Preseason takeaways

[billybaseball]

1. Thomas is going to top 100 pts this year. Not just because of his linemates but it seems very evident that scoring from the defense will be up this year. That will get Thomas 20 more assists easy. And Snuggerud and Buchnevich are both great passers too so I think he tops 30g. Full season I predict 33g 82A 115p

2. Snuggerud should win the Calder. It will be tough because of the bias' in the voting but he should win. 30g 70p

3. Lucic should not make the team. Give him the ATO and send him to Springfield but there is no way he's even a top 15 forward this preseason.

4. Defense looks stout. Binner looks locked in. I could see us being a top 5 GA team and Binner being a Vezina finalists. Also as I said in #1, defensive scoring is going to be a huge plus this year.

5. Holloway could make that second line the best in hockey. Love the way Suter has been playing off of him and Kyrou. Suter is a much better fit than Schenn imo.

6. Haven't seen the Schenn line at full capacity yet but I like Bjugstad out there with him. They split center last night and I think that works good for Schenn who probably should be a winger at this point in his career. Despite scoring a goal, I didn't like the way Joseph looked. Made a handful of terrible passes that were for sure regular season giveaways/scoring chance the other way.

7. Sundqvist's skating is much better. I think he's better than Faksa at everything except faceoffs. So that 4th line shouldn't miss a beat. If Sunny can get around 50% on the dot then the 4th line should be even better than last year.

8. Springfield should be a top team with the lineup they have this year. Dvorsky and Stenberg would probably make a lot of teams out of training camp. Interested if Stancl sticks at center this year or if he was just there in camp due to lack of depth. Pekarcik is another big one and I hope he gets to play with Dvorsky. Defense looke good and we will see if Lindstein is the real deal finally. Ellis and Zherenko are a solid tandem and hopefully Zherenko bounces back from a mostly disappointing season.

[John Cocktoastin]

9. First call ups. Who is on speed dial? That will give insight on development/next guy up thinking by the people upstairs and who is deemed ready for the NHL.

10. Carbo. How does he do, what kind of development does he show? And what will that mean for his timeline/runway?

[Pierre McGuire]

Speaking of the Calder trophy and Snuggerud, Sam Cosentino was on NHL radio yesterday and picked Snuggerud as his Calder winner with Ivan Demidov as the runner up.

[seattleblue]

Snuggerud is as well positioned to have a strong points rookie season as anyone in the league on Thomas' wing

Carbo plays today with Bouillabaisse at 6pm central against the Charlottetown Islanders.

Our top 8 is pretty strong at forward. it's the bottom group that has the prospects salivating because they are highly replaceable

If Bjugstad plays like this in NHL games he's going to be waived and replaced. He is a dead spot right now

Binner looks like he wants to tell the league something about himself

[chuckt]

I admire your optimism but your predictions on Thomas and Snuggerud are wild. No chance on either.

I will be very happy if Thomas gets 90 and Snuggerud gets 45 points.

[dhsux]

1. Thomas is going to top 100 pts this year. Not just because of his linemates but it seems very evident that scoring from the defense will be up this year. That will get Thomas 20 more assists easy. And Snuggerud and Buchnevich are both great passers too so I think he tops 30g. Full season I predict 33g 82A 115p

2. Snuggerud should win the Calder. It will be tough because of the bias' in the voting but he should win. 30g 70p

3. Lucic should not make the team. Give him the ATO and send him to Springfield but there is no way he's even a top 15 forward this preseason.

4. Defense looks stout. Binner looks locked in. I could see us being a top 5 GA team and Binner being a Vezina finalists. Also as I said in #1, defensive scoring is going to be a huge plus this year.

5. Holloway could make that second line the best in hockey. Love the way Suter has been playing off of him and Kyrou. Suter is a much better fit than Schenn imo.

6. Haven't seen the Schenn line at full capacity yet but I like Bjugstad out there with him. They split center last night and I think that works good for Schenn who probably should be a winger at this point in his career. Despite scoring a goal, I didn't like the way Joseph looked. Made a handful of terrible passes that were for sure regular season giveaways/scoring chance the other way.

7. Sundqvist's skating is much better. I think he's better than Faksa at everything except faceoffs. So that 4th line shouldn't miss a beat. If Sunny can get around 50% on the dot then the 4th line should be even better than last year.

