Blues are finished - Put a fork in the "core"

[Lloyd Braun]

This is one of the worst Blues teams of all time. Not just statistically, but maybe the worst effort night in and night out that we've ever seen.

They've made the playoffs once in three years (due a fluke win streak) and are basically assured of missing this year already. That would be 3 out of 4 years, with the only year we made it in as a fluke 8 seed by 1 point.

It's time to officially declare the Thomas-Kyrou-Parayko-Buch-Faulk retool experiment a massive failure, of epic proportions. The Blues moved on from guys like Tarasenko, Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester and O'Reilly and replaced them with inadequate "No. 1 line" players.

Parayko never will be, nor ever has been a legit #1 RHD. He's a #2 if you want to compete in the playoffs.

Kyrou never will be, nor ever has been a legit 1st line forward. Maybe not even a legit 2d line forward. He's a 2nd or 3rd liner on a legit contender, making a salary more commiserate to his actual contribution which is closer to $5 million than $8.5. And if you, as a player, are not going to give effort for Berube or Montgomery, than you aren't going to exceed with any coach on any team.

Buchnevich was a fine player both in NYR and in STL, when he was surrounded by 3 lines of legit forwards, like we had in 2021-22. But being relied upon to be The Guy, is laughable. He never was, nor ever will be That Guy. We loved Geoff Courtnall, but that's because we had Hull, Turgeon, Gretzky and Demitra to be counted on to do the majority of the scoring. Courtnall being a #1 winger on a team short on forward talent would be a disaster.

Thomas is legit a very good player. Probably a No. 1 Center on many teams in the NHL, but not sure if he would be on a Stanley Cup contender. He is not surrounded with legit talent here though. So I only include his name, because he's the centerpiece of the rebuild. Though, I don't think any of it is his fault.

How bad is this team? We know the goalies have historically not been a problem, so its hard to believe that both would all of the sudden go brain-dead and blind at the same time for an entire month. It's the team in front of them. Glenn Hall would be 3-8-1 with this group of skaters.

This is a franchise that has been dreadful at protecting leads in the final minutes for 4 years... the same period that the new "core" stepped in to take over for the Cup Winning vets.

And, there is absolutely no help in site, unless you want to hold on to a prayer that they will go on another 15 game franchise record setting winning streak playing far above their talent level, while giving more effort than they ever have night after night.

Brutal... but Armstrong is 100 percent responsible for his failure and its probably pretty clear that the Blues need a new, fresh voice from outside the org. I love Army for what he did previously, but he destroyed the franchise post-Cup/Post-COVid and didn't need to.

[Mr.Snuggleupagus]

Hopefully a lesson was learned: Don't skip the bridge deals or handout NTCs, unless they are earned.

[TheHighHat]

Nice write up Lloyd.

I agree with most of your take.
I'm not going to rehash the Petro fiasco, but his departure closed the window.
I had no issue with trading ROR or Tank.

The correct slotting of your players is so important to a team's success.
When you have too many players playing on lines or pairs higher than their talent and/or style of play dictate, you have at best a mediocre team and at worst a bottom 8 team.

To expound on our blue line.
As you correctly pointed out, Parayko is not a #1.
No way anyone can consider him a #1 since he doesn't play on the PP.
However, Florida has the proven the last two years that you can win it all with three #2 or #3 type d-men.
Forsling, Montour, & Ekblad in 24 and then Jones took Monty's spot in 25. None of those guys are #1's

Parayko at 6.5 isn't the problem.
The problem is the Blues don't have another d-man that can be considered a #3, let alone a #2.
Broberg might graduate soon.
Fowler and Faulk are at best #4's as they wind down their careers.

Don't have time to break down the mess up front, but your take is very similar to mine.
I was never a fan of Buch though.