Blues Sign Berggren 1 Year $2 Million

[The Average Gatsby]

Why?

He didn't bring anything of value and now potentially blocks Carbonneau.

LOL!

Yeah his whopping 8 goals really make the differnce.

The St. Louis ginder fetish needs to be studied by psychiatrists.

Jesus tap dancing christ

You think Berggren is a grinder?

You think he is a scorer?????

Oh honey....

The term grinder doesn’t refer to any player that doesn’t score 20+ goals. It pretty explicitly means players that are known for physical play along the boards, grinding in the corners, and forechecking. That doesn’t accurately describe Berggren’s game “honey.”

So what DOES accurately describe Berggren's game?

He looks like playmaker to me. I think he’ll platoon on the 3rd line with Stenberg and maybe Suter. I’m not sure if Monty sees Suter as a 3rd line winger or a 4th line center.

[zamadoo]

Good old Steen, knowing he would be called Leery if he goofed off his first day on the job.

Now get us a RW who shoots from the right side.

Perron may still be available! Get 'er done.

Funny you say this. I was just in the car listening to 101 and Jamie Rivers said Steen would love a hundred David Perron's. Why? He played every practice like it was the Cup Final and would pisz off teammates with how hard he worked, drawing slashes and generating skirmishes.

Hmmm... Why not a one year deal as a hired gun to set Steener's tone from within on Day One and retire as a Blue?

You're speaking my language!

As far as Berggren, I've been a fan since day 1 and was slightly disappointed to hear they cut him. I figured there had to be something behind the scenes we don't know about, like he's a blockhead or worse, but here we are, and I like the direction the team is headed.

[STL fan in MN]

Good depth move. Not sure I see him as a regular. They didn't always use him as a regular last year either.

Agreed. He needs to up his consistency. But the Blues now have Dvo, Neighbours, Suter, Berggren and Stenberg all as 3rd lineish guys (I’m assuming the top-6 will mainly consist of RT, Holloway, Snuggs, McTavish, McMichael and Buch).

Looks like there will be no free lunch this season. You want to stay in the lineup consistently? Then go hard in both games and practice.

The Blues have options now. And depth in the event of injuries, which pretty much always happen. The next man up now looks pretty good now IMO.

It also gives the Blues the option of putting together a 4th line with a little different look. Let’s say the 3rd line shakes out as Neighbours-Dvo-Berggren. A 4th line of Stenberg-Suter and then one of Finley/Torpo/Walker could be a sneaky good 4th line too.

Yeah our 4th line has been a problem for a while now. This iteration has promise. The middle six still looks too squishy for my tastes against the top teams but it's the best lineup we have been able to reasonably project since 2021-22.

Agreed. Our 4th line was ok the one year we had Faksa but it’s been really below average most of the last 4 years. Torpo and Walker are good energy players but they routinely get caved in during their minutes.

[John Cocktoastin]

I like Berggren for what he is. He has skill. Decent signing.

[hockey jedi]

Carbo could play in the NHL based on the impression he made last year in camp. However, the Blues are going to let these prospects really develop in the minors where it's totally obvious they need to be brought up. We have been rushing players through the system for twenty years out of need. We don't have to do that now. You look at Detroit, Boston and Dallas' farm teams. They are competing every year for an AHL championship. We need to do that too.

[UMR-alum-05]

Suter as a 4th line center is not going to happen regularly.

Finley is the second best faceoff man on the team and the best suited to take defensive zone draws. He's also was the first penalty killer on the ice, taking those draws. Hell he was taking the overtime faceoff.

Finley is going to be the 4th center until they acquire or develop someone who can play that role better. It isn't Pius. Pius is not even really a center. He's a winger who can fill in at center.

Pius has value, lots of it, but he isn't a 4th line center.

[The Average Gatsby]

Suter as a 4th line center is not going to happen regularly.

Finley is the second best faceoff man on the team and the best suited to take defensive zone draws. He's also was the first penalty killer on the ice, taking those draws. Hell he was taking the overtime faceoff.

Finley is going to be the 4th center until they acquire or develop someone who can play that role better. It isn't Pius. Pius is not even really a center. He's a winger who can fill in at center.

Pius has value, lots of it, but he isn't a 4th line center.

Maybe. But Finley is also bad at everything that isn’t faceoffs. Suter is pretty good at pretty much everything but isn’t great at any one thing.

[hockey jedi]

Carbo could play in the NHL based on the impression he made last year in camp. However, the Blues are going to let these prospects really develop in the minors where it's totally obvious they need to be brought up. We have been rushing players through the system for twenty years out of need. We don't have to do that now. You look at Detroit, Boston and Dallas' farm teams. They are competing every year for an AHL championship. We need to do that too. Not only that, but these kids are changing systems every year for 3 or 4 years between junior, college, AHL and NHL. That is a lot of adjustments.

