LUCIC

[skilles]

The spot Lucic would get has nothing to do with youngsters, If it is thought one of our young players/prospects was best served playing NHL games then they will/would be Lucic or no Lucic.

OK....But he's taking SOMEBODIES spot. You do agree?

Hey if the powers to be feel his "presence' is this important I'll defer.

I do not.

Spots are earned, not "taken."

Competition will bring out the best, especially for those fighting for the bottom few positions.

Yeah and a spot on the roster doesn't mean a spot on the ice. League minimum sitting in the press box is not a spot our prospects are competing for nor is it a spot any good player is competing for.

If our 13th,14th, and 15th forwards are young players/prospects that we'd call up if someone gets injured then bringing in Lucic on league minimum and moving on from a Texier and/or Joseph makes a lot of sense.

I think you would want to do that after the season starts to get Krugs full LTIR relief though.

Ultimately the decision may have more to do with Whether Dvorsky, Stenburg etc. beat out Joseph/texier than anything else.

[Old_Goat]

Team TOUGHNESS is the focus. By no means do I propose to see Schenn, Neighbours, Tucker or Mailloux looking for a fight or getting hurt in fights. But on the nights that Lucic is wearing a suit upstairs, other teams will be running us all night if that is all we've got. You can score more goals and prevent more odd-man rushes against and clear your own zone more reliably without having to circle around throwing your helmet and elbow pads off.

[Harry York 37]

The spot Lucic would get has nothing to do with youngsters, If it is thought one of our young players/prospects was best served playing NHL games then they will/would be Lucic or no Lucic.

OK....But he's taking SOMEBODIES spot. You do agree?

Hey if the powers to be feel his "presence' is this important I'll defer.

I do not.

Spots are earned, not "taken."

Competition will bring out the best, especially for those fighting for the bottom few positions.

I've played on a whole lot of teams in a whole lot of competitive sports.

Sometimes, a guy's heart and desire, his willingness to BATTLE when it counts the most, and even his (desperate) need to make your team... are wonderful things to have on your bench.

If they keep Milan, I don't think he will hurt us. If used wisely.

[skilles]

Team TOUGHNESS is the focus. By no means do I propose to see Schenn, Neighbours, Tucker or Mailloux looking for a fight or getting hurt in fights. But on the nights that Lucic is wearing a suit upstairs, other teams will be running us all night if that is all we've got. You can score more goals and prevent more odd-man rushes against and clear your own zone more reliably without having to circle around throwing your helmet and elbow pads off.

Maybe once upon a time that was the case but guys don't care if Lucic takes an instigator penalty later after "running us" I think they would prefer it actually.

Toughness is a thing but it is a team thing

[a smell of green grass]

The spot Lucic would get has nothing to do with youngsters, If it is thought one of our young players/prospects was best served playing NHL games then they will/would be Lucic or no Lucic.

OK....But he's taking SOMEBODIES spot. You do agree?

Hey if the powers to be feel his "presence' is this important I'll defer.

I do not.

Spots are earned, not "taken."

Competition will bring out the best, especially for those fighting for the bottom few positions.

I've played on a whole lot of teams in a whole lot of competitive sports.

Sometimes, a guy's heart and desire, his willingness to BATTLE when it counts the most, and even his (desperate) need to make your team... are wonderful things to have on your bench.

If they keep Milan, I don't think he will hurt us. If used wisely.

No one should be surprised by the team and Lucic.

I've said many times that Army "stays competitive" to the end of the season by putting old guys on the bench desperate to stay in the NHL. Lucic is but the latest example.

I've also said that these old guys battling for a job ruin our draft position.

Blues fans see Lucic and they applaud in March, but what they fail to see is the next bright young prospect never coming to our town as a result of it.

[LewisL]

Also worth noting is that Mailloux can now be in the mix of those who can drop the mitts.

Yeah I heard that, he might have some sneaky frenchy toughness like a Marc Bergevin.

Yeah, Mailloux doesn't seem afraid to mix it up, he's pretty big too.
At 6'5", Bjugstad is a big guy, but I saw him in a couple of fights, and he's not good at it.

