaltending: Jake Allen is still young and will be a great goalie, but its so hard for a young goalie to start in the playoffs for a team who had cup expectations.
3. Scorers didn't score: Can't rely on Tarasenko and Shattenkirk to carry the team in the Playoffs.
So that is all I will write about the Playoffs because honestly I would like to forget about it like all of you guys.
If anyone was paying attention today the Blues made the first big move of the offseason by Resigning my boy Ken Hitchcock, That is big a quick one year extension i find it short but as I have said in many of my Blogs I trust Doug Armstrong and he knows what he is doing.
Up next for the Blues would be the Scouting Combine, Who should we draft? That is a god question.
We picked up Mr. Robby Fabbri last draft who absolutely killed it this year. Kid almost posted a goal a game in the OHL for the Guelph Storm( 30gp-25G-51pts) expect him to get his feet wet in a Blues uniform this season. If not he should be a force in the World Juniors next year and OHL. NOTE- Posted 4 pts in 3 games for Chicago Wolves ( Blues Farm AHL).
One more prospect I would like to talk about is Colton Parayko, Blues fans if you havent heard of him look him up. Kids a monster, 6'5 214ibs, junior Captain of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Signed with Blues and finished the Chicago Wolves season with them. Over his 3 seasons in Alaska kid posted 66 pitties in 104 games as a D man and then posts 7 pitties in 14 games with the Wolves. and got into 5 playoff games this kid is a Natural in a Blue Note, might take another season or 2 in the AHL but he will slot into the big lineup and wont look back just needs his shot.
Kids worn Blue and Gold his whole life from St.Albert to Fort Mcmurray and Alaska. Destined for the Note.
Now Who should we Draft?
No first round and a first round knock out. Dammit.
well Blues fans we have to wait for number 56 till we know who we got so for the hell of it I am going to guess who we might get. 3 chances obviously because chances are I will be dead wrong.
With the 56th overall selection the St.Louis Blues select......
Graham Knott, Niagara Ice Dogs, LW, 6'3, 190. Big kid just getting bigger to, watched this kid play this year a couple times. Fun to watch could potentially be a power forward. He was stuck behind Josh Ho Sang and Brendan Perlini but still managed to doubled his point total in 5 less games. I watched him 4 times this year and he was better every time. Could be a good pick but I could seeing him getting snagged a bit early he has a silky set of mitts and big.
Travis Dermott, Erie, Defense, 5'11, 197, Kid QB'd the deadly Otter power play unit with the deadly snipers you all know. ( Mcdavid, Strome, Debrincat) He has gotten better all year and that is a huge plus to a team who is deep right now. If he keeps growing at the rate he is this would make him deadly when his time would come to wear the note.- Mcdavid says he is amazing.
Jeremy Bracco, U-18 NTDP, RW, 5'9, 176 Small size has plummeted as of late in the draft rankings.
Could be his size but he has an incredible skill set on him. He can put up points (94 this season), he also has 4 years to develop and put on weight at Boston College. Blues will let him develop, we have a lot of size up front and the ability to get a smaller stature kid who would be very good. Play making specialist would love to see him setting up the boys in the future.
All these players are ver talented and chances are none of them will be available when pick 56 comes around. Who ever we grab at 56 could turn into something special. Grab a strong player to develop for the future.
Free Agency Blog will come soon going to do some research here and hopefully find some diamonds in the rough.
As you all know The Edmonton Oilers have a Horse shoe right up their A**. Like 4 1st overall picks in 6 years this has to be some kind of joke. But it happened and now they are looking at adding Connor McDavid to their already young roster. Like this is unbelievable I am still quite stunned they pulled it off. Saying that I think McDavid will fit in very well in that team, especially if MacT starts making moves. If you have not seen the video of the Oil taking the Lottery here it is.
Now I know some people are pissed off that he is going there but I mean its a good spot for him ( especially because its not the Central). Here is the Reason why.
Hall - Mcdavid - Eberle --------> Nasty in the future. OR Hall-Mcdavid-Yakupov
The Oilers because of this whole situation are going to be gross in the future.
Now the reason I was writing this is to breakdown what Mactavish might want to do this summer to ensure the Oilers actually take a step forward into the future.
UFA Goalies
Honestly the only somewhat good goalie available is Antti Niemi (31yrs).
He is a Stanley Cup winner with the Blackhawks in 2010.
Other Goalie Options
RFA Jonathan Bernier: He has stole games for the Leafs in the past and if Mactavish is looking to upgrade the D to I believe Bernier could be the answer in net. ( Only 26 yrs old ). They could even trade for his rights if they feel necessary. Bernier could grow with the other young talent here.
