No math or calculations necessary, what do you think?

[Red7]

I'm excited like Benny Hill when a pretty girl walked by.

The D is shored up.
The needle is trending upward for the center position.
The Blues clearly have a bounty of quality wingers that can score so that has me excited too.
The cherry on top is Jordan "Backstop" Binnington and Joel Hofer in goal.
The sky is the limit!

My only consternation is the transition from John Kelly's PBP to those radio guys. I don't hate the radio guys so maybe the transition won't be as painful as I think it's going to be.

P.S. I hope Kelly Chase kicks the big C's [ash] - again.

At this point, the D is as big of question mark as ever, maybe bigger. A lot depends on if Mailloux is ready to play meaningful minutes/games in the NHL. He’s played in 6 NHL games. He is a rookie. That’s a lot to put on a guy who’s never played a regular shift night in and night out. The other question mark is Tyler Tucker. He opened up a lot of eyes and played really well at the end until he got hurt. Will he continue to progress or will he regress? Ryan Suter turned out to be a Godsend last season and played more, not to mention better, than expected last year. He’s not back. So, it’s up to Mailloux and Tucker. If they’re up to the task, the Blues are a very good team. If not, Armstrong and Steen will have to be looking for help.

The D is a question mark?
The top four — Parayko, Faulk, Broberg, Fowler — are all back. They play the bulk of the minutes. Precisely, they played 88:30 of the 120 minutes D play.
That leaves 31:30 of ice time for the five and six spots. Tucker averaged 14:35, leaving 16:55.
That's easily distributed over Mailloux, Kessel, vet-to-be-signed, etc.

(To OP, sorry for all the math!)

Faulk was, and remains, a defensive liability. The 13 6 on 5 goals speak to that as do all the last 10 seconds of a period goals the Blues gave up. Mailloux was not traded for to be a 3rd pairing defenseman. The third pairing is still unsettled. As I said, is Tucker the guy we saw at the end of the year? Is Mailloux ready for a regular shift? Kessel? And…there’s still the issue of Faulk.

[Red7]

The Blues are objectively better if you work from the assumption that every young player will continue to make strides forward. The wild cards for me isn't whether the young players will have explosive years, it will be if Faulk can get his offense back, can Schenn get back to that hot streak he had for about 2 months with the Kyrou Hollywood line. Can Kyrou make the jump into top tier status as a goal scorer and provide the consistency he started to show last year, but with more breakout games. Can Buchy return to his previous 3 season form and his last 20 game form? THESE are the questions that need to be answered. All of which can happen btw.

If the Hofdaddy Binner duo keeps progressing like it can, we are better there.
Fowler doesn't have to do what he did last year and we are better at defense to start this year with higher top end.
Forward group got stabilized with guys like Suter and Bjug, the sky is the limit for that group and we will be a really good team because of the forwards, or we will be a team still finding its identity because of the forwards.

People who are worried about the defense aren't paying attention to where the emphasis has been put on this team. They are expecting to make major gains in the forward group. Yes that means their ability to play defense as Monty's "system" is reliant on playing behind the end line as he puts it. You have to break out fast from your end line and you have to move from theirs. That's very much asking the forwards to be good 200 feet players.

It’s hard to break out when your defense needs all three forwards below the dots to help. Their D doesn’t win many puck battles. Often times, by the time the Blues were able to get the puck out, their forwards were already exhausted and forced to dump and CHANGE, not chase or forecheck. That of course leads to easy exits for the opposing teams and easy entrances into the Blues’ zone.

[b-a-a-a-rclay]

The Blues allowed 2.31 goals against after the 4 nations tournament. That ranked 3rd in the NHL.

[TAFKAP]

Last year I said they'd make the playoffs. This year they'll finish 3rd in the Central.

[callitwhatyouwant]

The Blues allowed 2.31 goals against after the 4 nations tournament. That ranked 3rd in the NHL.

The entire last 2 seasons the Blues D has been 11th in goals against and 14th in goals against. Yet the board and a lot of the fandom continue to say the D is the problem. That's a great stat you posted. Where the Blues have been medium to good has been D. The goal scoring is the predominant reason we win or lose on any given night.

Last year we were 13th in scoring and the year before we were 24th. That is really good progress. But let's be real, this is the focus of this team. When we score, we win. Someone posted it last year, but at some point over halfway thru the season, when Binner is in a tie game or has a 1 goal lead, he was the best goalie in the league.

[LGB73]

The Blues allowed 2.31 goals against after the 4 nations tournament. That ranked 3rd in the NHL.

