I have to say I am not terribly impressed by the St. Louis Blues moving Scott Perunovich to the New York Islanders for a conditional 5th round pick. I felt this season Perunovich was scapegoated a little bit by the Blues. If you look at his advanced metrics they actually were among the best of all the Blues defensemen, but he simply couldn't crack the lineup as the Blues continued to prefer the aging Suter.
Don't get me wrong, Suter isn't a complete dumpster fire, but when he has a bad game he is a terrible liability out there. Perunovich at least offered a skill set moving the puck that the Blues could use more of, especially on the power play. Indeed, the Achilles heel of this team is the generally awful state of their special teams. In the limited play he got on the second unit Perunovich showed a little something, but, once again, lack of consistent playing time kept the unit from clicking. (It didn't help the Blues have had so few PP opportunities this season.)
All in all this is a disappointing development. I do hope this mean Nick Leddy is possibly getting close to returning, because the sooner Suter is reduced to a few shifts a game the better it will be for everyone involved.
At least Perunovich finally scored a goal. That's something.
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...
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