HockeyWriters: Bolduc / Mailloux. Read at your own risk

[callitwhatyouwant]

Don't the Blues have an international winning goalie in Jordan Binnington? Don't the Blues have the a 26 year old Robert Thomas who led the league in points scored post 4 nations last year? Don't the Blues have a bonified number 1 Defender that 32 out of 32 teams in the league would love to have in Parayko? I'm really missing the no elite players on the Blues argument. Those guys are all number 1's in their position in the league and rank anywhere roughly from 10-20 at their position in comparison to their peers depending on who you ask.

That's pretty good for the Blues to have 3 players that are top's in their positions.

[dtkblueshockey]

Don't the Blues have an international winning goalie in Jordan Binnington? Don't the Blues have the a 26 year old Robert Thomas who led the league in points scored post 4 nations last year? Don't the Blues have a bonified number 1 Defender that 32 out of 32 teams in the league would love to have in Parayko? I'm really missing the no elite players on the Blues argument. Those guys are all number 1's in their position in the league and rank anywhere roughly from 10-20 at their position in comparison to their peers depending on who you ask.

That's pretty good for the Blues to have 3 players that are top's in their positions.

Exactly.

If the top picks really mattered, why is it that Edmonton STILL hasn't won since they've sucked for such a long time. They have 2 generationally good offensive players on their roster and have not gotten it done yet.

What about Buffalo?

Aren't the teams who have been drafting so high up supposed to auto-win after some time of getting these top picks?

[somni]

My hope is that the fans realize 2 things relative to the Bolduc and Mailloux trade.

1. Army made the move out of desperation. Why else give up a young proven player for a young unproven one?

2. If Mailloux does not work out, the reason for the desperation does NOT go away. If anything, it will get worse, and the desperate moves will also get worse.

So the evaluation of Mailloux should not stop at Mailloux. The evaluation needs to be much bigger than that. Has the desperation been solved? Has the itch been scratched? What was the itch exactly? To me, it appears as though Army is trying to find the next Pietrangelo without a TOP10 draft pick.

Just wait till Army tries to replace Fowler and the 2C. First and foremost, Dvorsky better be it, or total hell is coming.

I guess I am not sure why you are saying Zack Bolduc was "proven". Up until last season and for a majority of it he was not showing that he was going to turn out. He had a lot to work on over the past couple of seasons and even after Monty got in here you'd have to wonder why a greener player in Snuggerud was able to beat out "proven" guys like Bolduc, Texier, Joseph, etc for a top six role.

I think anyone with eyes could see that they were attempting to trade for Dobson and that fell through so Army pivoted and went after Mailloux. I wouldn't call that desperation. I also am still fine with the fact that they did not give up Jake Neighbours or Jordan Kyrou in any deal that added to their defense.

Bolduc will likely go on to have a good career in Montreal....but the writing was on the wall for him here. There was no way he was going to fit into the mix going forward especially after seeing some of these guys they have coming through the pipeline in the next couple of years.

I get you have an infatuation with wanting the Blues to tank for a Top 10 pick but again as said over and over.....the Ownership did not want this team to flounder in the bottom rungs of the league to try and get lucky on a top draft pick. They need the team to be competitive and profitable to a degree to maintain things here.

Do you think they would be able to keep supporting the team if something like what's happening to the Cardinals happens to the Blues? They would put the team up for sale.

Do you think that the Cardinals would be what they are without
- Pujols
- Musial
- Gibson

These were players that STOOD OUT WAY ABOVE.. A HOFer's HOF.

Blues Management is committing to NEVER HAVING THOSE SORT OF PLAYERS here. Those players will ALWAYS be in other cities. Always.

And you think that the big payoff for this bottom-scraping skillet lineup is that we will win Stanley Cups instead?

The sure way to kill a franchise is to do what the Blues are doing now. The kids in our town don't even know what name to put on their jersey. And when they do, the player is often traded away 2 years later.

You are naming two players of more than 50 years ago. At a time when players were the property of their teams. They never had free agency due to the reserve clause.

This is what we call...grasping at straws. You need a life preserver.

Take a look at every list of the elite players in the NHL. Every list, every day.

In the last 5 years, those players are never wearing a Blues jersey.

Despite this, some believe that Army is doing a good job.

So start looking at players the year after the Blues won the Stanley Cup??

In Pittsburg, they have an unbroken chain of stardom for 30 years. Lemiux, Crosby, Malkin, Jagr, etc.
In St Louis, 10-year droughts are acceptable.

I bet Army loves being a GM here. There is zero accountability.

Lemieux and Jagr??? How far back you want to go? The Blues enjoy MacInnis, Pronger, Tkachuk, etc. during those years. It was a different landscape.

Sure, bring up Syd (gifted to Pitt)...one of the best players to play the game. Geee...I wish the Cardinals had Mickey Mantle!!!

What 10 year drought? Blues won the Cup in 2019.

I'm sorry you can't see all the Binnington jerseys at a Blues home game.

[dhsux]

My hope is that the fans realize 2 things relative to the Bolduc and Mailloux trade.

1. Army made the move out of desperation. Why else give up a young proven player for a young unproven one?

2. If Mailloux does not work out, the reason for the desperation does NOT go away. If anything, it will get worse, and the desperate moves will also get worse.

So the evaluation of Mailloux should not stop at Mailloux. The evaluation needs to be much bigger than that. Has the desperation been solved? Has the itch been scratched? What was the itch exactly? To me, it appears as though Army is trying to find the next Pietrangelo without a TOP10 draft pick.

Just wait till Army tries to replace Fowler and the 2C. First and foremost, Dvorsky better be it, or total hell is coming.

I guess I am not sure why you are saying Zack Bolduc was "proven". Up until last season and for a majority of it he was not showing that he was going to turn out. He had a lot to work on over the past couple of seasons and even after Monty got in here you'd have to wonder why a greener player in Snuggerud was able to beat out "proven" guys like Bolduc, Texier, Joseph, etc for a top six role.

I think anyone with eyes could see that they were attempting to trade for Dobson and that fell through so Army pivoted and went after Mailloux. I wouldn't call that desperation. I also am still fine with the fact that they did not give up Jake Neighbours or Jordan Kyrou in any deal that added to their defense.

Bolduc will likely go on to have a good career in Montreal....but the writing was on the wall for him here. There was no way he was going to fit into the mix going forward especially after seeing some of these guys they have coming through the pipeline in the next couple of years.

I get you have an infatuation with wanting the Blues to tank for a Top 10 pick but again as said over and over.....the Ownership did not want this team to flounder in the bottom rungs of the league to try and get lucky on a top draft pick. They need the team to be competitive and profitable to a degree to maintain things here.

Do you think they would be able to keep supporting the team if something like what's happening to the Cardinals happens to the Blues? They would put the team up for sale.

As a defender of Mailoux's impatient critics I will say the same for Zach'ds doubters.

The guy had been a prolific scorer in the Q and he's still new to the nhl. I am not one bit surprised to see him develop as he has....and if he had put up 30-35 goals this year as a Blue I'm hard pressed to understand how the Blues "could not sign/extend him" because.....they would have.

I think that trade was huge for this franchise in many aspects and for me it's one of the biggest points of curiosity of the year but it's a story that will take time to unfold and reveal its outcome. Commentary on their current play is fine but claims on their future are premature, imo.