Real talk..Holloway/thomas/snuggy

[diehardbluesfan1]

Great line or padding stats vs ahl lineups and bad teams?

I definitely think they are good but everyone keeps posting that graph showing they are the top line. Not sure I buy that, but good nonetheless.

I think a lot has to do with Snuggy. He seemed to figure it out after the break and shooting non stop. More confidence and comfortable.

Let’s hope he builds on this and get hose three stay healthy.

[Rollin' on the River]

Great line or padding stats vs ahl lineups and bad teams?

I definitely think they are good but everyone keeps posting that graph showing they are the top line. Not sure I buy that, but good nonetheless.

I think a lot has to do with Snuggy. He seemed to figure it out after the break and shooting non stop. More confidence and comfortable.

Let’s hope he builds on this and get hose three stay healthy.

Padding stats against teams out of contention IMO.

[Walter Sobchak00]

Go look at their game logs, the "chart" showing they were the number 1 line doesn't match up with the "doing it against AHL or teams out of it" narrative.

Well know next year if they can replicate it but what they did this year wasn't just a stat pad against bad teams.

There played 2 games against teams resting players, that stats are based on over 20 games

[Harry York 37]

Great line or padding stats vs ahl lineups and bad teams?

I definitely think they are good but everyone keeps posting that graph showing they are the top line. Not sure I buy that, but good nonetheless.

I think a lot has to do with Snuggy. He seemed to figure it out after the break and shooting non stop. More confidence and comfortable.

Let’s hope he builds on this and get hose three stay healthy.

Those three are a great NHL first line.
Few lines are faster, more talented, or more urgent.
Were their stats somewhat inflated? Possibly.
But anyone with eyes and a modicum of hockey IQ was extremely impressed.
The haters are still BUTTHURT from poo pooing the greatest offer sheet heist in the history of the NHL.

Try some ointment, Trollin.
You were spectacularly stupid with your original call and your bitterness is not improving that dumb[ash] look.

[Walter Sobchak00]

Great line or padding stats vs ahl lineups and bad teams?

I definitely think they are good but everyone keeps posting that graph showing they are the top line. Not sure I buy that, but good nonetheless.

I think a lot has to do with Snuggy. He seemed to figure it out after the break and shooting non stop. More confidence and comfortable.

Let’s hope he builds on this and get hose three stay healthy.

Padding stats against teams out of contention IMO.

I excluded the Pittsburgh and Minnesota games because they fielded AHL teams but Thomas as 10 points in the last 5 games against playoff teams. Holloway 8 points and Snuggerud 5 points.

[Jeff Goldblum]

Can we please S[top] T[hose] F[raudulent] U[tterances] with this dstupud notion that teams dont play their A game against the Blues and thats why they put up numbers the last 2 months of the season? Do you realize how [fork]ing stupid you sound?

[LGB73]

Can we please S[top] T[hose] F[raudulent] U[tterances] with this dstupud notion that teams dont play their A game against the Blues and thats why they put up numbers the last 2 months of the season? Do you realize how [fork]ing stupid you sound?

It would be interesting to see the breakdown of #1goalies vs backups that the Blues faced after the break.

[Jeff Goldblum]

Can we please S[top] T[hose] F[raudulent] U[tterances] with this dstupud notion that teams dont play their A game against the Blues and thats why they put up numbers the last 2 months of the season? Do you realize how [fork]ing stupid you sound?

It would be interesting to see the breakdown of #1goalies vs backups that the Blues faced after the break.

Few teams even have a strict #1 these days. Especially with the condensed schedule.

[bluetunehead]

Great line or padding stats vs ahl lineups and bad teams?

I definitely think they are good but everyone keeps posting that graph showing they are the top line. Not sure I buy that, but good nonetheless.

I think a lot has to do with Snuggy. He seemed to figure it out after the break and shooting non stop. More confidence and comfortable.

Let’s hope he builds on this and get hose three stay healthy.

Padding stats against teams out of contention IMO.

You can make that argument on the last game or two, sure, but they were one of the best lines in the league post-Olympic break. Not a small sample size (not a huge one either).