The entire last 2 seasons the Blues D has been 11th in goals against and 14th in goals against. Yet the board and a lot of the fandom continue to say the D is the problem. That's a great stat you posted. Where the Blues have been medium to good has been D. The goal scoring is the predominant reason we win or lose on any given night.

Last year we were 13th in scoring and the year before we were 24th. That is really good progress. But let's be real, this is the focus of this team. When we score, we win. Someone posted it last year, but at some point over halfway thru the season, when Binner is in a tie game or has a 1 goal lead, he was the best goalie in the league.

Being in the teens in both GF and GA is fine but really feels more like they need to define who they are/want to be and become a top 5/10 team in that area. Personally I'd like to see better GA numbers because defense translates better to playoff hockey. I don't care if they win 2-1 with stout defensive play or 4-3 with better offensive play, but getting all the players buying into the team identity is important.

[blues2112]

Soooo we traded a winger rookie that scored 19 goals and has 30 goal potential for a guy who may not play full time on D and has 6 career NHL games? Neat

What does trading a forward have to do with depth on defense?

What's more, Blues signed Pius Suter, who scored 26 goals last year.

[dhsux]

Soooo we traded a winger rookie that scored 19 goals and has 30 goal potential for a guy who may not play full time on D and has 6 career NHL games? Neat

What does trading a forward have to do with depth on defense?

What's more, Blues signed Pius Suter, who scored 26 goals last year.

And add Snuggs in on this 19 goal equation.

They moved from strength to attack their weakness.......no one here wanted to lose Zach but the idea is to pick up a harder to find RHD.

Whether it works has yet to be seen but what they are doing is not hard to understand.

[netboy65]

Soooo we traded a winger rookie that scored 19 goals and has 30 goal potential for a guy who may not play full time on D and has 6 career NHL games? Neat

What does trading a forward have to do with depth on defense?

What's more, Blues signed Pius Suter, who scored 26 goals last year.

And add Snuggs in on this 19 goal equation.

They moved from strength to attack their weakness.......no one here wanted to lose Zach but the idea is to pick up a harder to find RHD.

Whether it works has yet to be seen but what they are doing is not hard to understand.

If I may….Snuggie was going to be here anyway, so he’s not really a factor in this argument.
No one will ever know, but I believe the main argument is couldn’t we have gotten LM for less than Boldy? Maybe Army tried and was turned down, who knows.
I agree we have to wait for the year to play out, but given this team’s scoring issues in the past, I can certainly see how trading it away would give someone pause.

[DawgDad]

Soooo we traded a winger rookie that scored 19 goals and has 30 goal potential for a guy who may not play full time on D and has 6 career NHL games? Neat

What does trading a forward have to do with depth on defense?

What's more, Blues signed Pius Suter, who scored 26 goals last year.

And add Snuggs in on this 19 goal equation.

They moved from strength to attack their weakness.......no one here wanted to lose Zach but the idea is to pick up a harder to find RHD.

Whether it works has yet to be seen but what they are doing is not hard to understand.

If I may….Snuggie was going to be here anyway, so he’s not really a factor in this argument.
No one will ever know, but I believe the main argument is couldn’t we have gotten LM for less than Boldy? Maybe Army tried and was turned down, who knows.
I agree we have to wait for the year to play out, but given this team’s scoring issues in the past, I can certainly see how trading it away would give someone pause.

Snuggerud was not a significant part of the team last season, so yes, he effectively replaces Bolduc's offense. They are betting Suter and Bjugstad add offense, and of course they will take whatever they can get from the prospect pool.

Mailloux has the potential to add significant offense from the blue line, hopefully soon.

[dhsux]

Soooo we traded a winger rookie that scored 19 goals and has 30 goal potential for a guy who may not play full time on D and has 6 career NHL games? Neat

What does trading a forward have to do with depth on defense?

What's more, Blues signed Pius Suter, who scored 26 goals last year.

And add Snuggs in on this 19 goal equation.

They moved from strength to attack their weakness.......no one here wanted to lose Zach but the idea is to pick up a harder to find RHD.

Whether it works has yet to be seen but what they are doing is not hard to understand.

If I may….Snuggie was going to be here anyway, so he’s not really a factor in this argument.
No one will ever know, but I believe the main argument is couldn’t we have gotten LM for less than Boldy? Maybe Army tried and was turned down, who knows.
I agree we have to wait for the year to play out, but given this team’s scoring issues in the past, I can certainly see how trading it away would give someone pause.

Snuggerud was not a significant part of the team last season, so yes, he effectively replaces Bolduc's offense. They are betting Suter and Bjugstad add offense, and of course they will take whatever they can get from the prospect pool.

