ouch.

At least theyre watchable. I agree with most of these but I feel some of these are far fetched.

I mean... you could be the Blue Jackets.

Which ones are farfetched? I know they're not all equally maddening. Like the Snuggerud news is a minor bummer. Most of this list is just thinking about if you could make the outcomes of this season worse, what would that look like? I think reality is looking pretty close to worst case.

We knew going into this season that the hopes were to make playoffs with the expectation that they would likely miss. Just a bummer that they're gonna /barely/ miss, and that they couldn't show a direction before the deadline (or that none of the UFA guys could show they had any value).

For you guys it's probably getting old to hear but picking top 5 is at least in the right place for the big picture.

Well the stuff abt no deadline moves I think isnt important. Nobody wanted our guys for good reason, and it was a buyers market. Yeah Snuggerud is a bummer but hes 19 and hopefully will come in time. Also for the record, Blues hockey is never about stars carrying a team. Yes 18 and 25 are WAY too inconsistent, but theyre still young and hopefully it will improve. The issue is more that theres no offensive depth which youre right about, and honstley, the D is not as bad a people think. I love analytics but I promise you those nerds who say our D is bad don't watch Blues games. They have no help from the forwards in our defensive zone.

For me the frustrating part is the lack of offensive depth on both sides of the puck. I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. If they get even just good goaltending and can improve the O they could be competitive

re: Thomas and Kyrou, I don't think there is anything wrong with them, but this re-tool season was a great chance for them really blast off. Instead we've got Kyrou slumping early and fans turning on him as the coach killer and Thomas - right when the narrative began that he's killing it as "the guy" - with 1 even strength point since March 1st. IMO they don't have the "still young" tag to lean on. They're making the most money and are in the prime age for production. What they've shown me this season is that Kyrou probably isn't going to be the 2nd best F on a contending team. Maybe Thomas can be the 1C on a deep enough team. But if these guys are going to be our best players, we need to find equal or better quality out of the prospects in the system to surround them. Not just a supporting cast.

I agree with you mostly. I think that Blues Hockey requires depth (at least 3 scoring lines). Blues dont have that. I have a feeling their trying to replenish that depth, which theyve done and well see that come into view soon hopefully.

I wouldn’t say Hayes failed

Faulk has been hurt but was still light years better than Krug, don’t be disrespectful.

Bolduc will be full time next year, Dean may be but he’ll get time in the Ahl which he needs


Yes this year sucked but a lot of what your saying isn’t true

Tbh the dmen have all taken turns being the terrible one / scapegoat with the exception of Parayko.

I guess my point was, wouldn't it be cool to have seen Vrana or Kapanen pop off and get us another 2nd round pick at the deadline? Or for Hayes to carry the 3rd line and help bring along some of the young guys? Or if the playoffs were out of reach and we sold Buchy for a nice haul and got to watch the younger guys get more involved? Or if they took advantage of the goaltending and went on a great run like NSH did to get into the POs? idk... anything fun to happen!? I think we're settling for way too much mediocre these days.

Changes are coming this offseason…

I wouldn’t say Hayes is immovable. He has a 12 team no trade list so Army could move him for a late pick again. He’s a great faceoff winner but he’s slowed down for sure.

Agree with a lot. We simply don’t have enough forward depth to compete at high levels for long stretches. What I find odd about this team is we are second in the league with 5 20+goal scorers but still one of the lowest in league in 5v5 expected goals for/against. This might have changed but I believe it was mentioned in our game vs. EDM. There’s a lot of blame to be passed around, gm/coaches/veterans etc but I think we just need to take a step back a realize this was a “re-tool” year (which is kinda just a cop out for DA to admit he has some nasty contracts and an average team) so playoffs shouldn’t have been expected (would rather not get embarrassed again in four games like we were in 2021). Per some articles written by jpr I wouldn’t expect next year to be any better as we will not be spending to the cap. If I was a gambling man I would say 25-26 before we can make some noise. Just need to make some cash back from Saturday’s atrocity and I’ll be content with the season.

Great points. I think the positive outcome from this year is that we should have a better idea of where we want to go in the near future. If this cast could not get us back to the playoffs then clearly Armstrong has work to do to make things work out again. I think we need to move Buchnevich this offseason. And then unfortunately I think we should tank and have the kids play next year. We have more opportunities to make moves when all these NTCs become M-NTCs in the 2025 offseason. I think we need to focus on what’s coming up in the system and who we want our core to be centered around in the future.

