4 Nations and Winnipeg Recap + Schedule Lookahead and Core Debate

In this episode, the hosts delve into several key topics:

1. 4 Nations Face-Off Recap: A comprehensive overview of the recent international tournament, highlighting standout performances and pivotal moments.

2. Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues Analysis: An in-depth breakdown of the February 22, 2025, matchup, where the Jets edged out the Blues 4-3 in a shootout, marking their ninth consecutive win. Gabriel Vilardi’s two-goal performance, including a game-tying goal with just 28 seconds left in regulation, is a focal point. Kyle Connor secured the shootout victory for Winnipeg.

3. Upcoming Schedule Preview: Insights into the Blues’ forthcoming games, discussing potential challenges and key players to watch.

4. Core Roster Debate: A discussion on the current composition of the Blues’ core players, evaluating recent performances, and debating potential trades or strategic changes to enhance team dynamics.

Chapters

• 0:00 4 nations recap
• 15:30 Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues Game Analysis
• 30:45 Upcoming Schedule Preview
• 42:10 Core Roster Debate
• 55:00 Closing Remarks

Transcript

ell, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Puck Watching STL. We hope that you've had a nice little break with the four nations. Obviously not the ideal result that we could have for us USA fans. But we're going to be getting into that and plenty of other topics, including last night's Blues game that Nick got the pleasure to go to. Although I don't know if you can say that it was a pleasure after the result that happened in that late in the third period and then in the shootout. But we'll get into that as we go in later into the show. But Nick, I mean, that Four Nations, man, how are we feeling about it? man it's it's a bummer about the result but when that game ended I watched canada both canada usa games at obi clark's first one better than the next but I mean it was so much fun there everyone was so into it And political leanings aside, that added so much flair to the tournament. It was awesome. And I wouldn't want it any other way. When there's a little bit of beef going on between countries, that makes for really, really exciting international sports tournaments, whether it be hockey, soccer, basketball. And we were blessed with one of the most thrilling. This was the all-star all-star game, the replacement for it. And I don't think you could have done any better if you're the NHL and all the players were going balls to the wall, trying their absolute hardest to win each and every game. And that doesn't happen often during all-star games and what they were willing to do to, to, to win was awesome and I really hope that this does continue I know that there's going to be a hiatus but God it was so much fun even if the U.S. since the U.S. ended up losing like I'm okay with it like it was that much fun that I would be willing to watch that game over and over again it was quite the spectacle I enjoyed every second I think what's interesting Nick is None of these players had to give what they gave at that tournament. Nobody said that you had to represent your country and go all in on this like it was your last day, which is what the Kachuk brothers did the entire tournament for the U.S. The NHL didn't say this and say that it was going to be a competitive tournament. They kind of just did what they what they wanted to do with this and they went all in. And I really admire that out of a lot of out of all the NHL players, not just the US, but all of them. Because you look at guys, because you look at definitely specifically the U.S. when it comes to, you know, Kachuk and McAvoy, who are probably going to be out the rest of the season. And so their seasons are ruined. And they lost in the gold medal game, but both of them barely even played in that game. McAvoy didn't play. Kachuk's going to be out the rest of the season? That's the rumor. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. And Brady Kachuk's hurt, too. I don't know what's going on with him. He's definitely playing injured. So, again, the sacrifice that these people made to make that tournament the success that it was, was very impressive. And I heard John Kelly last night. he said on the broadcast, he's like, for the OT format, he's like, for any of you new to hockey, here's the overtime sort of format. And I think that was an explicit thing to say, hey, the Four Nations gave us our viewership and maybe our league a lot of success and potential new viewership. So why don't we explain these to people who may not know it? And so it also gave some tremendous advertisement to the NHL to see what, what it has in store and a really, really entertaining tournament for sure. Yeah. And I don't think we can talk about the four nations without talking about all of the rhetoric and dialogue around Jordan Bennington. I was very much entertained by it. And I know we talked about it two weeks ago when we were talking about how his reception