St. Louis Blues 2019-2020 Season

#26      
O'Reilly, Binnington, and Petro named to the Central Division roster for the All-Star game. David Perron, who is having a career year, surprisingly not selected and will be on the Last Men In ballot.
 
#27      
Blues look like they'll be in the market for a new AHL team as the San Antonio Rampage (which were owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment) have been sold to the Vegas Golden Knights who intend to move the team to Henderson, Nevada beginning next season: https://www.stltoday.com/sports/hoc...cle_630b90c8-6a96-5992-94a1-2780b5a5f21c.html

The STLToday article makes it seem as if there may be a reunion between the Blues and the Chicago Wolves.
 
#28      
Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester suffered a cardiac episode during last night's game in Anaheim which led to the game being postponed. Doug Armstrong did say today that things are looking very positive for Bouwmeester as he is still undergoing tests to determine the how and why of what happened last night.
 
#29      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester suffered a cardiac episode during last night's game in Anaheim which led to the game being postponed. Doug Armstrong did say today that things are looking very positive for Bouwmeester as he is still undergoing tests to determine the how and why of what happened last night.

That was a very, very scary moment. Thank goodness he's all right!
 
#30      
That was a very, very scary moment. Thank goodness he's all right!

Agreed. They did have to use a defibrilator on him right after it happened but he regained consciousness immediately.

Kind of a freaky thing for it to happen too on this road trip as this is the annual dad's trip where the players' fathers come along on the trip with them.
 
#31      
Bouwmeester has undergone a procedure to put in an implantable cardioverter-defibrilator and his status will be updated next week.

At this point, the plan is for him to stay in the hospital in Anaheim and then eventually be allowed to leave and head back to St. Louis.
 
#32      
Blues have acquired defenseman Marco Scandella from the Canadiens for a 2020 2nd round pick and a conditional 2021 4th round pick.

Blues basically had to make this move after the recent events with Bouwmeester. While team was likely going to look for help with forwards originally, losing Bouwmeester basically forced their hand. A lot of what they decide to do between now and Monday at 3:00 PM ET will also depend on how Tarasenko is tracking in his recovery.
 
#35      
In a video conference on Wednesday involving several of the Blues players that were on last year's championship team, Vince Dunn revealed that the team has a new victory song that has replaced Gloria. And they've decided that it's this one:

 
#36      
Blues 2018 2nd round pick Scott Perunovich was just named the Hobey Baker Award winner, given to the best player in college hockey. Perunovich signed his first professional contract a couple of weeks ago signing to a 2-year entry level contract with the team.
 
#37      
Blues have signed Sammy Blais to a 2-year, $3 million extension. Blais was set to become an RFA this offseason. With Blais signed, MacEachern, de la Rose, and Dunn are the only remaining RFAs on the roster. Dunn is the only one of those three that is not arbitration eligible.
 
#38      
Blues and Marco Scandella have agreed to a 4-year deal with an AAV of $3.275 million.

This likely means the end of Bouwmeester's time in St. Louis (though he'll likely decide to retire anyway) and there may not be enough money to eventually re-sign Pietrangelo when his contract ends unless Armstrong gets creative with freeing up salary cap space.
 
#40      
Latest rumored return for NHL season is to go straight to a 24-team, conference based playoff format in two "hub" cities with 12 teams from each conference making it. The seeding, which will be determined by the standings points percentage, will see the top 4 seeds in each conference getting a first round bye though they would play a three-game tournament between each other during the play-in round in order to avoid any rustiness from those teams once they do get the opportunity to play in the conference quarterfinals. Those teams seeded 5-12 would play a best-of-five series with the winners then advancing to the conference quarterfinals with the best-of-seven series we see now.

Based on this scenario, the Blues would have a first round bye but would play in the mini-tournament against Colorado, Vegas, and Dallas. They would then face either Calgary or Winnipeg in the conference quarterfinals.
 
#42      
NHL's "Return to Play" plan:

-24 teams based on regular season points percentage
-Regular season is complete
-2 hub cities for playoffs; Among those being considered include Chicago, Dallas, Edmonton, Vegas, L.A., Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Vancouver in the West and Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Toronto in the East.
-Each team is limited to 50 personnel in the hub city.
 
#43      
One other thing I forgot to mention is that the top 4 seeds in each conference, which would include the Blues, play a round-robin tournament to determine seeding in their respective conferences.
 
#44      
Never forget what happened one year ago tonight with Boom Boom Gunnarsson getting the game winner in OT of Game 2 in Boston:

One of my favorite stories about this shot is Gunnarsson talking to Berube at the urinal during the intermission between the 3rd period and OT and Carl telling his coach that he just needed one more chance to make the shot after he missed a chance to win it late in regulation.
 
#45      
More details of the playoff format were released today. Among the things announced:

-Only play-in round will be best-of-5. All other rounds will be best-of-7.
-Conferences will be reseeded after each round rather than using a strict bracket.
-"Home" ice advantage for games in hub cities will be decided by higher seed through the conference finals. In the Stanley Cup Final, the team with the higher regular season points percentage gets "home" ice advantage.
 
#46      
Getting closer to the NHL coming back. NHL and NHLPA approved the teams moving forward with Phase 3, which is formal training camps, beginning July 10, assuming local conditions allow for the teams to do so. Players had previously said they'd need about 3 weeks to get back into conditioning shape which would put the playoffs starting sometime in early August.
 
#47      
June 12, 2019. One year ago tonight myself and many of my fellow Blues fans on this board were celebrating the Blues finally winning the Stanley Cup. Crazy to think that a year has passed since all this happened:


Oh and one more thing...#PlayGloria:

 
#48      
Multiple Blues players have tested positive for covid, per reporting from the Athletic and the Post-Dispatch. To this point, it's just players and it is not believed any coaches or staff members have tested positive. The team cancelled Phase 2 workouts on Friday and the team is not scheduled to work out again until Monday, though the team has only been holding workouts Monday-Friday at this point anyway.
 
#49      
NHL and NHLPA ratified Return to Play Plan with training camps set to start Monday and the qualifiers set to begin August 1 in Edmonton and Toronto. The qualifiers and first two rounds of the playoffs will be held in both hub cities with the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final to be held in Edmonton. The conference finals are tentatively set to begin September 8 with the Cup Final scheduled to begin September 22 and will end no later than October 4. 3 games max will be played at each arena every day during the early rounds.

The NHL and NHLPA also ratified a 4-year extension of the CBA that will last through the 2025-26 season. Among the highlights include the salary cap remaining at $81.5 million with increases occurring in the following seasons if hockey-related revenue reaches certain thresholds and NHL players being able to take part in the 2022 Beijing and 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, pending agreements with the IIHF and IOC.

Here's how the Blues schedule looks for the round robin:
-August 2: Blues vs. Avalanche
-August 6: Golden Knights vs. Blues
-August 9: Stars vs. Blues