Blues D stats arent that bad, goaltending has hurt

[Hazelwood72]

Just checking out some to the Blues stats this morning, interesting results

Blues are about in the middle of the pack in Shots Against, 16th in the NHL, rather stingy on most nights
9th best in overall Scoring Chances Against
Goals against has been bad, 127 tied for 4th worst
Blues are however around 11th best in the NHL with HDCA, they dont tend to give up a whole lot of dangerous chances
Blues however are 2nd worst HDSV% behind Vegas 77.7% so an alarming amount of HDSCs beat the goalie.

As we see there have been a lot of tap ins, slam dunk goals against but this is a major indicator of how bad Binnie has been this year with an .866 save pct. You can count on Binnie giving up one or two bad goals against every start.

We also see Parayko/Broberg at 3rd in the NHL in total dzone starts as a duo. Their on ice save pct is pretty good at 91.3% so they are taking a lot of tough match ups every night they dont get scored on very often. Obviously Fowler/Mallioux has been on the other extreme only an 85% on ice save pct

Longterm if the Blues can score more goals (tied for 6th fewest goals scored) AND get better goaltending (Hofer) you can see an identity start to emerge. The gameplan can work but the pieces arent there

Hiya Harry!

Good post and I agree with your take.

However, you got the wrong number on Blues goals against. We are currently 138 GF vs 192 GA = minus 54.

We are 3rd worst GA right now.

Vancouver 199 GA and also minus 54. Anaheim 193 GA but only minus 12 as they’ve scored a lot more than us. Toronto 190
GA is 4th worst and a minus 11.

Yep im sorry i was looking at 5v5 not all situations good catch

Aha. Got it, thanks. The 5v5 is also a good data point on our defensive problems.

[Hazelwood72]

If we are comparing the D corps to the 2019 and the 2020 teams, one needs to keep in mind that we also lost Bouwmeester. He was steady, made very few mistakes and could be counted on in critical situations. He also ate up minutes. Parayko is the closest we've come yet to replace him. And similar to JBo, Parayko has sacrificed offense.

Petro was a huge loss.

Yeah Bouw of course. Gunnarsson, Dunn, Bortuzzo too. The whole D corps was big, rangy, strong sticks, good skaters, etc. The Blues controlled the tempo of the game with that unit. That's what an elite blueline can do.

Raton, you are spot on, and I’ve been saying this for a long time. It wasn’t just Petro. It was the whole D-corps! Bortuzzo was the smallest and he’s 6’1”! They were a big, skilled, tough, and mobile group.

[Harry S Deals]

Those guys are coming on the D side, let it play out

Ralph 6'4" 220
Jiricek 6'3" 190
Broberg 6'4" 210
Mailloux 6'3" 215
Lindstein 6' 198
Burns 6'2" 208
Fischer 6'3" 190

[Bob39]

What do the metrics look like on puck possession? Seems like they can't hold onto the puck for more than a few seconds.

[skilles]

Its really hard to even evaluate anything else when the goaltending sucks.

[DawgDad]

Its really hard to even evaluate anything else when the goaltending sucks.

It's really hard to evaluate the goaltending when the team in front, all lines, is standing around like orange cones.

Same goaltending in the first half of the game and the second. Tell me, what was the difference?

[Harry S Deals]

Its really hard to even evaluate anything else when the goaltending sucks.

It's really hard to evaluate the goaltending when the team in front, all lines, is standing around like orange cones.

Same goaltending in the first half of the game and the second. Tell me, what was the difference?

Not to simplify it but we were all over the Preds, the Preds found their feet and pummeled the Blues in their own crease during the 2nd half. Faulk ended up being a -1 but it seemed to me Faulk got abused in the 2nd half of the game. The Preds have some fairly high end talent they came out the Blues, the Blues couldnt respond.

Bad beat but in the big picture im resigned to the fact that the Blues need a high draft pick this year. The next 26 games could be ugly but we are only 7 months away from the start of the season!

[clemonsonroots]

Don't shoot and Don't save...bad combo.

[skilles]

Its really hard to even evaluate anything else when the goaltending sucks.

It's really hard to evaluate the goaltending when the team in front, all lines, is standing around like orange cones.

Same goaltending in the first half of the game and the second. Tell me, what was the difference?

I'm not talking about 1 game, hard to evaluate anything in one game.

If I had to evaluate one game I'd say coaching was the difference here.

[Cahokanut]

From the beginning. We was to go as far, as goaltending would take us. Thanks for confirming.

We need not spend assets on defense.

Those that talk of our defensive needs, without having seen much of the many twenty something year old guys playing in the A. Are just speaking company line.

