Are the Blues the worst team in history when a goalie is pulled?

[WeWentBlues0819]

I just cannot imagine there is a team in history that exists that is so pathetically inept in these situations. When the Blues pull their own goalie it is a guaranteed goal in the empty net within about 10 seconds. They are so bad I truthfully and genuinely believe the Blues should never ever pull their goalie because they have a much better chance to tie the game with the goalie in there.

When the opponent pulls their goalie it is a guarantee of at least one goal for them. Every. Single. Time.

I just cannot figure out how a team can continue to be so horrid in these situations, and I would find it hard to believe there has ever been a team as bad as the Blues have been these past two seasons.

[Hazelwood72]

I just cannot imagine there is a team in history that exists that is so pathetically inept in these situations. When the Blues pull their own goalie it is a guaranteed goal in the empty net within about 10 seconds. They are so bad I truthfully and genuinely believe the Blues should never ever pull their goalie because they have a much better chance to tie the game with the goalie in there.

When the opponent pulls their goalie it is a guarantee of at least one goal for them. Every. Single. Time.

I just cannot figure out how a team can continue to be so horrid in these situations, and I would find it hard to believe there has ever been a team as bad as the Blues have been these past two seasons.

We don’t seem to be able to crisply penetrate the offensive zone when we have 6-on-5 and get hung up in the neutral zone or just inside the offensive blue line. That makes it easier for the other team to take pot shots at our open net. Also, we don’t seem to win many puck battles in the O-zone, either, despite the extra skater.

Conversely, we can’t seem to clear the puck out of our zone when we are skating 5-on-6. It seems our only defense is to blindly ice the puck which just brings it right back.

I think lack of physicality from our forwards and lack of tall mobile defensemen is a root cause of both problems.

[WeWentBlues0819]

I just cannot imagine there is a team in history that exists that is so pathetically inept in these situations. When the Blues pull their own goalie it is a guaranteed goal in the empty net within about 10 seconds. They are so bad I truthfully and genuinely believe the Blues should never ever pull their goalie because they have a much better chance to tie the game with the goalie in there.

When the opponent pulls their goalie it is a guarantee of at least one goal for them. Every. Single. Time.

I just cannot figure out how a team can continue to be so horrid in these situations, and I would find it hard to believe there has ever been a team as bad as the Blues have been these past two seasons.

We don’t seem to be able to crisply penetrate the offensive zone when we have 6-on-5 and get hung up in the neutral zone or just inside the offensive blue line. That makes it easier for the other team to take pot shots at our open net. Also, we don’t seem to win many puck battles in the O-zone, either, despite the extra skater.

Conversely, we can’t seem to clear the puck out of our zone when we are skating 5-on-6. It seems our only defense is to blindly ice the puck which just brings it right back.

I think lack of physicality from our forwards and lack of tall mobile defensemen is a root cause of both problems.

The constant icing of the puck is quite baffling. The Blues have skill and generally are pretty good at exiting the zone. When the other team pulls the goalie they play hot potato with the puck and immediately look to ice it. I cannot for the life of my figure out not only why the Blues are the only team in the NHL that does this, but why there has not been any changes despite it not working even a little bit. Are the coaches telling them to do this? I almost think this has to be it since every single player on the team does this when they get the puck.

If the coaches are not saying this, something drastic needs to happen to get this to change. This season is lost anyway. I would tell them if they ice the puck when up by a goal and the other team's goalie is pulled you would not see the ice next game. Figure it out. Period.

This NEEDS to be addressed and changed. I don't care if he was given a 5 year contract. If he is telling the players do this and refused to change he needs to be replaced behind the bench.

[George Zipp]

yes

[TheJackBurton]

I don't know if they are the worst, but they sure don't instill much confidence and I don't know why this continues to be an issue.

[Bluesbacker]

If not the worst, one of the all time worst, embarrassing. You can just feel it "here we go again"

[roadkillIL]

Totally object to the poster's timeframe [ its more like 35 seconds ], but the point is valid.

[mate]

https://morehockeystats.com/teams/en

[Old_Goat]

I just cannot imagine there is a team in history that exists that is so pathetically inept in these situations. When the Blues pull their own goalie it is a guaranteed goal in the empty net within about 10 seconds. They are so bad I truthfully and genuinely believe the Blues should never ever pull their goalie because they have a much better chance to tie the game with the goalie in there.

When the opponent pulls their goalie it is a guarantee of at least one goal for them. Every. Single. Time.

I just cannot figure out how a team can continue to be so horrid in these situations, and I would find it hard to believe there has ever been a team as bad as the Blues have been these past two seasons.

We don’t seem to be able to crisply penetrate the offensive zone when we have 6-on-5 and get hung up in the neutral zone or just inside the offensive blue line. That makes it easier for the other team to take pot shots at our open net. Also, we don’t seem to win many puck battles in the O-zone, either, despite the extra skater.

