McDavid Going to Edmonton

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.

Blues and Wild Game 2

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

- Win every puck battle and one on one battles

- Win races

More of this.    ->

Game Day Baby!!!!!! Game 1 Blog

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.

Big things baby Big things.





Projected Lines :

Jaden Schwartz-Paul Stastny- Tj Oshie

     

Alex Steen- Jori Lehtera- Vladimir Tarasenko

Dmitri Jaskin- David Backes- Patrik Berglund

Steve Ott - Marcel Goc - Ryan Reaves

Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester - Zbynek Michalek

Barret Jackman - Kevin Shattenkirk

Jake Allen

                          * daily faceoff

http://www2.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/lines/38/st-louis-blues

Game 1 is going to the Blues 3-1 thanks to the backing of the Home Town crowd. 

Playoff Predictions and Post-Season Notes

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.



Brian

What a year! Playoff Battles.

Well two games left and what a dog fight it has been this season. The Jets have almost clinched there spot with 2 games to go thanks to some brutal calls last night. Like the one on Paul Stastny when he scored like C'mon ref he barely tapped Tyler Myers stick there. Here is some video of it let me know what you think. I think the Ref has balls on that one. Just a great battle by Paul.

My Playoff preview.

Blues have battled hard all year and they are still battling for that home ice advantage out of the Central division. Thanks to that call last night The Nashville Predators are still tight, which makes it interesting.The Blues can end up playing either the Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks or the Minnesota wild come the first series I will write a small piece for each series.

Minnesota Wild  Season Series 2-1 Minnesota with one game left on the 11th of April.

These guys are hot right now with solid goaltending and winning key games scary going into the playoffs but the Blues are made for playoffs with big front end and solid defence to wear teams down every game. Here are the Players the Blues would have to keep an eye and are key contributors to the teams recent success. The Blues will have to finish their checks every time against Zach Parise, Ryan Suter. Will also need to shoot lots and get infront of Devan Dubnyk due to his recent hot streak.

- Key Players.

Zach Parise 73GP-32G-29A-61pts

Parise is the man here in Minnesota, if he is not going offensively the team tends to struggle in the Goal scoring department. Parise has a full two way player element to his game and tends to carry the bulk of the load here in Minnesota and plays very well with his linemates Jason Pominville and Mikael Granlund. Last year in the playoffs Parise put up 4goals and 10 assists in 13 games so he can step up in the playoffs for this team.

Ryan Suter 76GP- 2G-36A- 38Pts

Ryan Suter. the man who plays over 30 minutes a night consistently. He is the backbone of this team along with Parise when they came together to Minnesota they were the new centerpiece and have done just that. But Suter this man is a Camel like how on earth does a man play over 33minutes sometimes. Its Blasphemy! He does it with ease and makes great outlet passes and stops the opponents best players. 

Devan Dubnyk .938svp 1.73

Who is this guy??? 2 years ago he was getting laughed and booed out of Edmonton and blamed for their brutal play. Now he has 27 wins in 38 games for the Wild and is being praised for bringing them to the playoffs. 

Series Prediction 4-2 Blues experience from Oshie, Backes and Stastny will overall take us forward.

Winnipeg Jets.  Season Series 3-2 Blues 4/5 were decided by one goal

The Jets have to be the grittiest team the Blues have played and definitely the most fun games to watch. This series would almost call for Blood these two Hate each other on the ice be a crazy series to watch all around. Here is a video of Reaves and Peluso going at it for your pleasure take it as preview to a great series. These two guys just don't give up and that is how this series would be from the first puck drop.

Key Players for Winnipeg.

Captain Andrew Ladd. 80GP-24G-38A-62pts

Well you can't talk about the Jets without mentioning Ladd the man has got 2 cup rings which is scary because he knows how to win. Ladd plays a solid two way game and will do whatver it takes to win games for his team and ultimately is the reason the Jets have come together to win games.

Tyler Myers and Dustin Byfuglien 

Myers- 23GP- 3G-12A-15 pts ( Just Winnipegs stats)

Buff-68GP-18G-27A-45pts

On defence the Jets have two absolute BEASTS in Big Buff and Tyler Myers who they picked up at the deadline. These two monsters would be scary to come down on but the Blues love it it gets the juices flowing they wanna finish the check everytime and Assert dominance. Worth to note that Buff can also play forward and has a cup ring from the Chicago days so he knows how to win aswell. Myers is hungry from being at the bottom with the Sabres for so long so these two are hungry big guys.

Ondrej Pavelec 2.35GAA and .919 Svp

Starting goaltender here who is in his prime now and hungry to win in Winnipeg. He has had some good games although he battled an injury this year. This last line of defence is usually very reliable for the Jets and the Blues will need to get that traffic in front all series and score the greasy goals to take the series.

Prediction: 4-3 Blues this one will go all the way because Winnipeg will have a disgusting advantage at home. The MTS center will be gross loud for the Jets first playoff run in the new era. The Blues will have to make sure to win every game at home. This will also be such a tough battle every night with one long OT win for the Blues.

Chicago BlackHawks Season Series 2-2 with the series decider tommorow in STL

Another tough team and huge rival to the Blues this season and every other one, Kane has been injured most of the year but has started skating in hopes to make the playoff run. These teams go at eachother every game and the last years playoff series was a 4-2 victory for the Blackhawks behind the likes of Johnathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Who have nack for winnning.