is going to be and how his play is going to be. And I thought the freakouts by the Canadians, and I know there are some Americans, I guess, saying it too, because I know there are people that don't like Jordan Bennington for one reason or the other. But I was entertained just by how... I think just hypocritical they are about him I don't think there's really any warranted reason for them to have complained as much as they did uh until that championship game and you know I think he probably let in a couple softies uh I the us game and pool play I mean if you don't score more than one goal I don't know how a goalie is really gonna help you all that much And I don't think he played particularly bad in any of the other games either. And then obviously the championship game, he had a really, really, really great game. And that did make me happy. I was very happy to see that for him. I didn't want Canada to win, but I'm really glad he got to silence the doubters and the haters. And I think the jury was in by the end of that game. I don't really think a lot of people are questioning that guy anymore. And I'm happy about that. And I think he deserves it. He's had a very long, distinguished, successful career. And I'm glad he got the monkey off his back there and started to gain some international credit, if you will. And Canadians are finally realizing how good of a goaltender he actually can be. Yeah, I think I'm with you. And I think the rhetoric behind him was definitely strong. And it wasn't just in the Canadian corner, too. A lot of my fellow Boston College friends were like, this is going to be easy. He's the worst goalie by far in this tournament, and they should be starting Aiden Hill, and Jordan Bennington's washed, the cup was a fluke, et cetera. I almost laughed a little bit because when he proved everybody wrong in the last game, but I didn't because I wanted my country to win. But I almost laughed in the faces of many of those people because I was like, What did I tell you? It's like this stuff happens all the time with this guy. And he's really not the best goalie when it comes to being consistent all the time. He's not. We've seen it over a long stretch period of time now. But we've seen him in those clutch moments. We've seen him in, I think there's plenty of examples now, Nick. There's, there's twenty nineteen. Obviously, there's the twenty, twenty two. with the avalanche in their little round two action before he got injured. He was phenomenal. And again, clutch moments against the best team in that playoffs, no doubt, who ended up winning the cup that year. And then now in this Four Nations. So you've got three large examples of how this guy can win you big moments. And it's pretty incredible from the guy. I admire it. I'm obviously upset by the result, but this is just another tale of the Jordan Bennington saga. Yeah. He also was fantastic last year. I think people forget about that. I know he hasn't been as good this year, but he was great last year. Hofer was awesome too. Last year. They, those two were pretty much the only reason the blues were even remotely close to a playoff spot. So I, I mean, I don't know how that gets lost so easily maybe because the blues just weren't that competitive, but, But I really don't understand the hate. And I'm happy that he maybe doesn't have to go through that anymore because the guy is nails. And I'm a fan. And unfortunately, he's not going to be repaid this year by the Blues performance. And I hope, you know, he can turn the play around a bit since he's not been as good. But, you know, I'm excited for him. Yeah, I'm too. I think, and we'll talk about a little bit more of the, not just the Binnington effect and all of that, but also for Colton Pareko, this is his second championship for him with the Cup and with Canada. And also though, he was on the last, I guess, professional World Cup of Hockey when there was Team North America. and combining the united states and canada which was a nuts team it was team europe as the other sort of foe and that and uh they ended up winning that and so pareko has been doing some outstanding he I thought he played pretty well I thought he didn't really play crazy well I just he wasn't really a lot noticeable out there but he did his job I thought for canada um But also when talking about our fellow St. Louis boys, Matthew Kachuk and Brady Kachuk, I think when you look at the significance of their play, especially in that first game against Finland, six-one victory, four goals between the two. That's the tone for that U.S. team the whole series. Yeah, I thought they were the heart and soul of the team. I know that they maybe on the stats front, they didn't have the most points. I forget who you said who did have the most points. Yeah, which is kind of random. But hey, whatever. We're deep. We're great. But Brady and Matthew were so awesome. And when that pool play game against Canada started and then fights between, you know, math with Matthews or Matthews, Matthew, and then you get Brady dropping the gloves to like, I