With way to many drafted defenders being overlooked by Army/management throughout the years. There's no doubt we have at least two under 24yo over 20yo defenders in the A. that could and giving some opportunity, would fill in top defensive roles in this and many teams.

[Harry S Deals]

From the beginning. We was to go as far, as goaltending would take us. Thanks for confirming.

We need not spend assets on defense.

Those that talk of our defensive needs, without having seen much of the many twenty something year old guys playing in the A. Are just speaking company line.

With way to many drafted defenders being overlooked by Army/management throughout the years. There's no doubt we have at least two under 24yo over 20yo defenders in the A. that could and giving some opportunity, would fill in top defensive roles in this and many teams.

I should have noted this was a 5v5 analysis. I wouldnt do anything more than a fringe veteran dman, i mentioned perhaps Luke Schenn.

Its going to be

Broberg, Fowler (i would trade him), Tucker, Lindstein
Parayko, Jiricek, Mailloux, veteran hopefully I would trade Faulk asap

Maybe another kid impresses, Burns, Ralph either of those guys would be great outcomes that soon.

[Hockey Pete]

From the beginning. We was to go as far, as goaltending would take us. Thanks for confirming.

We need not spend assets on defense.

Those that talk of our defensive needs, without having seen much of the many twenty something year old guys playing in the A. Are just speaking company line.

With way to many drafted defenders being overlooked by Army/management throughout the years. There's no doubt we have at least two under 24yo over 20yo defenders in the A. that could and giving some opportunity, would fill in top defensive roles in this and many teams.

I should have noted this was a 5v5 analysis. I wouldnt do anything more than a fringe veteran dman, i mentioned perhaps Luke Schenn.

Its going to be

Broberg, Fowler (i would trade him), Tucker, Lindstein
Parayko, Jiricek, Mailloux, veteran hopefully I would trade Faulk asap

Maybe another kid impresses, Burns, Ralph either of those guys would be great outcomes that soon.

Agree with this.

To be honest, and this point in a few of the players careers, we only have two defenders I would consider top 4 in Parayko and Broberg. I've lost all faith in Faulk, and Fowler is very situational. Tucker is a solid 3rd pairing with limited mobility and I'm not sure Mailoux has the noodle to be an NHL defender (we'll see how he does the rest of the season). Next season should be interesting.

Regarding tending. Once a team loses faith in their tender, everything changes. Defenders are deeper trying to stop everything, making a break-out that much harder. Once forwards lose possession it becomes a scramble to get back to the defensive zone instead of playing solid center ice hockey, and you see games where we cave in (that 3rd was hard to watch) and it becomes a defensive zone free-for-all.

Until something happens in goal, we're not going anywhere.

[d--train]

Its really hard to even evaluate anything else when the goaltending sucks.

It's really hard to evaluate the goaltending when the team in front, all lines, is standing around like orange cones.

Same goaltending in the first half of the game and the second. Tell me, what was the difference?

I'm not talking about 1 game, hard to evaluate anything in one game.

If I had to evaluate one game I'd say coaching was the difference here.

This is one area I really feel the on ice leadership is lacking.

They need someone to keep them on an even keel.

[Blues Dave]

If we are comparing the D corps to the 2019 and the 2020 teams, one needs to keep in mind that we also lost Bouwmeester. He was steady, made very few mistakes and could be counted on in critical situations. He also ate up minutes. Parayko is the closest we've come yet to replace him. And similar to JBo, Parayko has sacrificed offense.

Petro was a huge loss.

Yeah Bouw of course. Gunnarsson, Dunn, Bortuzzo too. The whole D corps was big, rangy, strong sticks, good skaters, etc. The Blues controlled the tempo of the game with that unit. That's what an elite blueline can do.

Exactly. Nail hit upon the head.

[bud white]

If we are comparing the D corps to the 2019 and the 2020 teams, one needs to keep in mind that we also lost Bouwmeester. He was steady, made very few mistakes and could be counted on in critical situations. He also ate up minutes. Parayko is the closest we've come yet to replace him. And similar to JBo, Parayko has sacrificed offense.

Petro was a huge loss.

Yeah Bouw of course. Gunnarsson, Dunn, Bortuzzo too. The whole D corps was big, rangy, strong sticks, good skaters, etc. The Blues controlled the tempo of the game with that unit. That's what an elite blueline can do.

Exactly. Nail hit upon the head.

The fundamental flaw I always call out when discussing the "smaller, quicker, more agile" defenseman concept is range and reach. While this player can compete - and often thrive at the D1 level - the NHL game requires sticks in lanes for disruption. Perunovich being a prime example. He just isn't big enough - or quick enough - to play D in the NHL. And frankly I honestly don't know if even a Phil Housley could play in today's league in spite of his exceptional talent.

Perunovich is in the A this year, by the way.