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CaptainCrunch · 03-10-2021, 12:44 PM

St Louis Times Picayuuune (AP)

A lot has changed in the last few days as its clear that the Blue's have accepted their fate around not making the playoffs. Its clear that this was a disappointing year for the Blue's and a serious underachievement given the core at the start of the season. On opening night the teams lineup looked like this.

Landeskog - Eichel - Mark Stone
Pearson - Bonino - Radulov
Tanev - Haula - Garland
Aberg - Brandon Sutter - Corey Perry
Appleton

Vince Dunn - McDonagh
Mayfield - Ryan Graves
Claesson - Gilmour
Erricsson

Raanta
Demko

but as the season rolled along this core underachieved seriously they couldn't get consistant goaltending or scoring. Special Teams was in the bottom of the league. CaptainCrunch began to tinker. Clearly the biggest aquisition this year was bringing in MAF which gave them MVP level goaltending, but now even he's gone as the Captain continued to tinker with his lineup. At one point he seemed to hit the magic formula and the team went on a long run as one of the hottest teams in the league, but that fell apart through a combination of injuries and slumps.

So what's happening now, with the Captain throwing in the towel, where does this team stand for the rest of the year and next year. Well to be honest it doesn't look pretty in the short term.

Right now the Forward group looks roughly like this

Sam Reinhart centering for Pearson and Duclair

Bret Howdow will probably center a line of Foligno Radulov

Chandler Stephenson will pivot between Ennis Appleton

Ryan McCleod brings up the fourth line with Heponiemi and Ryan

John Tavares is out for the rest of the season, but will be a welcome addition next year.

On defense the blueline still has some strong elements and a good first pair

Graves and McAvoy lead the way

DeHaan and Krug
Maatta and Stanley

In goal its a duo of Bernier and Desmith who frighten nobody.

So there's clearly a lot of work that can happen between now and the rest of the year as Crunch will likely try to improve his LW and RW positions.

The futures not bare though. Crunch has accumulated some nice draft picks. 2 firsts (1 that's owed by the Islanders) Anaheims 3rd and 4th and two fifth round picks. As well Crunch has done a good job of rebuilding his prospect base with Jesse Puljujarvi on the way as well as Connor Mckay. The future is nowhere near grim, the short term is, anyone with expectations of the Blue's going on a last minute streak into the playoff will be disappointed, it might be more fun to see how else Crunch can wreck this team, its a long ways from the lineup at the start of the year that simply didn't jell.

03-10-2021, 12:44 PM	#1
CaptainCrunch Norm! Join Date: Jun 2002 Exp:	An honest look at the St Louis Blues St Louis Times Picayuuune (AP) A lot has changed in the last few days as its clear that the Blue's have accepted their fate around not making the playoffs. Its clear that this was a disappointing year for the Blue's and a serious underachievement given the core at the start of the season. On opening night the teams lineup looked like this. Landeskog - Eichel - Mark Stone Pearson - Bonino - Radulov Tanev - Haula - Garland Aberg - Brandon Sutter - Corey Perry Appleton Vince Dunn - McDonagh Mayfield - Ryan Graves Claesson - Gilmour Erricsson Raanta Demko but as the season rolled along this core underachieved seriously they couldn't get consistant goaltending or scoring. Special Teams was in the bottom of the league. CaptainCrunch began to tinker. Clearly the biggest aquisition this year was bringing in MAF which gave them MVP level goaltending, but now even he's gone as the Captain continued to tinker with his lineup. At one point he seemed to hit the magic formula and the team went on a long run as one of the hottest teams in the league, but that fell apart through a combination of injuries and slumps. So what's happening now, with the Captain throwing in the towel, where does this team stand for the rest of the year and next year. Well to be honest it doesn't look pretty in the short term. Right now the Forward group looks roughly like this Sam Reinhart centering for Pearson and Duclair Bret Howdow will probably center a line of Foligno Radulov Chandler Stephenson will pivot between Ennis Appleton Ryan McCleod brings up the fourth line with Heponiemi and Ryan John Tavares is out for the rest of the season, but will be a welcome addition next year. On defense the blueline still has some strong elements and a good first pair Graves and McAvoy lead the way DeHaan and Krug Maatta and Stanley In goal its a duo of Bernier and Desmith who frighten nobody. So there's clearly a lot of work that can happen between now and the rest of the year as Crunch will likely try to improve his LW and RW positions. The futures not bare though. Crunch has accumulated some nice draft picks. 2 firsts (1 that's owed by the Islanders) Anaheims 3rd and 4th and two fifth round picks. As well Crunch has done a good job of rebuilding his prospect base with Jesse Puljujarvi on the way as well as Connor Mckay. The future is nowhere near grim, the short term is, anyone with expectations of the Blue's going on a last minute streak into the playoff will be disappointed, it might be more fun to see how else Crunch can wreck this team, its a long ways from the lineup at the start of the year that simply didn't jell. __________________ My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!