don't know how you don't like that. I don't know how you don't like that. I'm not sure if maybe you're not into Four Nations, you don't really care about certain things. I'm not sure though. Those two guys are from St. Louis, born and bred. Their dad is a blues legend. And these guys are putting on for the entire country and beating the crap out of Canada. That's exactly what you want to see as an American, as a St. Louis native. It's one of the greatest scenes that I had seen. And it's a bummer that Matt ended up getting hurt. Brady was awesome. Loved it. So much energy. I don't know how you don't like those guys, especially if you're from St. Louis. That bewilders me. And there were a few. That's the only reason why I say that. So that's confusing, but they're great. I love it. I think you're talking to Blues Muse, but that's besides the point on your little Twitter battle. That's for you and Twitter only, at least for right now. For now. For now. But I agree. I think when you look at the effect of the Kachuk brothers, it's pretty apparent. And actually, in that gold medal or whatever you call it, the championship game for the U.S. and Canada, when Bennington made that big save, or at least one of the big saves, I should say, in that OT game, That shot, when he kind of gave him sprawling out when he flashed the glove, that was a shot from Brady Kachuk that probably should have been in the net. And so he could have had the game winner there and sent the U.S. to their first championship in quite some time. I think Matthews needs to be a bit on the hot seat. I don't watch him all that much, him being in Toronto, but I don't – I mean, captain of the team, it just didn't really seem like he was able to find the back of the net, if you will, and extremely high danger chances – It's a bummer, and I'm not going to put all the blame on him, but you would like to see the captain of the American team put one of those away. He had a few gold and chances, and I know Brady also had that one, and Bennington just ended up coming up big, but bummer for Matthews. I hope that he can put his head on straight. We got Winter Olympics next year, man. It's going to be so much fun, too. Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun, and I thought that those two teams really just matched up. Like those are just the best teams that, that you can get between the U S and Canada. And there was a toss up in the last game and Connor McDavid sends the Canadians who gets his really first championship for him. And, you know, happy for him, you know, he's finally getting some victory and, All power to him. You can't give the guy space in the middle like that to shoot. I mean, that's just the point. I don't understand how – and I hate to sort blame again, but Matthews, you got to always know where McDavid is. And he was trying to, I guess, help the D-man out when they were sort of behind the goal, trying to make a move. um towards the slot and he tries to pinch and doesn't get a stick in the lane in time and conor mcdavid's wide open the slot that was a bummer but I'm happy for mcdavid too I'd never had I've never had one problem conor mcdavid the guy is an absolute baller and he's so fun to watch and he doesn't really do anything controversial so any hate I I've never really been able to understand people that don't like him he's a pretty humble guy As far as I've seen him on and off the ice. So, you know, happy for him. Didn't want Canada to win. But, you know, that's a good story. So no problem with that. And then Nathan McKinnon, Blues kryptonite, was the leading goal scorer for Canada, scored in the last game as well. That was a classic McKinnon shot, by the way. The speed off the blue line through like six different bodies. I know. I think it's through Hellebuck. I don't know how that went in. That was a bummer. But I thought Hellebuck was fine. I know he has the – I guess he wears the badge of choking during high-intensity playoff situations when he's over at Winnipeg. But I didn't think he choked at all. I thought he was fine. I thought he made some good saves. Maybe you would like one back, but I thought his play was above average. It wasn't great, but I thought he was fine. It wasn't the problem, I don't think. I agree. So Four Nations concludes. Doug Armstrong, Colton Pareko, Jordan Bennington. I think a video coach as well. all from the Blues organization for Team Canada get the victory. And a little upset about it, but we'll move forward. We have a Winter Olympics next year to potentially avenge the loss here. And we shall see if one of the Kachuks is the captain for that team, barring your Matthews hate. I don't hate him. I just didn't think he played very well throughout the tournament. Yeah, sorry. OK, we'll see what happens with that. But Nick, you went to the first game back from the four nations last night and against the Winnipeg Jets. No Connor Hellebuck and Eric Comrie was in net for the Jets. And but they did have Kyle Connor back who was in the four nations and. Played pretty well last night with the goal