LUCIC

[Red7]

This! Lucic will dress for certain games, teams, and arenas. Schenn can’t be the dropping the gloves at the opening face off. You also need to have someone who can step up for a teammate without the other team laughing at you. I see him dressing for no more than 35-45 games. Then again, Monty saw firsthand the value of a big bodied SD when Maroon was here in 2019.

[skilles]

It sure seems like at this point we probably have several callups that can come up and give you about we we have gotten from Texier and none that can give you what Lucic can.

Its definitely not just about who is a better player.

Joseph definitely gives us some things we can't get from any of the AHL call ups.

That’s a very good point. Texier clearly has some skill but if he’s going to stay inconsistent and defensively poor…that sounds an awful lot like what you’d typically get from a top prospect that’s still learning because he’s young. But the prospect has a future here and Texier, assuming he doesn’t take that needed step, doesn’t.

And agreed that Joseph’s speed and PK ability are skills that separate him and give him a role more than Texier.

Yeah and it makes no sense to pay Texier if you are just going to call up an AHL guy instead of using him when an extra forward is needed. It would make much more sense to pay Lucic half the cap hit and if neither are going to really play Lucic is clearly the better guy to just have around IMO.

I still haven't really learned the new cap sites that well so I don't know if we need to but we may need to wait until the season starts to make that move to better take advantage of LTIR.

[Zizzle1297]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

[skilles]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

For me that is a hole, I'm not a huge fan of that lineup unless that hole is filled with a player we don't currently have.

[STL fan in MN]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

For me that is a hole, I'm not a huge fan of that lineup unless that hole is filled with a player we don't currently have.

I’d disagree. Look around the league and you’ll find most teams have even weaker players on their 3rd lines.

Joseph was an effective 3rd liner for Ottawa. he should be able to do that here as well. Texier adds the offensive pop I assume you’re looking for, just with subpar defense. Bjugstad is pretty easily 3rd line caliber assuming he’s recovered from the back surgery that hampered him the first half of last season. Sunny would be ok there - not much offense but the other team doesn’t score either when he’s out there. And then of course there’s Dvorsky. He might be the best option from an offensive talent standpoint but I’m not sure it’s the best thing for him and his development to try to wedge him into that role.

[Old_Goat]

If it's between Lucic and Texier, then I would keep Lucic. Logically, Lucic does not block any youngster, but Texier could. If it turns out, that Lucic isn't working out, then waive him. At least as much as possible make a move with Texier that salary cash flow wise covers whatever the cost for Lucic is.
I agree with the earlier posting (I forget by whom), that if it's one of those games in which Schenn, Neighbors, Tucker or whomever else is going to right at the opening face-off drop the gloves to set the tone, then put Lucic in the lineup and let him do it.

[SRV1990]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

For me that is a hole, I'm not a huge fan of that lineup unless that hole is filled with a player we don't currently have.

If 3RW is the most glaring hole the Blues have, doesn't that speak well for the team overall? It's not like we're desperate for a #1 netminder or a 1C.

[LuvthaBlues]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

For me that is a hole, I'm not a huge fan of that lineup unless that hole is filled with a player we don't currently have.

If 3RW is the most glaring hole the Blues have, doesn't that speak well for the team overall? It's not like we're desperate for a #1 netminder or a 1C.

I look it a more as an "open position" versus a "glaring hole". We have 11 roster spots pretty much spoken for and 3 left to round out the forward group. We currently have 4 players that could fill those 3 spots to give us the best team we can have. One of Sunny, Texier, Joseph and Lucic has to go.

[skilles]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

For me that is a hole, I'm not a huge fan of that lineup unless that hole is filled with a player we don't currently have.

I’d disagree. Look around the league and you’ll find most teams have even weaker players on their 3rd lines.

Joseph was an effective 3rd liner for Ottawa. he should be able to do that here as well. Texier adds the offensive pop I assume you’re looking for, just with subpar defense. Bjugstad is pretty easily 3rd line caliber assuming he’s recovered from the back surgery that hampered him the first half of last season. Sunny would be ok there - not much offense but the other team doesn’t score either when he’s out there. And then of course there’s Dvorsky. He might be the best option from an offensive talent standpoint but I’m not sure it’s the best thing for him and his development to try to wedge him into that role.

I agree that teams for sure have weaker 3rd lines but I would also say the top teams have better top lines and we need to have much better depth than they do.

Also its not all about that for me because like I said I think that is an above average 3rd line and I don't hate our options but we have a lot of money tied up in those options and we could be a lot better if we could find a way to move a couple of our current options and replace them with 1 better option IMO.

Drop the right player on that RW spot and I like this team a LOT more.

[SRV1990]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

For me that is a hole, I'm not a huge fan of that lineup unless that hole is filled with a player we don't currently have.

If 3RW is the most glaring hole the Blues have, doesn't that speak well for the team overall? It's not like we're desperate for a #1 netminder or a 1C.

