Toronto's trade proposal for Schenner

[bluetunehead]

2019 was the only year I could remember in the playoffs when I wasn’t worried about the goaltending. I had zero worries. It was so odd and I can’t explain it. The fear of a weak goal breaking our backs wasn’t there anymore.

That’s when I knew that team was different and had a chance.

Does that make sense or did anyone else feel that way or was it just me?

Nah, I’m a major league level worrier when it comes to the Blues. Even when Binny had his otherworldly run in 2019, I feared the worst. A soft goal, a defenseman hitting a rut, falling and allowing a breakaway, a bad bounce off the glass to right in front of our net — I had been conditioned after 52 years of fandom to expect the worst! I can empathize with Buffalo Sabres fans.

I felt sick to my stomach the entire finals until we were up 3-0 in Game 7.

[LuvthaBlues]

2019 was the only year I could remember in the playoffs when I wasn’t worried about the goaltending. I had zero worries. It was so odd and I can’t explain it. The fear of a weak goal breaking our backs wasn’t there anymore.

That’s when I knew that team was different and had a chance.

Does that make sense or did anyone else feel that way or was it just me?

Nah, I’m a major league level worrier when it comes to the Blues. Even when Binny had his otherworldly run in 2019, I feared the worst. A soft goal, a defenseman hitting a rut, falling and allowing a breakaway, a bad bounce off the glass to right in front of our net — I had been conditioned after 52 years of fandom to expect the worst! I can empathize with Buffalo Sabres fans.

You are definitely not alone dhb...I felt the same way. That year just felt...different. No worry that leads would be blown or that we were ever out of a game. It was really weird...in a good way!

[BluesDom]

Toronto's proposal; never happened imo.

[moose-and-squirrel]

Toronto's proposal; never happened imo.

yeah.. take Blues Digest with a grain of salt

[crookedfeeder]

Toronto's proposal; never happened imo.

yeah.. take Blues Digest with a grain of salt

yeah, all fun talk. IMO Boston got the get in Fraser Minten. Would have been a great replacement for Schenn.

[Frank Underwood]

Toronto's proposal; never happened imo.

As much as I think Brad Treliving is a complete moron……..I 100% agree, that offer never happened.

[juan good eye]

I go back and forth on this, but ultimately my dream would have been to keep as much of the gang together as possible. Would've rather just kept Ed for half the price and give Petro 9mil. No Krug, keep Dunn. Make them choose between Tarasenko, UFA Schwartz (who we should've re-signed), Ed, Sunny, and Blais. No Saad. No Buch.

But alas, we have a decent prospect pool and some good young NHL players, looking to move forward.

Oh and as far as the Shatty trade... This is interesting... Yes, he nixed a deal for Drouin, but the 1st we got for him was used in the deal for Schenn!

With Shattenkirk it was less that he blocked deals and more that he was intent on hitting free agency (with his heart in NY). He didn’t have a NTC to use like Schenn could. But his eventual destination depended on whether a team wanted him longterm or as a rental. It’s pretty well reported that the Blues could have had either Drouin or Hall if Shattenkirk had been willing to sign extensions with Tampa or Edmonton. But he didn’t block deals with a NTC.

Thanks for that reminder! I'm fine with the results. Hall might've been nice though...

Yeah Drouin has been serviceable but never great. Hall would have been nice but no telling if we win the Cup that way.

In retrospect Shattenkirk’s best bet was agreeing to an extend with Tampa. His time in NY was a bust and he ended up there eventually anyway.

Drouin didn’t live up to his hype. That was back in the zero offense days for the Blues and Hitch. IIRC Hall had a pretty good season with NJD not too long after. Honestly not a big fan of him or Drouin but Shatty never showed up in the playoffs and the Blues needed a finisher like Hall. Do the Blues win a Cup sooner? I don’t think so. We see what a difference an elite shut down ROR and resilient Binnie made and the Blues still almost lost to the Stars in 7.

