St. Louis Blues 22-23

ROR is one of my favorite players to watch but I like the haul they got in return

Definitely have a ton of options this offseason with all the 1st round picks

See if Barbashev is the next piece gone....

GILL-INOIS said:

ROR is one of my favorite players to watch but I like the haul they got in return

Definitely have a ton of options this offseason with all the 1st round picks

See if Barbashev is the next piece gone....

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Not gonna lie, as much as I love ROR and what he did for the franchise, I'm gonna laugh so hard if Toronto gets knocked out in the 1st round of the playoffs again.

Majority of the D that have big contracts also have a no trade clause in place. Not sure if will happen before the deadline but I would not be shocked to see a big D contract traded away this offseason. If Blues get a halfway decent offer for Parayko I think they would entertain moving him to get that contract off the books.

Jim Thomas

On that eventful trade day of July 1, 2018, general manager Doug Armstrong joked about the Blues having Ryan O’Reilly under contract forever.
Well, “forever” arrived late Friday night with another trade day. With his contract set to expire after this season, the current Blues team going nowhere, and salary cap issues next season, O’Reilly’s time came to an end in St. Louis.

O’Reilly and Noel Acciari were shipped to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for first- and third-round picks in 2023, a second-round pick in 2024 and minor-league forwards Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette.
Largely for cap purposes, the Minnesota Wild became a third party in the deal, agreeing to take on 25% of O’Reilly’s salary in exchange for a fourth-round pick from Toronto. Toronto also got Minnesota prospect Josh Pillar.

Barbashev headed to Vegas:


The player the Blues are getting back is a 20-year old prospect who is still playing in the QMJHL.

Blues let Barbashev and O'Reilly know they are welcome back in Free Agency. Little bit of wink wink without tampering. Think the Blues have gotten a nice haul in the trades so far and would be amazing if we could land either of them back this offseason.

Matthew DeFranks

There was a time when Ivan Barbashev helped represent what the Blues were about.
With his trade to Vegas on Sunday for forward prospect Zach Dean, that time has passed.
“He’s grown as a player, great person,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “This is part of the game, you lose good people.”
Barbashev helped form a hard-charging, hard-hitting line alongside Alexander Steen and Oskar Sundqvist in 2019, giving the Stanley Cup champions a physical trio that Berube could count on to set the tone.
When the Blues needed to close out the Stars in the second round, the Sharks in the Western Conference finals and the Bruins in Game 7 of the title round, Berube started Steen-Sundqvist-Barbashev. The line began all three periods in Game 7 in Boston when the Blues won the Cup.

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great article about one of my favorite now ex-Blues players........hope we can sign him back in the off season......I really really do.....

@pruman91

Figure they claimed Kasperi Kapanen because Barbie was going to be moved quickly. Still little shocked they put claim on him with a $3.2 million salary next season guaranteed.

GILL-INOIS said:

@pruman91

Figure they claimed Kasperi Kapanen because Barbie was going to be moved quickly. Still little shocked they put claim on him with a $3.2 million salary next season guaranteed.

Click to expand...

He was playing left wing on a line centered by Robert Thomas and with Pavel Buchnevich at right wing. Outside of Jordan Kyrou, that’s the best the Blues have up front. Kapanen was in a top-six spot for the Blues in practice Monday.
Kapanen, who played on the third line in his final games for Pittsburgh, also was on the second power play unit.

Yeah he should see plenty of minutes. Little shocked because of the money for next season and have a bunch of holes to fill for next season. Not even be surprised if Army is hoping he has a good rest of this season and try to sell him off next season if he would want to much to extend.

Jim Thomas
LOS ANGELES – Just after the trade deadline passed on Friday afternoon, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong talked about building a foundation for next season – right now.
One of the players the team wants to become one of those building blocks, Kasperi Kapanen, apparently is taking those words to heart.
After scoring an empty-net goal in Thursday’s 6-3 victory at San Jose, Kapanen scored a dramatic shorthanded goal to tie Saturday’s contest at Los Angeles 2-2 with just 7:49 to play.
It wasn’t enough to hold off the Kings (36-20-8), who took the lead on a Gabriel Villardi power play goal with 3:03 to play, and then added an empty-netter for a 4-2 victory at the venue now known as Crypto.com Arena.

But two goals in three games with his new team. That’s a pretty good start for Kapanen.

