DeFranks' chat: Do the Blues really have depth on the wings after trading Bolduc?

[Hockey Pete]

DeFranks' chat: Do the Blues really have depth on the wings after trading Bolduc?

Matthew DeFranks
Post-Dispatch
Aug 13, 2025

Matthew DeFranks: Good afternoon! Training camp is about a month away. Let's get to your questions.

tylerg: Matty D, what it is what it do. Wishing you and the fam all the best and I want to thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Today I have questions about the bottom 6 on this team. My first question is about Pius Suter, is a good comparison to Suter a less physical, Ivan Barbashev? It sure seems like it based on the games I remember seeing Suter play in as well as his stat line. Second question is about Toropchenko, do you see him resigning in STL? I see this going either way based on his age, role, cap space/projected cap, impact on team chemistry, stat line, etc. Curious to hear you take, thanks!

Matthew DeFranks: I view Pius Suter as much more defensively responsible than Ivan Barbashev. Barbashev's defensive metrics were never really even close to what Suter can bring. I do think they both like to play on the interior, and we've seen the scoring touch Barbashev has brought when paired with top-line guys like Stone and Eichel. I don't expect that kind of punch from Suter, but he'll still put up some numbers just based on where he plays in the paint.

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/profess ... 3864e.html

I think the Blues will be fine on the wing.
Bolduc was going to be playing 3rd line minutes on this team…so I would consider that to be deep on the wings.
This year will be a difficult, sometimes painful to watch year for Mailloux…..but I would still do that deal everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.

Particularly on LW, as that is by far our deepest position. Mailoux has the skillset to be an NHLer, but IMO there's still a question about his Hockey IQ, so we'll find out this season.

[TheHighHat]

Which teams truly have quality 3 line (winger) depth?
There's a shortage of quality depth league wide.
Look at the drop off on most of these teams.

STL
Holloway
Kyrou
Buchnevich
Snuggerud
Neighbours
Joseph


Western Competition:
Edmonton
Hyman
Nugent-Hopkins
Mangiapane
Savoie
Podkolzin
Howard

Vegas
Marner
Stone
Barbashev
Dorofeyev
Howden
Smith

Dallas
Rantanen
Robertson
Seguin
Bourque
Benn
Steel

Colorado
Necas
Nichushkin
Lehkonen
Landeskog
Kelly
Drury

Winnipeg
Connor
Vilardi
Perfetti
Iafallo
Niederreiter
Nyquist

Minnesota
Kaprizov
Boldy
Zuccarello
Johansson
Tarasenko
Foligno

Utah
Keller
Guenther
Peterka
Schmaltz
Crouse
Kerfoot

Seattle
McCann
Schwartz
Kakko
Marchment
Tolvanen
Eberle

Anaheim
Gauthier
Granlund
Terry
Kreider
Vatrano
Killorn

Los Angeles
Kempe
Fiala
Laferriere
Foegele
Kuzmenko
Moore

Vancouver
Boeser
DeBrusk
Kane
Garland
Hoglander
O'Connor

Nashville
Forsberg
Marchessault
Evangelista
Bunting
L'Heureux
Wood

Calgary
Coronato
Huberdeau
Zary
Farabee
Sharangovich
Coleman

San Jose
Eklund
Toffoli
Kurashev
Wennberg
Skinner
Gaudette

Chicago
Donato
Bertuzzi
Burakovsky
Mikheyev
Teravainen
Slaggert


Of course the gold standard in the league are the champs:
Tkachuk
Reinhart
Marchand
Verhaeghe
Rodrigues
Luostarinen

[britishblue]

But the old saying on trades is that you have to give to get, unless of course it's a trade deadline situation where people are shedding cap and trying to stock up resources. Anyways, I'm probably going to side on the Blues front office on this one in knowing the potential of Mailloux. The Blues under Army's tenure hardly ever make bad trades. The only spots that I can recall that are a little iffy have been the trades in the goalie department. That has hardly worked out. But as far as skaters go, the Armstrong regime crushes it in regards to talent evaluation.

This will be an added layer of fun stuff to watch as the season progresses. It's a riskier trade on the Blues end, but it's 100 percent calculated.