Mailloux has the potential to add significant offense from the blue line, hopefully soon.

Correct.

I doubt the trade is made without Snuggs being there and ready.

And what no one is even considering is how well Zach will perform this season. I assume very well but that, too, has to be played out.

[STL fan in MN]

Soooo we traded a winger rookie that scored 19 goals and has 30 goal potential for a guy who may not play full time on D and has 6 career NHL games? Neat

What does trading a forward have to do with depth on defense?

What's more, Blues signed Pius Suter, who scored 26 goals last year.

And add Snuggs in on this 19 goal equation.

They moved from strength to attack their weakness.......no one here wanted to lose Zach but the idea is to pick up a harder to find RHD.

Whether it works has yet to be seen but what they are doing is not hard to understand.

If I may….Snuggie was going to be here anyway, so he’s not really a factor in this argument.
No one will ever know, but I believe the main argument is couldn’t we have gotten LM for less than Boldy? Maybe Army tried and was turned down, who knows.
I agree we have to wait for the year to play out, but given this team’s scoring issues in the past, I can certainly see how trading it away would give someone pause.

I understand the concern with trading away offense but I’d have to say that no, the Blues couldn’t have gotten Mailloux for less than Bolduc…or they would’ve done so.

To me, the more short-term need was offense and the longer term need is defense. But many more of the coming reinforcements (prospects) are forwards than d-men. First we had Neighbours and Bolduc. Now comes Snuggerud and Dvorsky. We sacrificed Bolduc to try to balance out the need on defense. I would assume that while the Blues certainly weren’t looking to get rid of him, he was seen as expendable because of the emergence of Snuggerud, the likely arrival of Dvorsky soon with guys like Stenberg, Carbonneau, Kaskimaki etc hopefully on the way fairly soon as well.

Our defense is currently stable with a top-4 of Payrako, Fowler, Broberg and Faulk but 3 of those guys are on the wrong side of 30 and father time is undefeated so we know the eventual decline is inevitable. Our D is fine today (not great but fine) but it’s obvious we need to add some young guys as we rebuild and hopefully re-enter contender status over the next few years. We started that process with Broberg and hopefully Mailloux is a successful next step. Hopefully Lindstein is another step in that direction in the next couple years but I’m sure Army is still on the lookout for another younger d-man as well.

[seattleblue]

Soooo we traded a winger rookie that scored 19 goals and has 30 goal potential for a guy who may not play full time on D and has 6 career NHL games? Neat

What does trading a forward have to do with depth on defense?

What's more, Blues signed Pius Suter, who scored 26 goals last year.

And add Snuggs in on this 19 goal equation.

They moved from strength to attack their weakness.......no one here wanted to lose Zach but the idea is to pick up a harder to find RHD.

Whether it works has yet to be seen but what they are doing is not hard to understand.

If I may….Snuggie was going to be here anyway, so he’s not really a factor in this argument.
No one will ever know, but I believe the main argument is couldn’t we have gotten LM for less than Boldy? Maybe Army tried and was turned down, who knows.
I agree we have to wait for the year to play out, but given this team’s scoring issues in the past, I can certainly see how trading it away would give someone pause.

I understand the concern with trading away offense but I’d have to say that no, the Blues couldn’t have gotten Mailloux for less than Bolduc…or they would’ve done so.

To me, the more short-term need was offense and the longer term need is defense. But many more of the coming reinforcements (prospects) are forwards than d-men. First we had Neighbours and Bolduc. Now comes Snuggerud and Dvorsky. We sacrificed Bolduc to try to balance out the need on defense. I would assume that while the Blues certainly weren’t looking to get rid of him, he was seen as expendable because of the emergence of Snuggerud, the likely arrival of Dvorsky soon with guys like Stenberg, Carbonneau, Kaskimaki etc hopefully on the way fairly soon as well.

Our defense is currently stable with a top-4 of Payrako, Fowler, Broberg and Faulk but 3 of those guys are on the wrong side of 30 and father time is undefeated so we know the eventual decline is inevitable. Our D is fine today (not great but fine) but it’s obvious we need to add some young guys as we rebuild and hopefully re-enter contender status over the next few years. We started that process with Broberg and hopefully Mailloux is a successful next step. Hopefully Lindstein is another step in that direction in the next couple years but I’m sure Army is still on the lookout for another younger d-man as well.

