Join Blues beat writer Matthew DeFranks 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.
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To me, the glaring hole is a No. 1 defenseman, which we've talked about plenty in this space before. But the problem is that those guys are tough to find, and then they're expensive when you do find them. So there may not be enough cap space to fill the other holes on the roster.I still think there's a lack of true top-six talent behind Thomas, Kyrou and Buchnevich. Vrana is right there. Saad is dependable and Schenn has been productive, but there's not a bunch of guys that can change the game or take over.If you plug one hole, you're probably not able to plug the other one, too.
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Do you suspect Army is still laying in the weeds waiting to pick off another forward or, perhaps, a star defenseman? If so, when might it come and will it be by trade or FA signing? Love his Vrana, Kapanen and Blais signings so far. Kapanen is good 2-way, and Vrana is as advertised. Every time I've seen him vs the Blues, he was killing us. Your opinion, Matt, can any of the three stick in top-6 roles?
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I think Vrana has the best chance just because of his history as a scorer. But he's got to do it consistently for me to fully buy in to his skill at the top of the lineup. But the early returns have been spectacular. He's been a fun player to watch.Personally, it doesn't feel like Doug Armstrong will be very active in free agency. One, he mentioned that he doesn't want to hand out a long deal in free agency, and those tend to be the case that time of the year. Two, they've estimated about $4.2 million in available cap space to sign someone, so that may not bring in an impact guy to move the needle significantly.Armstrong has historically been a trade GM in that some of his biggest acquisitions have been trades. Think Schenn, O'Reilly, Buchnevich and Faulk. Plus, Leddy and Scandella initially before signing them to contracts.
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Could you elaborate on your comment regarding a potential Krug trade that "Teams also know they have all the leverage and don't have to take Krug unless they get what they want." In my mind, Armstrong has all the leverage because he knows ownership is behind him for the long haul and he doesn't have to do anything. Plus, he can tell teams that he's shopping Faulk, Leddy and/or Parayko around to other teams as well to try to create a sense of urgency.
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There's the no-trade clause that shrinks the market on Krug. And teams don't want to take on salary for the sake of taking on salary. They have no incentive to help a team clear $6.5 million off the books. What's the old saying? When you're drowning, teams send an anchor not a life jacket.You can tell teams that Faulk, Leddy and Parayko are being shopped, but those no-trade clauses would also (theoretically) shrink the market. Unless a team gets desperate to acquire something anything, I can't see the leverage flipping to the Blues.
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Let's do some math.Getting 25% of the remaining points would put the Blues at a .454 points percentage for the entire season. Assuming the other teams continued their current pace, that would put St. Louis as the sixth-worst team in the league.Getting 15% of the remaining points would put the Blues at a .438 points percentage for the entire season. Same assumptions, and that would still be sixth-worst just behind Montreal.The Blues are currently ninth worst (5% chance of winning the lottery). Sixth worst is 7.5%.
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I think Craig Berube treats his players more like human beings than Darryl Sutter has.Both come across as hardasses, and Berube is vocal about what he doesn't like during practice, but the petty things like pretending to not know the number of a rookie isn't something Berube would do. He can be critical, for sure, and we saw that a few weeks ago with his postgame comments. I just have found that enforcers last a long time in the league because they are great teammates, and Berube probably falls in that category.In the end, though, coaches have expiration dates. It just happens. Look at what Cassidy is doing in Vegas, DeBoer is doing in Dallas and Montgomery is doing in Boston. Those guys didn't forget how to coach before. Coaches have expiration dates, just not sure Berube's is that close. We'll see.
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Matt, on your opinion of the glaring hole, I agree with you, a #1 D-man is mandatory. My opinion is if you shore up the defense the offense will take care of itself. We have too many poke-checking puck movers and we need big, pissed off d-men and we don't have that (except in Krug the other night and he can't do it with his 5"9" frame).
Could Army have a #1 d-man work as a committee? Three to four big, surly d-men as our top four, guys who inspire fear in the hearts of oncoming wingers, could they form what we need to protect Binner/Hofer? (Binnington and Hofer, sounds to me like a law firm like you see advertising on TV, specializing in "slip and fall" cases!) -
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The risk there is you may spend too much time in your own zone because you cannot successfully break out. Those big guys also have to be able to skate and keep up with the speed of the game. Big guys who can skate are always coveted, especially those that can play bigger minutes (unlike a guy like, say, Bortuzzo).
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Can you explain the leaving the crease penalty that Binnington got las week? Goalies always leave the crease to settle a puck behind the net. I thought the penalty was for going pass the blue line. I’ve seen goalies skating out to the face off circle to push a loose puck up the ice and never seen a penalty getting called.
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Yeah, so that penalty is applied solely during altercations. Here's the rule (27.6) from the NHL rulebook. Fleury also got a leaving the crease penalty."A minor penalty shall be imposed on a goalkeeper who leaves the immediate vicinity of his crease during an altercation. In addition, he shall be reported to the Commissioner for further disciplinary action as may be required. However, should the altercation occur in or near the goalkeeper’s crease, the Referee should direct the goalkeeper to a neutral location and not assess a penalty for leaving the immediate vicinity of the goal crease. Equally, if the goalkeeper is legitimately outside the immediate vicinity of the goal crease for the purpose of proceeding to the players’ bench to be substituted for an extra attacker, and he subsequently becomes involved in an altercation, the minor penalty for leaving the crease would not be assessed.In addition, during stoppages of play in the game, he must not proceed to his players’ bench for the purpose of receiving a replacement stick or equipment or repairs thereto, or due to an injury, or to receive instructions, without first obtaining permission to do so from the Referee. Otherwise, he must be replaced by the substitute goalkeeper immediately (without any delay) or be assessed a bench minor penalty for delay of game."