8. Springfield should be a top team with the lineup they have this year. Dvorsky and Stenberg would probably make a lot of teams out of training camp. Interested if Stancl sticks at center this year or if he was just there in camp due to lack of depth. Pekarcik is another big one and I hope he gets to play with Dvorsky. Defense looke good and we will see if Lindstein is the real deal finally. Ellis and Zherenko are a solid tandem and hopefully Zherenko bounces back from a mostly disappointing season.

All in all Good post agree with a lot of it.

Said all along with all the trade talk he has been subject to JB has another Cup in him.

I'm listening to the fret about that 4th line and knowing Sunny is there, if he can stay healthy, has calmed my nerves.

Thinking Schenn will find his sweet spot where he belongs this year in the line up and will play like his old self.

Can't wait to watch Bro and Mailloux take to the ice.

There's so much to look forward to, with patience.

[Harry S Deals]

I admire your optimism but your predictions on Thomas and Snuggerud are wild. No chance on either.

I will be very happy if Thomas gets 90 and Snuggerud gets 45 points.

15 ish goals, 30 assists from Snuggerud playing on top PP and top line minutes? That would be very disappointing for me. Providing hes healthy 50 pts should be a lock, 20 goals 30 assists but even that seem too conservative. The fact that the Blues 2nd line is dangerous with Holloway and Kyrou all over the place will mean that Thomas will see some beneficial match ups.

25 goals 65 assists for Thomas
30 goals 45 assists for Buch
28 goals 35 assists for Snuggerud

It will be fun to revisit our predictions later

[Harry S Deals]

9. First call ups. Who is on speed dial? That will give insight on development/next guy up thinking by the people upstairs and who is deemed ready for the NHL.

10. Carbo. How does he do, what kind of development does he show? And what will that mean for his timeline/runway?

My first call up on wing is Stenberg no question, if its a center, Dvorsky if its a specific 4th line role they may look at Kaskimaki then Peterson, let em simmer

[John Cocktoastin]

I am a little hesitant on Thomas going bananas in goals. Not because the talent isn't there. It's the shot volume. I think he's going to get more points, no doubt. But believe it will be by the helper.

Thomas' shots per game is 2.07 compared to the league average of 2.5 - 3.5. Now, his shooting percentage is above average, but he is a playmaking and passing first player. It kind of drives me nuts sometimes when he passes on an open goal or makes an extra pass.

No complaints here. Just wish he'd shoot a little more.

[Section315]

I am a little hesitant on Thomas going bananas in goals. Not because the talent isn't there. It's the shot volume. I think he's going to get more points, no doubt. But believe it will be by the helper.

Thomas' shots per game is 2.07 compared to the league average of 2.5 - 3.5. Now, his shooting percentage is above average, but he is a playmaking and passing first player. It kind of drives me nuts sometimes when he passes on an open goal or makes an extra pass.

No complaints here. Just wish he'd shoot a little more.

Because he has a penchant of missing some glorious chances and then defers.

[Younghopp1991]

So far my takeaways without trying to be too much of a homer…

1. The team has a lot to prove. To us… and to themselves. Everybody looks hungry.

2. It is hard for my to believe buch does not have a better impact on the game this year knowing his role from the jump. A role he loves. I think everyone believes thomas is poise for a monster season and i think 100+pts is doable. Those points have to go to someone and snuggerud looks like he brings a unexpected quickness and different creativity.

3. Watching kyrou and Holloway move together out there along with suter not looking out of place has been fun and leaves a lot to the imagination of what role suter will play on that line outside of defensive responsibilities.

4. The neighbours, schenn, bjug line is the assumed 3rd pair unless its joseph. That line needs playmaking ability to become anything more than a hit and disrupt line. We are hoping for any spark to buy time until dvorsky is ready. He will be a line driver once he settles in.

5. The 4th line should be alright. I would prefer bjug to be on this line. But definitely leaves you excited forstancl, jecho, kaskiamaki, petterson and more.

6. The defence looks active and up to the task of stepping up in the play (i mean, who wouldnt want to be mote active in the play)

7. We get fowler for maybe 1 year more than you want. Best case scenario in the last 2 years hes holding down a 3rd line with jiricek. That would probably be jiriceks dream scenario.