on the board. So, Nick, from your firsthand experience with that, I watched it, but you're seeing it in person. What were your feelings about the game as we kind of went along there? Yeah. I was a bit confused on this game going into it. The odds were a bit weird, I thought. I didn't think the Blues were going to have as good of odds to win as they did. So I thought that something was up. And it turns out I was kind of correct in thinking that. They probably should have won this game when it's all said and done. But first period... You know, not a lot of shots on goal throughout the entire game. They ramped it up in the second and third, but the first period was pretty tough to watch with the shots on goal stat alone. But I thought a lot of their chances, they just missed the net. And, you know, it was kind of a one-and-done situation. But the first goal for Winnipeg was a bummer. You have Tucker trying to get into the zone, tries to give it to Kyrou. loses it, gets picked off, going the other way, two on one. Suter puts a stick down, doesn't get it. They finish it, go up one. Oh, you know, is what it is. I didn't think they were down and out there. I thought they were still playing competitively. And then right before that, though, I tweeted about it, but Robert Thomas circles the net in the offensive zone, puts it on a platter to Pavel Bucinavich, who is right in front of the net in the highest danger area in the slot. And goalie makes a save. And I just didn't know how Bucinavich was going to respond after that. That was such a great opportunity. And you would like for him to finish that. Ninety percent of the time. Of course, it won't happen. Ninety percent of the time. But still, he's been missing those a lot. So he ends up getting his revenge, though. And I thought him and Rob played so well last night. It was awesome to see. They were buzzing the whole entire night. And then Booch is the reason that Rob got on the board there in that first goal, fights off a defender, ends up getting the puck loose, goes right to Rob Stick and Stanley on the Jets, who's like sick Devin, one of the biggest hockey players I've seen on the ice, besides maybe Chara, just sandwiches Booch against the boards and gets the puck on Rob Stick. I thought Rob was going to pass that. Surely everybody did. I thought there was a good case for him to pass it. I thought he did have a lane to go to neighbors on the left side. I'm glad he didn't. And Robert Thomas has a great shot. He has a great shot. He can pick his spot most of the time. And I hope he, you know, this is a trend where he does it more and more, but great shot top left corner of the goal. I think it does hit like inside of the post. I mean, absolutely insane. Awesome shot. and uh hundredth career goal and it was uh it was great to see for him and here's to you know five hundred more of those because I really hope that he just takes on a goal scorer mentality because gosh he was all over it last night and it was awesome to see he was great and so he he notched two last night the second one being a little backhand wrap around which is also a pretty athletic play from Thomas And actually, though, on that goal, I thought that – I'm sorry, the second one for Booch. But I thought that it was a good effort from Thomas, maybe a little bit of a weaker goal itself. But still, you know, at least trying to get to the gritty areas is what you're trying to do. And Thomas did it there. They gave him the assist there too. Right. Whether that was deserved or not, I think he deserved it, just given how hard it was to get to the middle of the ice right there. Sure. I thought he was fantastic. Gosh, they were so great last night. It was so good to see. That second Winnipeg goal in the second period was stupid. I don't understand how that happened, but I look back on it this morning. And, you know, blues have numbers. It's a two on three. So it's not like there's an odd man rusher, even an even man rush. And they put a puck out to the center center of the slot area and it hits suitor skate and it goes right to who was it? Yeah. Yeah. It goes right in the stick, and Hofer not really expecting it. It goes between the wickets, and they score. I thought that was a BS goal. I don't think that was deserved or warranted at all. I don't even put that on Hofer. Suter has been developing a knack for putting himself in harm's way and going off a blade, going off his skate, stick, whatever it may be, and ending up in very high danger chances where they end up capitalizing. So that's not good to see. I think he was minus two last night because he was also on the ice for – unless he was on the ice for a goal, which I don't think he was. But I know that he was for one of them. He was minus two. He was minus two. Oh, he was minus two. Okay, because I know he was on the ice, remember, for the first one from Ehlers. I don't blame him for – honestly, either of them. No, no, no, no, no. I'm just saying when you're talking about the high danger chances, what he's on the ice for, he is. And that was a bad pitch