Yes Reasons:
- Players trending UP: Holloway, Broberg, Thomas
- Kyrou consistentcy in regular season
- Montgomery
- Fowler for the whole year
- Goaltending remains top-shelf
- More true CENTER depth (Suter, Bjugstadt)
- Young players maturing (Snuggerud, Neighbors, Mailloux)
No Reasons:
- They barely made it in last year, and needed a late win-streak to do it.
- Teams in division got better
- Olympic distraction for whole team
- Olympics drain Thomas and Binnington late in the year, so late-season heroics will be replaced with late-season fatigue.
- No replacement for Bolduc in the Building
- 2023 prospects and all prospects are not difference-makers, at least not yet.
- Faksa not replaced
- Offseason did not address 6on5 problem
- Another slow start likely
- Veteran Defense replaced with youth mistakes
- Army blasted the team culture only 8 months ago
- Army blasted our best players only 8 months ago
Will Blues make Playoffs? Yes and No Reasons.
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a smell of green grass
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Re: Will Blues make Playoffs? Yes and No Reasons.
I'll play this straight with you. In slightly different formats, this has been addressed in other recent threads, but here goes . . .
Reasons they make the playoffs:
1. Goaltending figures to be solid, advantage
2. Solid top-4 defense. Defensemen as a group could (should) challenge for league lead in goals.
3. Above average offense. Top two lines are solid if unspectacular, and there should be scoring depth in bottom-6 with additions of Suter and Bjugstad.
4. Depth. There is enough depth on-hand to keep the wheels from falling off barring major calamity.
5. Coaching, GM are solid. No cap concern.
What can derail them?
My take on your list is most of it is irrelevant or overstated. How I see it:
1. Backslides by multiple key players. Last season the Blues overcame injuries to Broberg, Thomas, Parayko, and Holloway. It would take a major train wreck to derail this team, keeping in mind they likely have some cap flexibility and tradeable assets.
2. Monty falls off the wagon. No offense, but it would take something like this.
3. Penalty killing is bottom of the league. Even that might not be enough by itself.
4. The ownership group falls apart. Hey, I saw this happen in Atlanta.
That's pretty much how I see it. This is a good team that should be EXPECTED to make the playoffs. Other teams got better? So did the Blues, assuming Holloway is healthy.
Reasons they make the playoffs:
1. Goaltending figures to be solid, advantage
2. Solid top-4 defense. Defensemen as a group could (should) challenge for league lead in goals.
3. Above average offense. Top two lines are solid if unspectacular, and there should be scoring depth in bottom-6 with additions of Suter and Bjugstad.
4. Depth. There is enough depth on-hand to keep the wheels from falling off barring major calamity.
5. Coaching, GM are solid. No cap concern.
What can derail them?
My take on your list is most of it is irrelevant or overstated. How I see it:
1. Backslides by multiple key players. Last season the Blues overcame injuries to Broberg, Thomas, Parayko, and Holloway. It would take a major train wreck to derail this team, keeping in mind they likely have some cap flexibility and tradeable assets.
2. Monty falls off the wagon. No offense, but it would take something like this.
3. Penalty killing is bottom of the league. Even that might not be enough by itself.
4. The ownership group falls apart. Hey, I saw this happen in Atlanta.
That's pretty much how I see it. This is a good team that should be EXPECTED to make the playoffs. Other teams got better? So did the Blues, assuming Holloway is healthy.