[taynos]

Looch was penciled in on a line with Devo and Stenberg at the morning skate before injury

Made me think before the groin they were talking to him about a 2-way deal to play in Springfield for a call up later

No idea if we would be interested riding the bus etc, but I can't see a team offering him a 1-way before the season without a chance to show off what he can do in camp

And as a buddy of mine pointed out - he has strong ties to the Boston area possible family still there? I dunno just spitballin, I certainly think a proper sh*tkicker would be great for spot starts throughout the year

[somni]

The spot Lucic would get has nothing to do with youngsters, If it is thought one of our young players/prospects was best served playing NHL games then they will/would be Lucic or no Lucic.

OK....But he's taking SOMEBODIES spot. You do agree?

Hey if the powers to be feel his "presence' is this important I'll defer.

I do not.

Spots are earned, not "taken."

Competition will bring out the best, especially for those fighting for the bottom few positions.

I've played on a whole lot of teams in a whole lot of competitive sports.

Sometimes, a guy's heart and desire, his willingness to BATTLE when it counts the most, and even his (desperate) need to make your team... are wonderful things to have on your bench.

If they keep Milan, I don't think he will hurt us. If used wisely.

No one should be surprised by the team and Lucic.

I've said many times that Army "stays competitive" to the end of the season by putting old guys on the bench desperate to stay in the NHL. Lucic is but the latest example.

I've also said that these old guys battling for a job ruin our draft position.

Blues fans see Lucic and they applaud in March, but what they fail to see is the next bright young prospect never coming to our town as a result of it.

Congrat on having the "skill" to twist any subject into one of your trite tirades. You're almost matching that "other guy" that derails every subject into a Petro discussion.

[callitwhatyouwant]

I do think the injury lends itself to this being tougher on Lucic. You can only count on him to serve a role if he's available to serve said role. If he's injured and can't handle the practice load it takes than it's a moot point anyways.

The spot he is taking is a bench spot. It really just depends on what that value is. It's easy to see where this lineup is going for the most part.

Snuggs/Thomas/Buchy
Kyrou/Hollywood
Neighbours Schenn/Suter/xxxx One of those 2 playing on the 2nd line
Torpedo/Bjug/Sunny/Walker 1 of these guys is a bench guy but 100 percent on the roster

That leaves 1 starting role and 1 bench spot. Joseph appears to be a lock if you just take the first week. So then you have to decide, is Texier's game good enough to get in on that 3rd line consistently. If it is, you have enough grit wit Neighbours and Schenn to allow Texier to freeflow. Otherwise you 100 percent have an identity line that has scoring potential if you throw Joseph into that line.

THIS is where I feel like Lucic becomes intriguing. You shouldn't be stashing Texier on the bench like last year. Last year was his get right year after the off the ice stuff he had to take care of. Get acustom to being around the boys for a season which he did. If you think Texier is playing, then you can rotate Walker/Sunny/Joseph as your bench guys and be OK. If you think Texier is on the bench, then you need to keep Lucic as the other guys are perfect 4th liners already and Joseph/Torpedo/Bjug can flow into the 3rd line.

[STL fan in MN]

One option here, if it’s something both the Blues and Lucic would be agreeable to, is extending the PTO to the regular season. There’s no rule saying they have to make a decision by the time camp ends. They likely will but just presenting it as an option.

Camp should be enough time to make the decision on if Lucic can help the team or not…or at least help more than Texier for example. BUT, with the groin injury now, I could see where that might delay things a bit.

The most likely result is that he’s simply released from the PTO at some point. That’s even more likely now IMO because of the groin injury. But there’s also no denying he brings an element no other forward in camp brings and we could use that. But only if his legs can handle 30 or so games this season.

I personally haven’t made the assessment on that yet. I’d like to see more first…but the groin injury hampers that obviously. Maybe the Blues have already made that decision, idk. Or maybe they will soon. Or maybe the groin injury will be minor and he’ll be back on the ice soon and gets enough of a shot the last week of camp for them to be able to make that call.