from Tucker on that first one. So that wasn't his fault. But funny, Mark Shifley gets his fourth point in forty-three games against St. Louis in that lucky pass against Suter's skate to Gabe Velarde. Just a funny stat there because Shifley's a Blues killer alongside Kyle Connor. I didn't know that until I heard J.K. talk about it in the highlights that I watched. He said forty-three points in forty-two games. Yes, yeah. Yeah, wow. Pretty nuts. That's Clayton Keller-esque, man. It is. It is. But I think I kind of knew that too, but I wasn't necessarily certain with Shifley. But I thought Hofer had a nice little third period, had some good saves. I think he had a great one against Kyle Connor, kind of like the Binnington save in that Four Nations final in OT with the blocker. there and just shutting down the seven hole thought that was a good save Hofer and he had a couple other good ones there and then Booch off of a double minor drawn double minor Jake Nabors fantastic from him springing up the ice and he's able to draw two at the same time and the Blues power play capitalizes and I want to stop and talk about this for a second with Oscar Sundquist on that power play And I know we've kind of shredded on him earlier in the past episodes here. But I will say that goal was a lot to do with Oscar Sundquist. Butch with a good finish. But Oscar Sundquist with the tenacity down low to win that, to help win the battle for the puck. And then the screen taking the eyes away of Comrie and having Booch get a nice little top corner half or quarter slap shot, whatever that is. And so I thought that Sundquist's play there, pretty spectacular. And I don't mind him on that power play unit, even though he probably shouldn't be with all things considered. I thought he did a nice job there. Yeah, I thought he was good last night. Did he draw one of the penalties? I don't know if he did. He does draw a lot of penalties because he tends to embellish a bit. But I thought he was good last night. I thought he looked good the last few games, honestly. And I know the debate always goes to, well, why isn't Boldew playing over Oscar Sundquist? And it's like... You know, Bolduc had a couple good shifts last night, but there were two times where he worked his butt off to get the puck and turns it right over directly to a jet. So, you know, Bolduc's not doing himself any favors and carrying a little bit more ice time. I know he had a couple good moments, but, you know, you'd like to see him perform a little bit better when he gets the puck back after winning, you know, a tough, hard-fought battle. And I thought Sonny did a good job last night. So, I mean... I hope that Bolduc can step up and be a more prominent player on the Blues and more important and facilitate more. But I think Sonny's just got the edge on him now, and I thought he played well. Yeah, I thought so too. And I think for a little bit too in that second period, they had Bolduc, Joseph, and Sundquist on the same line, and they had a couple good shifts. I thought I wrote that down in my notes. I was like, oh, they're actually playing pretty well. That end of the second. Yes. It was like a minute and a half where they had the puck in the offensive zone and they were skating around winning every puck battle. Yeah. And that's just a combination of a lot of different players right there. I know. You have Bull Duke, who's this speedy guy, young guy, and then Joseph, who. It's hard to define him, but tenacious sort of player. And then Sundquist, who changes every night with his skill level. So I thought that line played pretty well. And then we enter. It is funny looking at the Blues record when trailing after two, two, twenty two and two. trailing after two, which they were, but they equaled the score. But the stats tell the story, and they told the story last night again. They added two, twenty-two, and three now. But going to the late goal, I will say, before overtime, that's a tough one. You have a lot of momentum coming off of a great – double-miner power play with a goal and then just killing time, right? And they only had forty-five seconds just to pull Comrie and then kill it off and then either score an empty netter or just kill the rest of the timeout. And it takes them fifteen seconds to score a goal there. And just way too easy, Gabe Bilardi on the deflection made it look too easy. That was brutal. I even, and you know, this is my fault, but I thought they were going to win. With with forty seven seconds left, you're just getting off of a power play. they were so apprehensive after they scored that goal. And you could kind of tell that something was, was changing a bit with the momentum of the game. They didn't really try to do anything in the offensive zone after they did score that goal. And, you know, that does make a little bit of sense, but they get the, they, they the power play ends and then the Jets get the puck right back and And they pull the goalie, get the extra attacker. I don't even know if they really needed the extra attacker, given how little time