Defense
Everyone and their dog knows how atrocious the Oilers back end was like my God half the time it was like watching an AHL team play out there.
2 players I think they should keep is Justin Schultz and Oscar Klefbom ( decent 3rd pairing pushing 2nd) Schultz is a great Power Play defenceman but he is still young and could use the Opportunity to play with a couple older guys. Ference could stay in the 2 hole because he has won a Stanley Cup.
Darnell Nurse is going to need a year of seasoning in the AHL prior to coming up.
A player the Oilers could target in Free Agency is a guy like Christian Ehrhoff to come in and help but I do not believe he would come to Edmonton at his age(32) but Cody Franson(27) is also available by the looks of it and the Oilers do have MR. Mcdavid now. Trades
The Oilers with the addition of McDavid now have some available ASSETS. Here are a couple names they could float around teams.
1. Leon Draisatl : Played pretty decent in his first taste of the NHL this year and he is not a future third line center. Now where to?
- Toronto Maple Leafs. This would go good with my Bernier Idea to bolster the goaltending. Now the Oilers and Leafs could create a Block buster here with Draisaitl+ 2016 pick for Bernier and Jake Gardiner. The leafs are looking to rebuild slow why not give up Gardiner to?
-The other option is turn this big body into a winger and develop him through the minors and he could be part of the change. Problem, the oilers need Defence and Goaltending more than anything.
2. Justin Schultz: They could easily sign and dish Justin Schultz he has not been as succesful to start his NHL career but I think that he could turn it around there. Hard to get rid of a power play quarterback.
3. Jordan Eberle: His name has floated in different places around the NHL throughout the season leading up to the deadline he didn't end up getting traded and played pretty well down the stretch.
First things First
Your going to need a coach to coach these guys, there is a few names out there and one whos contract is up but would be hard to swindle would be Mike Babcock. Do not think he is leaving Detroit, but let the Oilers fans dream. Todd Mclellan has just left the Sharks and could be a decent guy up in Edmonton.
2015 Draft
The Oilers also have a second first round draft pick which could be in the 15-18 range depending on how the penguins do in the playoffs. Couple names there could be.
Thomas Chabot- Saint John Sea Dogs, D, 66gp 12g 29a 41pts ---> solid d man smart player
Travis Konecny- Ottawa 67's, RW, 60gp 29g 39a 68pts ---> Hard to pass up if there great player.
Brendan Carlo, Tri City Americans, D 6"5---> Huge defenceman could be a nice fit. "Minute Muncher" 60gp 4g 21a 25pts
Honestly everything will be up to Craig Mactavish and it will be a fun summer to watch, the Oilers have by Hockeybuzz.com numbers about 18mil to spend and they should try and send some money around to bring in some help in the net and on the Blueline the front end is starting to come together for them and it will be scary being in the west.
So today is a pretty crazy day we have game2 coming up in a couple hours
Will Start with game two, it looks like hitch has changed the lines up a bit maybe spark something.
Here they are for you courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com ( great site to mess around on )
Steen - Lehtera - Tarasenko
Jaskin - Backes - Oshie
Schwartz - Stastny - Berglund
Ott - Goc - Reaves
Gunnarson - Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester - Michalek
Jackman - Shattenkirk
Looks like Jake Allen will be in net again tonight.
What we need to see tonight.
What we need to see tonight is just building off the third period from last game that right there was playoff hockey. Our first two periods were played like a regular season game, in order to get the home game and tie the series we need to play playoff hockey. Hard Grindy playoff hockey.
-Block Shots
- Make Checks
- Hard crisp tape to tape passes
- Shots with traffic and win battles for the rebound
Here it is, what the Blues have been working for all year!!! Playoffs has come and Game 1 is set to be great.
With what happened last night its set to be a battle from start to finish and nothing excites me more.
Will Start with a quick recap of last evenings games.
Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators.4-3 win for Montreal.
Dont even have to talk about last nights win for Montreal its all about that Lumberjack Slash By Mr P.K Subban on Marc Stone. Postgame comments and lineup change has blood bath written all over the rest of the series. If you have not seen the video first off where have you been? second here is the video.
Speaking about line up changes looks like Chris Neil is in the line up because of the Injury to stone so heads up Subban.
Calgary Flames Vs Vancouver Canucks 2-1 win for Flames.
