Take a deep breath

[Kospi]

The Blues have too many good players to be this bad. I think they will figure it out like 1999.

[moose-and-squirrel]

The Blues have too many good players to be this bad. I think they will figure it out like 1999.

agreed.. the last 2 games have been encouraging.. but man, the lack of offense.. altho they seemed to figure something out in the 3rd last night.. but need to get that from the get go

[AtillaTheBlue1]

The Blues have too many good players to be this bad. I think they will figure it out like 1999.

zero chance

that team had players who could take a game over, and a center who could win draws, and get in corner to get dirty. and a pf, who hit everything that moved, lines 1-4 were perfectly balanced and good.

[MiamiLaw]

The Blues would need to win at about a 60% clip the rest of the way. Think going 42-28 the rest of the way kind of thing. Not impossible but unlikely. They’ve already dug themselves a huge hole.

These games count the same as March.

[Old_Goat]

The Blues have too many good players to be this bad. I think they will figure it out like 1999.

agreed.. the last 2 games have been encouraging.. but man, the lack of offense.. altho they seemed to figure something out in the 3rd last night.. but need to get that from the get go

And STOP "the Bumper." Note, some very good points and thoughts in this morning's "Too Many Misfits" post and replies, mostly regarding various players. So, I will pivot a bit, and try to avoid back & forth opinions about individual players. The reality is, it is very difficult to make player moves, particularly in-season.

But after taking a deep breath, I'll offer a power play observation: I am all about getting close-in goals, driving the net, screening, strength and focus to jump on rebounds. And on the other hand, I also get the collapse the D down to protect & clear the front of the net. So, we are playing right into the opponents penalty kill. We do NOT have a husky sniper. It makes little sense to try to bump it to one of our bigger guys practically sitting still for coverage whom does not have an elite release. And our elite shooters are not of the size to maintain stability to put it in while being pushed by D. I'm not comparing anybody to Ovechkin here, but even the Caps keep him off to the side, feed his release... they do that despite that he has big size and strength. Brett Hull has legs like tree trunks, low center of gravity, literally born to play the game, but he kept moving through the area to one time, while D were spinning and moving all over he place. We allow the goalie to have less movement and maintain a reasonable position to react and make saves. We need him moving back & forth. Don't try to force the pass inside...SHOOT. Move it around to get the goalie off balance, have the big body to distract, screen & possibly deflect or pounce rebound. We need to make short skilled passes to draw their 4 out (like everybody else does to us!), make the counter pass play, shooters moving and shooting. And the quarterbacks (and their should be two -- forward and a D) need to not get caught in too close.
The "Bumper" tactic does not work for this team. Maybe some teams, but not all. Coach to what you have.

[Frank Underwood]

The Blues would need to win at about a 60% clip the rest of the way. Think going 42-28 the rest of the way kind of thing. Not impossible but unlikely. They’ve already dug themselves a huge hole.

These games count the same as March.

I think it is definitely doable……but they need to start winning soon. Otherwise, they’ll find themselves staring at needing something unrealistic like a .675 or .700 winning percentage to have a chance.

[zamadoo]

The Blues have too many good players to be this bad. I think they will figure it out like 1999.

zero chance

that team had players who could take a game over, and a center who could win draws, and get in corner to get dirty. and a pf, who hit everything that moved, lines 1-4 were perfectly balanced and good.

We've come to the same problem we had prior to 2018-19 - weak down the middle.

Dvo is a good young player who could perhaps be great in almost every area. His faceoff stats through two games: 17-8 68% - Real nice to have him here, as he's a solid contributor and plays a good all around game (with a lethal shot), but I'm not sure he's ready to be Pierre Turgeon just yet. The hope is that over the next several seasons he can establish himself as an elite NHL player taking on other teams' top lines. Thomas should eventually be #2 behind him, and at that time we will be the cream rising to the top.

[TheSolution]

What good players do they have?

Name one player on the level of 19 year old Demidov?

