Not quite my actual feelings, but almost.

"boxrocket" (boxrocket) 05/26/2016 at 00:21 • Filed to: playoffs, playoff hockey, stanley cup, blues, saint louis

2

7

Oh well, at least we beat the hawks and stars.

For Sweden > boxrocket 05/26/2016 at 00:28

2

So you’re feeling Blue

boxrocket > For Sweden 05/26/2016 at 00:56

1

Sadly, yes. My Cup is also empty.

Danger > boxrocket 05/26/2016 at 07:12

1

I’m Blackhawks fan, but the Blues had a great run, and showed everyone that they really can be a playoff team. They have the office and players to do it again, as well. Very fun playoffs to watch so far.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > boxrocket 05/26/2016 at 07:24

0

At least you have the cards?....oh wait

WRXerFish - WRX-Wing pilot > boxrocket 05/26/2016 at 07:51

1

I stopped watching the game 9 minutes into the third. Would face really like to see them at least force a game 7. But W/E, they had a good season. Made it out of the first round.

Ready for next season. Big question now is, Hitch next year or not?

loki03xlh > WRXerFish - WRX-Wing pilot 05/26/2016 at 09:48

1

I think Hitch will be back, but will they be able to re-sign Backes? How much does he want, and for how long? It was a hell of a run. I honestly thought we would roll the Sharks after beating the Hawks and Stars. Boy, was I wrong. I shaved the beard this morning, two and a half weeks too soon. I can't wait until October. LGB!!!

boxrocket > WRXerFish - WRX-Wing pilot 05/28/2016 at 10:05

0

I’m fine with Hitch. He’s a familiar entity, and the problems seem to stem more from the players than the coaching (not saying coaching is perfect - not playing Reaves in Round 3 is still a perplexing mystery). I attended Game 5, and watched every minute of Blues hockey I could, including every FSMW broadcast (and what of NBCSN I could catch if I forgot to set my DVR to record it), so it allowed me a fair amount of perspective being able to rewind and watch certain things over and over. Over the last few years, it would seem to me that the biggest problem the Blues seem to have in games they would fall flat on would be simply not being able to run a simple play in the offensive zone. Lots of missed opportunities with dump-and-chase, far too much time behind the net chasing pucks along the boards instead of getting them in front where someone could shoot, and sloppy passing that allowed easy turnovers, which could lead to a defensive breakaway or yet another run around back through the neutral zone. To that end, there was lots of wasted time, and if we were behind and/or being outplayed (and we definitely would get outplayed - the two games the sharks shut us out we looked like amateurs for most of the time), it gave us fewer chances to even things up, which added to the team’s frustration, which exacerbated the core problem. Thus, as we were being outplayed, we had to rely too heavily on our goaltenders, which tended to tire them out and in turn lead them to make sloppy moves, which could put us further behind. No surprise, given the nature of the team sport. Watching the games the year we won the President’s Trophy you could see a lot of excellent offensive playmaking, with crisp passing, and clever adjustments on-the-fly which would pull the defense out of the way and allow a quick pass to lead to a goal, or a one-timer, and/or plenty of rebounds - which is what we saw the sharks do so well at these last few games. We ourselves seemed more like little-league or amateur players playing “swam the puck” (it was shockingly common to see three players trying to free the puck from the boards behind the net, and the other two out-of-position, allowing for easy breakaways and/ or not being in a good place to make a quick shot) than a professional team of millionaires doing what they so best. The goaltending was easily our greatest asset this year, and while I’m personally tired of the Moose fanboy train and think Allen needs more appreciation from the fan base, we have a solid pair of netminders we need to retain.

For next year, there are some changes to be made. We need playmakers. Backes is a playmaker. Schwartz can be a playmaker when he has backup. Fabbri could be a playmaker but needs to shoot the damn puck on his breakaways instead of waiting for someone to catch up to try to make a play that doesn’t need to be made, because he’s a pretty good shot. The various incarnations of the S-T-L line could be deadly, but not when Tarasenko would try to skate through three defensive players, or Lehtera and Stastny would skate too far forward and too fast to make shooting and/or passing back a capable option. We need faster skaters - the games against the stars showed us just how slow we are overall - and some younger, hungrier players; Fabbri, Jaskin, and Paryako are a good start. We need to scrutinize Shartenkirk, Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, Berglund, Upshall, Steen (who needs to stop losing equipment on PKs), Ott etc. I’m not saying they need to go, just that they need to be ridden harder and make a stronger contribution. We were two wins away from the Finals. but we had already lost our core functionality which made us so dangerous sometime earlier in the playoffs, and trying to rely on Backes, Tarasenko, Schwartz, Fabbri, and whoever was in goal to win the games wasn’t and isn’t cutting it.