Toughness and lack there of

bluecard04 · Post by **bluecard04** » 24 Jan 2026 08:35 am

Proberg and Parayko tried to poke check the puck instead of body checking Robertson and taking him off the puck!
Not to mention Joseph just standing there looking at the scorer as he skates head on to our goalie.
The mental and physical toughness of this Blues team should be on blast in the media.
This years team is so disappointing!

gpe13579 · Post by **gpe13579** » 24 Jan 2026 08:41 am

Their lack of true grit (not contrived fights) is glaring and has been for some time. They just don't have guys that have that in their nature.

I thought Neighbors was supposed to be this wrecking ball. I don't see a lot of that.

Inglewood Jack · Post by **Inglewood Jack** » 24 Jan 2026 09:52 am

One reason I am looking forward to Carbo. Need some fullbacks with skill, and the D used to be a team effort....

Parayko seems like a really nice guy, and Bro has skill, but does not have the body frame for being physical. He looks like he isnt wearing shoulder pads. Do not want him to be overly physical, but one of those guys shoulda stepped into the path. "You shall not pass!!!!!"

Just imagine if Schenn were traded, Tucker and Walker do not have enough skill combined with their physicality to give em minutes. One reason why Ovi is one of my all time favs, true complete "hockey" player on O. We need some "hate that guy, wish he were on my team" guys. So few these days..

ManitobaBlues · Post by **ManitobaBlues** » 24 Jan 2026 10:14 am

Neighbours is the one that’s got me confused. It feels like either someone’s telling him to change his game, or he’s just not sure what’s being asked of him. He’s definitely not the same player we saw last year.

So yeah, I hate to say it, but when you see stuff like that, it makes you wonder if there’s something going on in the room with these guys.

Old_Goat · Post by **Old_Goat** » 24 Jan 2026 10:18 am

Inglewood Jack wrote: ↑24 Jan 2026 09:52 am One reason I am looking forward to Carbo. Need some fullbacks with skill, and the D used to be a team effort....

Parayko seems like a really nice guy, and Bro has skill, but does not have the body frame for being physical. He looks like he isnt wearing shoulder pads. Do not want him to be overly physical, but one of those guys shoulda stepped into the path. "You shall not pass!!!!!"

Just imagine if Schenn were traded, Tucker and Walker do not have enough skill combined with their physicality to give em minutes. One reason why Ovi is one of my all time favs, true complete "hockey" player on O. We need some "hate that guy, wish he were on my team" guys. So few these days..

Amen. And you don't necessarily need Rempe or other goons. Opponents have to be, need to be thinking to themselves on every shift, "Man this is going to be hard night, these guys just hound us, exhaust us, finish every play, there's no break!"
Perhaps a guy like this in the vicinity of the bench could set an inspirational example regarding showing up. --

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/ba ... -from-gym/

theograce · Post by **theograce** » 24 Jan 2026 11:21 am

Broberg with never be tough, but come on man…at least play hard on your stick. He has been pathetic at times

93 · Post by 93 » 24 Jan 2026 12:07 pm

The broadcast team has mentioned on quite a few occassions this year that we are physically pushed around.

I want some guys that don't like losing and are miserable to play against. I like Walker for what he is, but realistically dude just isn't big enough to play that rough style night in and night out and stay healthy and if he isn't playing that style he is of no use.

The one piece about Lucic was that if he is on the bench the other team just doesn't know what the heck he will do and he would have no issue running you through the boards at all. It's a shame dude didn't have it anymore.

a smell of green grass · Post by **a smell of green grass** » 24 Jan 2026 12:18 pm

We don't have skill and speed. "We have toughness instead" is what they say.

Just don't look at the roster if you believe it. In truth, we have neither.

john3186 · Post by **john3186** » 24 Jan 2026 12:22 pm

That’s why I hope there’s some truth to Hurricanes offering Nikishin for a top line player(Thomas). He’s exactly the type of physical presence this team has lacked for a long time.

11WSChamps · Post by **11WSChamps** » 24 Jan 2026 12:46 pm

I've said for the past two plus seasons what is the identity of this team?

Its not physical and it sure as hell isn't a skilled finesse unit.

In a word its just bad.