Yes Army has had an overall solid trade history with some steals and some misses. Yet I don’t really recall the Blues making a trade like this one. Where we swapped very young/recent 1 round prospects.

While Bolduc is far from proven, 100 games is a lot to go off of. The fact that Bolduc averaged a little over 20 goals per 82 games all while getting very weak linemates on the 3rd line the large majority of the time worries me. Yes 7PP goals and what 4 out of 5 goals on the top line his first season.

It would have been nice have a semi proven ready to go scorer that MTL was looking for that had potential but not quite as promising as Bolduc. What I’m saying is it still feels like we overpaid when you look at how stacked MTL is on the blue line and the “baggage” of drafting Mailloux when he asked not to be then making a pathetic public apology to their fans about it.

The only one i can think of that is semi similar is when we traded Rundblad for the pick that became tank.

I think the rationale for trading Bolduc makes sense.

Potential top 6 winger for a potential top 6 rhd.

Obv Bolduc is more proven, but then a top 4 rhd has more value than a top 6 winger so i think its quite balanced.

[kimzey59]

But the old saying on trades is that you have to give to get, unless of course it's a trade deadline situation where people are shedding cap and trying to stock up resources. Anyways, I'm probably going to side on the Blues front office on this one in knowing the potential of Mailloux. The Blues under Army's tenure hardly ever make bad trades. The only spots that I can recall that are a little iffy have been the trades in the goalie department. That has hardly worked out. But as far as skaters go, the Armstrong regime crushes it in regards to talent evaluation.

This will be an added layer of fun stuff to watch as the season progresses. It's a riskier trade on the Blues end, but it's 100 percent calculated.

Yes Army has had an overall solid trade history with some steals and some misses. Yet I don’t really recall the Blues making a trade like this one. Where we swapped very young/recent 1 round prospects.

While Bolduc is far from proven, 100 games is a lot to go off of. The fact that Bolduc averaged a little over 20 goals per 82 games all while getting very weak linemates on the 3rd line the large majority of the time worries me. Yes 7PP goals and what 4 out of 5 goals on the top line his first season.

It would have been nice have a semi proven ready to go scorer that MTL was looking for that had potential but not quite as promising as Bolduc. What I’m saying is it still feels like we overpaid when you look at how stacked MTL is on the blue line and the “baggage” of drafting Mailloux when he asked not to be then making a pathetic public apology to their fans about it.

The only one i can think of that is semi similar is when we traded Rundblad for the pick that became tank.

I think the rationale for trading Bolduc makes sense.

Potential top 6 winger for a potential top 6 rhd.

Obv Bolduc is more proven, but then a top 4 rhd has more value than a top 6 winger so i think its quite balanced.

Not exactly the same but
Wideman for Boyes

Wasn’t an Army move though.

[britishblue]

But the old saying on trades is that you have to give to get, unless of course it's a trade deadline situation where people are shedding cap and trying to stock up resources. Anyways, I'm probably going to side on the Blues front office on this one in knowing the potential of Mailloux. The Blues under Army's tenure hardly ever make bad trades. The only spots that I can recall that are a little iffy have been the trades in the goalie department. That has hardly worked out. But as far as skaters go, the Armstrong regime crushes it in regards to talent evaluation.

This will be an added layer of fun stuff to watch as the season progresses. It's a riskier trade on the Blues end, but it's 100 percent calculated.

Yes Army has had an overall solid trade history with some steals and some misses. Yet I don’t really recall the Blues making a trade like this one. Where we swapped very young/recent 1 round prospects.

While Bolduc is far from proven, 100 games is a lot to go off of. The fact that Bolduc averaged a little over 20 goals per 82 games all while getting very weak linemates on the 3rd line the large majority of the time worries me. Yes 7PP goals and what 4 out of 5 goals on the top line his first season.

It would have been nice have a semi proven ready to go scorer that MTL was looking for that had potential but not quite as promising as Bolduc. What I’m saying is it still feels like we overpaid when you look at how stacked MTL is on the blue line and the “baggage” of drafting Mailloux when he asked not to be then making a pathetic public apology to their fans about it.

The only one i can think of that is semi similar is when we traded Rundblad for the pick that became tank.

I think the rationale for trading Bolduc makes sense.

