Is this all we have to discuss?

[DawgDad]

Slow day at the Forum, considering the fates of our universe are hanging in the balance. And no, I'm not referring to the game tonight, the next battle in the war to rid the playoffs of the fearsome mountain creatures.

Actually, tonight merely sets the course. Where the fates lead no one really knows. Enjoy the ride! LGB!

[Aesa]

Slow day at the Forum, considering the fates of our universe are hanging in the balance. And no, I'm not referring to the game tonight, the next battle in the war to rid the playoffs of the fearsome mountain creatures.

Actually, tonight merely sets the course. Where the fates lead no one really knows. Enjoy the ride! LGB!

Fear not Dawg, the conversation will likely turn somewhat interesting after tonight. The draft starts at 6:00 CST on NHLN.

[callitwhatyouwant]

I am finding myself in a holding pattern on what really matters. I hope the Blues win the lottery tonight. But I'd have more fun going to the casino myself. I'd rather get the information and start theorycrafting on what they could do after it.

Personally, what I really want to see involves things like the Blues movement with the staff. I have an opinion on why that might be taking longer than normal. Part of it has to do with them waiting on Otter. From everything I have understood, it seems like Monty likes Otter and he is well respected by the team here. He clearly wasn't the issue why the PP wasn't working. So I think there's a possibility of them waiting to see what happens with the Tbirds. The other possibility is they want to know how they want to go about their coaching based off what their strategy will be at the draft. If they decide to go all in making trades, maybe they want a more veteran coaching staff. If they decide to keep their picks, maybe they want younger development style coaching where they are more eager to work long hours but might be a little more green.

All I Know is I love Blues hockey. And I love talking all things Blues hockey. It's one of the nice outlets that I can be a fan of whether the team is doing good or bad. The reason being is that the org tries. It doesn't devolve into drama filled poorly run orgs that find themselves going 7-10-14 years until they get to their next playoffs. They also aren't trying to blame their fans or gas light the fans like the Cardinals did the last handful of years.

[STL fan in MN]

I am finding myself in a holding pattern on what really matters. I hope the Blues win the lottery tonight. But I'd have more fun going to the casino myself. I'd rather get the information and start theorycrafting on what they could do after it.

Personally, what I really want to see involves things like the Blues movement with the staff. I have an opinion on why that might be taking longer than normal. Part of it has to do with them waiting on Otter. From everything I have understood, it seems like Monty likes Otter and he is well respected by the team here. He clearly wasn't the issue why the PP wasn't working. So I think there's a possibility of them waiting to see what happens with the Tbirds. The other possibility is they want to know how they want to go about their coaching based off what their strategy will be at the draft. If they decide to go all in making trades, maybe they want a more veteran coaching staff. If they decide to keep their picks, maybe they want younger development style coaching where they are more eager to work long hours but might be a little more green.

All I Know is I love Blues hockey. And I love talking all things Blues hockey. It's one of the nice outlets that I can be a fan of whether the team is doing good or bad. The reason being is that the org tries. It doesn't devolve into drama filled poorly run orgs that find themselves going 7-10-14 years until they get to their next playoffs. They also aren't trying to blame their fans or gas light the fans like the Cardinals did the last handful of years.

Are you thinking the Blues would want Ott to return to STL as an Asst/Associate coach again? My guess is he’s offered to keep the role of Springfield Head Coach. Ott wants to be a NHL head coach and he’s more likely to eventually get there as an AHL HC than a NHL AC. That and he appears to be good at it as he’s helped the T-birds turn around their season so yeah, I expect the Blues to be very open to him staying there. Less open to him returning to STL as an Asst/Assoc.

[Old_Goat]

I am finding myself in a holding pattern on what really matters. I hope the Blues win the lottery tonight. But I'd have more fun going to the casino myself. I'd rather get the information and start theorycrafting on what they could do after it.

Personally, what I really want to see involves things like the Blues movement with the staff. I have an opinion on why that might be taking longer than normal. Part of it has to do with them waiting on Otter. From everything I have understood, it seems like Monty likes Otter and he is well respected by the team here. He clearly wasn't the issue why the PP wasn't working. So I think there's a possibility of them waiting to see what happens with the Tbirds. The other possibility is they want to know how they want to go about their coaching based off what their strategy will be at the draft. If they decide to go all in making trades, maybe they want a more veteran coaching staff. If they decide to keep their picks, maybe they want younger development style coaching where they are more eager to work long hours but might be a little more green.

All I Know is I love Blues hockey. And I love talking all things Blues hockey. It's one of the nice outlets that I can be a fan of whether the team is doing good or bad. The reason being is that the org tries. It doesn't devolve into drama filled poorly run orgs that find themselves going 7-10-14 years until they get to their next playoffs. They also aren't trying to blame their fans or gas light the fans like the Cardinals did the last handful of years.