8. Parayko looks solid as usual, faulk…not so much.

9. Broberg looks like hes ready to get paid and put up some numbers and mailloux(sp) looks exciting. The tools that stand out make him really fun to watch. The way he wants to to walk the line, how he steps up the middle on the rush and how he wants to put the puck on the net. Im even excited for tucker. The aggressiveness in his game plays perfect in montys system. I can see some bonehead plays between him and LM in our future, but they should be a fune knucklehead combo that hits a ton and will put the puck on net from anywhere.

10. Binner is on a mission. Ever since he became a dad hes just had a different mind set to him. I think he gas a real solid next 2 seasons just to solidify his spot.

11. All in all its going to come down to health. We need to gave long seasons from the core. Especially the top 6. I honestly dont see how snuggerud doesnt win calder if the first line stays healthy.

12. Im interested to see how they play with the krug money. Its nice to know we have the cap space to put texier or joseph in the AHL if you want dvorsky up. We arent trapped. Sorry lucic. Not this year. Not sure if im forgetting anything.

[chuckt]

I admire your optimism but your predictions on Thomas and Snuggerud are wild. No chance on either.

I will be very happy if Thomas gets 90 and Snuggerud gets 45 points.

15 ish goals, 30 assists from Snuggerud playing on top PP and top line minutes? That would be very disappointing for me. Providing hes healthy 50 pts should be a lock, 20 goals 30 assists but even that seem too conservative. The fact that the Blues 2nd line is dangerous with Holloway and Kyrou all over the place will mean that Thomas will see some beneficial match ups.

25 goals 65 assists for Thomas
30 goals 45 assists for Buch
28 goals 35 assists for Snuggerud

It will be fun to revisit our predictions later

It's crazy to me that you are expecting Celebrini like numbers from Snuggerud. We will see.

[Section315]

Hot takes!

[TheJackBurton]

I admire your optimism but your predictions on Thomas and Snuggerud are wild. No chance on either.

I will be very happy if Thomas gets 90 and Snuggerud gets 45 points.

As long as Thomas doesn't get off to a slow start he'll get 100.

He finished last year on an absolute tear averaging 1.42 points a game. 1.42 on a 82 game schedule would be 116, so I don't expect 1.42 but if he can get to 1.3 he'll get there.

The last 2 seasons he's gone 86 points in 82 games, and 81 in 70 games and that was with a bottom of the league PP and one that finished in the bottom half.

If the PP can be better this year, and it should be with a full year of Fowler, he should get another 10-15 points from that alone.

100 isn't remotely out of his reach.

[skilles]

I admire your optimism but your predictions on Thomas and Snuggerud are wild. No chance on either.

I will be very happy if Thomas gets 90 and Snuggerud gets 45 points.

15 ish goals, 30 assists from Snuggerud playing on top PP and top line minutes? That would be very disappointing for me. Providing hes healthy 50 pts should be a lock, 20 goals 30 assists but even that seem too conservative. The fact that the Blues 2nd line is dangerous with Holloway and Kyrou all over the place will mean that Thomas will see some beneficial match ups.

25 goals 65 assists for Thomas
30 goals 45 assists for Buch
28 goals 35 assists for Snuggerud

It will be fun to revisit our predictions later

It's crazy to me that you are expecting Celebrini like numbers from Snuggerud. We will see.

Well to be fair while I agree those are lofty expectations this team should score 50-75 more goals than the one Celebrini was on

[zamadoo]

2. It is hard for my to believe buch does not have a better impact on the game this year knowing his role from the jump. A role he loves. I think everyone believes thomas is poise for a monster season and i think 100+pts is doable. Those points have to go to someone and snuggerud looks like he brings a unexpected quickness and different creativity.

A little bit on this... Buch mentioned last year when signing his deal that he didn't want to be bobbled around and just wanted to be told where he is playing. They messed that up to start, but now have settled it. Then, in a recent interview, he mentioned how typically one guy is your grinder who goes and does the dirty work, and he was forced to be that guy a lot last year. He mentioned Neighbours coming up and assuming that role (I like Neighbours+Thomas). Then Snuggerud mentioned that he was working on board skills this offseason, which was honestly a part of his game I didn't know was as good as it was. It's what separates him from Kyrou, IMO, and it seems like that's why they're running him with Buch-Thomas instead. Anyways, I just kind of put that all together and agree that Buch should have a better season this year and be able to play his game.