Potential top 6 winger for a potential top 6 rhd.

Obv Bolduc is more proven, but then a top 4 rhd has more value than a top 6 winger so i think its quite balanced.

Not exactly the same but
Wideman for Boyes

Wasn’t an Army move though.

EJ for Shatty and Stewart is another

[callitwhatyouwant]

But the old saying on trades is that you have to give to get, unless of course it's a trade deadline situation where people are shedding cap and trying to stock up resources. Anyways, I'm probably going to side on the Blues front office on this one in knowing the potential of Mailloux. The Blues under Army's tenure hardly ever make bad trades. The only spots that I can recall that are a little iffy have been the trades in the goalie department. That has hardly worked out. But as far as skaters go, the Armstrong regime crushes it in regards to talent evaluation.

This will be an added layer of fun stuff to watch as the season progresses. It's a riskier trade on the Blues end, but it's 100 percent calculated.

Yes Army has had an overall solid trade history with some steals and some misses. Yet I don’t really recall the Blues making a trade like this one. Where we swapped very young/recent 1 round prospects.

While Bolduc is far from proven, 100 games is a lot to go off of. The fact that Bolduc averaged a little over 20 goals per 82 games all while getting very weak linemates on the 3rd line the large majority of the time worries me. Yes 7PP goals and what 4 out of 5 goals on the top line his first season.

It would have been nice have a semi proven ready to go scorer that MTL was looking for that had potential but not quite as promising as Bolduc. What I’m saying is it still feels like we overpaid when you look at how stacked MTL is on the blue line and the “baggage” of drafting Mailloux when he asked not to be then making a pathetic public apology to their fans about it.

I don't doubt that it looks like an overpay today. But lets not forget, Mailloux is 2 time all star in the AHL. This is a 22 year old defender who is the best of the best in the AHL. It's widely accepted that it takes longer for defenders to become good. The Blues just acquired a player that at ages 20-22 was better than 95 percent of the league he was playing in which is the 2-4th best league in the world. This isn't like the Blues just traded for a 19 year old just drafted or playing a year of juniors. This guy has already played against grown men. He's now going to get his feet wet in the NHL, with a roster that is full of youth. You are 100 percent going to see mistakes, especially since he will most likely be paired with Tucker so you won't have a Suter who can cover for you. But that doesn't mean there isn't tremendous upside. If the Blues get a middle pairing defender, they did well. If this guy even sniffs top pairing in a Blues uniform, Bolduc can put up 40 and the trade still makes sense.

[Bubble4427]

But the old saying on trades is that you have to give to get, unless of course it's a trade deadline situation where people are shedding cap and trying to stock up resources. Anyways, I'm probably going to side on the Blues front office on this one in knowing the potential of Mailloux. The Blues under Army's tenure hardly ever make bad trades. The only spots that I can recall that are a little iffy have been the trades in the goalie department. That has hardly worked out. But as far as skaters go, the Armstrong regime crushes it in regards to talent evaluation.

This will be an added layer of fun stuff to watch as the season progresses. It's a riskier trade on the Blues end, but it's 100 percent calculated.

Yes Army has had an overall solid trade history with some steals and some misses. Yet I don’t really recall the Blues making a trade like this one. Where we swapped very young/recent 1 round prospects.

While Bolduc is far from proven, 100 games is a lot to go off of. The fact that Bolduc averaged a little over 20 goals per 82 games all while getting very weak linemates on the 3rd line the large majority of the time worries me. Yes 7PP goals and what 4 out of 5 goals on the top line his first season.

It would have been nice have a semi proven ready to go scorer that MTL was looking for that had potential but not quite as promising as Bolduc. What I’m saying is it still feels like we overpaid when you look at how stacked MTL is on the blue line and the “baggage” of drafting Mailloux when he asked not to be then making a pathetic public apology to their fans about it.