The rest of the league is loaded with at the very minimum what the Blues have PLUS the better teams have MULTIPLE players on elite levels not found anywhere in St. Louis.

Thomas, Neighbors, Buch extra are good players. They’re not super elite players. Thomas is obviously the best of the group but even he is still just an A player, not A+.

Think about McKinnon, Makar. McDavid, Drai. Bedard and his upcoming group. Keller and the many top 10 pics on Utah. Demidov and the loaded Canadians. Matthews and his group. Hell, Crosby and his group.

The Blues are a blue collar roster trying to play white collar bc they don’t even have enough blue collar to get it done with that identity.

[ManitobaBlues]

What good players do they have?

Name one player on the level of 19 year old Demidov?

The rest of the league is loaded with at the very minimum what the Blues have PLUS the better teams have MULTIPLE players on elite levels not found anywhere in St. Louis.

Thomas, Neighbors, Buch extra are good players. They’re not super elite players. Thomas is obviously the best of the group but even he is still just an A player, not A+.

Think about McKinnon, Makar. McDavid, Drai. Bedard and his upcoming group. Keller and the many top 10 pics on Utah. Demidov and the loaded Canadians. Matthews and his group. Hell, Crosby and his group.

The Blues are a blue collar roster trying to play white collar bc they don’t even have enough blue collar to get it done with that identity.

I think Armstrong is stuck in the 80's and 90's hockey

[Bacchk29]

What good players do they have?

Name one player on the level of 19 year old Demidov?

The rest of the league is loaded with at the very minimum what the Blues have PLUS the better teams have MULTIPLE players on elite levels not found anywhere in St. Louis.

Thomas, Neighbors, Buch extra are good players. They’re not super elite players. Thomas is obviously the best of the group but even he is still just an A player, not A+.

Think about McKinnon, Makar. McDavid, Drai. Bedard and his upcoming group. Keller and the many top 10 pics on Utah. Demidov and the loaded Canadians. Matthews and his group. Hell, Crosby and his group.

The Blues are a blue collar roster trying to play white collar bc they don’t even have enough blue collar to get it done with that identity.

I think Armstrong is stuck in the 80's and 90's hockey

He’ll have a decision to make on veteran purging around game 21

[Mr.Snuggleupagus]

The Blues have too many good players to be this bad. I think they will figure it out like 1999.

They need to go 7-3 in the next 10 games just to get back to .500

Ain't happenin

[St. Charles Bronson]

If you want to have players like McDavid, Demidov, Keller, Matthews, Makar, MacKinnon, Crosby, Draisaitl, Bedard, etc., you need to get comfortable with losing a lot of games. Likely for multiple years. Then you need to hope your lottery pick pans out and also avoids major injuries. Then, prepare yourself for some more seasons of mediocrity or disappointment, because most of the guys mentioned above have never won a Stanley Cup. It's very likely that several of them never will. I'm not faulting fans for wanting to see superstars on their team, but if that's what you really want, then you are currently seeing exactly the sort of season you need to have.

[blues2112]

I think Armstrong is stuck in the 80's and 90's hockey

But GM of team that won 2018-19 Cup!?!?!??!

[Bluesfan1978]

It all comes down to the goaltending. A few good games by the goalies and the team will regain their confidence. If every mistake ends up in the back of the net the team will play with too much hesitations which slows them down. Team looked good by 3rd period last night. Hofer played pretty good.

[theograce]

I think Armstrong is stuck in the 80's and 90's hockey

But GM of team that won 2018-19 Cup!?!?!??!

He won a Cup in Dallas and was fired. What idiots hey

[MiamiLaw]

The Blues would need to win at about a 60% clip the rest of the way. Think going 42-28 the rest of the way kind of thing. Not impossible but unlikely. They’ve already dug themselves a huge hole.

These games count the same as March.

I think it is definitely doable……but they need to start winning soon. Otherwise, they’ll find themselves staring at needing something unrealistic like a .675 or .700 winning percentage to have a chance.

It’s doable but .600 would be like barely scraping in (with no guarantee it’d be enough) even at this point