Start with the big guy Tarasenko, turn over machine, tried to do too much,no show all playoffs, defensively he was ok. Berglund, no show, not his usual playoffs, probably because his linemate Perron dragged him down to his level. Lehtera must be hurt. Steen definitely not right, if he has a broken foot he should have sat. There were a few that showed, Jake, Jaden,Colt55, even JBo. Nothing left but to wait for the expansion draft to see what happens.

I don't care about the turnovers from Tarasenko. He's trying to make plays, he's the guy that has to have the puck, so naturally he's going to turn it over. The turnover stat is almost as bad as the plus/minus stat. Your best players turn the puck over because they have the puck.
Everything else I agree with but Jed should get a mention as well as he was good for the most part in both rounds.

Steen had 7 points in 10 games...he was fine.

Chase said that Steens foot was broken on both sides. Gotta give him credit for paying the price.

I never expected them to get past game 5 against Nashville, simply because the Predators were a much deeper and more talented team, backed by the best goaltender in the game. Actually, I think collectively, they pretty much gave all they had to give. Can't ask much more than that.

I'm also not too unhappy about the results for this season. I hope things go right, and The Blues can end up with Tavares, Turris or Drouin, and get rid of Lehtera's and Gunnarsson's salaries. This offseason will be interesting.

Blaming Tarasenko is absolutely outlandish and borderline foolish.

He's playing on a team with 10 3rd and 4th line players. If he's trying to do too much it's because he HAS TO. He has no damn help for a consistent scorer.

Hopefully the fluke run when Yeo took over doesn't lull the front office into a since of security they shouldn't have.

Also, Perron was useless in the playoffs.

It took until the playoffs, but Fabri's absence was finally evident.

Tarasenko will have turnovers, but he needs to stop doing the same thing over and over again. Driving down the wing and pull up and head towards the middle. That works once in a while, but everybody has figured that out. Same thing with the drop pass. He has so much skill, but predictability is going to be his undoing.

Although I don't think it will happen, I'm looking forward to the Martin Brodeur era. Armstrong's been fine, but I think it's time to move on.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:Blaming Tarasenko is absolutely outlandish and borderline foolish.

He's playing on a team with 10 3rd and 4th line players. If he's trying to do too much it's because he HAS TO. He has no damn help for a consistent scorer.

Hopefully the fluke run when Yeo took over doesn't lull the front office into a since of security they shouldn't have.

Also, Perron was useless in the playoffs.

Who should we blame? Brodziak? Vova is the best scorer on the club, his job ergo, is to score goals, he didn't. I cringed every time he touched the puck not in a shooting position, he coughed the puck up more than anyone else on the team.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:Blaming Tarasenko is absolutely outlandish and borderline foolish.

He's playing on a team with 10 3rd and 4th line players. If he's trying to do too much it's because he HAS TO. He has no damn help for a consistent scorer.

Hopefully the fluke run when Yeo took over doesn't lull the front office into a since of security they shouldn't have.

Also, Perron was useless in the playoffs.

he definitely deserves some blame. Our two best players, Tarasenko, and Petro didn't do enough to make a difference. Your best players have to be the ones that get the job done.

It was a rebuilding year...not in the truest sense, because they still need some playoff revenue, but with the exit of Backes/Brouwer it's not unexpected. Never should have done the Hitch charade. The Fabbri injury really showed it's ugly head in the playoffs. Looking forward to the injection of more speed next year. Hopefully Army can do some business with Tampa for Drouin. Need more top six difference makers.
I think Nashville got by with much more than the Blues did...not that the power-play would do much with the man advantage, but it did make the Blues chase the game more.

Seems like a two-year "project" to me. After next year, Perron and Stastny will come off the books. Tarasenko and Schwartz could be peaking. Fabbri, Edmundson, Allen, Parayko will all have another year of experience. Barbashev will hopefully play a significant role by then... possibly Schmaltz too. Hopefully at least one of the current prospects - Dunn, Thompson, etc. - will make a splash like Paryko, Fabbri and Edmundson did. Perhaps Sanford can be a cheaper alternative to one of their current depth players. I'm feeling a trajectory toward making another serious run in 18/19.

