2019 vs 2025

[stlhooked]

Thought this would be good since everyone is mentioning the 2019 last to Cup Blues team.

1 Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
-Buchnevich Thomas Snuggerud
2 Blais Oreily Perron
-Neighbors Schenn Kyrou
3 Maroon Bozak Thomas
-Joseph Sundqvist Bolduc
4 Barbashev Sundqvist Steen
-Toropchenko Faksa Walker

Edmundson Pietrangelo
-Fowler Leddy
Boumeester Parayko
-Broberg Faulk
Gunnerson Bortuzzo
-Suter Tucker

Shenn is now on the 2nd vs the 1st line and Sunnny moved to the 3rd vs the fourth line.
Thomas is now a top line center and thriving.
I think Buchnevich is an upgrade from Schwartz.
Neighbors over Blais
+Kyrou -Oreily
Bolduc obviously replaces Perron on the PP.
Snuggerud/Hollaway aren’t worse than what Tarasenko did.
And as much as everyone loves WTF I think 2019 4th line was better.
And I also think 2019 D was better.
What do you guys think? Would the 2019 team stomp a hole in the 2025 team?

[George Zipp]

I feel like adding a healthy Parayko in will help the D so much. Especially with all of the end game nonsense we seem to have run into, even during the streak. I hope he is healthy. It's going to be a full six weeks when he is back.

I love the way the D has been playing, and it's also been the forwards playing D as well. Hard to say this group is better than the 19 group because that top 3, playing the way they did, plus the mammoth size of Eddy and Bortz, you are probably right. But don't sleep on this group. It's going to be a rock solid 7 once CP55 is back.

[Younghopp1991]

I believe a side by side of our healthy roster minus krug is needed for this to be a true comparison. I honestly dont know how i would lean. I only got to watch maybe 5 games in the 2019 run the entire year and they were all in the boston series. Thankfully i was able to see game 7. 2019 team did have a lot of maturity and leadership. This team has a LOT of speed, physical with the speed. But probably not as physical or strong on the puck.

[blackinkbiz]

I think they're about as close as two teams can be. The current squad has more high-end offensive talent and the 18-19 team had more above average talent.

Cup team had 13 players with 10 or more goals. Current team has 8 although could end up with 10 after the next 4 games.

One thing I know for sure, without Holloway and Parayko, this team is highly unlikely to make it to the conference finals.

It's a toss up imo for who we'd rather play in the first round. Jets are probably the better team but have a history of choking come playoff time. Knights on the other hand are battle hardened but not as deep.

I'd like to say every bit of playoffs this year is bonus hockey and I'll just enjoy the ride since this was all unexpected (except by me, as I said 3rd place in div was possible before season started) but I know the competitor in me will be out for blood once the reg season ends and anyone can win.

[Younghopp1991]

Thought this would be good since everyone is mentioning the 2019 last to Cup Blues team.

1 Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
-Buchnevich Thomas Snuggerud
2 Blais Oreily Perron
-Neighbors Schenn Kyrou
3 Maroon Bozak Thomas
-Joseph Sundqvist Bolduc
4 Barbashev Sundqvist Steen
-Toropchenko Faksa Walker

Edmundson Pietrangelo
-Fowler Leddy
Boumeester Parayko
-Broberg Faulk
Gunnerson Bortuzzo
-Suter Tucker

Shenn is now on the 2nd vs the 1st line and Sunnny moved to the 3rd vs the fourth line.
Thomas is now a top line center and thriving.
I think Buchnevich is an upgrade from Schwartz.
Neighbors over Blais
+Kyrou -Oreily
Bolduc obviously replaces Perron on the PP.
Snuggerud/Hollaway aren’t worse than what Tarasenko did.
And as much as everyone loves WTF I think 2019 4th line was better.
And I also think 2019 D was better.
What do you guys think? Would the 2019 team stomp a hole in the 2025 team?

Not my lines. Just a comparison of a healthy team minus krug. For a better eye test.