[netboy65]

What SHOULD happen

Holloway Thomas Snuggerud
McMichael McTavish Buch
Neighbours Dvorsky Suter
Kaskimaki Stenberg Berggren

[IsDurbanodoingtime]

Carbo could play in the NHL based on the impression he made last year in camp. However, the Blues are going to let these prospects really develop in the minors where it's totally obvious they need to be brought up. We have been rushing players through the system for twenty years out of need. We don't have to do that now. You look at Detroit, Boston and Dallas' farm teams. They are competing every year for an AHL championship. We need to do that too. Not only that, but these kids are changing systems every year for 3 or 4 years between junior, college, AHL and NHL. That is a lot of adjustments.
[/quote

But not on the impression he made in the ahl playoffs. He was frankly slow and behind the play. Clearly demonstrated he is not ready to make that jump to the nhl especially straight from the Q. Quickest way to destroy his confidence is to peg him into a rw expecting he starts producing.

[dtkblueshockey]

What SHOULD happen

Holloway Thomas Snuggerud
McMichael McTavish Buch
Neighbours Dvorsky Suter
Kaskimaki Stenberg Berggren

ehhh there's like little to no meat or hitting at all in that lineup.

[82birds]

PuckPedia
@PuckPedia

The #stlblues are signing 25 y/o F Jonatan Berggren to a 1 year $2M cap hit contract per
@emilymkaplan

$2M all Salary

Although Berggren was not QO yesterday he will still be RFA w arb upon expiry

Rep'd by Brian and Scott Bartlett
@BartlettHockey

is that Steen's first move as GM?

[netboy65]

What SHOULD happen

Holloway Thomas Snuggerud
McMichael McTavish Buch
Neighbours Dvorsky Suter
Kaskimaki Stenberg Berggren

ehhh there's like little to no meat or hitting at all in that lineup.

We were near the bottom of the league in scoring and that needs to be fixed.

[BleedingBleu]

Suter as a 4th line center is not going to happen regularly.

Finley is the second best faceoff man on the team and the best suited to take defensive zone draws. He's also was the first penalty killer on the ice, taking those draws. Hell he was taking the overtime faceoff.

Finley is going to be the 4th center until they acquire or develop someone who can play that role better. It isn't Pius. Pius is not even really a center. He's a winger who can fill in at center.

Pius has value, lots of it, but he isn't a 4th line center.

Maybe. But Finley is also bad at everything that isn’t faceoffs. Suter is pretty good at pretty much everything but isn’t great at any one thing.

I’ve been watching a lot of Godfather content lately. So, bear with me here…

Luca Brasi was the guy you didn’t want to see. He was the muscle and enforcer when negotiations failed. He was extremely loyal and dumb as a box of rocks. When Vito tried to expand that role and make him an informant, Brasi ended up sleeping with the fishes.

Like Luca Brasi, Jack Finley has a role. He’s a big Center with reach and a Right Stick. He’s a Faceoff specialist who is used on the Penalty Kill, largely to spell a playmaker like Robert Thomas from non-offensive generating opportunities.

He’s still relatively young (24) for the position, but we’re not going to confuse him with a Sniper or Dangler. He’s there to use his body to move players off the puck, win faceoffs, and likely fill-up passing lanes when they’re at their widest.

Maybe he’ll find more minutes by blinding the Goalie and working for tips, cleaning up in front of the goal, or outmaneuvering 3rd line D and creating firing lanes for the bottom 6. Radek Faksa has made a career out of that, and we loved his contribution of 15 points.

Expanding too much beyond that role will lead the HC to sleeping with the fishes.

[WeWentBlues0819]

Why?

He didn't bring anything of value and now potentially blocks Carbonneau.

LOL!

Yeah his whopping 8 goals really make the differnce.

The St. Louis ginder fetish needs to be studied by psychiatrists.

Jesus tap dancing christ

You think Berggren is a grinder?

You think he is a scorer?????

Oh honey....

The term grinder doesn’t refer to any player that doesn’t score 20+ goals. It pretty explicitly means players that are known for physical play along the boards, grinding in the corners, and forechecking. That doesn’t accurately describe Berggren’s game “honey.”

So what DOES accurately describe Berggren's game?

He looks like playmaker to me. I think he’ll platoon on the 3rd line with Stenberg and maybe Suter. I’m not sure if Monty sees Suter as a 3rd line winger or a 4th line center.

A playmaker... whose highest assist total thus far is 14 assists....who slots into the 3rd or 4th line... um... okay....

So sounds like you agree that there is absolutely no spot for him. He isn't good enough to be on a scoring line and not "grindy" enough to be on a 4th line.

I will keep beating the Justin Carbonneau drum until I am proven wrong. The Blues need a right shooting RW and Carbonneau has infinitely more skill and upside than Berggren has.

[NE Blues Fan]

A playmaker... whose highest assist total thus far is 14 assists....who slots into the 3rd or 4th line... um... okay....

So sounds like you agree that there is absolutely no spot for him. He isn't good enough to be on a scoring line and not "grindy" enough to be on a 4th line.

I will keep beating the Justin Carbonneau drum until I am proven wrong. The Blues need a right shooting RW and Carbonneau has infinitely more skill and upside than Berggren has.

You just keep beating something while some of us understand that rushing JC could hurt his development and Berggren may be able to prove he has what it takes to stick and provide the Blues with another asset.