I don't doubt that it looks like an overpay today. But lets not forget, Mailloux is 2 time all star in the AHL. This is a 22 year old defender who is the best of the best in the AHL. It's widely accepted that it takes longer for defenders to become good. The Blues just acquired a player that at ages 20-22 was better than 95 percent of the league he was playing in which is the 2-4th best league in the world. This isn't like the Blues just traded for a 19 year old just drafted or playing a year of juniors. This guy has already played against grown men. He's now going to get his feet wet in the NHL, with a roster that is full of youth. You are 100 percent going to see mistakes, especially since he will most likely be paired with Tucker so you won't have a Suter who can cover for you. But that doesn't mean there isn't tremendous upside. If the Blues get a middle pairing defender, they did well. If this guy even sniffs top pairing in a Blues uniform, Bolduc can put up 40 and the trade still makes sense.

+1

[stlblue06]

But the old saying on trades is that you have to give to get, unless of course it's a trade deadline situation where people are shedding cap and trying to stock up resources. Anyways, I'm probably going to side on the Blues front office on this one in knowing the potential of Mailloux. The Blues under Army's tenure hardly ever make bad trades. The only spots that I can recall that are a little iffy have been the trades in the goalie department. That has hardly worked out. But as far as skaters go, the Armstrong regime crushes it in regards to talent evaluation.

This will be an added layer of fun stuff to watch as the season progresses. It's a riskier trade on the Blues end, but it's 100 percent calculated.

Yes Army has had an overall solid trade history with some steals and some misses. Yet I don’t really recall the Blues making a trade like this one. Where we swapped very young/recent 1 round prospects.

While Bolduc is far from proven, 100 games is a lot to go off of. The fact that Bolduc averaged a little over 20 goals per 82 games all while getting very weak linemates on the 3rd line the large majority of the time worries me. Yes 7PP goals and what 4 out of 5 goals on the top line his first season.

It would have been nice have a semi proven ready to go scorer that MTL was looking for that had potential but not quite as promising as Bolduc. What I’m saying is it still feels like we overpaid when you look at how stacked MTL is on the blue line and the “baggage” of drafting Mailloux when he asked not to be then making a pathetic public apology to their fans about it.

The only one i can think of that is semi similar is when we traded Rundblad for the pick that became tank.

I think the rationale for trading Bolduc makes sense.

Potential top 6 winger for a potential top 6 rhd.

Obv Bolduc is more proven, but then a top 4 rhd has more value than a top 6 winger so i think its quite balanced.

Not exactly the same but
Wideman for Boyes

Wasn’t an Army move though.

EJ for Shatty and Stewart is another

All of these trades were for young players that were considered established, no longer prospects. To be more specific, I’m talking about trading either a young high prospect with zero NHL experience for another with no experience. Rundblad for Tarasenko would fall under that category despite technically trading for a draft pick (that was used to get tank).


Or to get down into details, I certainly can’t think of one where the Blues traded for a no NHL (minus 7 games) experience prospect for a 100 game proven prospect of the same age and similar draft position.

I’m not saying it won’t work out and I understand what the Blues are thinking here, just risky and you can’t help but wonder if Mailloux could have been got for less. How long were the Blues trying to acquire him?

Those mentioned trades did get me thinking about young player or mid 20s swaps. Can’t forget about the perfect sell high trade of Lee Stempniak to the Leafs for Alexander Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo. Both Steen and Stemp were in their low-mid 20s and both had about 250 NHL games played. CoCo also stayed as a serviceable 3rd pair during a rebuild.

[a smell of green grass]

Which teams truly have quality 3 line (winger) depth?
There's a shortage of quality depth league wide.
Look at the drop off on most of these teams.

STL
Holloway
Kyrou
Buchnevich
Snuggerud
Neighbours
Joseph


Western Competition:
Edmonton
Hyman
Nugent-Hopkins
Mangiapane
Savoie
Podkolzin
Howard