I look it a more as an "open position" versus a "glaring hole". We have 11 roster spots pretty much spoken for and 3 left to round out the forward group. We currently have 4 players that could fill those 3 spots to give us the best team we can have. One of Sunny, Texier, Joseph and Lucic has to go.

Agree 100%! And I'd be shocked if Sunny isn't on the team, so for me it's 3 players to fill 2 spots.

[STL fan in MN]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

For me that is a hole, I'm not a huge fan of that lineup unless that hole is filled with a player we don't currently have.

I’d disagree. Look around the league and you’ll find most teams have even weaker players on their 3rd lines.

Joseph was an effective 3rd liner for Ottawa. he should be able to do that here as well. Texier adds the offensive pop I assume you’re looking for, just with subpar defense. Bjugstad is pretty easily 3rd line caliber assuming he’s recovered from the back surgery that hampered him the first half of last season. Sunny would be ok there - not much offense but the other team doesn’t score either when he’s out there. And then of course there’s Dvorsky. He might be the best option from an offensive talent standpoint but I’m not sure it’s the best thing for him and his development to try to wedge him into that role.

I agree that teams for sure have weaker 3rd lines but I would also say the top teams have better top lines and we need to have much better depth than they do.

Also its not all about that for me because like I said I think that is an above average 3rd line and I don't hate our options but we have a lot of money tied up in those options and we could be a lot better if we could find a way to move a couple of our current options and replace them with 1 better option IMO.

Drop the right player on that RW spot and I like this team a LOT more.

I wouldn’t argue against that.

I’ll just say, no team tends to end a season with the same roster they start with. If 3rd line wing becomes an issue this season, we pretty easily have the ability to fix it if we want to. Agreed that simply dumping Tex would likely free up enough cap space to be able to do it.

[danno]

I feel like the top 2 lines are most likely set, but the 3rd and 4th lines are going to see a lot of different combinations of the same 6 or 7 guys until Monty finds what clicks. So, I don't think there's much use in trying to predict it at this point. Don't get me wrong, its always fun to speculate before the season starts, but we might ultimately see something on that 3rd line that that we didn't even consider once things get going for a few weeks. I'm ready - LGB!!

[LuvthaBlues]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

For me that is a hole, I'm not a huge fan of that lineup unless that hole is filled with a player we don't currently have.

If 3RW is the most glaring hole the Blues have, doesn't that speak well for the team overall? It's not like we're desperate for a #1 netminder or a 1C.

I look it a more as an "open position" versus a "glaring hole". We have 11 roster spots pretty much spoken for and 3 left to round out the forward group. We currently have 4 players that could fill those 3 spots to give us the best team we can have. One of Sunny, Texier, Joseph and Lucic has to go.

Agree 100%! And I'd be shocked if Sunny isn't on the team, so for me it's 3 players to fill 2 spots.

That's a great point...no pressure, guys!

[skilles]

They way I see it is 3RW is still up for grabs

Buch, Thomas, Snuggy
Holloway Schenn, Kryou
Neighbors, Suter, XXX
Torp, Bjustad, Walker

If Lucic stays that is one bench spot as i doubt he is a regular at this point. Same Could be said for Sunny.

Which leaves Devo, Texier and Joseph

For me that is a hole, I'm not a huge fan of that lineup unless that hole is filled with a player we don't currently have.

If 3RW is the most glaring hole the Blues have, doesn't that speak well for the team overall? It's not like we're desperate for a #1 netminder or a 1C.

I'd say yes it does.

[STL fan in MN]

I feel like the top 2 lines are most likely set, but the 3rd and 4th lines are going to see a lot of different combinations of the same 6 or 7 guys until Monty finds what clicks. So, I don't think there's much use in trying to predict it at this point. Don't get me wrong, its always fun to speculate before the season starts, but we might ultimately see something on that 3rd line that that we didn't even consider once things get going for a few weeks. I'm ready - LGB!!

100% true.

[seattleblue]

Exactly, you can see the 8 players in the top 9 for sure with this lineup. Neighbours Suter and somebody else for line 3.

Joseph, Sundqvist, Toropchenko, Bjugstad, Walker, Texier, Lucic
Dvorsky

They want all these 15 forwards to be available to them, plus Dvorsky. Likely send Dvorsky down whether it's for a few games or just a paper transaction to get past the opening day marker since he's exempt from waivers. Remember there's the whole Krug situation where he has to be on the roster of 23 before being LTIR'd.

Unless Texier can actually do something, besides embody underwhelmingness, I personally am ready for him to be somewhere else. I want a team tough enough as a group without needing staged fights from a problematic slow version of Quasimodo which in no way deters targeted cheap shots. If it did deter them then it would make sense. But that's not how it actually works, having watched the theory be tested for decades. But I acknowledge they think that's still important to have. I just don't like buying into a plainly false theory that Lucic is needed for anything.