Conversely, we can’t seem to clear the puck out of our zone when we are skating 5-on-6. It seems our only defense is to blindly ice the puck which just brings it right back.

I think lack of physicality from our forwards and lack of tall mobile defensemen is a root cause of both problems.

The constant icing of the puck is quite baffling. The Blues have skill and generally are pretty good at exiting the zone. When the other team pulls the goalie they play hot potato with the puck and immediately look to ice it. I cannot for the life of my figure out not only why the Blues are the only team in the NHL that does this, but why there has not been any changes despite it not working even a little bit. Are the coaches telling them to do this? I almost think this has to be it since every single player on the team does this when they get the puck.

If the coaches are not saying this, something drastic needs to happen to get this to change. This season is lost anyway. I would tell them if they ice the puck when up by a goal and the other team's goalie is pulled you would not see the ice next game. Figure it out. Period.

This NEEDS to be addressed and changed. I don't care if he was given a 5 year contract. If he is telling the players do this and refused to change he needs to be replaced behind the bench.

Steve Ott's needs to be let go from the organization immediately.

[Absolut]

Opposing teams should pull the goalie for any offensive zone faceoffs

[blackinkbiz]

I don't know if they are the worst, but they sure don't instill much confidence and I don't know why this continues to be an issue.

I'm not joking or exaggerating when I say my strategy to the team would be:

Play as ruthlessly as you have to, just don't let them get a goal or high-danger opportunity. If you take a penalty, so be it, because then we're going to shoot the puck at their empty net every chance we get.

[Mr Novaks]

They don’t seem to have much of a sense of urgency in those situations. It would be bad enough if it was just on one side of the ice, but it happens whether the Blues pull their goalie, or whether the other team does. but like I said, they have no sense of urgency and it almost seems like they’re playing scared.

[MRK]

They were dead last, last season.

Don't know about all time...

[xweazel75]

Great 6-5 analysis from Scotty Stevens...

https://www.nhl.com/video/nhl-now-6-on- ... -315674802

If you haven't seen this before, it's worth a watch.

-x

[PregnantNun]

I took the seasonal data from here ( https://morehockeystats.com/teams/en ) and summed it up for 20-21 season through 24-25 season (didn't include this year since it's early/partial). The GOAL AGAINST RATE is the percentage of time a team gives up an ENG after pulling the goalie for that entire period. A high GOAL AGAINST RATE is bad. Low is good.

TEAM GOAL AGAINST RATE (with EN)
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 51.1
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS 50.7
BUFFALO SABRES 49.0
DETROIT RED WINGS 48.9
FLORIDA PANTHERS 48.0
NASHVILLE PREDATORS 47.8
NEW YORK ISLANDERS 47.1
MONTREAL CANADIENS 46.6
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS 46.6
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 45.5
WINNIPEG JETS 45.5
SAN JOSE SHARKS 44.4
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING 43.9
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS 42.9
COLORADO AVALANCHE 42.5
ST. LOUIS BLUES 42.4
VANCOUVER CANUCKS 42.3
WASHINGTON CAPITALS 40.8
BOSTON BRUINS 40.6
ARIZONA COYOTES 38.9
OTTAWA SENATORS 37.9
DALLAS STARS 37.4
CAROLINA HURRICANES 37.1
ANAHEIM DUCKS 36.6
MINNESOTA WILD 36.6
CALGARY FLAMES 36.4
LOS ANGELES KINGS 35.4
NEW JERSEY DEVILS 35.2
NEW YORK RANGERS 28.9
EDMONTON OILERS 27.6
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS 26.7

I used percentage instead of total goals allowed because teams pull their goalies with different frequency (i.e. good teams don't need to do it as much). As for total goals allowed, here a couple Blues lowlights:

2022-23: 21 ENG allowed, tied 4th worst in the league (1st place was Florida with 22)
2023-24: 20 ENG allowed, 2nd worst in the league (1st place was NJD with 27)

Final note, Arizona Coyotes includes the Mammoth. I didn't include the Kraken b/c they didn't exist for duration of this period.

Takeaways: For the period, the Blues are middle of the pack-ish, but perusing the data it looks like good years offset bad years. There's definitely a couple of bad years in there, and they were consecutive, 2022-23, 2023-24.

[blues2112]

I took the seasonal data from here ( https://morehockeystats.com/teams/en ) and summed it up for 20-21 season through 24-25 season (didn't include this year since it's early/partial). The GOAL AGAINST RATE is the percentage of time a team gives up an ENG after pulling the goalie for that entire period. A high GOAL AGAINST RATE is bad. Low is good.

...

Takeaways: For the period, the Blues are middle of the pack-ish, but perusing the data it looks like good years offset bad years. There's definitely a couple of bad years in there, and they were consecutive, 2022-23, 2023-24.

That's for posting that! I couldn't find anything on statsmuse, nhl.com, hockey-reference, quantum hockey, etc.

The short answer, based on data, is "no."