Good points, Juan, and I’ll add that two other keys were Schwartz playing on fire plus the incredible performance of the 4th line of Sunny, Steen, and Barbashev.

For the attempts Schwartz couldn’t get it past Quick he made up for it in 2019. Regarding shots JS is a good example of quantity over quality and why a longer Cup window allows for the breaks to even out.

Crazy because Schwartz was absolutley snake bitten all year. Easily his worst season as a Blue. Then come the playoffs and Schwartz scores more goals than he did the entire regular season. It all came together at the right time for the Blues to finally win the Cup

So many things had to come together here’s a few off the top:

- Schwartz getting hot as mentioned
- Binnie famously coming out of nowhere
- ROR reaching his ceiling
- Vladdie’s shoulder hanging on for SCF G7
- Jaybo finally getting healthy
- Blais and Barby running into everything
- Benn missing the G7 wrap around
- Sharks banged up (probably best team if healthy goalie was sus)

The Jets scared me the most. After the Blues beat them I thought anything was possible…and I never really had that quiet confidence before in the team.

Great post, Juan. But I must admit I never had that quiet confidence you had, even after beating the Jets in the first round. Being a Blues fan since 1968, I had been disappointed so many times that I figured we would come up short somehow, some way. Once the Blues beat SJ for their 12th win, each game seemed to finally reach new territory. 12 wins, then 1st ever win in the finals, then first game ever played in June, etc.

Then when we lost Game 6 at home, I just KNEW we would not only lose, but lose badly in Boston.

When Zach Sanford scored the 4th goal in Boston, I was finally confident. But it sure as hell wasn’t quiet confidence! My neighbors probably thought the screaming was domestic violence. (I live in San Antonio, so not many hockey fans here).

Thank you. Been to SA once during August. Melted on the river walk.

I celebrated the Cup win in Nashville of all places. Screw the Preds. A stranger bought me a glass of champagne as the game ended, nice memory.

Btw that was the only time I recall feeling that way regarding a Blues Cup run. 90s kid. Sounds kooky but they just had that team of destiny feel. 2011 Cards had it too. They had the talent; not all of it but a good mix. They had the experience. They had been counted out yet remained resilient. Stressful to watch as a fan but fun to relive!

Key thing for me even when I feel confident like that I don’t utter a word about it to a person. “Don’t count your chickens…” It’s not like the Blues were this years Avs or the 2001 Rams…oops. Every victory was hard earned and came with a price. Total team effort.

Regarding G6 against Boston I didn’t feel good about that one going in. The Blues played better as underdogs and winning on home ice seemed too good to be true…and it was! Idr how I felt about Game 7 other than Boston was scary. However I knew the Blues (road team) could lean on “anything can happen”. And Boston probably should’ve won that game but oh well not our problem

On the other end the G7 last second goal last season by the Jets didn’t catch me by surprise. Of course the way it was given up probably didn’t surprise anyone who watched the team all season

Yeah, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised at the Game 6 outcome, since we (bleep) our pants at home in Game 3. Yeah, I was there in person. I spent $3,800 for 4 tickets, paid for my 2 adult sons flights to STL, and drove all the way from SA to STL to see Game 3 in person where we lost 7-2. Seems fitting since the last time I attended a Blues game in the Finals was Game 1 in 1970 where we lost 6-1, the same 5 goal differential against the same Boston Bruins. The afternoon that Jacques Plante took a slap shot from Fred Stanfield in the head. (Total silence in The Arena when that happened).

Of course, me and my high school buddy only drove 10 miles from North County, and we sure as hell didn’t have to spend $3,800! Upper Circle seats for that game were probably only about $30. Of course, you had to stand in line forever at The Arena parking lot to buy those precious tix! Easy enough for two 16-year-olds! No StubHub or Ticketmaster robbery.

Ah the good ol’ days.

Indeed. Wish I couldn’t witnessed a game at the arena.