The season, the schedule, and the SC Playoffs

[bud white]

I know this opinion may be a touch far-fetched, but hear me out. Jamal Mayers commented on this not long ago, and I tend to agree.

The way the schedule was developed this year in order to accommodate the Olympic shut down has left its mark on a lot of teams - the Blues being the most obvious. But ESPN commented on how Dallas has struggled with consistency. Now players are always going to get injured over the course of the year. It is inevitable. This is a contact sport. Personally, I'd rather get the injuries out of the way before Christmas rather than during the sprint to the playoffs or during the post season. But the compressed schedule leaves little to no time for recovery. I think a lot of what has been happening is the result of guys trying to get back into the lineup before they are fully healed given so many other players have been injured.

The Blues will be one of those teams who won't have too many headed to Milan - Cortina and that may be a blessing in disguise. All that being said, this may well be the year one of the conference / division wild cards gets healthy at the right time and goes deep - maybe even win a Cup. I think the standings are evidence of the fact that a lot of teams are in the same boat. The Blues - in spite of their struggles - aren't that far out of the wild card, and all that is needed is to get into the playoffs. We'll see, of course. But I think this will be one of the more unpredictable post seasons.

[Absolut]

[bud white]

"The only thing about Dorn is that he's high priced..."

[IsDurbanodoingtime]

At basically the two thirds point of the season I have never seen a team in equipoise between making the playoffs a securing the overall pick. But we are trending even more no bueno and given we are double digits out of a playoff spot now absent an extreme heater we are toast playoff wise. This sucking to secure top pick is pretty alien and from my view frankly a lame consolation prize to cheering on a team to win. It is somewhat akin to gambling invading sports where rooting for an outcome of the game unrelated to your team winning takesover. It is fun speculating about draft picks etc. but talking to a friend who is huge Sabres fan -- the incessant tanking for [name in the blank] gets old after a season much less many ( and which is why he has his figures crossed and is so engaged for the remainder of the season).

[theograce]

At basically the two thirds point of the season I have never seen a team in equipoise between making the playoffs a securing the overall pick. But we are trending even more no bueno and given we are double digits out of a playoff spot now absent an extreme heater we are toast playoff wise. This sucking to secure top pick is pretty alien and from my view frankly a lame consolation prize to cheering on a team to win. It is somewhat akin to gambling invading sports where rooting for an outcome of the game unrelated to your team winning takesover. It is fun speculating about draft picks etc. but talking to a friend who is huge Sabres fan -- the incessant tanking for [name in the blank] gets old after a season much less many ( and which is why he has his figures crossed and is so engaged for the remainder of the season).

Yeah but your comparison is to the Sabres. The extreme end of things.

The worst thing this current team could do … is go on a heater.

[bud white]

At basically the two thirds point of the season I have never seen a team in equipoise between making the playoffs a securing the overall pick. But we are trending even more no bueno and given we are double digits out of a playoff spot now absent an extreme heater we are toast playoff wise. This sucking to secure top pick is pretty alien and from my view frankly a lame consolation prize to cheering on a team to win. It is somewhat akin to gambling invading sports where rooting for an outcome of the game unrelated to your team winning takesover. It is fun speculating about draft picks etc. but talking to a friend who is huge Sabres fan -- the incessant tanking for [name in the blank] gets old after a season much less many ( and which is why he has his figures crossed and is so engaged for the remainder of the season).

That "tanking" argument doesn't hold water. I've skated against my share of former pros. NONE of them would ever lose on purpose - they are all alphas. That is how they made it to the N. It is, however, human nature to become less motivated when the same strange s**t keeps happening day in the day out. (I direct you to Dallas' first goal last night that went off of Binnington's stick, hit the back of Mailloux, and bounced into the net.)

[seattleblue]

"we're uniquely most affected by something out of our control" (which is obviously false)
paired with the suggestion the Cup is any team's this year

we can serve ourselves the denial
however the Blues do not have enough consistent players, in a deep structural way
I do think grappling with reality is a prerequisite
not all of the fan base is there yet

[Harry York 37]

I agree with Bud that this year's schedule is a large factor in the collapse.
Holloway coming back from having one of his obliques torn off his hip, or possibly rib-cage, and trying yo ease back into the game during a meat-grinder schedule was another. He was our shining light last year- the guy who woke Kyrou up, by showing him how much fun it could be to skate hard and with purpose most of every game.
Kyrou trying to be non-chalant about his disappearance for most of the playoff series didn't help. The last thing we ever need is a more non-chalant Kyrou.
The Goalies' Swiss-cheese act in the early weeks put us over the edge.

There is even more, to this tragedy, but I am moving on.

The kids and new guys are getting fabulous touches and fabulous opportunities. Our amazingly gifted, and poised Center Iceman, who is all of 20 years old and speaks fluent Swedish, is seeing his line as the first one over the boards in many critical situations. Mailloux is passing up shots to stay in position and to work on using his teammates like a Boss. Stenberg was born to play steady NHL Hockey. Snuggerud is so close to breaking out in a big way its almost giddying.

As to the Vets-
Schenner is playing like he found his groove again.
Hofer and Binner are both getting better. Hofer is a ton better, Binner is the bad luck King who, characteristically, shows that he doesn't know how to quit.
Parayko and Broberg are overdue to score 5-10 goals each the rest of the way.

Ott is gone and the Power play might get better
Holloway is coming back and Suter is not far.

Buchnevich and Kyrou are waking each other up... a bit.


If you told Monty it was a good thing to tank, he might knock you down and then lie on the floor running in a circle like Jerome Howard, yelling maniacally," Woo-Woo-Wooo-woo-woooo"


These guys could regroup and [fork] up all the "Top Five of Die" fans, bigtime. They are a strange type of Fan. They are Fans of a non-existent Future Team that appears in their dreams. They root for the current team to fail. I get it, but it not the way I hope to root for a team.


What a season.

[stlblue06]

Well said Harry. Tanking to the bottom is far more toxic than going on a run and falling short. The condensed schedule that has created many injuries to go along with goaltending has made this team underachieve badly IMO.

This Blues team with its current core has gone on late season runs each of the last 3 seasons. Last year we almost made it to the 2nd round and that never give up mentality is much more valuable to the younger players and the core than a top 3 pick.

At this point I’d like to see a nice little run of above .500 hockey after the Olympic break when everyone is healthy but then fade off a bit falling somewhere in the #4-10 pick range. Trade off Faulk and anyone not in the future plans. Look for an overpay for Schenn but keep him if not as he’d make a great 3W or even 3C.