Army's handling of the Defense Roster

[2forDiving]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

[a smell of green grass]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

Funny how Army is so great at drafting...and yet
1. The Blues prospect system is ranked 15th best
2. The Blues stole 2 prospects from Edmonton, and those 2 are the best on our team. 2 bench prospects on another team end up being our best prospects.
3. Despite needing a 2C and RHD prospect for years, we still don't have a sure one in the NHL lineup. Army misfired on Jiricek, and then gave up Bolduc to get a risky one.

While I hope that our prospects amount to something more than 15th out our of 30. I'm not too hopeful. History often repeats.

Continue with your blind Army worship. The future is what our prospects say it is. We'll see who was more correct.

[Harry York 37]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

Funny how Army is so great at drafting...and yet
1. The Blues prospect system is ranked 15th best
2. The Blues stole 2 prospects from Edmonton, and those 2 are the best on our team. 2 bench prospects on another team end up being our best prospects.
3. Despite needing a 2C and RHD prospect for years, we still don't have a sure one in the NHL lineup. Army misfired on Jiricek, and then gave up Bolduc to get a risky one.

While I hope that our prospects amount to something more than 15th out our of 30. I'm not too hopeful. History often repeats.

Continue with your blind Army worship. The future is what our prospects say it is. We'll see who was more correct.

He got us a cup team.
We might have had at least a second one except for Covid.
We ended last season breaking all-time records.
We are still improving from where we left off.

You have, purposely, painted yourself into pariah-land.
Why?

I reckon I am not so far from you along the parish path, but I only have it in for one player. The rest of the team and the organization - hell the prospects coming up - they all bring me joy.
You, you poor (child born out of wedlock), have it in for the guy who runs the entire outfit. You are committed to hating every move he makes.
I only get triggered in those times when Dylan Holloway is out of the lineup and we need playoff hockey from number 25. It’s gotten so bad that I become like Moe, or Larry when Curly utters the words “Niagara Falls”…. i can’t resist the urge to let it out, and to let it all out.

Good luck.
You won’t have Army to kick around in a couple of years.
Good for you?

I dread what our next playoffs hold for number 25, but I have much to be glad about.

[a smell of green grass]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

Funny how Army is so great at drafting...and yet
1. The Blues prospect system is ranked 15th best
2. The Blues stole 2 prospects from Edmonton, and those 2 are the best on our team. 2 bench prospects on another team end up being our best prospects.
3. Despite needing a 2C and RHD prospect for years, we still don't have a sure one in the NHL lineup. Army misfired on Jiricek, and then gave up Bolduc to get a risky one.

While I hope that our prospects amount to something more than 15th out our of 30. I'm not too hopeful. History often repeats.

Continue with your blind Army worship. The future is what our prospects say it is. We'll see who was more correct.

He got us a cup team.
We might have had at least a second one except for Covid.
We ended last season breaking all-time records.
We are still improving from where we left off.

You have, purposely, painted yourself into pariah-land.
Why?

I reckon I am not so far from you along the parish path, but I only have it in for one player. The rest of the team and the organization - hell the prospects coming up - they all bring me joy.
You, you poor (child born out of wedlock), have it in for the guy who runs the entire outfit. You are committed to hating every move he makes.
I only get triggered in those times when Dylan Holloway is out of the lineup and we need playoff hockey from number 25. It’s gotten so bad that I become like Moe, or Larry when Curly utters the words “Niagara Falls”…. i can’t resist the urge to let it out, and to let it all out.

Good luck.
You won’t have Army to kick around in a couple of years.
Good for you?

I dread what our next playoffs hold for number 25, but I have much to be glad about.

I don't hate every move that Army makes. I really liked the Carbonneau pick.

And I don''t hate Army. I hate the way that he runs the team....

To say that "we don't need a TOP5 pick, and then I see moves that tell me that we do.

- Adam Jiricek was a wing and a prayer TOP10. We would have been much better off selecting a safe 15-20 pick. Instead we wasted it. Many say that Jiricek can still be the guy. I just don't see it. He looked like a frail timid bean pole in a redwood forest at the prospect camp.

- Bolduc was a solid bird in hand. If we wanted to trade him, we should have gotten another solid bird in the hand. Instead, we used Bolduc to land Jiricek 2.0. This time the risk is that he was the 4th best RHD in Montreal. How good can he be, really? Again, yet more indications that we need a TOP5 pick, and we are trying to obtain it via Army's good looks.

