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Join Blues beat writer Jim Thomas for his live chat at 1 p.m. Wednesday

Get your questions ready and join in at 1 p.m. Wednesday for our weekly Blues chat.

3rd & 7 37yd

Bobby Orr is the greatest to ever play the game. He would get the puck behind his own net. Start the breakout. The crowd would come to life. He stick handles through the entire team. The crowd is roaring. And either score or put it on the tape of a teammate for a goal. He was +124 in plus/minus in ONE YEAR!

by Hockey Larry 4/5/2023 8:23:40 PM
What a staggering number. That was the 1970-71 season, when Orr had 37 goals and 102 assists.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:24:47 PM
Not to despair, Barry, hope springs eternal with Blues' internal options: A healthy Scandella in the short term, perhaps Matt Kessel, and Leo Loof, who should be ready to move to NAm next season.

by theMick 4/5/2023 8:25:05 PM
Tyler Tucker, too. Yes, don't forget about Loof. He's finishing up a two-year contract playing for Ilves in Finland's Liiga. They're currently in the playoffs. I think Loof has top four potential.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:27:27 PM
You will be missed. Enjoy retirement!! and there was only one Great One. He was the OG Goat.

by Schlay 4/5/2023 8:27:32 PM
Thank you very much!

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:27:50 PM
Jim, I did have a laugh at one NY reporters impression of Vladi. You once said that he showered and dressed and was out the door before the reporters were let in the dressing room. He was showered and dressed and was taking questions from reporters and one asked "if he had dinner reservations" that he was already dressing. I remembered what you had said and thought it was funny.

by Liz 4/5/2023 8:28:21 PM
Yes, but when you got Tarasenko to talk, he was always good. There were a few times over the year when I'd approach him on my own for something and he'd tap the bench next to his locker stall and tell me to sit down and that's how the interview started.
One time - it was just after the Blues' post-Stanley Cup visit to the White House - I had a one-on-one with Vladi, finished the interview - it was some outstanding stuff - turned away and realized I had not turned on my digitial recorder. Gasp!
I turned around, approached Tarasenko again, told him what had happened. He tapped the bench, said sit down, and we did the whole thing over again.
Tarasenko was almost always very respectful with me. And trust me, there were times when he didn't like my question and was agitated. But he never carried it over to the next day.
He was very complimentary when I told him I was retiring. This was, of course, before the trade.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:35:01 PM
theathletic.com That's the article where he talks about it being very emotional.

by Liz 4/5/2023 8:35:09 PM
Liz, thanks for this.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:35:22 PM
Jim, SO appreciative of all your hard work at the Post, especially the chats.. Hope you have loads of fun in retirement!!! Agree with Matt, we really need a shut down defenseman... We had one with AP, but let him walk... Defense has not been the same since. Just a fact.. We basically need a Justin Falk who's 6'4" and who has the necessary sandpaper we need on D. That's what the Blues need, because we are not only missing that player, but having that player then slots 'other guys' to where they need to be.. Parayko at #2 D, etc etc... Thoughts?

by pugger 4/5/2023 8:35:46 PM
Oh, there's no doubt a No. 1 defenseman would be great. But as others have mentioned here, easier said than done unless you find and develop one in the draft. And at first blush, this doesn't appear to be a great year to land a marquee D-man in the draft.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:38:02 PM
Plus the salary cap issues are not going away.

by theMick 4/5/2023 8:38:07 PM
Actually, I think the cap issues will beging to recede after this coming year. In part because after the coming year, the cap will start rising by $4, 5, 6 million a year.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:39:30 PM
We've hit a lull in the questions, so if you've got something you want to ask, now's your chance.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:40:03 PM
I realize it's before your time on the beat, but do you know why no one would report what really happened with Erik Johnson on the infamous golfing trip?

by Scott Stewart 4/5/2023 8:46:53 PM
Oh boy. That/s porbably a question for Gordo.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:47:23 PM
Everyone should remember the last time we took a defenseman extremely high in the draft, he turned out to me an underachieving knuckle head that did something stupid on a boy's trip and tore up his knee.

by Scott Stewart 4/5/2023 8:50:50 PM
Well, that actually was Pietrangelo. Erik Johnson was taken two years earlier (2006). And Johnson has had a pretty good career. Won a Cup, made an all-star game, played in more than 900 games. Although I guess you could say you expect more from a No. 1 overall pick.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:53:20 PM
I still don’t know why there is no improvement in power play and
face off success !

by Pablo 4/5/2023 8:53:32 PM
The faceoff falloff is understandable. You lost two of your top three faceoff men in Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari via trade. And you're currently using converted wingers at center in Pavel Buchnevich and Kasperi Kapanen, who have very little experience in the circle.
As for the power play, that's more puzzling. I think it's become as much a lack of confidence as anything at this point. Sure the Blues miss Perron in the left circle, but they had seeminly learned how to be productive without him until recently.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 8:58:35 PM
No, Erik Johnson tore up his knee in a golf cart and was traded away. Why? Was it a cost cutting? How would you rate his career in Colo? Top pick in the draft? Or less because of his knee?

by Easy Ed - fan since 1967 4/5/2023 8:59:04 PM
When I said, no Pietrangelo in the prior answer I meant he was the last Blues defenseman taken extremely high in the draft. He came out two years after Johnson.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 9:00:16 PM
Jim, me again, what are the odds the Blues will pick up a top 4 defenseman by trade or FA--we don't have much cap space to really get a great one. Do you think they'll be any dream Ds available? Thanks again. Also, what really hurt us was losing Bouwmeester, maybe as much as AP.

by Easy Ed - fan since 1967 4/5/2023 9:02:14 PM
Based on what we've seen this season, it's hard for me to imagine the Blues standing pat on the blue line and thinking they can return to being a top 10 defense. So I think that will be a top priority for Armstrong in the offseason. If they can move one of their other top 4 guys, that would create some cap space.
I don't know what the free agent list looks like at this point. So I don't know if it's even 50-50 that the Blues can get an upgrade in the offseason.
And yeah, losing Bouwmeester was a huge blow, although he probably wouldn't be around anyway by now at age 39.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 9:07:53 PM
What do you think of Ryan Graves? Obviously this assumes you could move a contract on the back end. But I don't think you can just subtract, you need to add. Graves is a LD who could conceivably play with Parayko. Big guy (6'5"). A little younger than our current group at 28. Should be affordable.

by Matt L 4/5/2023 9:11:59 PM
I've always like Graves; he always seemed a little underrated to me. He has a modest $3.17 million cap hit this year, so maybe he would come at a relatively modest price.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 9:14:08 PM
We only know there was alcohol involved. The Blues moved on from Johnson after a couple of seasons and traded for Shattenkirk, who was a first round pick by Colorado the year after. Shatty has also had a solid career with a Cup and an All-Star game and is one of the game's most engaging characters.

by theMick 4/5/2023 9:14:16 PM
Thx

by jthomas 4/5/2023 9:14:25 PM
OK, looks like that's it for this week. Appreciate all the kind words and thoughts. Hope to see you all again in the next couple, three weeks.

by jthomas 4/5/2023 9:15:32 PM