Blues playing a great come from behind game against the Vegas Golden Knights and have tied the score at 3-3 with around 14 minutes left in 3rd period......

edit : vegas scores a goal on a shot that hits another vegas player in the face and bounces in for a vegas 4-3 lead.....lol

Jim Thomas

Brayden Schenn probably spoke for lots of hockey fans in St. Louis and Minnesota – and all over, really – in the aftermath of Wednesday’s NHL competition at Enterprise Center.
“You just would’ve loved to see it: Binner vs. Marc-Andre Fleury on TNT,” Schenn said. “If you’re looking for viewership and ratings, people talking about the game, that’s one way to do it.”
Jordan Binnington, once again, went off his rocker for just a little while in what became an 8-5 loss to the Minnesota Wild that was nationally televised on the TNT cable network.
After the Wild’s Ryan Hartman scored to give his squad a 5-4 lead, he skated by Binnington and “tripped” over the goalie’s leg. BInnington had his back turned, so he didn’t see it coming. He didn’t appreciate having his leg run into, especially after allowing his fifth goal of the night.

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I tuned in to see a hockey game and a WWE broke out.................lol..................Binnington took out 2 Wild with a goalie stick and blocker to the head.......the looks on those Wild players was priceless......lol..........Ifigure Binner gonna get a vacation for his temper tantrum...............

Matthew DeFranks
Long before Marc-Andre Fleury skated the 178 feet from his crease to Jordan Binnington’s, the surge was building inside the Wild goaltender.
Fleury knew about Binnington’s reputation for getting involved after the whistle with opponents, with episodes in Pittsburgh and Colorado this season, plus one in San Jose where he feigned punches to multiple Sharks.
During the first period of Minnesota’s 8-5 win over the Blues on Wednesday, Wild forward Matt Boldy informed Fleury that Binnington hit Joel Eriksson Ek in the nether regions during a first-period scrum at the Blues net. So when Binnington whacked Ryan Hartman in the face with his blocker after a second-period goal, Fleury decided he wanted to fight Binnington.

“One of the guys said that he hit them in the nuts, in the nutsack,” Fleury said. “Can I say that, nutsack? That’s proper, right? When I saw him throw another one at our guy, that was the time.”
Fluery skated down the ice, removed his glove and blocker, and discarded his helmet. But Fluery and Binnington never fought, as the linesmen kept them separated.

Matthew DeFranks

The Blues might as well be an expiration date, because they’re spoiling things.
Two days after beating playoff hopeful Washington, the Blues handed Western subhed Conference bubble team Winnipeg a 3-0 loss at Enterprise Center on Sunday night. The Blues have won consecutive games for the second time in the last 10 days after losing eight of nine games following the Ryan O’Reilly trade.
Joel Hofer made 33 saves in his second start in place of the suspended Jordan Binnington to earn his second win of the season. Kasperi Kapanen (one goal, one assist) had his first multi-point game as a Blue, and Nathan Walker and Jakub Vrana also scored goals for St. Louis.
The Blues can extend their win streak to three games when they host Detroit on Tuesday night.

D for dishing​

The Blues scored their first two goals on nifty passes from defensemen, as Nick Leddy picked up the primary assist on Kapanen’s goal, while Justin Faulk got one on Walker’s goal.

Matthew DeFranks

When David Perron stepped on the ice for warmups on Tuesday at Enterprise Center, he saw the signs surrounding the glass on the visitors' side of the ice.
When he picked up an assist on a Red Wings goal, he heard the cheers from the crowd when his name was announced on the public address system. Perhaps he didn’t hear them when he took his turn in the shootout.
But during the second television timeout in the first period of the Blues’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Red Wings on Tuesday night, Perron was overcome with emotion. The Blues honored him with a tribute video that lasted about 90 seconds, and the Enterprise Center crowd responded with about 45 seconds of a building, booming ovation.

Perron called it “extremely special.”
“Just a surreal moment that I don’t think I’ve ever thought I would get to this point,” Perron said. “These fans are unbelievable, and it means a lot. Honestly, I had to just try and stay composed for a bit there. Barely did it.”
By the time the video ended, the Blues bench had emptied onto the ice to honor their former teammate who signed with the Red Wings as a free agent in the summer.
“He said after he felt like Brett Hull or Bernie Federko there,” Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. “He got a heck of an ovation. Like I said before, people love him around town, he’s been here for a long time and well deserved.”