Will the prospect-floundering continue when Army retires? I would bet that Steen is Army 2.0, and my love affair will transfer to Steen.

Even though I don't show it in my comments, I enjoy the team and the prospects. However, I can't hide my disgust with Army's approach to rebuilding the team. So its back to pariah land for me. I just love working the dirty areas of the ice.

[Harry York 37]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

Funny how Army is so great at drafting...and yet
1. The Blues prospect system is ranked 15th best
2. The Blues stole 2 prospects from Edmonton, and those 2 are the best on our team. 2 bench prospects on another team end up being our best prospects.
3. Despite needing a 2C and RHD prospect for years, we still don't have a sure one in the NHL lineup. Army misfired on Jiricek, and then gave up Bolduc to get a risky one.

While I hope that our prospects amount to something more than 15th out our of 30. I'm not too hopeful. History often repeats.

Continue with your blind Army worship. The future is what our prospects say it is. We'll see who was more correct.

He got us a cup team.
We might have had at least a second one except for Covid.
We ended last season breaking all-time records.
We are still improving from where we left off.

You have, purposely, painted yourself into pariah-land.
Why?

I reckon I am not so far from you along the parish path, but I only have it in for one player. The rest of the team and the organization - hell the prospects coming up - they all bring me joy.
You, you poor (child born out of wedlock), have it in for the guy who runs the entire outfit. You are committed to hating every move he makes.
I only get triggered in those times when Dylan Holloway is out of the lineup and we need playoff hockey from number 25. It’s gotten so bad that I become like Moe, or Larry when Curly utters the words “Niagara Falls”…. i can’t resist the urge to let it out, and to let it all out.

Good luck.
You won’t have Army to kick around in a couple of years.
Good for you?

I dread what our next playoffs hold for number 25, but I have much to be glad about.

I don't hate every move that Army makes. I really liked the Carbonneau pick.

And I don''t hate Army. I hate the way that he runs the team....

To say that "we don't need a TOP5 pick, and then I see moves that tell me that we do.

- Adam Jiricek was a wing and a prayer TOP10. We would have been much better off selecting a safe 15-20 pick. Instead we wasted it. Many say that Jiricek can still be the guy. I just don't see it. He looked like a frail timid bean pole in a redwood forest at the prospect camp.

- Bolduc was a solid bird in hand. If we wanted to trade him, we should have gotten another solid bird in the hand. Instead, we used Bolduc to land Jiricek 2.0. This time the risk is that he was the 4th best RHD in Montreal. How good can he be, really? Again, yet more indications that we need a TOP5 pick, and we are trying to obtain it via Army's good looks.

Will the prospect-floundering continue when Army retires? I would bet that Steen is Army 2.0, and my love affair will transfer to Steen.

Even though I don't show it in my comments, I enjoy the team and the prospects. However, I can't hide my disgust with Army's approach to rebuilding the team. So its back to pariah land for me. I just love working the dirty areas of the ice.

His approach has garnered universal acclaim.

I aint the only fan who got sickened by number 25 in last year's playoffs.
You could... wait and see, how these picks turn out (and give Army a tiny bit of trust) before you declare his highest level speculation a failure.

[a smell of green grass]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

Funny how Army is so great at drafting...and yet
1. The Blues prospect system is ranked 15th best
2. The Blues stole 2 prospects from Edmonton, and those 2 are the best on our team. 2 bench prospects on another team end up being our best prospects.
3. Despite needing a 2C and RHD prospect for years, we still don't have a sure one in the NHL lineup. Army misfired on Jiricek, and then gave up Bolduc to get a risky one.

While I hope that our prospects amount to something more than 15th out our of 30. I'm not too hopeful. History often repeats.

Continue with your blind Army worship. The future is what our prospects say it is. We'll see who was more correct.

He got us a cup team.
We might have had at least a second one except for Covid.
We ended last season breaking all-time records.
We are still improving from where we left off.

You have, purposely, painted yourself into pariah-land.
Why?

I reckon I am not so far from you along the parish path, but I only have it in for one player. The rest of the team and the organization - hell the prospects coming up - they all bring me joy.
You, you poor (child born out of wedlock), have it in for the guy who runs the entire outfit. You are committed to hating every move he makes.
I only get triggered in those times when Dylan Holloway is out of the lineup and we need playoff hockey from number 25. It’s gotten so bad that I become like Moe, or Larry when Curly utters the words “Niagara Falls”…. i can’t resist the urge to let it out, and to let it all out.