That game winning goal last night was pathetic. We have a top defensive pairing on the ice and Robertson just walks in there like a morning skate.

I dare someone to find a goal like that in a tie game with a minute left on video somewhere.

At least other bad Blues teams had some interesting characters you would at least watch for but no one even comes close to that with this collection of slugs.

rezero · Post by **rezero** » 24 Jan 2026 13:20 pm

Too many players are given a free pass on this team for not using their body. Heck Kyrou had more hits than Buch last season yet people seem to think Buch is tough. Buch is one of the softest players in the league and goes out of his way to avoid contact. I thought the toughest 3 players on the team last year were Walker, Schenn, and Bolduc. Granted some of Bolduc’s hits were illegal, it at least he was not scared to mix it up. It feels like Neighbors had that edge when he started and was making an impact around the net. Now with nobody being held accountable for their play, Neighbors is playing softer as why sacrifice yourself when other on the team are not committed. Monte needs to go.

smilinjoefission · Post by **smilinjoefission** » 24 Jan 2026 13:27 pm

ManitobaBlues wrote: ↑24 Jan 2026 10:14 am Neighbours is the one that’s got me confused. It feels like either someone’s telling him to change his game, or he’s just not sure what’s being asked of him. He’s definitely not the same player we saw last year.

So yeah, I hate to say it, but when you see stuff like that, it makes you wonder if there’s something going on in the room with these guys.

Neighbours got paid...not saying that's the problem.

Hazelwood72 · Post by **Hazelwood72** » 24 Jan 2026 13:41 pm

Parayko’s response to Robertson looked like one of the defensemen in my beer league. Stick your stick out and hope for the best.

But I can excuse my beer league buddies because A) it was a no check league and B) we all had jobs to go to the next day.

Nobody touched Robertson and Binnington got hung out to dry.

Jeezus, is this team ever weak?!?!

a smell of green grass · Post by **a smell of green grass** » 24 Jan 2026 14:07 pm

Hazelwood72 wrote: ↑24 Jan 2026 13:41 pm Parayko’s response to Robertson looked like one of the defensemen in my beer league. Stick your stick out and hope for the best.

But I can excuse my beer league buddies because A) it was a no check league and B) we all had jobs to go to the next day.

Nobody touched Robertson and Binnington got hung out to dry.

Jeezus, is this team ever weak?!?!

Can somebody send the last 2 seconds of video of the Robertson game-winning goal to Canada? It would make them feel better to know that Binnington had his "elbows up", until they noticed that Parayko has his "elbows down".

JoshInFenton · Post by **JoshInFenton** » 24 Jan 2026 14:57 pm

The identity of this team should be to fly into the zone in transition, get a puck on goal, and send waves of players after. Not pretty but effective a lot of the time, because the first guy might no have his shot kicked out far enough or saved clean, and that means the 2nd guy is walking into a potential half open net scenario.

The powerplay should be a lot of quick touch passes, 1-3 of them, and then a shot happens regardless. You don't diagnose why pass #5 or #6 got intercepted when it fails, you diagnose how they defended the setup and change the formation slightly for the next powerplay to take advantage of what they are doing. It's a chess game, and we are starting with a predictable setup.

We have a few people with toughness, and tbh it's not like other teams have a huge amount of it on their top line guys, just that their secondary players have more of it. we prioritized speed and transition from a defensive perspective outside of tucker, so you just kinda live with some goals going in on situations where other teams might have had a big defensemen smash someone for going to that part of the ice. Just not taking advantage of what we are built for at all at this point, which is on the coach, and not starting the year with enough effort forcing that change, which is on the players

gpe13579 · Post by **gpe13579** » 24 Jan 2026 16:09 pm

I define toughness as a player with size that is able to extract the puck from the opposition physically, hold the puck, make the opposition "look over their shoulder" (thereby creating turnovers) and if needed is a willing and effective fighter.

I don't see one of those on the roster. It's not always about fighting but it is about making the opponent hate playing against them.

Sure, they have a few guys that are respected but none that are feared for the reasons listed above.

Are Schenn, Neighbors, Toropchenko (puke) for example, respected? I'm sure they are. Are they feared? Not at all.

That's just my definition. Others may see it differently but that's my definition.

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