Ryan Miller/Steve Ott to STL, Halak/Stew/Carrier to BUF

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theohall
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Re: Ryan Miller/Steve Ott to STL, Halak/Stew/Carrier to BUF

Post by theohall »

IMO the biggest thing from this trade other than the upgrade in goaltending....

Ott plays hard every night, every shift. Chris Stewart, with his size and talent, still only plays hard whenever he feels like playing hard. That's the difference between players who stay on Cup contenders and those who get traded away from them. The trade also gets rid of the guy who doesn't work consistently, puts more playoff experience on the ice with a more physical attitude, and allows the Blues to play the younger talented guys period on the top 2 lines without questioning where should Stewart play - because he should be a 1st or 2nd line forward but won't play that way consistently. Ott fits perfectly as a 3rd line forward and is very good in faceoffs (60th in wins, 52.9%). Not to mention being a much better defensive forward... Stewart was only +2 as a member of the Blues.... Look at the rest of the forwards on the Blues roster and explain how someone with 26 points was only a +2 on this Blues team. Stewart just didn't fit the Blues style of play.
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Re: Ryan Miller/Steve Ott to STL, Halak/Stew/Carrier to BUF

Post by glen a richter »

If Ott stays in the fold, it'll allow for LaPierre to be jettisoned in the offseason (along with Morrow) opening spots for Jaskin and Rattie which will only serve to improve our already very good, very balanced offense. Next season may be better than this season, and this season is shaping up pretty nicely.
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theohall
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Re: Ryan Miller/Steve Ott to STL, Halak/Stew/Carrier to BUF

Post by theohall »

flyingnote38 wrote:http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck- ... --nhl.html

just one more person with a similar negative take on the trade

key quote "Another reason this was a curious trade is that it failed to address the Blues' real issue, which is to say that they're probably not doing enough offensively to convince anyone who's paying real attention that they're true contenders in the Western Conference, let alone for the Stanley Cup"

"the Blues get Miller and Ott, who presumably adds “grit” (and has a potentially negative impact on possession due to his not being very good), "
This is the mistake... relying solely on Goals For when referring to how much offense is needed when the better indicator is Goals Differential. This is mentioned in another thread and actually did a darn good job of predicting playoff teams last season. This is a team game and when a team has outstanding defense and goaltending, they don't need as much offense. Honestly, the Blues are up there in GF even without a top flight scorer. It is harder to defend a team with spread out scoring than to defend teams which rely on a few great scorers. Just look at the playoffs in the Brett Hull era.
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Re: Ryan Miller/Steve Ott to STL, Halak/Stew/Carrier to BUF

Post by glen a richter »

Misleading. Tarasenko and Schwartz both will be "top flight" scorers very soon. Not Crosby/Ovechkin/Stamkos flight... that's beyond top flight. But among everyone else, they'll be right there. I'm expecting 30-40+ goals from each of them on a regular basis soon.
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