Post by Pulse on Mar 11, 2016 22:03:23 GMT -5
One can look at some of the trades made by GM Chris Daley and wonder, “What the hell happened to the Blues”? Didn’t they just win the cup? Why trade away so many key players? At first glance, it looks like the Blues took a huge hit, but if you look more closely, things actually appear to be looking good for the Blues.
A huge part of the Blues success was the performance of their top lines, both forward and defense. Those lines appear to remain intact this season, although rumor is that GM Chris Daley has expressed a desire to split up Shattenkirk and Pietrangelo so that the Blues have an elite defenseman on the ice for 70% of the time. Not a bad plan considering the two new faces to the Blues D corp, Michael Del Zotto and the #2 overall pick behind Auston Matthews this year, defenseman Jakob Chychurn.
In a press conference, GM Daley said, “Our intention is definitely to pair Jakob with one of our top guys, depending on how things go after training camp. We have 4 defenseman who could all compete for a top spot, and two young guys in Petteri and Jakob who, despite their age, are ready to compete at a higher level. Petteri proved that he was NHL ready last year, and Jakob is one of those guys that only comes around a couple times in a lifetime. We have a lot of talent, and a finite amount of ice time. That’s a good problem to have.”
Elliott’s replacement was fairly obvious with the acquisition of Brobovsky, the same could be said about Bouwmeester with the acquisition of Del Zotto. The real question the Blues need to answer, is how are they going to replace a player like Paul Stasny?
“With our forwards, we remain cursed with an abundance of talent”, GM Daley says. “Fabbri showed a lot of good things last season on the third line, and we feel that he has earned the opportunity to really show us what he can do. Alongside Steen and Lehtera, I think he's going to have a fantastic season."
The bottom six is where the Blues have made the most changes, however with rookies like Klemcheck and Barbashev playing alongside veteran leaders like Chris Kelly and Patrick Eaves, one has to wonder if these changes have transformed this team into something to be feared in the upcoming season. The years of bang/crash hockey with players like Brodziak, Ott, and Reaves seems to have seen it's end in St. Louis, and replaced with a system that promotes speed and skill. Only time will tell if these changes end up brining this team into a Dynasty era, or sending them crashing hard into the bottom of the Central.
Verdict:
The Blues will reach the playoffs, but do they have the ability to go deep in the playoffs as they did last year? The core is still there, but one has to wonder if the loss of grit and muscle will allow teams to push this team around, unlike previous years.
Still, with the amount of really rock solid young talent that makes up their bottom, they may prove to be too much for other teams in the West to handle.
A huge part of the Blues success was the performance of their top lines, both forward and defense. Those lines appear to remain intact this season, although rumor is that GM Chris Daley has expressed a desire to split up Shattenkirk and Pietrangelo so that the Blues have an elite defenseman on the ice for 70% of the time. Not a bad plan considering the two new faces to the Blues D corp, Michael Del Zotto and the #2 overall pick behind Auston Matthews this year, defenseman Jakob Chychurn.
In a press conference, GM Daley said, “Our intention is definitely to pair Jakob with one of our top guys, depending on how things go after training camp. We have 4 defenseman who could all compete for a top spot, and two young guys in Petteri and Jakob who, despite their age, are ready to compete at a higher level. Petteri proved that he was NHL ready last year, and Jakob is one of those guys that only comes around a couple times in a lifetime. We have a lot of talent, and a finite amount of ice time. That’s a good problem to have.”
Elliott’s replacement was fairly obvious with the acquisition of Brobovsky, the same could be said about Bouwmeester with the acquisition of Del Zotto. The real question the Blues need to answer, is how are they going to replace a player like Paul Stasny?
“With our forwards, we remain cursed with an abundance of talent”, GM Daley says. “Fabbri showed a lot of good things last season on the third line, and we feel that he has earned the opportunity to really show us what he can do. Alongside Steen and Lehtera, I think he's going to have a fantastic season."
The bottom six is where the Blues have made the most changes, however with rookies like Klemcheck and Barbashev playing alongside veteran leaders like Chris Kelly and Patrick Eaves, one has to wonder if these changes have transformed this team into something to be feared in the upcoming season. The years of bang/crash hockey with players like Brodziak, Ott, and Reaves seems to have seen it's end in St. Louis, and replaced with a system that promotes speed and skill. Only time will tell if these changes end up brining this team into a Dynasty era, or sending them crashing hard into the bottom of the Central.
Verdict:
The Blues will reach the playoffs, but do they have the ability to go deep in the playoffs as they did last year? The core is still there, but one has to wonder if the loss of grit and muscle will allow teams to push this team around, unlike previous years.
Still, with the amount of really rock solid young talent that makes up their bottom, they may prove to be too much for other teams in the West to handle.