Are you thinking the Blues would want Ott to return to STL as an Asst/Associate coach again? My guess is he’s offered to keep the role of Springfield Head Coach. Ott wants to be a NHL head coach and he’s more likely to eventually get there as an AHL HC than a NHL AC. That and he appears to be good at it as he’s helped the T-birds turn around their season so yeah, I expect the Blues to be very open to him staying there. Less open to him returning to STL as an Asst/Assoc.

+1

[BluesCup2019]

I am finding myself in a holding pattern on what really matters. I hope the Blues win the lottery tonight. But I'd have more fun going to the casino myself. I'd rather get the information and start theorycrafting on what they could do after it.

Personally, what I really want to see involves things like the Blues movement with the staff. I have an opinion on why that might be taking longer than normal. Part of it has to do with them waiting on Otter. From everything I have understood, it seems like Monty likes Otter and he is well respected by the team here. He clearly wasn't the issue why the PP wasn't working. So I think there's a possibility of them waiting to see what happens with the Tbirds. The other possibility is they want to know how they want to go about their coaching based off what their strategy will be at the draft. If they decide to go all in making trades, maybe they want a more veteran coaching staff. If they decide to keep their picks, maybe they want younger development style coaching where they are more eager to work long hours but might be a little more green.

All I Know is I love Blues hockey. And I love talking all things Blues hockey. It's one of the nice outlets that I can be a fan of whether the team is doing good or bad. The reason being is that the org tries. It doesn't devolve into drama filled poorly run orgs that find themselves going 7-10-14 years until they get to their next playoffs. They also aren't trying to blame their fans or gas light the fans like the Cardinals did the last handful of years.

Are you thinking the Blues would want Ott to return to STL as an Asst/Associate coach again? My guess is he’s offered to keep the role of Springfield Head Coach. Ott wants to be a NHL head coach and he’s more likely to eventually get there as an AHL HC than a NHL AC. That and he appears to be good at it as he’s helped the T-birds turn around their season so yeah, I expect the Blues to be very open to him staying there. Less open to him returning to STL as an Asst/Assoc.

I was kind of thinking along those lines too. No idea what might be in Ott's head right now, but I would think that him showing what he's actually able to accomplish as a Head Coach looks much better on his resume' than an Asst. Coach. Looks like Ott found a way to get more out of those Thunderbirds players than they were giving before. To me personally it just seems as though Otter relates well to players.

[a smell of green grass]

I predicted the boredom, but I'll try to fix it anyway.

Here are some draft-related conversation starters. Blast away, and I'll follow.

1. Let's predict which non-STL cities will get super excited this year. Which team(s) will get the HOFers this year?

2. Let's predict how many 3rd- and 4th-liners the Blues can keep on the roster at one time.

3. Let's predict how many years it will take the 2026 draftees to reach the 3rd-line on our NHL team.

4. Let's predict how many more decades it will be before we get a TOP5 pick.

5. How many of our 1st-rounders will we have to give away to get rid of Kyrou and/or Buchnevich. We lost our 2nd-round pick getting rid of Hayes, but Kyrou and Buchnevich are heavier lifts.

[hockey jedi]

I believe things will be a lot more clear after the AHL playoffs. If Springfield goes deeper into the playoffs, he will have nothing more to prove at the AHL level. I liked what he brought the Blues. Monty seemed to value him. Otter was a large part of the 2025 turnaround. You can't hang the team's poor play on him alone. I really like him being part of the Blues organization. The T-Birds beat a very good Charlotte Checker team and is 1-1 against the best team in the league, the Providence Bruins. All of the games have been road games the Springfield, and they are finally coming home for the next couple of games. Bringing Ott back to St Louis doesn't stop Monty from hiring other coaches.

[BluesDom]

Here you go--Decisions and Discussions.

Sundqvist UFA--is he done here? I Say Yes
Holl, Justin UFA--he gone i think
Krug--last year on books. done LTIR
Kessel, Matthew RFA--is he re-signed? NAH
Pius Suter--1 year left. I say he stays.

Buch and Kyrou---Can you move them--I hope so.
Binner--one year left at 6million--is he dealt?
Drouin--1 year left--try to move him IMHO
Walker $887 2 yr left; 2.5M 2 year left- Toropchenko Both had bad years--could they be moved?

Dylan Peterson RFA--what you wanna do --promote him to Sunny's role? Re-sign? I saw ya
Loof RFA, Bordeleau RFA Make offer to Bord only
Akil Thomas UFA-Group 6, Gauthier UFA. McGing-UFA All Gone
Skinner UFA Group 6, Zherenko and Romanov are both UFA GROUP 6---sign a goalie 2 of 3 gone
Cranley RFA he sucks gone?


Candidates for Promotion:
Lindstein, Stenberg, Kaskimaki, Peterson(?)