Centers: Thomas and Dvorsky
Wingers: Snuggerud, Neighbours, Kyrou and Keller/Tkachuk (sign one of them in 2028 offseason)
Depth forwards: Bolduc, Dean, and Stenberg
Defense: Parayko and Lindstein
Goalie: Hofer

Let’s make a decision on Kyrou, let’s get some assets for Buchnevich. Lets make smart free agency signings. Draft some more promising guys.

I'm just going to ask you one question, and please be honest: If you knew they'd make no trades and be sniffing the playoffs with 7 games left, and that Dean and Bolduc would be up and the other prospects would be killing it, would you take it happily?

Well Dean is not dressing and Bolduc barely gets ice time…

I don’t think they were ever really on a playoff pt pace - they were on pace to pick top 10 for most of the season. And bolduc and dean had extremely concerning AHL seasons (that thankfully trended the right way) and haven’t gotten serious NHL ice time yet so I think you’re stretching the story. Honestly I’d be happier if they finished bottom 10 knowing what I knew as far back as the deadline or before. They didn’t have it this season.

The good news about this season is it that it really cleared up some things. For example, Kapanen, Vrana, Blais, and Alexandrov should not be on this team and perhaps not even in the NHL. Thomas is a legit 1C and Kyrou is a fine top line winger. We only complain on account of his contract which really isn't all that terrible especially if he improves just a bit. Bennington is a star. Buchnevich is money. Neighbors is everything we could have hoped for. The defense isn't all that bad. Hayes is the only player I'm lukewarm on. Given his low salary for us since PHL is paying half, it isn't terrible.

Army is going to have to trade for a 2C because I don't think Stephenson is the answer and there isn't anything else available. Also, I hope he can change Snuggerrud's mind. He really has a challenge this offseason which is why I don't like him working for team Canada.

Uhh they haven't been on pace to pick top 10 since like November. And they held a playoff spot for a month straight after the new year.

Heh. First of all, I only said they'd be up. Less than a year after going pro. And while it took them 20-30 pro games to get traction, I have no idea how that's extremely concerning. Again, they've gone from struggling in the A to shining in the A with tougher matchups to earning a call to showing some promise early in their NHL time in a matter of months. If that's extremely concerning, I don't know what to tell you. This is not microwave popcorn. Most players have learning curves at new levels. And you're ignoring the good progress.

But you didn't answer my simple question at all.

Sportsbook odds for them to make playoffs on Jan 29th when they possessed a WC spot were 35%. On Feb 24th (after a 9-4 run) they were at 27%. They were 3 pts from picking 8th overall on March 9th, the day after the TDL.

What was your simple question? Was this NHL season a success because two prospects got called up and they "sniffed" a WC spot? No. I'm telling you I think it is possibly the worst outcome. No playoffs, no assets gained, no top 10 pick, no development other than 63's breakout.

Dude, odds have nothing to do with anything. Odds are based on what people are betting. And people are idiot bettors. Analytics ain't really better as a predictive model.

My simple question was If you knew they'd make no trades and be sniffing the playoffs with 7 games left, and that Dean and Bolduc would be up and the other prospects would be killing it, would you take it happily?

As for your last paragraph, you're being fatalistic (which I get because Blues fans have been conditioned to be fatalistic ahead of time). Good things happened this season, but you're just not including them. Colt finally became a genuine #1 D. The goalies have been heroes. Thomas has struggled for points lately, but he'll still be PPG and he will still do it playing thw hardest competition of any forward in the league (which I actually just learned this morning). Torp has progressed. Leddy showed solid worth and consistency. No development other than Jakey is just not true.

I'm telling ya, the way Blues fans have reacted to this season, which has been nowhere near as bad or empty as they like to make it out to be, makes me laugh my ass clean off when everyone shouts for a teardown. As if they would last one week in a teardown.

Perspective, man.

Your perspective is through blue-colored glasses my guy.

FWIW the public can shift betting lines but they weren't just made up by idiots. I wish they were because I would've made some decent coin if the public had them as a playoff team at any point during the season.

Empty season by the Show-Me standard. But it's fine, I don't let it ruin my day. I also don't want to be gaslit into thinking this mediocre stuff is actually good, because it ain't.

(sigh)

Name one thing I listed inaccurately. I date you. Just because someone understands not everything is miserable and doesn't irrationally trash the team at every turn, that does not make them a delusional homer or gaslighter. Puh-lease. You act like I never criticize them, which we both know is straight BS.

If you actually believe the entire season was empty, devoid of anything good at all, then there's zero perspective at work - standard Blues fan stuff.

And you STILL refuse to answer that one simple question. Instead of answering (or even considering it?), just bag on me instead.