Vegas
Marner
Stone
Barbashev
Dorofeyev
Howden
Smith

Dallas
Rantanen
Robertson
Seguin
Bourque
Benn
Steel

Colorado
Necas
Nichushkin
Lehkonen
Landeskog
Kelly
Drury

Winnipeg
Connor
Vilardi
Perfetti
Iafallo
Niederreiter
Nyquist

Minnesota
Kaprizov
Boldy
Zuccarello
Johansson
Tarasenko
Foligno

Utah
Keller
Guenther
Peterka
Schmaltz
Crouse
Kerfoot

Seattle
McCann
Schwartz
Kakko
Marchment
Tolvanen
Eberle

Anaheim
Gauthier
Granlund
Terry
Kreider
Vatrano
Killorn

Los Angeles
Kempe
Fiala
Laferriere
Foegele
Kuzmenko
Moore

Vancouver
Boeser
DeBrusk
Kane
Garland
Hoglander
O'Connor

Nashville
Forsberg
Marchessault
Evangelista
Bunting
L'Heureux
Wood

Calgary
Coronato
Huberdeau
Zary
Farabee
Sharangovich
Coleman

San Jose
Eklund
Toffoli
Kurashev
Wennberg
Skinner
Gaudette

Chicago
Donato
Bertuzzi
Burakovsky
Mikheyev
Teravainen
Slaggert

Of course the gold standard in the league are the champs:
Tkachuk
Reinhart
Marchand
Verhaeghe
Rodrigues
Luostarinen

For most teams, Line 1 is what gives hope that their team can win a Cup. Of course, the other lines play a big part as well.

Here in St Louis, a rookie with 5 games of NHL experience was assigned to Line 1 in the playoffs. This fact does NOT testify to a great roster, nor that Snuggeruid is a great player. It tells you that the Blues have a very weak roster. Rookies with 5 games of experience should not be stronger than your veterans.

Here in St Louis, everyone is so happy that we have a great WTF line. What does that mean? Our playoff scoring came from players who won't even be with the team next year since 4th-liners are depth-only players that come and go, --or retire. "How is that building a roster"?

Here in St Louis, no one noticed that our best player went quiet in the playoffs, Thomas. He was a non-factor.

Here in St Louis, they tell us that we are a gritty team that is punishing to play. That's how we win, they say. However, in reality, our best players were absolutely vaporized by the other team. We were the punishee's, not the punishers.

Worst of all, how will any of this change soon?!!!!! It won't Army relies on free agency to build his roster---NOT THE DRAFT, and with the CAP going up, every year for the next 5, there will be fewer and fewer FAs to sign.

Our roster is good, but there is ZERO chance that they will progress to great, and there is ZERO chance that Army can change that.

[Aesa]

Which teams truly have quality 3 line (winger) depth?
There's a shortage of quality depth league wide.
Look at the drop off on most of these teams.

STL
Holloway
Kyrou
Buchnevich
Snuggerud
Neighbours
Joseph


Western Competition:
Edmonton
Hyman
Nugent-Hopkins
Mangiapane
Savoie
Podkolzin
Howard

Vegas
Marner
Stone
Barbashev
Dorofeyev
Howden
Smith

Dallas
Rantanen
Robertson
Seguin
Bourque
Benn
Steel

Colorado
Necas
Nichushkin
Lehkonen
Landeskog
Kelly
Drury

Winnipeg
Connor
Vilardi
Perfetti
Iafallo
Niederreiter
Nyquist

Minnesota
Kaprizov
Boldy
Zuccarello
Johansson
Tarasenko
Foligno

Utah
Keller
Guenther
Peterka
Schmaltz
Crouse
Kerfoot

Seattle
McCann
Schwartz
Kakko
Marchment
Tolvanen
Eberle

Anaheim
Gauthier
Granlund
Terry
Kreider
Vatrano
Killorn

Los Angeles
Kempe
Fiala
Laferriere
Foegele
Kuzmenko
Moore

Vancouver
Boeser
DeBrusk
Kane
Garland
Hoglander
O'Connor

Nashville
Forsberg
Marchessault
Evangelista
Bunting
L'Heureux
Wood

Calgary
Coronato
Huberdeau
Zary
Farabee
Sharangovich
Coleman

San Jose
Eklund
Toffoli
Kurashev
Wennberg
Skinner
Gaudette

Chicago
Donato
Bertuzzi
Burakovsky
Mikheyev
Teravainen
Slaggert

Of course the gold standard in the league are the champs:
Tkachuk
Reinhart
Marchand
Verhaeghe
Rodrigues
Luostarinen

For most teams, Line 1 is what gives hope that their team can win a Cup. Of course, the other lines play a big part as well.

Here in St Louis, a rookie with 5 games of NHL experience was assigned to Line 1 in the playoffs. This fact does NOT testify to a great roster, nor that Snuggeruid is a great player. It tells you that the Blues have a very weak roster. Rookies with 5 games of experience should not be stronger than your veterans.