Maybe--if surprise us or later in 26/27 Carbonneau, Jiricek?

[hockey jedi]

Goaltending: The Blues keep Binner. He's too good and has a good contract for the Blues. He may mope because he's not 1G, but he controls his playing destiny. If he plays great, he gets more playing time. If you get rid of Cranley and either Zherenko or Romanov, you have one AHL goalie. Who takes 2G in Springfield? Not only that, Zherenko crapping the bed in game one of the playoffs makes you wonder if he's not close to being an NHL goalie.

The Blues will use AHL prospects as sweeteners for trades. The Blues have a nice array of players at the AHL level, but they can't all play with the Blues. As it stands now, the Blues have twelve picks in the draft. I know they won't all get signed and most will stay with their junior teams or college, but there isn't room for everybody.

Next, Brisband Armada are playing game 7 tonight in the Q. If they lose, maybe Carbonneau and Jirisek are both with Springfield by the weekend.

[a smell of green grass]

Here you go--Decisions and Discussions.

Sundqvist UFA--is he done here? I Say Yes
Holl, Justin UFA--he gone i think
Krug--last year on books. done LTIR
Kessel, Matthew RFA--is he re-signed? NAH
Pius Suter--1 year left. I say he stays.

Buch and Kyrou---Can you move them--I hope so.
Binner--one year left at 6million--is he dealt?
Drouin--1 year left--try to move him IMHO
Walker $887 2 yr left; 2.5M 2 year left- Toropchenko Both had bad years--could they be moved?

Dylan Peterson RFA--what you wanna do --promote him to Sunny's role? Re-sign? I saw ya
Loof RFA, Bordeleau RFA Make offer to Bord only
Akil Thomas UFA-Group 6, Gauthier UFA. McGing-UFA All Gone
Skinner UFA Group 6, Zherenko and Romanov are both UFA GROUP 6---sign a goalie 2 of 3 gone
Cranley RFA he sucks gone?


Candidates for Promotion:
Lindstein, Stenberg, Kaskimaki, Peterson(?)

Maybe--if surprise us or later in 26/27 Carbonneau, Jiricek?

It's draft lottery day, and this is as good as it gets in St Louis. Absolutely NOTHING draft-related to talk about. Congrat's on the fun hockey town, St Louis. Oh well, at least we had a great March again.

Sad.

[a smell of green grass]

On those 3 goals in 1 game that our coaches called back for offsides, was it the opponent's right shoelace that was over the line? Or was it the left shoelace?

This decision was really important to the team because we probably lost 2-3 draft positions as a result of it. So let's not act like it's not important now.

[WilliamWestcliffe]

Once the draft order is set I predict a frenzy of activity from the Blues management. I do not at all expect them to make three selections in the first round.

I think we're going to see picks/players used to move up and/or sweeten packages for players/prospects.

These are the players I would expect to start seeing some heavy rumors swirling around after tonight (in no particular order):

Pavel Buchnevich - there hasn't been too much trade buzz here, but he was being demoted quite a few times towards the end of the year and there's some speculation that the org has not been happy with him after trying to pump his tires the entire first half of the season.

Jordan Kyrou - I think the change of scenery is inevitable.

Cam Fowler - age was appropriate when the team had hopes of challenging for post season. Now I think he's in the way. You might see them try to increase his trade value through the season and cash out at the trade deadline.

Colton Parayko - There's something here and potential value coming back is hard to ignore. He's been in the trade rumors several years in the making and the team seemed dead set on moving on last trade deadline. There's also something in the way that all concluded that feels like it is unfinished business.

Jordan Binnington - The experts seem to think this is inevitable. I still think he has more value on this roster than in trade, but maybe someone is going to get desperate and way overpay.

Prospects - We're not keeping the gluttony of mid to high level prospects moving through the system right now. Some of the eggs will be cracked this off season. This - for me - includes guys like Dvorsky, Carbonneau, Dean, Stenberg, Kaskimaki, Pekaricek, Stancl, Burns, Fischer, Jiricek, Lindstein, Ralph, etc.

[BluesDom]

Here you go--Decisions and Discussions.

Sundqvist UFA--is he done here? I Say Yes
Holl, Justin UFA--he gone i think
Krug--last year on books. done LTIR
Kessel, Matthew RFA--is he re-signed? NAH
Pius Suter--1 year left. I say he stays.

Buch and Kyrou---Can you move them--I hope so.
Binner--one year left at 6million--is he dealt?
Drouin--1 year left--try to move him IMHO
Walker $887 2 yr left; 2.5M 2 year left- Toropchenko Both had bad years--could they be moved?

Dylan Peterson RFA--what you wanna do --promote him to Sunny's role? Re-sign? I saw ya
Loof RFA, Bordeleau RFA Make offer to Bord only
Akil Thomas UFA-Group 6, Gauthier UFA. McGing-UFA All Gone
Skinner UFA Group 6, Zherenko and Romanov are both UFA GROUP 6---sign a goalie 2 of 3 gone
Cranley RFA he sucks gone?