1 Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
-Buchnevich Thomas Snuggerud/neighbours
2 Blais Oreily Perron
-Holloway Schenn Kyrou
3 Maroon Bozak Thomas
-Joseph Sundqvist Bolduc
4 Barbashev Sundqvist Steen
-Toropchenko Faksa Walker

Edmundson Pietrangelo
-Fowler Parayko
Boumeester Parayko
-Broberg Faulk
Gunnerson Bortuzzo
-Suter Leddy/Tucker

[dhsux]

Thought this would be good since everyone is mentioning the 2019 last to Cup Blues team.

1 Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
-Buchnevich Thomas Snuggerud
2 Blais Oreily Perron
-Neighbors Schenn Kyrou
3 Maroon Bozak Thomas
-Joseph Sundqvist Bolduc
4 Barbashev Sundqvist Steen
-Toropchenko Faksa Walker

Edmundson Pietrangelo
-Fowler Leddy
Boumeester Parayko
-Broberg Faulk
Gunnerson Bortuzzo
-Suter Tucker

Shenn is now on the 2nd vs the 1st line and Sunnny moved to the 3rd vs the fourth line.
Thomas is now a top line center and thriving.
I think Buchnevich is an upgrade from Schwartz.
Neighbors over Blais
+Kyrou -Oreily
Bolduc obviously replaces Perron on the PP.
Snuggerud/Hollaway aren’t worse than what Tarasenko did.
And as much as everyone loves WTF I think 2019 4th line was better.
And I also think 2019 D was better.
What do you guys think? Would the 2019 team stomp a hole in the 2025 team?

I'm guessing if the very same 2019 team had fallen short and not won the Cup....our analysis might well be different. Just knowing they won it's hard to find many faults in that line up.

Can this '25 team maintain its current level of hard play, goal tending and puck luck??

I thought they had the potential for 98 points. As hot as they are, I think they have the potential to go all the way. They haven't done either but as a fan I am extremely grateful to this bunch.

[netboy65]

Sanford was on ROR’s line as well. Chief switched him and Blais in and out

[DawgDad]

The guys comparing lines and pairs forgot Vince Dunn. 2019 Playoffs: 20g @ 15 minutes, 2-6-8 -5.

I agree with the notion Holloway and Parayko need to be included. Remember, ROR played with a cracked rib. We know in hindsight what the 2019 team was, I don't think very many people EXPECTED them to win the Cup. This team still has to get in, prove it can knock off a top team, then run the gauntlet as far as they can. Then we'll know more, in comparison.

[BobbyBlue]

Only compare the regular seasons to date so far…forget the playoffs…not fair to bring the Cup run into the equation just yet. But take a look at regular season stats:

1) Where did each team finish?
2) What were their GF and GA?
3) What was their PP% and PK%?
4) What was their longest winning streak?
5) What was their longest losing streak?
6) How many 20 goal scorers did they produce?
7) What were their goalie splits and comparisons?

Both teams had coaches take over during the season and obviously both had long winning streaks. But take a look at the other categories and see how they compare before comparing passed line-ups when that is only going to be influenced by the fact that the 2019 team won the Cup. To me…that would be a better comparison at the moment.

[Sudsy 11]

The 4th line in 2019 was so dominant that Chief would start them most games. Don't forget how absolutely dominant ROR was that year and dialed in Binner was. Petro/Parayko/Bow were also a dominant top 3 on D. I like Jobu better than Gloria, but don't think the 2025 Blues are quite there yet.Lots to look forward to though.

[Bluesfan1978]

When Binner was brought up in 2019 he was pretty much unbeatable heading into the playoffs. I don’t have the same feeling with the Blues goalies this year.

[Harold_Melvin]

The 4th line in 2019 was so dominant that Chief would start them most games. Don't forget how absolutely dominant ROR was that year and dialed in Binner was. Petro/Parayko/Bow were also a dominant top 3 on D. I like Jobu better than Gloria, but don't think the 2025 Blues are quite there yet.Lots to look forward to though.

Gloria was hated by opposing fans. For that reason alone, I loved Gloria.

