Chat all things Blues with Jim Thomas at 1 p.m. Wednesday
Get your questions ready and join in at 1 p.m. Wednesday for our weekly Blues chat.
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His numbers are pretty amazing this year _ although now his team has paused its season due to the virus. I've watched him a little in camp with the Blues but that's about it. I believe he's an "over-ager" as they call it, so an older player by junior hockey standards But I think in he and Joel Hofer the Blues have a couple of promising prospects.
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Did you see that open net that Schenn missed? Krug gave him an excellent pass. Every team we play we make them look really good. San Jose isn't going any where but they have really good players in Couture, Kane, Meyers, Karlson etc. The Kings have good players too. Is it just me but on paper many teams seem better than us. We're not loaded with size or talent and our goal tending can be mediocre at times. Berube must be the difference on our team winning and losing.How are we winning?
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Interesting thoughts. The Blues have had to huff and puff for everything this year. I think there's more skill on the team than you'd think, especially when everybody - or most everybody - is healthy. The Blues may not have an elite all-world player. But they have a lot of really good players. But it's clear right now that the Blues aren't nearly as good defensively as they've been in the past. BInnington has been good but not great. I think they miss Pietrangelo a little bit more than we - or at least I thought they would. It's amazing how many one-goal games they've played, indicative of a razor-thin margin between winning and losing.
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What happened to Renke? He was our top right side D prospect. With Parayko out I thought he would get a shot. If you leave a guy in the minors for years naturally he would get depressed thinking it's hopeless and his performance would suffer. . See what I mean? POLITICS MAN!
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Hey Jim:
Thanks as always for the chat and great Blues insight!
Any idea if teams that are behind in the number of games played will be able to make them all up? The league supposedly had built in extra days on the schedule for teams to make up missed games due to covid. Will the NHL make efforts to have every team play 56? Or will we be looking at points percentage as the regular season winds down? -
It looks like the NHL is making every effort to re-schedule all the games. There were open spots in every team's schedule to drop in re-scheduled games. The Blues had six games postponed for COVID reasons with other teams (2 Colo., 2 Minn., 1 Vegas, 1 San Jose) and all six have been rescheduled. Only one of those rescheduled games have been played yet - Monday's game in San Jose. Saying all that, who knows if all of those games will actually be made up league-wide? Who knows if there will be further COVID outbreaks? If I had to guess, I'd say when all is said and done, the standings and playoff seeding will be decided by points percentage.. But it looks like the worst of COVID could be behind the NHL. There were only 3 players on the league's COVID list Tuesday _ a list that had 40 players on it just a few weeks ago.
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In the San Jose game, Tory Krug was BY FAR the best player on either team. Do you think so? And paired with Faulk, the two are both more than fulfilling their contracts. It looks like Chief found a great combo here. Did the Blues expect this much from Krug (he looked great in Boston)? He's much better defensively lately, too, much underated. Your opinion.
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I think Krug's 5-on-5 play has been fine all season. Yes, once in a while he gets outsmuscled for the puck or makes an errant pass, but as you say he's been pretty good defensively. Where he was lacking, at least early on, was quarterbacking the power play. But even that has picked up lately since he's been placed back on the top power play unit. I do like the Krug-Faulk combon.
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Jim: It has been a pleasant surprise seeing players like McEachern, Walker, and Joshua stepping up and filling in for the injured Blues. With depth such as this, I suggest that Doug Armstrong package two or three of these players (or others borderline guys like Walman or Reinke) to Seattle in a pre-draft trade as a means of protecting the team from losing a more prominent player in the expansion draft. Would league rules allow it, and do you think Seattle would go for it? Your thoughts please...Thanks!
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I think Parayko's injury is worse than Petrangelo's departure. Krug/Faulk, Paryko/Scandella Mikkola/Bortuzzo are three very good pairings. Petrangelo is not doing that great in Vegas. Just good not what they paid for so far. Actually Faulk is having a better year thna him. Army wins again!!
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The earlier comment about other teams looking better on paper and your response seem true enough, but at times we actually make average teams look amazing in real time. Like we were built for their highlight reels. Unless there truly is another gear, I don't see how we come out on top in a playoff series, much less multiple series...
