GatewayRedbirds.com

JCShutout wrote: ↑

May 4 25, 9:13 pm

Blues had 3rd period leads in games 1 and 7. Took the president’s trophy team to 2OT in game 7.

You gotta think if we had Holloway, we can steal one of the games in WPG and advance. Losing Tucker really hurt too.

Ugh.

GeddyWrox wrote: ↑

May 4 25, 9:18 pm

You gotta think if we had Holloway, we can steal one of the games in WPG and advance. Losing Tucker really hurt too

.

True, but Winnipeg was without scheifele today and also Morrissey left the game at some point, and for a time were without Ehlers and someone else. Winnipeg was just better today. Tomorrow/next season? Probably still. But we’ll see.

Both teams had injuries to overcome. The Blues are perhaps closer than we expected, mostly due to Broberg and Holloway shaving a year off the rebuild/reload, and the Fowler trade giving us a top pairing Dman for a 2nd and a lotto ticket prospect.

Ugh, starting to sink in. We had a shot. Damn.

Probably would have lost to Dallas in like 5, but youn ever know. Damn.

JCShutout wrote: ↑

May 4 25, 9:34 pm

Ugh, starting to sink in. We had a shot. Damn.

Probably would have lost to Dallas in like 5, but youn ever know. Damn.

Yep.

No one single player is to blame but damn did Buchy's panic icing with like 45 seconds left really hurt.

GeddyWrox wrote: ↑

April 5 25, 7:42 pm

Other teams should really just play the whole game with no goalie

.

So the Blues should be pretty good next year, right?

heyzeus wrote: ↑

May 5 25, 7:47 am

So the Blues should be pretty good next year, right?

They're in a position to take another step forward, for sure. But with so many young'ns it's possible they take a step back, too.

Guys like Snuggerud, Neighbors, Bolduc, Tucker (and even Dvorsky from the press box) got great experience, taking a really good team to the brink of elimination.

Army/Steen will have to do a little jiggering with some of the lower line players, but I'm excited to see what we can do next year. The big question, which JC has touched on, is do they go after a true second line center or do they leave Schenn there and let Dvorsky center the third line. If he struggles, you could put Sundqvist back at 3C. But I think we'd all be happier if they got a good 2C, moving Schenn down to 3C and that let's Dvorsky play wing for a year or two, like they did with Thomas.

Looking at the contracts, there are only three FAs to deal with. Hofer is an RFA - hoping they can get him resigned but beware of the "offer sheet" comeuppance. Suter and Faksa are UFAs. I think they'll probably let Suter walk and slide Tucker into regular duty. He's earned it. I would like to see them resign Faksa, but it will depend on how the cap shakes out and if they make any other big signings.

The D is probably pretty set. The top two lines are set unless you nab a 2C.

If they stand largely pat during the offseason, this is what we look like on paper for next year:


Thomas Buchy Snuggerud
Schenn Kyrou Neighbors
Sundqvist Bolduc _______ *
_______ Walker Toropchenko

Parayko Fowler
Faulk Broberg
Leddy Tucker

Binnington
Hofer

* Texier and Joseph are both under contract, but I could see moving one or both of them in the offseason.

I think with our depth you expect the team to make the playoffs, but we are still likely looking at a wildcard team, barring a move for a 2C and/or 2rd.

The cap is like $95.5m. The blues won’t lose hofer unless they choose to as we have almost $6m in cap space even with Krug, who I think is likely done. We are setup quite well moving forward with a lot of contracts coming off the books next year. Plus, there are probably teams who would take a leddy/joseph/texier for a late pick with the cap jumping. (They may prefer the shorter term of a cap dump vs a fa signing)

I’d actually love for us to resign faksa and id be fine with suter coming back if it meant we moved leddy. Having suter there with Tucker and/or kessel would be nice insurance. Then again so would leddy.

An upgrade at 2C and/or 2RD (or a trade for a kid we think can eventually take one of those spots) is my biggest hope(s). I have no concerns over a “logjam” at c, because that’s a good problem to have.

I’d also like to see broberg and Holloway sign extensions on July 2 or whenever it’s allowed. Lock those kids up. $7.5mx8 for both? 8x8? With $13m+ coming off the books next offseason plus a jumping cap, we can afford the extensions plus one for State Farm.