Skip to main content

Blues Waive Saad

By

 For a moment there I thought something big might be brewing. Word was Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad were absent from practice (where Monty was evidently pushing them hard after last night's dismal showing,) and there was to be press availability from Army after the practice. Immediately my mind was filled with happy thoughts of the Blues General Manager fleecing another NHL team of valuable pieces for an on-again off-again Buchy and the desiccated husk of Brandon Saad. 

Sadly, it was not to be. 




Instead, we learned that Saad had been waived because the Blues couldn't find a trade partner willing to give anything up to acquire him. If no one puts in a claim for him Saad will report down to Springfield to clog up their lineup for a change. Army also emphasized there was no intention of recalling anyone interesting from Springfield to take these roster spots (Saad's and the recently traded Scott Perunovich's.) So, for Blues fans what you see is what you get. That will be good and bad. Good in that we will get to see what Texier and Bolduc can do with increased playing time; Bad in that we will be treated to a steady diet of Suter's aging out of the league. 

It is a little maddening because it is obvious the team can play better than they are currently showing. Monty has been mixing and matching on the lines hoping to catch a spark somewhere, but it just isn't happening. At this point, were someone to give me the keys to the car, I would set the lines and leave them alone. Get the WTF line set as your 4th, and install the Schenn, Kyrou, Holloway line as your 1st. Hope that familiarity can breed some chemistry. It seems unlikely that Army will be able to improve the roster much if at all. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Early Thoughts on City 2025

By
There are few things harder to keep track of than an MLS side in their off-season, at least for me. Despite the fact it takes place roughly during the time the MLB Hot Stove season is in full swing, it is nowhere near as easy to follow along with as baseball. Part of it is how disconnected MLS is with the international soccer calendar. St. Louis City SC is still digesting the moves it made last summer even though those players have already played important games for the club. It is all weird and disjointed, and I always feel like I am playing catch-up. Happily, the moves made in the off-season this year were not numerous.  German Timo Baumgartl comes over from Europe as an option at center back, which is good because that was a position that was a little rocky for City last season. Given his own troubles over the last few seasons (cancer and uneven play in the aftermath of that), a spell with City can give Baumgartl a chance to have a re-set. Given his pedigree and the fact City si...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blues Fall Off a Cliff

By
 Hockey seasons will have their ups and downs. For whatever reason, be it injuries, a challenging schedule, an inexplicable loss of form, it is difficult for teams to maintain a good level of compete for an entire season. The good teams just limit their funks. The St. Louis Blues, however, are not a good team. They are a poor team, and poor teams sink under the weight of "here we go again" night after night.  I will admit I only watched the first two periods of last night's 5-0 loss to a Colorado team that had been scuffling of late. Two periods were more than enough to get the gist of it. It was also enough to lead me to a diagnosis as to what ails the team. It isn't that they are young and are going through growing pains. No, the reason the Blues are so bad is that the veterans who are being paid to be the backbone of this team are not doing their jobs. I'm talking about Schenn, Buchnevich, Faulk, and even Binnington and Parayko. Over $30M of the salary cap is b...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Note of Optimism About the Note

By
 If you have been trying to watch the St. Louis Blues attempt to play hockey of late it would be hard to believe the word optimism could ever be in play. The losses continue relentlessly, often in the "never in the game" style, but increasingly in a "lose from winning position" flair which is enough to make someone turn on the news for an upbeat change of pace. (Wow, plane crashes and LUNACY!) This team still can't score with the regularity needed to win consistently in this league. The coaching staff knows they have precious few natural goal scorers (one is precious few), so they attempt to make up for it by getting what I call "process" goals, i.e. goals scored by virtue of constant pressure, crazy bounces, accidental deflections, etc. Basically, any goal you can get from a player who doesn't have the knack for scoring them on their own. The Blues are something like zero for their last 12-15 breakaway chances, and zero for their last 25-30 2 on 1...
Post a Comment
Read more