Point Predictions for the '10-'11 season.

[cprice12]

top 12 of what?

All of the teams in the world?

[philco_3]

Find it hard to believe the Blues out rank the Penguins, but I guess that is why it is the preseason power ranking.

[fargoblues]

I'm telling you now: this is a gross oversight. To compensate they'll list the Red Wings twice. You wait and see.

[STLADOGG]

I'm telling you now: this is a gross oversight. To compensate they'll list the Red Wings twice. You wait and see.

Lol yeah....I was reading some of the comments on the page and there was a pissed off penguins fan, who was saying how the pens were better than the blues and there were actually a lot of people backing up the blues. To be ranked up so high on a site where hockey is the the #1 sport and an unbiased one, is pretty neat.

[cprice12]

So who's next on the list? Who's gonna be #12?

[DaDitka]

To be ranked up so high on a site where hockey is the the #1 sport and an unbiased one, is pretty neat.

With our young and exciting core, I understand. However.....

Obviously these guys haven't watched much of Brewer or Jackman of late.

I'm predicting us to be on the outside looking in, but I would truly change that to making the playoffs is Jackman is either injured early, retires, get's lost in the woods, is kidnapped by a bunch of people in a blue van with a Blues sticker on the rear window, decided that replacing the guy in the Louie suit is the best way to help the team, is struck in the parking lot leaving practice at mills, finds his true calling as a Tibetan Monk....you get the idea.

Jackman = NO PLAYOFFS

No Jackman = Playoffs

I truly believe that his presence alone (or dare should I say 'lack there of') would be a minimum of a 20 goal swing considering outlet passes and turnovers, let alone falling asleep on the ice sometimes.

They aren't going to unload him now (hell, that would put us under the cap floor I think), so I know I'm hoping against hope, but hell, they drop the puck at Scottrade tonight, so what better time for optimism?

[cprice12]

I look at it like this...
A whole lot of stuff went wrong at one time last year for us.
Power Play sucked, home record was awful, Boyes couldn't score, Backes' goal total dropped off, Berglund was ineffective, Kariya underperformed, Brewer was Brewer and Jackman was Jackman, we blew a ridiculous number of 3rd period leads, we changed coaches in the middle of the season, etc., etc.

I think last season was about as bad as this team could have played...and they still got 90 pts.

I expect a lot of things to swing back the other way this year. Boyes should be better, Backes should be better, Berglund should be better, our home record will be better, our 3rd periods will be better, our power play will be better, we are starting training camp with Payne which can only help, and we should have the best goaltending in the division. I'm not saying we'll see a huge swing, but there will be enough of a swing in enough areas where we sucked last year to get around 100 pts. this season and make the playoffs in at least the 6th or 7th slot.

What pisses me off, along with most Blues fans, is that we didn't spend any money to bring in some help on offense, when we had plenty of money to spend. With a legitimate free agent 30 goal scoring forward, in my mind, we'd be a lock for the playoffs and at least a #4 or #5 seed.

[philco_3]

Blues ranked 13th on TSN preseason power rankings.

[DaDitka]

With a legitimate free agent 30 goal scoring forward, in my mind, we'd be a lock for the playoffs and at least a #4 or #5 seed.

Couldn't agree more, and when I saw what Frolov signed for......

[cprice12]

Blues ranked 13th on TSN preseason power rankings.

Nope...they're ranked 12th.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=29184

[philco_3]

Blues ranked 13th on TSN preseason power rankings.

Nope...they're ranked 12th.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=29184

oh thats right Pittsburgh is ranked 13th...

[joosforjihad]

Yet, according to their fantasy hockey points projection, our top scorer will be TJ with 55 points. Overall ranking: 80th!!! I'd have to agree with them that we probably won't have a PPG player (yet), so let's hope we have some serious balance and depth. 5-7 guys with 20ish goals and 50+ points should be enough.

Link: http://www.tsn.ca/fantasy_news/feature/?ID=29817

[ibldbl]

88 points 10th in the west

[WindyCityBluesFan]

82 points 12th spot. I don't have much hope for the team as is. If they added (and subtracted) here and there I could see them maybe making it into a low playoff spot, but not with what we have right now. I just think there are too many teams out there that are better than us at this point.

[Robb_K]

97 points, 6th in The West. They may even win one playoff series. Boyes, Backes and Berglund all bounce back, Pietrangelo plays very well in last 2/3 of the season, okay in 1st 3rd, Brewer is healthy, and plays a lot better, Halak is more consistent than Mason, Blues' PP better, PK still good, Oshie, Perron, Steen continue improvement. Coliacovo plays a little better in own zone, E.J. improves in both ends. D'Agostini, Sobotka and Hensick provide youthful energy and add a little scoring.

Almost everything went wrong last season, and they still got 90 points. They won't lose nearly as many late leads. That alone, plus playing better at home should get them to almost 100 points. Goaltending -slightly better, defence slightly better, offence slightly better (despite loss of Tkachuk and Kariya). Transition game a lot better. Cole and Nikitin will help the defence for st least 1/2 the season.

It should be great to watch the young, talented kids progress, and new stars emerge.

[TheoSqua]

I bet it'll be over 90. I'd say 95 and 6-7 seed.

Also, so many people talk about the terrible scoring the Blues had last year and lack of depth. Like cprice said, last season was basically the worst case scenario possible for the offense and performance. The Blues were still 18th out of 30 teams in scoring. Even a 10-15 goal improvement puts this team hovering around the top10 offensive teams in the league.

If our depth of young players can pick up some slack, our defense gets better, and Halak plays like a franchise goalie this teams goal differential (The Blues were one of two teams in the NHLlast season with a goal differential above zero that did not make the playoffs) can increase plenty enough to be the 12th best team in the league.

I don't know why there's so many downers about the team right now. This is the time of year for blind homer optimism, i'm taking advantage of it dangit!

[BoxCar]

45 Wins, 27 Losses, 10 SO/OT Losses for 100 Points. 6th in the West, win 1 playoff series.

Berglund traded at deadline in package for legitimate scorer.

McDonald scores over 75 points.
Boyes scores over 35 goals.

[DaDitka]

Also, so many people talk about the terrible scoring the Blues had last year and lack of depth. Like cprice said, last season was basically the worst case scenario possible for the offense

Worse case?

Oshie, Perron, Steen, Breweer, Janssen, and EJ all hit hit career highs.

McD and Paulie both had their highest totals in the Blue note.

Carlo and JayMac were both one goal under their career high

Many think Backes underachieved, but he had his second highest total of his career and hit his career average 17 goals dead on. He wasn't as 'off' as your expectations were.

Bergie and Boyes had bad years...that's it too guys (We'll maybe Winchester, but did you really expect him to score double digit goals again?)

Yes, everyone on this list should score more this year, but odds are one or two are going to fall off as well (my money is on Steen who's shooting percentage was off the charts last year)

My guess is they can come close to reaching last years goals total, but I'm not sure that will be enough. Many point to Halak as 'upping' or defense (or lowering our GA), but I'd argue that Pie on D instead of Weaver makes it negates a bit of that, I'd have to imagine Jackman will be even worse this year as he's another year older. It's not as if he's going to regain his passion to play, and his problems truly have been secret injuries that are not reviled until after the sucking is over, age doesn't help that either.

I think everyone is looking at it the wrong way....

I expect very little out of this team this year, however, that will allow me to sit back and (hopefully) enjoy watching some of our key young players grow.

Then hope that management will find adding a veteran scorer next off season as 'the right move for this organization at this time'.

I'm hoping for the best and expecting nothing, so the season should be far more enjoyable than last season.