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Edmonton, Toronto, maybe Carolina could get knocked out of the playoffs due to goaltending. That could open the door to a Binner trade. At the end of this season Binner has to name 10 teams he would accept a trade to. Toronto will be on that list and they look weak in goal.
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I am not a fan of Darryl Sutter's coaching style but he consistently afford s us the game's most comical facial expressions from the bench. That said, it seems that the Sutter vs Flames players rumor is based entirely on comments from the widely disliked and often disgruntled Nazem Kadri, who played all of 13 third line minutes on Monday night.
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I mean, every now and then, I'll just watch Darryl Sutter interviews on YouTube for fun. Last year in the playoffs, he was answering hockey questions by saying he wanted to watch the Kentucky Derby. He's entertaining from the outside, that's for sure.If Calgary is a little luckier this season -- overtime games, one-goal games, hitting posts, I think they lead the league in all three -- maybe this chatter doesn't surround them. Positive regression could come next year for a new coach, and then that coach maybe gets the credit.
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There have been comparison's made on Sammie Blais production versus Tarasenkos. Tarasenko in an interview with NY press said moving from the Western Conference to Eastern Conference was a big adjustment in style of play plus he had been in St. Louis for 11 years. Blais never scored a goal during his NY tenure. Do you think there is something to adjusting to the conference and Blais was just used to playing in St. Louis and Berube's style?
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I think the conference adjustment is overblown in general. The game is fast all over, and it may be more physical with certain teams, but the difference shouldn't really be a huge deal. I do think there is something to being comfortable in a place, though. Spending a decade in one organization and then moving mid-season isn't easy.For Blais, maybe he's getting a bit healthier from his knee injury, and he's also been given a bigger role in the middle-six and on the power play. He clearly loves St. Louis, too. Started his career here, won a Cup here, I believe his girlfriend is from here and he signed an extension here.
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Hi Matthew. A couple of weeks ago after the trade deadline, Doug Armstrong mentioned what he thought his top three lines might look like. He did not mention Leivo, Walker, Brown, Pitlick, Toropchenko, or Alexandrov. I would think maybe Alexandrov, Toropchenko and Walker as 4th line candidates, does that mean the others are pretty much gone after this season?
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This was from last week's chat when I was spitballing what the lines could look like on Opening Night.Neighbours-Thomas-KyrouVrana-Buchnevich-KapanenSaad-Schenn-Nick Bjugstad/Frederick Gaudreau?Toropchenko-Alexandrov-BlaisAdd in Walker as a 13th forward that can jump in the lineup, and maybe that's it.Leivo and Pitlick offer little upside, especially at their age, and are probably elsewhere next season. Brown could be useful in the AHL and brought up as an injury replacement, but he has not shown this season that he belongs to be in the NHL.
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Hi Matt,
Thanks for your time today.
The relationship between Perron and the fans obviously remains good. How about the relationship between Perron and Blues management? Is there lingering bitterness or hard feelings on either side? I think I would have some hard feelings if I had been in Perron's position. -
I missed my chance to ask Perron this last night. It's a good question.On the one hand, this is the organization (and front office led by Doug Armstrong) that signed him twice as a free agent. Whatever hard feelings there were from the Vegas expansion draft disappeared by the time Perron signed back in St. Louis a year later.On the other hand, Perron missed his chance at remaining a Blue in an organization and city that he so clearly loves. I can see it both ways. In the end, I think players of Perron's age tend to understand the business end of the NHL.
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Can't really see that being an issue unless he's mixing it up with the other team, which wouldn't really happen in the first and third periods with the bench closer to the net. It's a fun thing Hofer does. Goalies just want to be involved in the team sometimes!
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That's definitely part of it.The Blues have not done enough to help Jordan Binnington. But he has also not done enough to bail out the Blues. That's his job, to bail out the team, and he's been inconsistent at it. At times, very good. There was that stretch against Vancouver and Pittsburgh when he was the best player on the ice. But there have been regrettable goals sprinkled in throughout the season.For a $6 million goalie, you want him to cover up a lot of mistakes. Binnington has done that, but not enough. That's just how I view it.
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I think you wrote for the Dallas Stars back when the Blues beat them to go on to the Stanley Cup win. Is that right? I think your writing shows how much you dislike Binnington because he beat your team. That's a shame. He is a great goalie and does try to fire people up. Yeah, poor little kadri doesn't like Binner because Binnner threw an empty water bottle near him after kadri jumped on him and took him out of the playoffs. That was unbelievable.
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I did cover the Stars in 2019 for the Dallas Morning News. I have no feelings about the series, honestly, and don't dislike Binnington at all. I don't think it's a stretch to say he's been below-average this season, and his outbursts have come when he's played poorly.
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That’s a bad take Jake. As much as I love Binner, I can admit that Blues fans have rose colored glasses when it comes to anyone from the Cup team. The overall team defense has been crap this season, but he hasn’t been able to overcome it & steal games like he’s done in the past. I still think he’s a great goalie & that he’ll rebound next season, but he’s gotta stop getting distracted & focus on stopping the puck
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I disagree on an earlier answer of yours, Matt. I watch Pitlik and he is very useful on the fourth line. Plays hard, physical, checks, dependable. From game to game, sometimes #17 plays well, sometimes not as well. Maybe they'll give many younger players a shot now, maybe even at the beginning next season, but I can certainly see Pitlik on the roster if there's cap space.
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To me, Pitlick is someone that can be sort of a roster afterthought, even if that sounds a bit mean. Not sure you need to reserve a spot for him on the roster, but if he's still available, maybe bring him back. I mean, this season, he started on a PTO and turned it into a contract.
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