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Well, you do need to factor in all the Blues' injuries into the equation, don't you? And assume that the Blues will have at least most of the injured players back by the playoffs. Things can always change. But given the current state of the team's defensive play and goaltending, as we sit here right night now, it's hard to imagine them making an extended playoff run
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What’s the deal with the Blues schedule. They just got back from playing 7 games with the Kings, Ducks and sharks, only to return back to LA for the start of 5 more games on the west coast? I understand the Enterprise center was unavaible last week with the MVC tournament going on, but why back to the west coast so soon. They barely have time to get some clean clothes before they return. Is the Enterprise Center unavailable the rest of March?
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Hi Jim. Two questions. Is there a possibility that some of the longer term injured players do not come back this season? Also if you’re Doug Armstrong looking at a flat cap do you think you have a realistic shot at signing both Binnington and Schwartz? I feel if Schwartz does not accept a big hometown discount he is gone. Your thoughts? Thanks
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On the injuries, it looks like Thomas and Barbashev will be back for sure. But it's hard to get a read on Schwartz, Bozak and Parayko. Not just for the media but for Armstrong as well.As for re-signing Binnington and Schwartz: Even with the flat cap, the Blues have decent cap space for 2021-22 at the moment with $22.4 million available per CapFriendly. Their UFA's are Binngington, Schwartz, Hoffman, Bozak, Gunnarsson. I would assume Hoffman, Bozak and Gunnarsson don't come back. The Blues RFA's are Barbashev, de la Rose, Dunn, Kyrou, Sanford, Thomas, although Kyrou and Thomas do not have arbitration rights, which simplifies things (and in theory lowers cost). Keep in mind also, the Blues will lose some salary in the expansion draft, thus creating more cap room.
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I don't think there's anyone you put in the "doubtful" category right now for the playoffs, which are still 2 months away. Sundqvist is expected to return this weekend vs. Vegas. De la Rose maybe by the end of the next trip. Thomas by the end of March. Barbashev by mid April. Again, not sure on Bozak, Parayko and Schwartz.
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When I was playing goalie on my street team where I grew up --The Slocum Way Switch Blades--or just The "Blades " for short. I copied Patrick Roy. He stood up straight and was always in perfect position. Don't you think Binner flops down too much? Then he can't control the puck flopping around like a Bass! Maybe his agent the greatest Blues goalie ever Mike Liut can advise him?
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Speaking of grumpy. Gordzonga was that way in Friday's chat. Apparently there is a lot of redundancy in the questions the same each week etc. He thinks there are no politics in the NHL about who gets opportunity and who doesn't. I disagree. To me Walman is getting screwed. Over the years haven't you seen players in all sports never get a fair opportunity? They end up forever a back up. Sometimes they get a chance with another team like Luke Voit did and proved how dumb the Cardinals were the way they treated him. I bet you have seen a lot of NFL players never get a fair shot but when they finally did everyone was like "wow who knew this guy was good?" Sadly some never get the opportunity. There is politics in everything IMO.
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Per Walman, man, the guy can skate. Hes a good puck mover. The knock against him had been his defense - and he is after all a defenseman. But the word is his defense has improved. So yeah, the guy has had some tough luck waiting for a real chance. The good news is: next year he goes to a one-way contract. So if he's not on the "varsity" roster he must pass through waivers. Like free agency in many pro sports, the system works against younger players. But yeah, I totally get it if Walman's patience is running thin.
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Jimmy I notice Berube is very grumpy after we don't play well. You keep asking him questions anyway and he looks irritated. He's scary to me after all he's beaten up a lot of guys over the years. I am a little worried for you. Are you up on your MMA skills? Do you workout in the Octagon? It's never too late to learn something new!
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Well, some of the old reliable have been just that, old reliables. I'm speaking of Schenn, Perron, O'Reilly. Sanford got hot as you saw. Blais has perked up these plast two games. There's no one in this category that really jumps out on defense although Scandella had a good trip.As for the younger players, I've always liked MacEachern. And Joshua has caught my eye. But with those two, they are strictly fourth-line players.
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Is Husso playing more because the coaching staff is seeing some slippage in Binnington's performance? Do they trust him more now that he's playing more solid? Or w Binnington's contract status wanting to see if he is maybe the real deal in case the Blues can't resign? It wasn't that long ago Husso was ahead in the goalie depth chart.
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Until recently, Binnington has had a ton of playing time, all in high-stress situations considering the Blues' amazing run of tight games. He looks a little tired to me. Although Berube didn't say that directly, it was interesting that he indcated the combination of sitting out Monday's San Jose game plus the three off days would help freshen up Binnington.