Would have I liked to beat NSH in 7, sure, but the Blues gave them hell with a lesser team.

Really hoping the front office isn't lulled into complacency from this playoff year, most likely they will, and they'll sit on their hands.

As previously posted, I'd like to also see Brodeur as our GM.

Robb_K wrote:I'm also not too unhappy about the results for this season. I hope things go right, and The Blues can end up with Tavares, Turris or Drouin, and get rid of Lehtera's and Gunnarsson's salaries. This offseason will be interesting.

Is it realistic that we may land Drouin or Tavares? That would be really sweet.

storey13 wrote:

Robb_K wrote:I'm also not too unhappy about the results for this season. I hope things go right, and The Blues can end up with Tavares, Turris or Drouin, and get rid of Lehtera's and Gunnarsson's salaries. This offseason will be interesting.

Is it realistic that we may land Drouin or Tavares? That would be really sweet.

If we're willing to include Parayko I bet we can land just about anyone.

Won't happen, but I'd trade Parayko straight up for Draisaitl. He is everything this team needs. Big, fast, playmaking center who can create Inc his own.

BlueinNy wrote:

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:Blaming Tarasenko is absolutely outlandish and borderline foolish.

He's playing on a team with 10 3rd and 4th line players. If he's trying to do too much it's because he HAS TO. He has no damn help for a consistent scorer.

Hopefully the fluke run when Yeo took over doesn't lull the front office into a since of security they shouldn't have.

Also, Perron was useless in the playoffs.

Who should we blame? Brodziak? Vova is the best scorer on the club, his job ergo, is to score goals, he didn't. I cringed every time he touched the puck not in a shooting position, he coughed the puck up more than anyone else on the team.

Berglund and Perron for starters.

I've been beating the Draisaitl drum since he came in the league, not sure we have the assets that it would take to wrench him outta Edmonton.

I think there will be a lot of moves made prior to the expansion draft and that a lot of teams are going to look different.

One guy I'd look to maybe pick up is Jakob Silfverberg from the Ducks. Read an article awhile ago saying that they won't be able to protect him and will probably try to trade him before the expansion draft. He can play in the top 6 on the right side and ups his game in the playoffs (40 points in 58 career playoff games, 11 in 10 this year). Oh, and he makes the same money as Perron.

You'd think there'll be a few other teams interested in hockey trades after disappointing seasons or playoff struggles (Washington?).

UMSLBlues12 wrote:I think there will be a lot of moves made prior to the expansion draft and that a lot of teams are going to look different.

One guy I'd look to maybe pick up is Jakob Silfverberg from the Ducks. Read an article awhile ago saying that they won't be able to protect him and will probably try to trade him before the expansion draft. He can play in the top 6 on the right side and ups his game in the playoffs (40 points in 58 career playoff games, 11 in 10 this year). Oh, and he makes the same money as Perron.

You'd think there'll be a few other teams interested in hockey trades after disappointing seasons or playoff struggles (Washington?).

Sell the farm for Kuznetsov

Before the season started winning six playoff games was just about the outcome I expected. As has been mentioned, this was a bit of a rebuilding on the fly year, and frankly it played out about as good as you could hope. Allen eventually turned into a number 1 goalie, Yeo got a good stretch of games under his belt as the Head Coach to help hit the ground running next year. Also it was nice to see Parayko avoid any form of a sophomore slump. Fabbri seemed to be in the midst of something approximating a sophomore slump season when he went down, so let's hope he's shaken everything off and better than ever in the fall.

I'm not sure what specific moves I'd like to see happen, but it sure would be nice to add some speed. I'm looking forward to a pretty interesting rumor mill heading into the expansion draft ahead of the regular hot stove season.

does yeo keep petro as captain?