Good luck.
You won’t have Army to kick around in a couple of years.
Good for you?

I dread what our next playoffs hold for number 25, but I have much to be glad about.

I don't hate every move that Army makes. I really liked the Carbonneau pick.

And I don''t hate Army. I hate the way that he runs the team....

To say that "we don't need a TOP5 pick, and then I see moves that tell me that we do.

- Adam Jiricek was a wing and a prayer TOP10. We would have been much better off selecting a safe 15-20 pick. Instead we wasted it. Many say that Jiricek can still be the guy. I just don't see it. He looked like a frail timid bean pole in a redwood forest at the prospect camp.

- Bolduc was a solid bird in hand. If we wanted to trade him, we should have gotten another solid bird in the hand. Instead, we used Bolduc to land Jiricek 2.0. This time the risk is that he was the 4th best RHD in Montreal. How good can he be, really? Again, yet more indications that we need a TOP5 pick, and we are trying to obtain it via Army's good looks.

Will the prospect-floundering continue when Army retires? I would bet that Steen is Army 2.0, and my love affair will transfer to Steen.

Even though I don't show it in my comments, I enjoy the team and the prospects. However, I can't hide my disgust with Army's approach to rebuilding the team. So its back to pariah land for me. I just love working the dirty areas of the ice.

His approach has garnered universal acclaim.

I aint the only fan who got sickened by number 25 in last year's playoffs.
You could... wait and see, how these picks turn out (and give Army a tiny bit of trust) before you declare his highest level speculation a failure.

I see that Army collects universal acclaim. I just don't agree with it in the least.

We just exited the re-whatever. Consequently, I don't have high expectations for our current veterans. They are what they are. The key for us is the prospect pool. It should be in outstanding shape as a result of the sell-off. Have you looked to see if there is universal acclaim of our prospects? I have, and we are ranked 15 out of 30. That reflects a very lousy execution of a RE-WHATEVER.

Yes, I could wait, but waiting guarantees no assessment ever. How many threads have you seen here on BluesTalk about Jiricek? He was our #1 in 2024. Everyone has "written him off and nobody cares to talk about it"--except me.

Army doesn't deserve trust when it comes to the draft. He deserves double scrutiny.

[2forDiving]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

Funny how Army is so great at drafting...and yet
1. The Blues prospect system is ranked 15th best
2. The Blues stole 2 prospects from Edmonton, and those 2 are the best on our team. 2 bench prospects on another team end up being our best prospects.
3. Despite needing a 2C and RHD prospect for years, we still don't have a sure one in the NHL lineup. Army misfired on Jiricek, and then gave up Bolduc to get a risky one.

While I hope that our prospects amount to something more than 15th out our of 30. I'm not too hopeful. History often repeats.

Continue with your blind Army worship. The future is what our prospects say it is. We'll see who was more correct.

Context, Smelly, context? Why don’t you tell us where Tampa, Florida, Vegas and Colorado rank in that prospect poll? I will give you that the Caps are rated higher than the Blues. The others are not. Do you see any similarities? Anything that puts all those teams in the same subset?

[a smell of green grass]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

Funny how Army is so great at drafting...and yet
1. The Blues prospect system is ranked 15th best
2. The Blues stole 2 prospects from Edmonton, and those 2 are the best on our team. 2 bench prospects on another team end up being our best prospects.
3. Despite needing a 2C and RHD prospect for years, we still don't have a sure one in the NHL lineup. Army misfired on Jiricek, and then gave up Bolduc to get a risky one.

While I hope that our prospects amount to something more than 15th out our of 30. I'm not too hopeful. History often repeats.

Continue with your blind Army worship. The future is what our prospects say it is. We'll see who was more correct.

Context, Smelly, context? Why don’t you tell us where Tampa, Florida, Vegas and Colorado rank in that prospect poll? I will give you that the Caps are rated higher than the Blues. The others are not. Do you see any similarities? Anything that puts all those teams in the same subset?

Florida hasn't had a selloff yet.
I still see Kucherov and Point and Heman in Tampa.
I still see McKinnon and Landeskog and Makar in Colorado.