But if needed, they could always agree to extend the PTO into the regular season a bit if the groin injury doesn’t allow them to make the proper evaluation by the time camp breaks and they don’t want to just cut him loose. This would only make sense if they feel he still has a legit shot of helping this team. Obviously I don’t know how they see it as of today but for me, I’d like to see more of Lucic first before cutting him loose.

[dhsux]

I do think the injury lends itself to this being tougher on Lucic. You can only count on him to serve a role if he's available to serve said role. If he's injured and can't handle the practice load it takes than it's a moot point anyways.

The spot he is taking is a bench spot. It really just depends on what that value is. It's easy to see where this lineup is going for the most part.

Snuggs/Thomas/Buchy
Kyrou/Hollywood
Neighbours Schenn/Suter/xxxx One of those 2 playing on the 2nd line
Torpedo/Bjug/Sunny/Walker 1 of these guys is a bench guy but 100 percent on the roster

That leaves 1 starting role and 1 bench spot. Joseph appears to be a lock if you just take the first week. So then you have to decide, is Texier's game good enough to get in on that 3rd line consistently. If it is, you have enough grit wit Neighbours and Schenn to allow Texier to freeflow. Otherwise you 100 percent have an identity line that has scoring potential if you throw Joseph into that line.

THIS is where I feel like Lucic becomes intriguing. You shouldn't be stashing Texier on the bench like last year. Last year was his get right year after the off the ice stuff he had to take care of. Get acustom to being around the boys for a season which he did. If you think Texier is playing, then you can rotate Walker/Sunny/Joseph as your bench guys and be OK. If you think Texier is on the bench, then you need to keep Lucic as the other guys are perfect 4th liners already and Joseph/Torpedo/Bjug can flow into the 3rd line.

Curious if you think Walker is a bench guy.

He played 73 games last year, Monty loves the guy and I don't see him doing less this year either, imo.

[stlblue06]

Not sure if this has been talked about but what about Texier going down to Springfield to help get his confidence back? I’m not sure what his chances are of being claimed but he could be a good call up.

[kimzey59]

Not sure if this has been talked about but what about Texier going down to Springfield to help get his confidence back? I’m not sure what his chances are of being claimed but he could be a good call up.

I don't know that "confidence" is Texier's problem. He seems plenty confident, he's just not getting results. It didn't seem to affect his play against Columbus(he wasns't moping" or anything like that, he just started getting blanketed by the Columbus D).

I just don't think Tex has the skill to force his way into a regular spot. At best, he's a 30ish point finesse guy with a subpar defensive game at even strength but decent PK ability. On a lot of teams, he'd probably be a good option on a 3rd line. Here, he just doesn't have a role. We've got better, or at least potentially better skill players to put on a 3rd scoring line and we have better Pk'ers to roll out as a specialist(it'd be really nice if they'd play up to their abilities but that's a separate discussion). Going down to Springfield isn't going to make Texier "better". I think he is what he is; a younger, marginally better Kapanen.

[STL fan in MN]

Not sure if this has been talked about but what about Texier going down to Springfield to help get his confidence back? I’m not sure what his chances are of being claimed but he could be a good call up.

I don't know that "confidence" is Texier's problem. He seems plenty confident, he's just not getting results. It didn't seem to affect his play against Columbus(he wasns't moping" or anything like that, he just started getting blanketed by the Columbus D).

I just don't think Tex has the skill to force his way into a regular spot. At best, he's a 30ish point finesse guy with a subpar defensive game at even strength but decent PK ability. On a lot of teams, he'd probably be a good option on a 3rd line. Here, he just doesn't have a role. We've got better, or at least potentially better skill players to put on a 3rd scoring line and we have better Pk'ers to roll out as a specialist(it'd be really nice if they'd play up to their abilities but that's a separate discussion). Going down to Springfield isn't going to make Texier "better". I think he is what he is; a younger, marginally better Kapanen.

100% agree. Texier is a fulltime NHLer on a lot of teams that lack depth…like Columbus’s teams from a few years ago. He either needs to step his game up a notch, find his way to a lesser team, or he’s going to continue to be a tweener and eventually find his way out of the league.