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:Blaming Tarasenko is absolutely outlandish and borderline foolish. ...

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Our top line: Schwartz (11 GP, 4/5/9); Stastny (7 2/1/3) Tarasenko (11 3/3/6)

Blues scored 22 goals this playoff run, of which 8 goals came from the top line, or 36% of our goals, and that's with Stastny missing the first 4 games vs the Wild.

The only other players who were in that mix were Steen (10 3/4/7), Sobi (11 2/4/6) and Edmundson (11 3/3/6)

Non factors (played in at least 5 games and had 4 points or less): Lehtera, Petro, Berglund, MPS, Brodz, Perron, AND then you have Bortz, Gunner, Reaves, Jaybo Upps and even Barbs, all with ZER0 freaking points. 6 players, one who played top 9 and one on your top D pair with zero points. No production from our 4th line. Very minimal from the 3rd line.

Tarasenko is fine. Sobi was very good. Stastny was good, but obviously still hampered. Steen, he's a warrior AND he produced. Edmundson, wow. But our best offensive player was Schwartz.

As far as Allen goes, he was our best overall player every game. Kid has the right stuff, and he's shown it for awhile. I feel good with him in net the next few years.

We need Fabbri back, but we also need a stronger and more productive 2nd and 3rd line who can produce when it matters, along with a replacement for Lehtera, or get Lehtera fixed.

I'd love to see the following:

Scwartz/Stastny/Tarasenko
Fabbri/New C/New RW
Steen/Sobi/MPS/Barbs/Bergs/Perron/
Jaskin/Sanford/rest of 4th line (someone has to go, someone has to prove they can battle)

Get rid of Gunner and JayBO, and Bortz should be 7th D.

BlueinNy wrote:I've been beating the Draisaitl drum since he came in the league, not sure we have the assets that it would take to wrench him outta Edmonton.

It'd cost the Blues even more now, having to pay to ship all those hats Leon collected on Sunday night.

T.C. wrote:does yeo keep petro as captain?

Good question. Probably yes, only because they will rarely yank the "C" from a core player like Petro. The other issue is - who would you give it to, assuming this same group of players? Schwartz, based on his playoff performance, might be a better option. Steen would be a realistic choice, given the balls he shows. But Schwartz seems to be a quite type, and we have always heard that Steen isn't exactly a favorite of his teammates (who knows if that's true).

Maybe we pull off a meaningful trade and get a guy that could be your captain? If someone can figure out how to get Tavares out of Long Island, maybe that's your answer. He is going into his walk year, so maybe he can be had - but then you have to buck up and re-sign him or it makes no sense.

T.C. wrote:does yeo keep petro as captain?

This was Pietrangelo's first year. I think he did fine as captain. I would give Shatty's A to Schwartz. Dude deserves it. If Pietrangelo didn't become captain, I would have chosen Schwartz.

I have no faith in Armstrong to move pieces to fill the needs and somehow drop the plugs on this roster. For the playoffs, blame to me is placed squarely on depth scoring. Outside of Stastny, Steen, Schwartz, Sobotka, and Tarasenko, where was the depth scoring. All the blame on low forward scoring shouldn't go to Tarasenko. Berglund and Perron where absolute no shows. Paajarvi and Jaskin gave them some boosts, but Lehtera, Sanford, anyone from 4th line, where were they? Eddie and Parayko were only defensemen scoring, where was Pietrangelo? He played some solid D, but still didn't contribute much to offense.

This summer will be very interesting. If I'm Armstrong, you offer LV one of your first rounders to take Lehtera off the Blues hands. That contract is manageable for them. Keep him two years, then dump him. Blues need to find a way to pick up another top scoring player, hopefully center. I think there will be ones available, but DA needs to be willing to make a shrewd move. Maybe lose 2 NHL players to get a top tier one.