Rough times dudes

[Hooking]

Can't agree on Binnington and Parayko. Schenn, ok.

This.

Binnington, if he wants to stay let him stay. Even if it's as a backup. I am being a bit selfish here in saying I want him to stay a Blue for his career, retire here and get a statue. He IS a St. Louis Blue and he will never be forgotten. He deserves all the accolades.

Also Parayko is not a guy you just dump because things aren't going well. He is a cornerstone of this team and it sets the team back many years if you dump him. Obviously it depends on the return but as the D sits on this team - it would have to be a hell of a deal to pry Parayko from the Blues.

He’s not a cornerstone or a no 1 with 7 pts in 27 games. And no you can’t trade him you don’t have options for the next 3 years. You can cut him to 12-15 min a game and spread the minutes out to rest of corps.

Sorry, I am not someone who values D-men based on the points they get. That all started quite a few years with Karlsson and it is not a good way to value defensive play. Parayko is a cornerstone of this team.

[sneptsmoustache]

A "good defenseman" is someone who A) plays positionally well and breaks the play up before it even begins, B) stays calm under the forecheck and is able to emerge from scrums along the boards with the puck, and C) facilitates a good breakout, either with a good first pass, finding his other D-man, or rushing the puck.

Parayko is excellent at all of those. People who think trading him helps this team in the short term or the long term are insane. He could play at this level for several more years. Who is going to play all of those hard minutes on the right side? Faulk and Kessel?

If a D-man is good at head-manning the puck and starting the rush, they will inevitably end up with a few points. (The ones who end up with a ton of points, like Karlsson etc, are generally racking them up on the power play.)

55's weak numbers this year are at least partially a function of the fact that the entire offense is completey anemic. That said, it is indeed pretty disappointing that he has zero goals at this point in the season.

[Younghopp1991]

I agree that trading parayko would put us in a definite rebuild.

That being said, if you are not a legitimate cup contender going into the 27-28 season i dont know why you keep him.

I believe there is going to be a day where he starts breaking down (6ft 6 and 32 years old now) knee tweek last year, orevious back issues. How long do we think parry will still be parry?

[DawgDad]

Good thread to make folks here think about lots of different scenarios. But unfortunately our Blues won't cooperate in being too terrible. They keep showing signs every once in a while of what the possibilities could be. We can pick out when our favorite players show their real good stuff, but one of the other fan favorites gets in the way, and messes stuff up. And then, we know what's coming. The player that messed something up before, does something amazing on another play. In my opinion, we have the rest of the team messing somethin up. Or making great plays.

But no matter what happens, Hof and Binny get most of the spotlight in bad situations, and not so much if it's them who does the amazing stuff. I just wouldn't do to much of anything major. At least fo a few more weeks, to see if Monty and the team can get their heads together to put us on the right track. I'm not happy at all with the way we're playing, but we can still take a bit more time. I wouldn't say this if I believed we could make some moves and all of a sudden become an instant threat to win the Cup, or close to it. I just don't see the odds of that happening.

The Blues aren't just getting beat they're getting beat up. Snuggerud and Walker out multiple weeks now, Toropchenko out, too, Thomas banged up. Neighbours hasn't found the net yet since he's been back. On top of a general veteran power outage offensively.

On a positive note Holloway shows signs of returning to form and there is still some energy from the backline guys. They will need much more, offensively, without slipping defensively with 2/3 of the 4th line energy out. I'm at the point of giving up on higher expectations from the veteran forwards and the lack of goals from defensemen not named Faulk is a deepening concern. Not realistic to expect callups to move the needle short term. On that front, Dvorsky needs to do SOMETHING offensively at ES, he's into Buchnevich dysfunction territory.

Revisiting this, in light of recent wins. Mounting injuries seem to have sparked a fire, coincidentally or otherwise. Buch and Schenn have shown a pulse, Schenn and Holloway creating second line offense. The depth is filling in acceptably. Dvorsky STILL needs a burr under his saddle.

Still a team riding the fence between relevance and oblivion but clearly they haven't thrown in the towel.

[sneptsmoustache]

I agree that trading parayko would put us in a definite rebuild.

That being said, if you are not a legitimate cup contender going into the 27-28 season i dont know why you keep him.

I believe there is going to be a day where he starts breaking down (6ft 6 and 32 years old now) knee tweek last year, orevious back issues. How long do we think parry will still be parry?

I honestly think it's at least five more seasons. The dude has played in at least 79 games in 7 different seasons. His style of play could allow him to perform at a high level well into his late 30s, in my view.