Here in St Louis, everyone is so happy that we have a great WTF line. What does that mean? Our playoff scoring came from players who won't even be with the team next year since 4th-liners are depth-only players that come and go, --or retire. "How is that building a roster"?

Here in St Louis, no one noticed that our best player went quiet in the playoffs, Thomas. He was a non-factor.

Here in St Louis, they tell us that we are a gritty team that is punishing to play. That's how we win, they say. However, in reality, our best players were absolutely vaporized by the other team. We were the punishee's, not the punishers.

Worst of all, how will any of this change soon?!!!!! It won't Army relies on free agency to build his roster---NOT THE DRAFT, and with the CAP going up, every year for the next 5, there will be fewer and fewer FAs to sign.

Our roster is good, but there is ZERO chance that they will progress to great, and there is ZERO chance that Army can change that.

There is even less chance that you will express an intelligent opinion.

[HighStick]

When the Blues won the Cup they did it mostly on great D and Binny. No single one man was the the star that put them over the top. It was the collective effort from everyone that made them great.

[DawgDad]

Which teams truly have quality 3 line (winger) depth?
There's a shortage of quality depth league wide.
Look at the drop off on most of these teams.

STL
Holloway
Kyrou
Buchnevich
Snuggerud
Neighbours
Joseph


Western Competition:
Edmonton
Hyman
Nugent-Hopkins
Mangiapane
Savoie
Podkolzin
Howard

Vegas
Marner
Stone
Barbashev
Dorofeyev
Howden
Smith

Dallas
Rantanen
Robertson
Seguin
Bourque
Benn
Steel

Colorado
Necas
Nichushkin
Lehkonen
Landeskog
Kelly
Drury

Winnipeg
Connor
Vilardi
Perfetti
Iafallo
Niederreiter
Nyquist

Minnesota
Kaprizov
Boldy
Zuccarello
Johansson
Tarasenko
Foligno

Utah
Keller
Guenther
Peterka
Schmaltz
Crouse
Kerfoot

Seattle
McCann
Schwartz
Kakko
Marchment
Tolvanen
Eberle

Anaheim
Gauthier
Granlund
Terry
Kreider
Vatrano
Killorn

Los Angeles
Kempe
Fiala
Laferriere
Foegele
Kuzmenko
Moore

Vancouver
Boeser
DeBrusk
Kane
Garland
Hoglander
O'Connor

Nashville
Forsberg
Marchessault
Evangelista
Bunting
L'Heureux
Wood

Calgary
Coronato
Huberdeau
Zary
Farabee
Sharangovich
Coleman

San Jose
Eklund
Toffoli
Kurashev
Wennberg
Skinner
Gaudette

Chicago
Donato
Bertuzzi
Burakovsky
Mikheyev
Teravainen
Slaggert

Of course the gold standard in the league are the champs:
Tkachuk
Reinhart
Marchand
Verhaeghe
Rodrigues
Luostarinen

For most teams, Line 1 is what gives hope that their team can win a Cup. Of course, the other lines play a big part as well.

Here in St Louis, a rookie with 5 games of NHL experience was assigned to Line 1 in the playoffs. This fact does NOT testify to a great roster, nor that Snuggeruid is a great player. It tells you that the Blues have a very weak roster. Rookies with 5 games of experience should not be stronger than your veterans.

Here in St Louis, everyone is so happy that we have a great WTF line. What does that mean? Our playoff scoring came from players who won't even be with the team next year since 4th-liners are depth-only players that come and go, --or retire. "How is that building a roster"?

Here in St Louis, no one noticed that our best player went quiet in the playoffs, Thomas. He was a non-factor.

Here in St Louis, they tell us that we are a gritty team that is punishing to play. That's how we win, they say. However, in reality, our best players were absolutely vaporized by the other team. We were the punishee's, not the punishers.

Worst of all, how will any of this change soon?!!!!! It won't Army relies on free agency to build his roster---NOT THE DRAFT, and with the CAP going up, every year for the next 5, there will be fewer and fewer FAs to sign.

Our roster is good, but there is ZERO chance that they will progress to great, and there is ZERO chance that Army can change that.

