New Blues fan questions

[boilerup14]

Hi everbody!

My gf and I are moving to Clayton in the next 2 months and after living in Houston the last 3 years I'm ecstatic to be living in a city with a hockey team again, absolutely none of my friends down here cared about hockey.

I've spent my life as a die hard NJ Devils fan (I also loved the Hartford Whalers, but they left when I was a 3rd grader in CT) and will continue to do so, but I am excited to adopt the Blues as my Western Conference team! I already am a huge fan of the Assistant General Manager here in St. Louis MARTY!!!

Unfortunately, I haven't watched as much hockey as I would have liked after I finished college three years ago up north and I admit most of the Blues hockey I've seen was with my friends in college who are mostly Blackhawks fans but I'm curious to hear why the Blues are actively shopping Shattenkirk, I always thought he was a good player. I was also sad to see Brian Elliott traded, I've always thought he was one of the most underrated players in hockey.

Already ordered my Brett Hull throwback for myself and an Al MacInnis throwback for my gf, excited to go to some games and excited to start watching more hockey again....Let's Go Blues!!

[glen a richter]

Welcome to the bi-polar club. It doesn't help that we perpetually stink when it matters the most, but hey misery loves company.

Shattenkirk is being peddled I would assume mainly because he's due for a big raise next season and we have so much depth on D in the system from some excellent drafts, that it makes him expendable. We're looking at Parayko having a huge rookie year, Edmundson being pretty good, and coming down the pike we have Schmaltz, Dunn, Vannelli, Walman, Saari, Mikkola, Lindbohm... this team is absolutely loaded in defensive prospects that will be able to step in bit by bit over the next few years.

I follow the prospects very closely, I started the prospects thread which keeps getting pushed down for whatever reason, and I was right on the money talking about Parayko a couple of seasons ago. I think our D is shaping up to be one of the most offensively capable bluelines in the NHL which will do wonders for the teams long term success. Losing Shattenkirk might be a bit of a bummer, but there's no reason to believe his replacement isn't ready. Schmaltz and Vannelli, I'd think, will duke it out in camp for his roster spot and Shatty's return in a trade should be a good young forward which is something that will help a lot.

[boilerup14]

The Blues must be satisfied with their defense seeing how they went 7/8 picks for forwards!

What do you think of the draft haul? Most people have rated it poorly unfortunately...

[boilerup14]

The Blues must be satisfied with their defense seeing how they went 7/8 picks for forwards!

What do you think of the draft haul? Most people have rated it poorly unfortunately...

[beat2life]

Advice for a potential new fan: Don't be. Save yourself a lot of time, stress, and heartache

For real tho, welcome aboard.

I think people are bummed about the draft because our current team is the first one in a long while with the potential to go all the way, and the Blues are finally in a position with a smidge of trading leverage. So after almost always having the carrot wagged just out of our faces' reach, we can almost touch it; and people are feeling that desperation to get those final pieces to this puzzle. There were some steals in the draft, and it doesn't seem like we did much to take a shot at them. Last year we were told "we aren't going to make too many changes," and so far it feels like we're going to be told that again. Which, truth be told, there shouldn't be any drastic changes, but do SOMETHING to inspire confidence in the fans that you're actively trying to put the best product on the ice.

Get used to this phrase: "There's always next year..."

[WaukeeBlues]

The Blues must be satisfied with their defense seeing how they went 7/8 picks for forwards!

What do you think of the draft haul? Most people have rated it poorly unfortunately...

We'll know in about 4 years right?

I don't know: Tage Thompson's critics seem to either love the kid or hate him. Seems like a high risk pick to me.

Jordan Kyrou seems to me to be a "safer" selection.

Conner Bleackley is very intriguing to me and basically no risk/high reward potential.

I'm most excited to know that the Blues were the lucky team that got to draft "Mr. Irrelevant" Filip Helt. I'm expecting big things from him now.

[theohall]

The Shattenkirk shopping thing.

1) He is an excellent offensive defensman.
2) This season when Pietrangelo missed a few games, Shattenkirk was playing in Pietro's position and didn't do as well when asked to be more responsible defensively. So, he's not that good at actually playing defense in his end.
3) With the Blues, he's always been on the 2nd pairing (unless filling in for Pietro) and doesn't line up every night against the opponents top offensive lines - as Pietro does. When he had to do so it seemed to expose that defensive weakness.
4) He will be a UFA after 2017 and will be getting a ridiculous offer from someone solely based on what he can do offensively.
5) The Blues have too many right-handed defenseman.
6) Parayko is better than Shattenkirk defensively with tremendous offensive upside and deserves to be playing on that 2nd pairing behind Pietro.
7) Pietrangelo plays 20+ minutes per night.
Parayko deserve to be playing 20+ minutes per night and should get that opportunity, even as a 2nd pairing D-man, this upcoming season.
9) Shattenkirk is not a 20+ minutes per game kind of D-man. He's an excellent 2nd pairing, right side, offensive defenseman. He doesn't play as well when playing as a left defenseman or when on the ice for d-zone faceoffs against the opponents top line.

So - do you keep Shattenkirk and have him or Parayko playing on a 3rd defensive pairing that won't even see 10 minutes of ice time per night?

With the Blues seriously over-stocked on right-handed defenseman and Shattenkirk about to get seriously over-paid in 2017, what should the Blues do?

What the Blues lack - depth at LW. There are several young left defenseman coming up also, but a more experienced left defenseman would be nice to have if it meant the Blues wouldn't have to play Bouwmeester with Pietrangelo on the top pairing. Bouwmeester was awful at times this season and looked particularly awful vs the Sharks. One thing all 3 opponents the Blues faced in the playoffs did with regularity - enter the zone on Bouwmeester's side whenever he was on the ice. It worked for the Sharks and almost worked for the Stars and Blackhawks were it not for Elliott standing on his head in goal.

So trade Shattenkirk for a LW if possible or a better LD than Bouwmeester or the C to replace Backes if he goes elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent.

The Blues actual LWers - Jaden Schwartz, Alexander Steen (whom the Blues kept moving to center), and Magnus "Hitchcock's butt boy" Paajarvi. FYI - Paajarvi sucked but Hithcock liked his "energy" in spite of the inability to score.

So they have a 1st and 2nd line LWer. Robby Fabbri played LW all year, but needs to be a damn C if Hitchcock will ever get over his attitude about "size matters" and playing a "heavy" game. I'm afraid Fabbri will see even less ice time with the stupid changes in the coaching staff which don't favor a guy like Fabbri whose game is about speed, skill, and elusiveness - not hitting to force plays.


That's enough for now.