There were only about 8 teams who were well and truly out of contention for more than about a week. Everybody else still trying to eke out a playoff spot until the last few days of the season.

[Sudsy 11]

Both things can be true at the same time. I don't like what Army said because the line clearly played well for a long stretch of time so why completely dismiss their accomplishments? At the same time, the Blues played many games in that period of time vs.oppenents backup goalies and were playing with little or no pressure on them. I just hope they don't trade Thomas. He's really the one that creates most of the offense when healthy.

[callitwhatyouwant]

The good thing was that the line played good against Great lines and Bad lines. People get too caught up in this. But there are players who play well when the competition is low. There are players who rise to the occasion and only show up when it's high. If you have players that are doing both, then you are talking about someone you can rely on. The Blues haven't had this for years. They still don't have this. What they know now is that the line was the best line in hockey for a minimum of 200 minutes players together for the season. But they are comparing themselves at nearly 300 minutes to lines that were playing together from 480-600. They need to show they can do it for 60+ games, Not 25

[Army's Mom]

Are they head and shoulders better than any other line in hockey over a full 84 game season? No.
Did they perform like that for the last 30 games? Yes.
Does that mean they're probably among the top 10-15 lines in hockey going into next year? Probably.
Will they perform like it over a full 84 games?

That's the million dollar question we're asking about them, and the rest of the team. But Monty would be a fool not to try to put them back together to start the year.

[DawgDad]

A lot of fretting over nothing. All three of those guys are good players, they've proven that over their careers. Snuggy might suffer from a sophomore slump (or he may not) but is this organization going to throw in the towel on him? Highly unlikely. Holloway flashed his game for the whole world in a moment in the SC finals and when healthy he's the same dynamic player for the Blues. Those guys create offense and finish, they make their linemates better, and they defend.

All they need to do is stay on the ice, reasonably healthy.

[callitwhatyouwant]

Are they head and shoulders better than any other line in hockey over a full 84 game season? No.
Did they perform like that for the last 30 games? Yes.
Does that mean they're probably among the top 10-15 lines in hockey going into next year? Probably.
Will they perform like it over a full 84 games?

That's the million dollar question we're asking about them, and the rest of the team. But Monty would be a fool not to try to put them back together to start the year.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Granted, I don't think it was all on him, as Army admitted he was sending the wrong guys to play in preseason when the other team was playing AHL guys or vice versa. But the Kyrou/Schenn/Hollywood line had real chemistry last year and they kept trying to put Suter on that line. I don't necessarily know why they did that, other than maybe they felt that Schenn was better equipped to try and play with Neighbours and they would be the "responsible" line. But those 2nd and 3rd lines were in a blender early and then quickly snuggy got demoted so the top line got all out of wack.

I think Monty learns from his mistakes. He's a pretty admittedly introspective coach and shares when he thinks he got it wrong. And he said earlier in the year he has always been fluid with his lines everywhere he's been but it didn't work with this group so maybe the young guys needed consistency.

[Tony Palazzolo]

They are without a doubt one of the best lines in hockey the last 20 or so games. It really doesn't matter. Next year is a new year and they might not work as well. Everyone had the Kyrou, Holloway and Schenn line penciled to start this year and they didn't work. What matters is those 3 players will make contributions no matter what line they end up on. We just need more than one line lighting it up.

[LGB73]

That's the million dollar question we're asking about them, and the rest of the team. But Monty would be a fool not to try to put them back together to start the year.

I've posted this before but I think Holloway should be paired with Dvorsky. Dvorsky isn't the fastest so giving him a skilled winger(or two) with speed will help his play and development. Holloway also is a decent enough passer to compliment Dvorsky being more of a shooter than distributor. I think this gives you the foundation for two strong lines which we need to be a playoff team. The question will be who are the other wingers on these two lines. Not sure the medium term answers are ready yet in Stenberg(w/Thomas-Snuggerud) and Carbonneau(w/Holloway-Dvorsky) or player to be drafted this year. The guys you might tap for it now are Neighbours and Buch which doesn't thrill me much as I think both would better serve us on the 3rd line with Suter.