Salacious Crumb Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 What is the direction of the Blues? Not re-signing Brouwer & Backes? Is there anyone out there that follows the Blues and has ideas about how they could let 40 goals between 2 hard nosed forwards walk? At the beginning of the season they were my pick to win the cup. Obviously the Sharks beat them. But surely losing guys that scored 15 of their playoff run goals doesn't bode well at all for this coming season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstewboy Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 And also no Elliot either. Weird trends with STL and FLA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iinatcc Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Maybe they feel this year is their last chance to win the cup until the window closes? And with the term and money Backes wanted they just it was better to move on in case Blues decide to rebuild after this season. I guess they also want to build the team around Tarasenko and build a team that plays a speed game like the Pens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry Goose Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I think they want to give Fabbri Schwartz, and Rattie more opportunity to play big mins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Building Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I don't follow them much, but Elliot isn't that hot, he's decent but not irreplaceable. Letting Backes and Brouwer walk signifies a changing of the guard, that's all. 2 fewer people to protect next year as well perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 1 hour ago, Green Building said: I don't follow them much, but Elliot isn't that hot, he's decent but not irreplaceable. Letting Backes and Brouwer walk signifies a changing of the guard, that's all. 2 fewer people to protect next year as well perhaps? Your last point is interesting. As others have noted, teams dumping bodies(which exceed their expansion number) should spread even more parity, league-wide. Lots of Central teams goin thru fairly abrupt transitions, it appears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Building Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 22 minutes ago, Nuxfanabroad said: Your last point is interesting. As others have noted, teams dumping bodies(which exceed their expansion number) should spread even more parity, league-wide. Lots of Central teams goin thru fairly abrupt transitions, it appears. I don't know enough about the Blues (and won't research today) to do any more than speculate whether or not that's part of it. With those players at the helm they've made the playoffs yet haven't done anything of note beyond knocking the Hawks off this past playoff run. To me, it's just time to change it up. Kind of like San Jose the last few years but they still fought their way to the finals (and good for them) only to be extremely tired/outmatched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khay Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Seems like smart management. Overpaying Backes 6 mil is not smart. If we think Lucic is going to be ineffective in 3-5 years, then Backes will be ineffective even sooner. He is already 32 and plays heavy, physical game. Blues management knows that youth is the way to go and they have plenty of good youth coming up so they decided to move on. I think they probably would have like to have kept Brouwer, but maybe Brouwer didn't want to stay there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Juice Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 The Blues are basically going from a big bodied, grinding, hard hitting style of play to a game with speed and skill. They're trying to match up with their competition in the Central Division. Every team in the Central Division have some combination of size, speed, and skill. The Blackhawks, Stars, Wild, and Predators are all built and rely on their speed, skill, and puck movement to be successful. The Jets and Avs have players with size, speed, and skill. St. Louis was the only team in that division this past season that relied on grinding their opponents down and playing a hard-nosed tight one goal game. Losing Brouwer is tough but Brouwer was serviceable throughout the season, especially the playoffs. However he can be replaced. The leadership of Backes led the team to play a tough in your face mentality but they never really got anywhere in the playoffs with him as the captain. Their window of opportunity to win the Cup is closing fast and by them letting Brouwer and Backes go and bringing back David Perron shows what kind of team they want to ice next year and what kind of style they're going to play. They're expecting Sobotka to return to St. Louis and opt of out his contract from the KHL to return to the Blues. That'll bring back a player they sorely missed the past couple of seasons when he left and he'll replace Brouwer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanuck Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 18 hours ago, Salacious Crumb said: What is the direction of the Blues? Short answer, who cares? Long answer, who really cares? Ok seriously, they'll go nowhere without a legit goalie, neither will Dal - that's why they really don't scare anyone good in the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salacious Crumb Posted July 2, 2016 Author Share Posted July 2, 2016 23 minutes ago, Fanuck said: Short answer, who cares? Long answer, who really cares? Ok seriously, they'll go nowhere without a legit goalie, neither will Dal - that's why they really don't scare anyone good in the playoffs. They finally slayed the dragon and got past the 'Hawks. Then dump their goalie and lose 2 of their top 6 in a week? Maybe they are tanking and rebuilding the right way by stockpiling picks at the top of the draft where they keep the elite talent? Lol!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Juice Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 17 hours ago, Salacious Crumb said: They finally slayed the dragon and got past the 'Hawks. Then dump their goalie and lose 2 of their top 6 in a week? Maybe they are tanking and rebuilding the right way by stockpiling picks at the top of the draft where they keep the elite talent? Lol!!!! They probably feel it was between Brian Elliott and Jake Allen and obviously Allen has the more upside and potential. Looked good in the games he played and he seems ready to take on the #1 role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintPatrick33 Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 They have too many good young players waiting to take that next step, the playoffs showed those young guys should progress into playoff performers. Why pay Backes the money Boston paid him? That Blues team is stockpiled with young assets and a great defence, plus they have a true gamebreaker in Tarasenko. In the salary cap world, you have to let go of older declining assets right away, or you mess your team up for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HC20.0 Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Well they have Allen, so Elliott isn't exactly a huge loss for them. I think they want to build around Tarasenko, and Backes, Ott, and Brouwer don't fit that mould. They needed to gut their core, it was only a matter of time. They weren't gonna win with their players. Frankly they should've started gutting the roster the year before last in my opinion. They want a new core to lead the team, like we do. Also that contract Backes got... They dodged a bullet there. Yikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glory_Days Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Fabbri had a big year as a 1st year player, they are getting Sobtoka back plus Rattie looks like he's ready to take the next step and be a full time NHL'er. They got Stastny, Lehtera, Sobotka and Berglund down the middle, that's really good depth. Have Allen in net...got Hutton to back him up, seems a bit odd, figured a veteran netminder would have provided a more stabilizing presence. Senko, Schwartz, Fabbri and Steen in their top six as wings. Rounding out the bottom would be Jaskin, Rattie, Reaves...and not sure who else. They can roll three really good lines, a heavy 4th line, lots of depth on their blue-line and Allen is one of the better young goalies in the league. Smart of them to let aging players go who are slowing down and will demand a large cap hit. Between Elliot, Brouwer and Backes the Blues saved around 12-13million in cap space (Not counting bodies to replace them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Kane Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Perron >> Brouwer Backes not worth his price tag. Plus got kids like Fabbri, Jaskin, Rattie coming up, and possibly Sobotka returning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time Lord Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Looks like they can still make 3 good lines: Schwartz - Lehtera - Tarasenko Steen - Berglund - Perron Fabbri - Stastny - Rattie/Jaskin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickels Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 Always think the Blues r missing that true #1 C that all the great(not good) teams have. Need another Gilmour or Federko They took a shot by acquiring Statsny....he's just been ok. #1 guys are obviously very tough to obtain (other than Chiarella trading both Thorton and Seguin...wow). Not to turn this into an Oiler thread..but he will grow to regret the Hall trade very soon. You just don't trade that type of talent. Perennial top 10 scorers are very hard to come by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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