I'll take Forgotten Right Wingers for $100, please. Thank you. Who was Zach Sanford?

BOOM! Another narrative explodes.

[TheHighHat]

SOGG: I get your schtick but I want to be clear on the reason for my post.

My point was to show that winger depth is not the problem with the Blues when compared to the competition.
IMO the winger position is last in importance when building a team.
Centers, D-Men, Goalies, & Wingers in that order.
We should also compare the top 3 centers, top 4 d-men, and goalies of the Blues to the other teams.

I generally look at teams top 11 players (best 6 forwards, best 4 d-men, & starting goalie) when judging their strength.
Some top teams have 3 centers in their best 6 forwards. Obviously having at least 2 centers is a must.

Most consider Carolina a top team and a Cup contender.
I do not and have not because they only have 1 center in their top 6 forwards.
It's also why I never considered Winnipeg a Cup contender last year even though they were killing it during the regular season.

Taking coaching out of the equation, quality depth after your top 11 players is where the separation occurs from top tiered teams.
3rd line production/ice time (Florida reigns supreme)
4th line physicality/defensive responsibility
Special Teams
3rd pair ice time

Having your players slotted properly in comparison to their ability is also of the utmost importance.
Quick example is D. Kulikov of the Panthers.
He was playing on the 2nd pair with Mikkola as their #4 d-man last year.
As the season played out Bill Zito realized that wasn't nearly good enough.
The acquisition of S. Jones allowed Kulikov to drop to the bottom pair (#5) where he belongs and also properly slotted Mikkola as their #4 instead of #3

Of course the Marchand acquisition also transformed the Panthers 3rd line into a scoring line and was the main difference when playing the depth challenged Oilers. Those 2 acquisitions will go down in the history books as one of the best, if not the best (near) TDL deals of all time.

The importance of slotting is why I recently wrote about the d-men of the Vegas Knights.
They have plenty of time to acquire a quality d-man, but as it stands right now, their d-men group is not near good enough to be considered Cup contenders because most of their group is not slotted properly to their ability.

[a smell of green grass]

SOGG: I get your schtick but I want to be clear on the reason for my post.

My point was to show that winger depth is not the problem with the Blues when compared to the competition.
IMO the winger position is last in importance when building a team.
Centers, D-Men, Goalies, & Wingers in that order.
We should also compare the top 3 centers, top 4 d-men, and goalies of the Blues to the other teams.

I generally look at teams top 11 players (best 6 forwards, best 4 d-men, & starting goalie) when judging their strength.
Some top teams have 3 centers in their best 6 forwards. Obviously having at least 2 centers is a must.

Most consider Carolina a top team and a Cup contender.
I do not and have not because they only have 1 center in their top 6 forwards.
It's also why I never considered Winnipeg a Cup contender last year even though they were killing it during the regular season.

Taking coaching out of the equation, quality depth after your top 11 players is where the separation occurs from top tiered teams.
3rd line production/ice time (Florida reigns supreme)
4th line physicality/defensive responsibility
Special Teams
3rd pair ice time

Having your players slotted properly in comparison to their ability is also of the utmost importance.
Quick example is D. Kulikov of the Panthers.
He was playing on the 2nd pair with Mikkola as their #4 d-man last year.
As the season played out Bill Zito realized that wasn't nearly good enough.
The acquisition of S. Jones allowed Kulikov to drop to the bottom pair (#5) where he belongs and also properly slotted Mikkola as their #4 instead of #3

Of course the Marchand acquisition also transformed the Panthers 3rd line into a scoring line and was the main difference when playing the depth challenged Oilers. Those 2 acquisitions will go down in the history books as one of the best, if not the best (near) TDL deals of all time.

The importance of slotting is why I recently wrote about the d-men of the Vegas Knights.
They have plenty of time to acquire a quality d-man, but as it stands right now, their d-men group is not near good enough to be considered Cup contenders because most of their group is not slotted properly to their ability.

I understand your point, and I agree for the most part.

The winger position is definitely in better shape than the RHD position for the Blues.

My gripe is why are we in this situation to begin with? We've been in this hell for 5+ years.

[DawgDad]

SOGG: I get your schtick but I want to be clear on the reason for my post.