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After the 90 second video tribute , the game became an afterthought to me............It was a great show of the respect and happiness that Blues Nation showed to Perron , a member of the Blues off and on for a total of 11 years , including being a leading player on the surreal season of 2019 and the Blues only Stanley Cup season........

I really think GM Armstrong deciding to sign Leddy instead of Perron was probably his biggest mistake in his tenure as the General Manager of the Blues........

I had a brief convo with one of my Blues friends here and I mentioned Armstrong's pull of draft picks and players when he started the sell off of the Blues players that had to go to settle down the cap issues and his response was short , sweet and defined it completely ......" He's a magician " was his response and the more i thought aboot it the more I believed it .....

So here's to you bro , whatahack , for your words to me that erased a lot of my fears going into the trade deadline time frame....

With the addition of Vrana and Hepanen to the Blues squad , my belief is he made major rebuilding steps to get the Blues back up to an annual playoff contender......I really really do...................

Jim Thomas
DETROIT — With the season long ago decided, the Blues haven’t quit playing.
Maybe some fans — yearning for junior whiz kid Connor Bedard — wish they would. But they rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 4-2 Thursday.
And that makes it a four-game point streak for St Louis (3-0-1).The one constant in all four games? Rookie Joel Hofer in goal, who so far is giving coach Craig Berube no reason to keep him out of the lineup.
It’s a modest point streak to be sure, but it’s the Blues’ longest since a five-game point streak (4-0-1) in mid-December.
Now 32-33-6 for the season, the Blues now head to the West Coast for games against Anaheim and Los Angeles as the 2022-23 season winds down.

Slow starters​

The Blues were down 2-0 at Little Caesars Arena before you could say: Pizza! Pizza!
Just 38 seconds in, the Red Wings took the lead on a goal by Simon Edvinsson. The goal was originally credited to Matt Luff, who was tangled at the net front with Blues defenseman Justin Faulk, but then changed to Edvinsson.

Jim Thomas

ANAHEIM, Calif. — You may recall, the Blues traded Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Ivan Barbashev, Noel Acciari and Niko Mikkola in the weeks leading up to the NHL trade deadline.
Along the way, the Blues picked up Sammy Blais and Jakub Vrana via trade, and Kasperi Kapanen off waivers.
Let’s go to the tote board. Those five players traded away by St. Louis have combined for 15 goals with their new teams. Meanwhile, Blais, Vrana and Kapanen have combined for 20 goals with the Blues.
OK, small sample size. We get it. But who would’ve figured that?
All three new Blues scored in Saturday’s 6-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. Blais scored his eighth goal in 21 games since rejoining the Blues; Vrana got his sixth in 10 games; and Kapanen got his fifth and sixth in 13 games.

In hockey and in life, there’s nothing like a second chance. Blais’ total equaled his single-season career-high in the NHL achieved in 2020-21 with St. Louis.
Throw in two goals by Brayden Schenn, giving him 21 for the season, and you have a recipe for success. Schenn, the logical choice to be the team’s next captain, now has seven 20-goal seasons — four with the Blues and three with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Matthew DeFranks


For now, the Blues are simply outscoring their problems.
During Tuesday’s 6-5 overtime win over Vancouver, that included papering over a blown three-goal lead with Jakub Vrana’s game-winner just 21 seconds into overtime, and scoring six goals for the third straight game to mask an iffy penalty kill.
But for the Blues — at this point of the season, and in this particular season, no less — a win is a win is a win. And St. Louis has been winning plenty, with a 5-1-1 record in its last seven games.
“I think we’re playing pretty well as a team of late,” Blues forward Brandon Saad said. “We’re having fun, not thinking too much, playing well as a team. Obviously, the contributions with the guys scoring, it’s been a lot of fun as of late. We just want to keep building our game.”

Vrana’s game-winner in the opening minute of overtime capped an eventful night for the Blues, who jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second period before allowing Vancouver to score three straight goals. Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes tied the game in the final minute of the third period with his second goal of the night, setting the stage for Vrana’s heroics shortly thereafter.

Jim Thomas

Kasperi Kapanen’s eighth goal in 20 games for St. Louis, gave the Blues a hard-fought 3-2 overtime victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday at Enterprise Center.
The Rangers (46-21-12) are headed to the playoffs. The Blues (37-35-7) are headed to the offseason in a week. But they are 8-2-2 in their last 12 games and closing out the season with some pride.
Tyler Pitlick scored in just his seventh game of the season but his second in as many games to give the Blues a 2-1 lead with 9:47 left in the third period.
Both Pitlick and Nathan Walker were creating chaos in front of the Rangers’ net with Pitlick poking the puck in. So strike up another one for the fourth line, which has now scored six goals in its last six games.