He’s not a bad player but we simply have better options - both from an offensive and defensive standpoint.

[stlblue06]

Not sure if this has been talked about but what about Texier going down to Springfield to help get his confidence back? I’m not sure what his chances are of being claimed but he could be a good call up.

I don't know that "confidence" is Texier's problem. He seems plenty confident, he's just not getting results. It didn't seem to affect his play against Columbus(he wasns't moping" or anything like that, he just started getting blanketed by the Columbus D).

I just don't think Tex has the skill to force his way into a regular spot. At best, he's a 30ish point finesse guy with a subpar defensive game at even strength but decent PK ability. On a lot of teams, he'd probably be a good option on a 3rd line. Here, he just doesn't have a role. We've got better, or at least potentially better skill players to put on a 3rd scoring line and we have better Pk'ers to roll out as a specialist(it'd be really nice if they'd play up to their abilities but that's a separate discussion). Going down to Springfield isn't going to make Texier "better". I think he is what he is; a younger, marginally better Kapanen.

100% agree. Texier is a fulltime NHLer on a lot of teams that lack depth…like Columbus’s teams from a few years ago. He either needs to step his game up a notch, find his way to a lesser team, or he’s going to continue to be a tweener and eventually find his way out of the league.

He’s not a bad player but we simply have better options - both from an offensive and defensive standpoint.

Well he did miss an entire season 2 years before he came to the Blues. Then he only played 31 games last season with limited ice time. He’s still young with only 1 season over 40 games played. I think it could help him but I see him getting claimed as 2.3M on his final year isn’t much for a bottom team.

[STL fan in MN]

Not sure if this has been talked about but what about Texier going down to Springfield to help get his confidence back? I’m not sure what his chances are of being claimed but he could be a good call up.

I don't know that "confidence" is Texier's problem. He seems plenty confident, he's just not getting results. It didn't seem to affect his play against Columbus(he wasns't moping" or anything like that, he just started getting blanketed by the Columbus D).

I just don't think Tex has the skill to force his way into a regular spot. At best, he's a 30ish point finesse guy with a subpar defensive game at even strength but decent PK ability. On a lot of teams, he'd probably be a good option on a 3rd line. Here, he just doesn't have a role. We've got better, or at least potentially better skill players to put on a 3rd scoring line and we have better Pk'ers to roll out as a specialist(it'd be really nice if they'd play up to their abilities but that's a separate discussion). Going down to Springfield isn't going to make Texier "better". I think he is what he is; a younger, marginally better Kapanen.

100% agree. Texier is a fulltime NHLer on a lot of teams that lack depth…like Columbus’s teams from a few years ago. He either needs to step his game up a notch, find his way to a lesser team, or he’s going to continue to be a tweener and eventually find his way out of the league.

He’s not a bad player but we simply have better options - both from an offensive and defensive standpoint.

Well he did miss an entire season 2 years before he came to the Blues. Then he only played 31 games last season with limited ice time. He’s still young with only 1 season over 40 games played. I think it could help him but I see him getting claimed as 2.3M on his final year isn’t much for a bottom team.

Yeah, he might get claimed. And tbh, that probably wouldn’t be a horrible outcome for the Blues. Would save them $2.3M.

And let’s add some context as he didn’t exactly just “miss” a season. The Blue Jackets allowed him an indefinite leave after 2 close family members died and Tex decided to play the 2022-23 in Switzerland. So he still played pro hockey that season but obviously well below NHL caliber but he did that to be closer to his family in France as they grieved.

But you make a solid point that it’s possible he still has another gear we haven’t seen yet. Due to him bouncing around and playing that year in the Swiss league, maybe he just needs some time to sort it out. But unfortunately he’s pretty much out of time. It’s make or break time.

That said, I’m rooting for him. But I’m also rooting for Joseph, Lucic, Dvorsky, Stenberg etc. I want them all to succeed…then though of course, it’s obvious that the success of one or two of these guys would hamper the success of the others as there’s only so many roster spots to go around. But I just want at least one of these guys to grab the bull by the horns, grab the open 3RW spot and run with it.