[Harold_Melvin]

The 2019 Blues played a really heavy fore check game which took it's toll on opposing teams over the course of a series. The 2025 team doesn't have that capability. Perhaps they won't need it. What they will need is the same level of puck luck/timely goals. IIRC the Blues were poised to lose game 5 against the Jets in the first round and would have been down 3-2 in the series if not for a couple of timely goals late in the 3rd period.

[kimzey59]

The 2019 Blues played a really heavy fore check game which took it's toll on opposing teams over the course of a series. The 2025 team doesn't have that capability. Perhaps they won't need it. What they will need is the same level of puck luck/timely goals. IIRC the Blues were poised to lose game 5 against the Jets in the first round and would have been down 3-2 in the series if not for a couple of timely goals late in the 3rd period.

For all the talk of our "heavy forecheck" in 2019; our hits leader that year was Patrick Maroon with 135 hits and only 5 Blues even topped the 100 mark(Maroon, Schenn, Parayko, Edmundson and Sunny).

Dingo is 5 hits away from breaking Ryan Reaves single season Hits record(Walker is at 271, Reaves mark 276).
Toro has 208 hits in his own rights.
And we have 6 other players already at 100+(Schenn(186), Holloway(165), State Farm(160), Bolduc(103), Faksa(110) and Joseph(117)).

(Note 1- Parayko was at 90 when he went down or he'd easily be there also)
(Note 2 - I hesitate to call Reaves' mark the Blues single season record because Hits weren't tracked as a stat until the 2007-2008 season; and we all know the Blues had some seriously tough hombres throughout their history)

I love the Cup team as much as anyone, but there's some revisionist history being used here.
I think it's statistically undeniable that the current team has a physical element that the Cup team simply didn't possess.
I fully acknowledge that there is debate as to whether physical play has any real relevance; but it's undeniable which team has the edge in that category(it's not the Cup team).

[Harold_Melvin]

The 2019 Blues played a really heavy fore check game which took it's toll on opposing teams over the course of a series. The 2025 team doesn't have that capability. Perhaps they won't need it. What they will need is the same level of puck luck/timely goals. IIRC the Blues were poised to lose game 5 against the Jets in the first round and would have been down 3-2 in the series if not for a couple of timely goals late in the 3rd period.

For all the talk of our "heavy forecheck" in 2019; our hits leader that year was Patrick Maroon with 135 hits and only 5 Blues even topped the 100 mark(Maroon, Schenn, Parayko, Edmundson and Sunny).

Dingo is 5 hits away from breaking Ryan Reaves single season Hits record(Walker is at 271, Reaves mark 276).
Toro has 208 hits in his own rights.
And we have 6 other players already at 100+(Schenn(186), Holloway(165), State Farm(160), Bolduc(103), Faksa(110) and Joseph(117)).

(Note 1- Parayko was at 90 when he went down or he'd easily be there also)
(Note 2 - I hesitate to call Reaves' mark the Blues single season record because Hits weren't tracked as a stat until the 2007-2008 season; and we all know the Blues had some seriously tough hombres throughout their history)

I love the Cup team as much as anyone, but there's some revisionist history being used here.
I think it's statistically undeniable that the current team has a physical element that the Cup team simply didn't possess.
I fully acknowledge that there is debate as to whether physical play has any real relevance; but it's undeniable which team has the edge in that category(it's not the Cup team).

My objection to the stats is that hits aren't a standard metric because all hits are not equal. The 2019 team had HEAVY hits on the forecheck that led to possession and pain, and then there was the endless cycle in the O zone. The 2019 team had the will and the skill. Opposing teams would eventually turtle under the pressure which was especially helpful during a 7 game series. The 2025 Blues can play heavy, but it's not their forte IMO. This team is it's own thing and it's been fun to watch the growth.

[Tony Palazzolo]

There are a lot of similarities between the two teams. Not the heavy team in 2019, maybe a little more skill. Underperforming team, midseason coaching change and eventually red hot going into playoffs. If they keep playing the way they are it's a solid chance that they can go all the way. The only thing they will need is a little luck. Assuming no more injuries they should be healthy for the first round. Parakyo and Holloway should be ready.