My point was to show that winger depth is not the problem with the Blues when compared to the competition.
IMO the winger position is last in importance when building a team.
Centers, D-Men, Goalies, & Wingers in that order.
We should also compare the top 3 centers, top 4 d-men, and goalies of the Blues to the other teams.

I generally look at teams top 11 players (best 6 forwards, best 4 d-men, & starting goalie) when judging their strength.
Some top teams have 3 centers in their best 6 forwards. Obviously having at least 2 centers is a must.

Most consider Carolina a top team and a Cup contender.
I do not and have not because they only have 1 center in their top 6 forwards.
It's also why I never considered Winnipeg a Cup contender last year even though they were killing it during the regular season.

Taking coaching out of the equation, quality depth after your top 11 players is where the separation occurs from top tiered teams.
3rd line production/ice time (Florida reigns supreme)
4th line physicality/defensive responsibility
Special Teams
3rd pair ice time

Having your players slotted properly in comparison to their ability is also of the utmost importance.
Quick example is D. Kulikov of the Panthers.
He was playing on the 2nd pair with Mikkola as their #4 d-man last year.
As the season played out Bill Zito realized that wasn't nearly good enough.
The acquisition of S. Jones allowed Kulikov to drop to the bottom pair (#5) where he belongs and also properly slotted Mikkola as their #4 instead of #3

Of course the Marchand acquisition also transformed the Panthers 3rd line into a scoring line and was the main difference when playing the depth challenged Oilers. Those 2 acquisitions will go down in the history books as one of the best, if not the best (near) TDL deals of all time.

The importance of slotting is why I recently wrote about the d-men of the Vegas Knights.
They have plenty of time to acquire a quality d-man, but as it stands right now, their d-men group is not near good enough to be considered Cup contenders because most of their group is not slotted properly to their ability.

I understand your point, and I agree for the most part.

The winger position is definitely in better shape than the RHD position for the Blues.

My gripe is why are we in this situation to begin with? We've been in this hell for 5+ years.

The Blues had a 109 point season in 21-22. Hell?

[moose-and-squirrel]

SOGG: I get your schtick but I want to be clear on the reason for my post.

My point was to show that winger depth is not the problem with the Blues when compared to the competition.
IMO the winger position is last in importance when building a team.
Centers, D-Men, Goalies, & Wingers in that order.
We should also compare the top 3 centers, top 4 d-men, and goalies of the Blues to the other teams.

I generally look at teams top 11 players (best 6 forwards, best 4 d-men, & starting goalie) when judging their strength.
Some top teams have 3 centers in their best 6 forwards. Obviously having at least 2 centers is a must.

Most consider Carolina a top team and a Cup contender.
I do not and have not because they only have 1 center in their top 6 forwards.
It's also why I never considered Winnipeg a Cup contender last year even though they were killing it during the regular season.

Taking coaching out of the equation, quality depth after your top 11 players is where the separation occurs from top tiered teams.
3rd line production/ice time (Florida reigns supreme)
4th line physicality/defensive responsibility
Special Teams
3rd pair ice time

Having your players slotted properly in comparison to their ability is also of the utmost importance.
Quick example is D. Kulikov of the Panthers.
He was playing on the 2nd pair with Mikkola as their #4 d-man last year.
As the season played out Bill Zito realized that wasn't nearly good enough.
The acquisition of S. Jones allowed Kulikov to drop to the bottom pair (#5) where he belongs and also properly slotted Mikkola as their #4 instead of #3

Of course the Marchand acquisition also transformed the Panthers 3rd line into a scoring line and was the main difference when playing the depth challenged Oilers. Those 2 acquisitions will go down in the history books as one of the best, if not the best (near) TDL deals of all time.

The importance of slotting is why I recently wrote about the d-men of the Vegas Knights.
They have plenty of time to acquire a quality d-man, but as it stands right now, their d-men group is not near good enough to be considered Cup contenders because most of their group is not slotted properly to their ability.

I understand your point, and I agree for the most part.

The winger position is definitely in better shape than the RHD position for the Blues.

My gripe is why are we in this situation to begin with? We've been in this hell for 5+ years.

The Blues had a 109 point season in 21-22. Hell?

reading his trolling is hell, I'll give him that