What a game this one was last night start to finish back and forth action. If you did not watch this game I would suggest tuning in on friday this series is alot of fun to watch. Sam Bennett was crazy good for the Flames buzzing every where all night and put up and assist on the GWG for Bob Hartley to have that kind of trust in a 19 yr old kid in his second ever NHL game means Bennett could be something. He was out there in the last minute of a tied hockey game. Here is the goal for all you guys that don't watch highlights.
Washington Capitals VS New York Islanders. NYI wins 4-1
NYI had their way last night in Washington, hopefully Ovechkin has a talk with his teammates to fire them up because that was not playoff hockey there in Washington and my expectations are a little higher in them. I have the Islanders winning this series but not this handidly. Holtby did his best but with no help its hard especially with that potent offense on the island. I enjoyed that shot by Brock Nelson there so I am going to post it because I can.
Now to the Main Attraction the St Louis Blues game.
Game 1, The boys earned the home ice advantage by taking the Central and the city is on fire showing there Blue for their Blues. #LGB
Jake Allen is getting the start and I am loving it he won a lot of key games to earn the Home ice advantage. I like Hitch playing the hot hand going into the Playoffs.
Keys to this series: Puck management, by this I mean good passes, good chips, and winning puck battles. Another huge key is good shots with bodies at the net Devan Dubnyk has been hot this season and we need bodies there to get greasy goals. Good thing we have David Backes the king of tipping. Lastly our fourth line is going to be key to give the Blues that spark they need,
Game 1. Just Grind, hit Ryan Suter and Zach Parise every time they touch the puck. The Blues need to just worry about each shift one at a time one battle at a time one faceoff at a time. It is going to be a long series so they need to just take it in stride. Don't get to horny in game 1 it takes 4 wins to win a series.
To get everyone jumpy here is Tarasenko's nasty goal against New York just for fun.
This Stanley Cup playoff opening round is gonna be a good'n. A total of 5 Canadian teams will be competing, the playoffs haven't had this much beaver since 02.
Montreal and Ottawa are squaring off, and that series is completely up in the air. Barring any more injuries, I think the Habs take this one in 7. Both teams are red hot, but you can never bet against Carey Price.
I hope Tampa destroys Detroit, but it is Detroit so you know that won't be happening. I do give this to Tampa in 6 however, only because the magic man Datsyuk is showing his age, and I don't think he alone could carry the series like he once could.
Rangers and Pens is a series I couldn't care less about, but I hope the Rangers have their way with Pittsburgh. New York has so much talent up and down the roster, NYR should take this in 6.
Same thing applies to Washington and the Isles. Another match-up that could go either way, but I say Caps in 5. Solely because I had Halak in net in NHL15 and he couldn't stop a beach ball if he were an entirely brick wall.
In the west we have two teams that are just frustrating as all hell to play against, the Winnipeg Jets and the Anaheim Ducks. This is the sexy pick for an upset, but for some reason I don't think it'll happen. Anaheim is so big and so fast, they just attack you in endless waves. I give it to Anaheim in 7.
Another Canadian match-up between Vancouver and Calgary looks to be a heated one. Calgary has the heart of a lion, so I say Flames in 6. Blues in 6 because screw the Wild.
Finally, we have the Preds and Hawks. It was just reported big UFA Vermette will be a game 1 healthy scratch. Not a great sign. Hawks are touched by the playoff Gods though, I bet Hawks in 6.
Cup Finalist: St. Louis Blues
Winner: Montreal Canadiens
Conn Smythe: Carey Price
It's incredible how the lowest amount of points this year is 97. Playoff bound clubs in today's game have their skilled players spread throughout the roster. Gone are the days of the goon. Players need to be more that scrappers and shot blockers, which is why Patrick Roy scares the hell out of me. He's openly praised the work of Nate Guenin and Brad Stuart, who are possibly two of the worst defenders in the league. Bigras, Geertson and Siemens seem poised to crack the opening night roster, so I vote we ditch the dead weight and open up cap space and playing opportunities. I hope Roy looks long and hard at some breakout plays and studies how the "pros" do it (Chicago, St. Louis, ...)If the Avs end up drafting a forward with their #1 pick, they need to go for a big goal scorer. Avs have guys who can set up the plays, but they need somebody other than Iggy/Landy who can bury a puck and wreak havoc in front of the net. Trading up in the draft wouldn't be such a bad idea, this year is supposed to be one of the most talented crop in a long time.
- Sad day it was when Oshie left to Washington, especially when all we got was Troy Brouwer, Phoenix Coppley and a 3rd round pick. Oshie is worth more then that. I am hoping Dougie has something for us up his sleeve before next season. All the best Osh, once a Blue always a Blue.
