Stealing the Hurricanes Thunder
Overview
The only word that can describe this season is dissapointing. Having built this team to compete in the tough west, instead the Blues find themselves in second last place in the West and fourth last in the league. Its fair to say that the Blues have become a rotating roster as they've been extremely active on the trade front. Its likely that if things don't turn around there will be a blow this team up decision in the near future and a redefining of the teams goals.
Team
Record 19-6-12-1 58 goals for and 68 goals against for a minus 10
Standing 13th in the East 25th/28th
Goals F/A 85.29% 22nd
PP 21.31 12th PK 74.32% 26th
Players
Goals Dylan Larkin 8 (Hasn't suited up)
Assists Mark Giodano 12
Points Dylan Larkin 14
+/- Scott Mayfield 7
GAA MAF 3.24 .886
Top Performers
Nick Bonino - With a lot of players moved, Bonino has stood out on the third line with 6 goals 13 points and a +5.
Gabriel Landeskog - 7 goals and 13 points and a plus one. He's been very good and a physical presence with 30 hits in 19 games.
Disappointments
Connor Garland - A fairly versitile forward that hasn't really found his way with 4 goals and 5 points and a -1 rating
Erik Haula - Stuck on the 4th line and could lose his job when Stephenson and Larkin return. With one assist and a minus 5 rating, he's been a bust in every way
Goaltending - From Raanta to Mrazek to Demko the goalies have been outright awful with below a .890 svpct. This team can't get a save when they need it. New starter MAF came in and laid an egg in his first game
Positives
CaptainCrunch has been working hard in terms of rebuilding his prospect pool and gaining some assets. Adding Sokolov, Mackay, Vaalanainen and boom or bust prospect Jesse Puljujarvi could help the future. Crunch has also started to rebuild his depleted draft pick stock
Next 20
I don't believe this team has a next 20. More like a next 10 and a decision will have to be made on this teams future. While Crunch has made the forward lines a lot deeper, and the blueline looks deep and has a good overall defensive rating, something isn't clicking and it might be useless to see if he can push this team into the playoffs. With the fans yelling for a video game style of blow it up, Crunch might be resistant and try to balance a win now with a rebuild focusing around balancing out RW and adding some offense on the blueline.
St Louis First Quarter Review