Key Players.

Toews Kane combo. 

Not even going to put their regular season totals up there just there playoff performances will do the talking. For this combo we need our best D men making it hard for them all night every night if this series were to happen. Barret Jackman and Jay Bouwmeester would be a nice combination of older mature defencemen to just play a stay at home smart simple game against them. 

Toews Playoff NHL totals 6 years in the NHL 94 gp 29goals 52 assists and 81 pts Toews enjoys the playoffs. 2 cups

Kane playoff totals. 93gp in 6 years 37goals 57assists 91pts

These two need to be stopped if the Blues want to keep moving on.

Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook

These two are also workhorses for the Blackhawks and love the challenge of shutting down top lines and also scoring on them just to rub it in that they are better. Probably the second best Defensive combo behind the Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk St louis Blues combo. Keith and Seabrook have 2 Stanley Cups and can be deadly in the Playoffs if you take it to easy on them or dont go into every battle strong. 

Keith  93gp in playoffs 12 goals 42 assists 54 pts

Seabrook 89gp in playoffs 12goals 34assists 46 pts

These defencemen are key to the Blackhawks yearly success and the Blues will have to play to their strengths and should not have the problems they did last year with the bolstered lineup who wants to win more then anyone else.

Corey Crawford.

Crawford has been a real playoff performer year after year with a strong defence in front of him and the ability to make key saves is huge to the Hawks success. The Blues will need Backes to be right in front of him tipping pucks past him and pissing Crawford off so that he lets in a few weak ones and the Boys will be off to the second round! 

Crawfords playoff success in stats. 56 starts 32W 23L .920% 2.21GAA '13 Cup ring

Now lets go over the Blues keys to succeed in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Blues will need to keep the pedal to the metal and stay fundamentally sound.Don't take chances and let the strong defensive play lead to goals and keep the puck safe with smart dumps, chips and easy passes. Play to the Strengths of the team wear opponents down with consistent hitting and be in everybody's way. Play playoff hockey sacrifice for the final prize in the end. Block shots make hits and grind out wins because they wont be easy.

Key players.

The Captains 

David Backes, Tj Oshie, Alex Pietrangelo, Barret Jackman, Alex Steen

These boys will have to take it upon themselves because if i know anything about Ken Hitchcock its that the Playoffs are for the Players. He has coached them up to here and they know everything they need to know system wise and Hitch will let them know what they need to know for each series but the boys need to find it in themselves to be succesful.

Brian Elliott

He has earned the starting role and earned the chance to lead this team into the playoffs. The Blues put Martin Brodeur in an Executive role and hopefully he can rub off on Elliott and instill that confidence we know he has to be there and stop all the pucks he needs to stop as well as make some saves he has no business making because that is what wins the big games.

The Blues have been building their team for this chance this year with the additions of Zbynek Michalek and Robert Bortuzzo these guys have that added grit skill that we needed. In order to win the whole team will need to step up to the plate and get those greasy playoff wins on the Road and at Home.

Blues Sleeper Playoff hero: 

Steve Ott, this guy was made for playoff hockey he is an animal on the ice finishes every check and also can get into peoples heads. Can score and is one of the Blues top penalty killers. Bred for the Playoffs. He has played 40 playoff games in his NHL career so he knows how to get here and is hungry to get deep.

He can fight too.

Blues and Flames

Here it is folks the night all us Blues fans have been waiting for. It is time the Blues clinch that playoff berth. After tonight anything can happen.


To start tough news on the Blues front with Steen and Tarasenko going down with injuries. Its going to be weird lineup card tonight in St.Louis, the depth the Blues have is remarkable so they will not miss a beat against the Flames tonight. It is also good to note that St.Louis has called up Ty Rattie from the Chicago Wolves tonight and he will be on the right side of Lehtera and Jokinen. Rattie has been on a tear in his lats 5 games his stat line reads - 4G- 6A- 10P. So you know the kid is coming in hot against the team he grew up watching out of Airdrie AB.



What we need to see tonight.

We need to see the gritty Blues tonight against those pesty Flames that never give up. Come out strong and never stop, the flames look for that inch and take a mile so the Blues can't give them anything this evening. Jake Allen will need to be hot to give the boys a chance especially with the new lines Hitch has put together.


What we cant see.

What ever happened in those absolute debacles against the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Vancouver Canucks.

Congrats to Zbynek Michalek for putting in his first as a Blue the other night against Vancouver he has been getting better every night just in time for the post season.



projected Lines tonight

Jaden Schwartz - Paul Stastny - T.J. Oshie

Dmitrij Jaskin - David Backes - Patrik Berglund

Olli Jokinen - Jori Lehtera - Ty Rattie

Steve Ott - Marcel Goc - Ryan Reaves       Courtesy to the Blues Website

Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo

Zbynek Michalek - Kevin Shattenkirk

Barret Jackman - Robert Bortuzzo    Blues Website

With Jake Allen getting the start tonight.

Prediction: Big Win for the boys to end this losing streak with Ty Ratties first NHL goal coming as the game winner. 3-1 win for the boys.