Meanwhile, ROR, Barbashev, Tarasenko and Petro ARE GONE from St Louis. The re-whatever bounty for all of those stars is baked into our prospect pool, the one ranked 15 out of 30.

I don't get your point.

[St. Charles Bronson]

I think given where the Blues have drafted, and the inexact nature of the draft itself, they have done pretty well. They have a decent amount of homegrown talent, and have found some gems in later rounds. Everyone would love to have a top five pick, but in order to do so you have to usually sit through multiple seasons of terrible hockey. It doesn't seem like the ownership in a market like St. Louis is very likely to let a coach or GM stick around in those circumstances, so they have to do the most they can with what they have. I've lived in Kansas City for a while now, and I've watched the Chiefs draft in the back half of the draft for a long time, much like the Blues. I don't think the Blues have had more than a few picks inside the top ten in the past 30 years or more. Their first round picks in the last six years have all been very promising (Neighbours, Bolduc, Snuggerud, Dvorsky, Stenburg, Lindstein, Jiricek, Carbonneau). Outside of Dvorsky, those are all second half of the first round picks.

I guess if there was a glut of examples where players that went AFTER the Blues picked drastically outperformed the Blues' selection it might make me more critical of the front office. Even then, that is something that happens to all teams, in all sports. There is a fair amount of luck involved in the process, even for the most well-run and well-prepared organizations.

[Frank Barone]

I think given where the Blues have drafted, and the inexact nature of the draft itself, they have done pretty well. They have a decent amount of homegrown talent, and have found some gems in later rounds. Everyone would love to have a top five pick, but in order to do so you have to usually sit through multiple seasons of terrible hockey. It doesn't seem like the ownership in a market like St. Louis is very likely to let a coach or GM stick around in those circumstances, so they have to do the most they can with what they have. I've lived in Kansas City for a while now, and I've watched the Chiefs draft in the back half of the draft for a long time, much like the Blues. I don't think the Blues have had more than a few picks inside the top ten in the past 30 years or more. Their first round picks in the last six years have all been very promising (Neighbours, Bolduc, Snuggerud, Dvorsky, Stenburg, Lindstein, Jiricek, Carbonneau). Outside of Dvorsky, those are all second half of the first round picks.

I guess if there was a glut of examples where players that went AFTER the Blues picked drastically outperformed the Blues' selection it might make me more critical of the front office. Even then, that is something that happens to all teams, in all sports. There is a fair amount of luck involved in the process, even for the most well-run and well-prepared organizations.

It seems like to Blues have stayed disciplined and drafted the best player available, whereas some teams drafting in front of them may have specifically chosen centers or dmen. This has meant they ended up with a lot of wingers, but that has worked out well in terms of the quality of hockey players chosen.

The Bolduc - Mailloux trade balanced their prospect roster a bit. The Barbashev - Dean trade may still help as well.

[2forDiving]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

Funny how Army is so great at drafting...and yet
1. The Blues prospect system is ranked 15th best
2. The Blues stole 2 prospects from Edmonton, and those 2 are the best on our team. 2 bench prospects on another team end up being our best prospects.
3. Despite needing a 2C and RHD prospect for years, we still don't have a sure one in the NHL lineup. Army misfired on Jiricek, and then gave up Bolduc to get a risky one.

While I hope that our prospects amount to something more than 15th out our of 30. I'm not too hopeful. History often repeats.

Continue with your blind Army worship. The future is what our prospects say it is. We'll see who was more correct.

Context, Smelly, context? Why don’t you tell us where Tampa, Florida, Vegas and Colorado rank in that prospect poll? I will give you that the Caps are rated higher than the Blues. The others are not. Do you see any similarities? Anything that puts all those teams in the same subset?

Florida hasn't had a selloff yet.
I still see Kucherov and Point and Heman in Tampa.
I still see McKinnon and Landeskog and Makar in Colorado.

Meanwhile, ROR, Barbashev, Tarasenko and Petro ARE GONE from St Louis. The re-whatever bounty for all of those stars is baked into our prospect pool, the one ranked 15 out of 30.

I don't get your point.

What? Who cares if Florida hasn’t had a sell off yet? When they do they are going to get the same picks the Blues did that you refuse to acknowledge. And for love of God in what world does someone currently compare McKinnon, Point and Kucherov to O’Reilly, Petro and Tarasenko? I cannot dummy it down any further for you. Maybe someone will use crayons to explain it to you

[kimzey59]

Would anyone in hockey really applaud this approach to improvement?