Candidates for Promotion:
Lindstein, Stenberg, Kaskimaki, Peterson(?)

Maybe--if surprise us or later in 26/27 Carbonneau, Jiricek?

It's draft lottery day, and this is as good as it gets in St Louis. Absolutely NOTHING draft-related to talk about. Congrat's on the fun hockey town, St Louis. Oh well, at least we had a great March again.

Sad.

What is sad about it? Might get two real good prospects?
Stay tuned!




Im excited about the following players next year:
Robert Thomas
Dylan Holloway
Jimmy Snuggerud
Phillip Broberg
Logan Mailloux
Dalibor Dvorsky
Otto Stenberg
Theo Lindstein
and Joel Hofer

I think we will be talking about: Kaskimaki as a new addition.
Carbonneau and Jiricek as the next ones.
with a keen eye on Love Haremstam the following year. With Ralph and Fisher waiting for their chance.

Plenty of excitement. Troll always going to troll.

[DawgDad]

I don't see Binner going anywhere, nobody in the organization is pushing him out and he needs to rehabilitate himself on the stat sheet. I do see the Blues making changes at the AHL level.

My view is Lindstein and Stenberg have to play themselves out of a roster spot, and unless seas part Jiricek and Carbs start in the A, or quickly drop back. I suspect Jiricek will get the call first. I wonder how much Mailloux's early struggles will influence the Blues to be a bit conservative with Adam, leaning toward a full season in the A?

I favor Suter to stay. He was never really a problem but he was never really a solution, either. The Blues need to upgrade the PK, if they believe he helps he'll stay. He's versatile, and he needs to be.

I don't sense a real urgency to move on from Buch or Kyrou. Buch needs to reverse his downward offensive trajectory or he's vulnerable. Kyrou either has a comeback effort in him or he's ultimately gone. His normal offense is still needed but the clock is ticking as young wingers get closer.

Blues need to get more production out of the 4th line. OK, they need to simply get SOME production out of the 4th line. I like the way Toro plays but man, you have to score some goals, too. New blood is needed, or even an infusion of old blood.

As for big changes in the middle six, all things are possible but I'm not holding my breath for major changes. I think they allow DD, Lindstein, Stenberg, Mailloux another season to ripen, Buch and Kyrou a shot at rebounding, then assess where they stand. I still believe this bunch can be better but it's prove it or cut bait. Once they roll in Jiricek and Carbonneau, if they hit the NHL this season, how the team performs is anybody guess, it could be ugly.

[DoneLurking]

I don't see Binner going anywhere, nobody in the organization is pushing him out and he needs to rehabilitate himself on the stat sheet. I do see the Blues making changes at the AHL level.

My view is Lindstein and Stenberg have to play themselves out of a roster spot, and unless seas part Jiricek and Carbs start in the A, or quickly drop back. I suspect Jiricek will get the call first. I wonder how much Mailloux's early struggles will influence the Blues to be a bit conservative with Adam, leaning toward a full season in the A?

I favor Suter to stay. He was never really a problem but he was never really a solution, either. The Blues need to upgrade the PK, if they believe he helps he'll stay. He's versatile, and he needs to be.

I don't sense a real urgency to move on from Buch or Kyrou. Buch needs to reverse his downward offensive trajectory or he's vulnerable. Kyrou either has a comeback effort in him or he's ultimately gone. His normal offense is still needed but the clock is ticking as young wingers get closer.

Blues need to get more production out of the 4th line. OK, they need to simply get SOME production out of the 4th line. I like the way Toro plays but man, you have to score some goals, too. New blood is needed, or even an infusion of old blood.

As for big changes in the middle six, all things are possible but I'm not holding my breath for major changes. I think they allow DD, Lindstein, Stenberg, Mailloux another season to ripen, Buch and Kyrou a shot at rebounding, then assess where they stand. I still believe this bunch can be better but it's prove it or cut bait. Once they roll in Jiricek and Carbonneau, if they hit the NHL this season, how the team performs is anybody guess, it could be ugly.

Jiricek for sure starts in the AHL. I'm not in tune with when the rule goes into effect, will Carbs be eligible for the AHL this upcoming year or does the rule kick in the following? Even if he can be in the AHL, I think there's a spot for him in St. Louis if he can take it next year.

They might as well see what they can get for Suter. Like you said, he's not really helping the Blues. Maybe he'll help somewhere else. No one's really knocking down the door to take his roster spot, but if the trade offer is ever there, they should take it.

I think most assume Kyrou will leave. How many times do they need to try to sneak him into a role the he just doesn't fit? I fully expect he'll be very comfortable on a deeper team.