It's going to be a tough stretch for those of us who see fuller potential in prospects we have been tracking, because as we turn the corner fans are going to throw all these guys into trade proposals to get a current veteran to complete the team. This isn't verboten or anything as trade proposals are totally fair game for exploratory thought, but I suspect there will be a lot of Lindstein and Stancl and Dvorsky and Stenberg in trade proposals upcoming and to your point here about Lindstein I hope the Blues brass (and I think they will be) is more patient in seeing if we've drafted some key pieces to the next core. The 2023 draft was insanely deep and we had so many picks and they have been performing very well. My bias is wanting to see them blossom with the Blues, knowing they can't all take the same spots. It's some musical chairs. It's a loaded time, if they make the wrong decisions and trade the wrong prospects there's potential for it to haunt us. For the record I don't think losing Bolduc is going to haunt us.

[STL fan in MN]

Soooo we traded a winger rookie that scored 19 goals and has 30 goal potential for a guy who may not play full time on D and has 6 career NHL games? Neat

What does trading a forward have to do with depth on defense?

What's more, Blues signed Pius Suter, who scored 26 goals last year.

And add Snuggs in on this 19 goal equation.

They moved from strength to attack their weakness.......no one here wanted to lose Zach but the idea is to pick up a harder to find RHD.

Whether it works has yet to be seen but what they are doing is not hard to understand.

If I may….Snuggie was going to be here anyway, so he’s not really a factor in this argument.
No one will ever know, but I believe the main argument is couldn’t we have gotten LM for less than Boldy? Maybe Army tried and was turned down, who knows.
I agree we have to wait for the year to play out, but given this team’s scoring issues in the past, I can certainly see how trading it away would give someone pause.

I understand the concern with trading away offense but I’d have to say that no, the Blues couldn’t have gotten Mailloux for less than Bolduc…or they would’ve done so.

To me, the more short-term need was offense and the longer term need is defense. But many more of the coming reinforcements (prospects) are forwards than d-men. First we had Neighbours and Bolduc. Now comes Snuggerud and Dvorsky. We sacrificed Bolduc to try to balance out the need on defense. I would assume that while the Blues certainly weren’t looking to get rid of him, he was seen as expendable because of the emergence of Snuggerud, the likely arrival of Dvorsky soon with guys like Stenberg, Carbonneau, Kaskimaki etc hopefully on the way fairly soon as well.

Our defense is currently stable with a top-4 of Payrako, Fowler, Broberg and Faulk but 3 of those guys are on the wrong side of 30 and father time is undefeated so we know the eventual decline is inevitable. Our D is fine today (not great but fine) but it’s obvious we need to add some young guys as we rebuild and hopefully re-enter contender status over the next few years. We started that process with Broberg and hopefully Mailloux is a successful next step. Hopefully Lindstein is another step in that direction in the next couple years but I’m sure Army is still on the lookout for another younger d-man as well.

It's going to be a tough stretch for those of us who see fuller potential in prospects we have been tracking, because as we turn the corner fans are going to throw all these guys into trade proposals to get a current veteran to complete the team. This isn't verboten or anything as trade proposals are totally fair game for exploratory thought, but I suspect there will be a lot of Lindstein and Stancl and Dvorsky and Stenberg in trade proposals upcoming and to your point here about Lindstein I hope the Blues brass (and I think they will be) is more patient in seeing if we've drafted some key pieces to the next core. The 2023 draft was insanely deep and we had so many picks and they have been performing very well. My bias is wanting to see them blossom with the Blues, knowing they can't all take the same spots. It's some musical chairs. It's a loaded time, if they make the wrong decisions and trade the wrong prospects there's potential for it to haunt us. For the record I don't think losing Bolduc is going to haunt us.

True. It’s simply a fact some won’t make it or some will inevitably get traded for other pieces that (hopefully) fit a need better. We’ll just have to trust Army/Steen will make the right moves over the next few years as if a lot of them develop into the sorts of players we think they can, we simply won’t have enough room for all of them. But that’s when you can trade one player and a prospect for an even better player and ideally upgrade the roster that way.

[Sudsy 11]

I was excited about the Blues before the streak late in the year. Even though the Blues were pacing the same as the previous year, adding Monty as coach and Broberg and Holloway were key additions moving forward. Also adding Fowler to help the D and considering previous years draft picks are getting closer is a lot to be excited about. The late season streak and playoff experience shows the Blues competitive window could be starting now.

[a smell of green grass]

Show me a person that is excited about Blues hockey, and I'll show you someone that is not paying attention to the great things that are happening on the other teams in the NHL.

We just traded away one of our best young wingers for Montreal's 4th-best RHD. Montreal has something to be excited about. NOT THE BLUES.