Yes, absolutely. Army’s 2025 draft assets essentially became:

1st: Carbonneau
2nd: Broberg
3rd: Holloway
4th: Texier
5th: Fyodorov
6th: Harenstam
7th: Vrana

The other 31 GMs are very unlikely to beat that type of haul. Why you seem to only count the draft and not trades and offer sheets in terms of team building, I’ll never understand. It’s nonsensical.

Don't you want to improve your team through the draft?

Yep, and we have with lots more on the way.

Don't you want your team to hold on to draft success stories?

Sometimes, yeah. But you can also trade those success stories for other assets that perhaps fit your needs better. The Blues have drafted heavy on forwards lately so it absolutely made sense to eventually sway a forward for a d-man.

In Army's case, he stole draftees from another team, and gave away one of his brightest stars in one of the riskiest trades in franchise history.

There was absolutely risk in that trade but Bolduc as one of our brightest stars? Come on. He was our 5th/6th best winger, Snuggerud had passed him and we have other left shooting wingers champing at the bit behind him. He’s a good young player but that’s some insane hyperbole there.

You speak of the offer sheets as though they were the work of a GM mastermind, that launched the offer sheets because he was such a genius.

What really happened...
Army's B____ was in a sling. All of the fans were DREADING THE THOUGHT OF THE NEXT SEASON. The team was bad, and no hope/young blood was going to be arriving soon. Army had to go offer sheet hunting because his talent acquisition over the last several years were HORRENDOUS.

It wasn't a genius that went shopping at a leisurely calculated pace. It was a desperate man looking for a way out in panic mode. Fortunately for him, the offer sheets hit the mark, AND BROBERG AND HOLLOWAY immediately became the best prospects on the team---BY A FAR MEASURE!

Just like I wouldn't applaud a gambler that lost his house and wife from gambling before placing a 10K roullette bet that won 200K.

Where pretty much everyone disagrees with you is the no hope/young blood part and how you keep saying the Blues draft poorly. And how that somehow makes Army a bad GM. That’s the big disconnect, bud. Your entire opinion is based on that false premise. The Blues are in fact a very good drafting team and have a lot of young blood on the way. As we saw last season, Bolduc and Snuggerud were two of them. The good news is there’s lots more on the way. The even better news is Armstrong made the group even stronger by acquiring Broberg and Holloway for peanuts.

MN is ragdolling ASOGG, where are the linesmen to end this before it gets any uglier?

Funny how Army is so great at drafting...and yet
1. The Blues prospect system is ranked 15th best
2. The Blues stole 2 prospects from Edmonton, and those 2 are the best on our team. 2 bench prospects on another team end up being our best prospects.
3. Despite needing a 2C and RHD prospect for years, we still don't have a sure one in the NHL lineup. Army misfired on Jiricek, and then gave up Bolduc to get a risky one.

While I hope that our prospects amount to something more than 15th out our of 30. I'm not too hopeful. History often repeats.

Continue with your blind Army worship. The future is what our prospects say it is. We'll see who was more correct.

Context, Smelly, context? Why don’t you tell us where Tampa, Florida, Vegas and Colorado rank in that prospect poll? I will give you that the Caps are rated higher than the Blues. The others are not. Do you see any similarities? Anything that puts all those teams in the same subset?

Florida hasn't had a selloff yet.
I still see Kucherov and Point and Heman in Tampa.
I still see McKinnon and Landeskog and Makar in Colorado.

Meanwhile, ROR, Barbashev, Tarasenko and Petro ARE GONE from St Louis. The re-whatever bounty for all of those stars is baked into our prospect pool, the one ranked 15 out of 30.

I don't get your point.

What? Who cares if Florida hasn’t had a sell off yet? When they do they are going to get the same picks the Blues did that you refuse to acknowledge. And for love of God in what world does someone currently compare McKinnon, Point and Kucherov to O’Reilly, Petro and Tarasenko? I cannot dummy it down any further for you. Maybe someone will use crayons to explain it to you

Pretty sure it ate all the crayons.

Do yourself a favor and just put it on ignore.
At least stop quoting it so the rest of us don't have to see the nonsense.

[DawgDad]

Another old adage, when you're in a hole stop digging.

If the GM is improving the team I don't give a rat's behind how he's doing it, and Army hasn't "stolen" anybody.