But with just 2:20 left, Justin Faulk went off for slashing and the Blues struggling penalty kill unit was victimized again. Vincent Trocheck scored from the bumper position in the slot on an assist from Vladimir Tarasenko.
It was very meaningful as well for Pavel Buchnevich, who was traded to the Blues in the summer of 2021 and returned to action Thursday after missing four games with an upper-body injury.

Jim Thomas

With just two games remaining in the season, the Blues’ position in the NHL draft lottery is beginning to take shape.
At 37-36-7, the Blues have 81 points, the 11th-worst record in the league.
At the moment, they can finish no “better” than the eighth-worst record in the league. That’s because Philadelphia, Arizona, Montreal, San Jose, Anaheim, Chicago and Columbus cannot pass the Blues in the standings.
Conversely, they could finish as “low” as the 12th-worst record in the league. Potentially, they could finish ahead of Ottawa (83 points), Detroit (80), Vancouver (79) and Washington (77).
Ottawa, like the Blues, has just two games remaining. Detroit, Vancouver, Washington all have three games left on their schedules.

The regular season ends with two games Friday, but none of the participants in those contests are teams whose final record would affect where the Blues finish in the standings. So the Blues will know their draft lottery position no later than Thursday night, following their season finale in Dallas.

Jim Thomas


Long before this Blues’ season started, there were concerns about the defense overall and the consistency of the goaltending. Those concerns proved well-founded, given the shortcomings in those areas again this season. Disappointing? Yes. But no surprise there, really.
But the utter collapse on special teams, well, who could have seen that coming?
Last season, the Blues set a franchise record on the power play with an efficiency rate of 27%. They ranked second in the league — their best power-play finish since the NHL began listing team power play and penalty killing percentages in the 1977-78 season.
The Blues were almost as good at killing penalties last season — ranking fifth in the league, with an 84.1% kill rate.

Granted, the Blues lost one of their top power play goal scorers, David Perron, to free agency. One of their core penalty killers, Tyler Bozak, retired.......Assistant coach Jim Montgomery, who headed the Blues’ penalty-killing unit with distinction last season, left to become the head coach in Boston. The Bruins, maybe you’ve noticed, lead the league in PK efficiency (87.2%) this season.

Went to last home game yesterday and play the Stars on the road again tonight. Looks like it will be a busy offseason for the team...locked in at worst 11th in Draft Lottery Odds with potential to move up just a bit. Most you can move up is 10 slots in the lottery so at worst a 3% chance at #1 or 3.3% at #2

Ran the sim for fun 10 times and landed on #11 pick 6 times and #12 pick 4 times

GILL-INOIS said:

Went to last home game yesterday and play the Stars on the road again tonight. Looks like it will be a busy offseason for the team...locked in at worst 11th in Draft Lottery Odds with potential to move up just a bit. Most you can move up is 10 slots in the lottery so at worst a 3% chance at #1 or 3.3% at #2

Ran the sim for fun 10 times and landed on #11 pick 6 times and #12 pick 4 times

2025 NHL Draft Lottery Odds | Tankathon

Detailed 2025 NHL lottery odds. View the current odds for each lottery spot to get specific picks. See the chances that a pick is traded based on position.

www.tankathon.com

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Being a life long Blues fan ever since they were granted an expansion franchise back in 1967 , it seems odd to not read about playoff scenarios regarding the Blues this season.........I will follow the playoff's as a leisurely interested fan , with my main interest being who the Blues draft and what moves they make before the start of next season......

I would think that Doug Armstrong gets an A or even an A + for his moves at the trade deadline...............numerous draft picks and a plethora of prospects acquired facing a tight salary cap has amazed me.....I love the waiver pickup of Kapanen and the trade for Vrana and Blais that has sparked the team with an uptick in goals here at the end of the season........

Don't think I would classify this as a total rebuild , but with the defense and special teams needing major help, it's more than a reload , at least to me.........The Blues still have some contracts handcuffing Armstrong from doing even more ......The contracts with no trade clauses worries me , as does signing Leddy instead of Perron before this season even started.........

It would be awesome if the Blues overcame the lotto odds and got the # 1 pick , but I will not hold my breath.......Tonight is the final game to an otherwise lackluster season and I'm ready to see what the future brings.....JMHO