passed before the goalie was pulled. And, yeah, deflection goal, I don't really think Ofer could have done anything about that. And it's a shame that the guy was just kind of right there to put his stick on the puck. Those are always tough goals to, I think, evaluate. But this is becoming a really, really, really troubling trend for the Blues where they are blowing leads very consistently now when they have it late. And it's happened, I think, like three or four times in the last, like, fifteen games. And they did not do that last year at all. And they've now had a knack for doing it pretty consistently. And that's a frustrating thing. And I don't really know how you can write that if you're Montgomery. But you cannot afford to keep losing all these points that you're leaving on the board. And it's a troubling sign. Yeah, I don't really know what you do if you're Montgomery. I think, I mean, you got to have confidence. You got to have your confidence in this team. And I think the confidence is pretty low still. think especially after that knowing that you could have had the first place team in the central right there and you know won that game obviously without hellebuck but still like that would have been a really nice way to kick off the post all-star break or uh four nations break uh for everybody so I I don't know what you do either and I I think the They could have won it still, though, which is interesting to think about. You let up the last goal. It doesn't really matter. You're not going to really pass Winnipeg in the central standings anytime soon, but you're going to hopefully go for a wild card if you make the playoffs. You could have still gotten two points. Justin Falk, our main man, misses two opportunities in that overtime that could have sealed it. One in a backhander could save Comrie, and then another one where I think he just missed the net on just not really a breakaway, just a one-on-one down. He hit the outside of the post. Outside of the post, yeah. On that one. Falk had seven shot attempts last night, and he had five on goal and two missed the net, or it was vice versa, whatever. You would like, and I was thinking about this, I don't think the expectations, especially now, are too terribly high for Justin Falk. No. But this guy is supposed to be generating offense. You know, you're not asking to score thirty goals a year, but holy cow, at least like fifteen given the amount of looks that you're getting as of recent, especially last night. he's got to put one of those away. And I'm also not going to let Jordan Cairo off the hook there. He had a golden opportunity and I know he knows that he missed it and he should have had that. But I think that was a feed from Falk and a great opportunity for Cairo who also ended up missing. But Falk had two golden opportunities to finish that game off and, you know, just wasn't able to do it. He has two goals on the year, I believe this year. And his offensive production has never been worse. And defensively, I didn't think he played badly. I'm not just going to, you know, crap all over him for, you know, just offensive. He's a, he's a defenseman. So, you know, his main priority is to be a defenseman, but you would have liked for him to have been able to at least pump one of those in or Cairo to give him the assist there with a, with a goal that he Cairo had late in overtime period. But yeah, You know, it is what it is. They're just snakebitten right now, and they cannot finish these games off, and it's really unfortunate. So on the defense in the overtime, I didn't really notice. You would have noticed. So they had Falk out there a couple times, who should be your guy probably finishing more often than not. And then they had Cam Fowler out there, right? Yeah, Broberg was out there as well. Did they send Pareko out there? I don't remember. I think he was out there for a little bit. But I do remember Broberg making a heck of a play, stopping a potential two-on-one and just put his body out there. I think it hit his leg or something and went out of danger. So that was a great play by him. But I don't remember if Pareko played a majority or not. But overtime is such a blur. It's so hard to keep track of it because it's just so bang-bang back and forth. Yeah, that first part of that OT was crazy. A lot of up-and-down action. And I personally think that, I mean, if this continues with Falk, you've got to have Pareko start to get in more of that overtime. Start him. I know he doesn't have the speed over Falk. I mean, it's pretty close. But he's got the finishing ability. He's got twelve goals this year and has been single-handedly the best Blues defenseman this year. And he's not your best offensive guy, but he's not going to give you many power play minutes, but he could if you needed him. But I say put him out there. I don't see why. He's a great OT guy, too. He's got some good moments. It's tough. I think so, too. You would have liked to have Pareko probably have those looks over Falk, especially this year. But if I'm Montgomery, you want to believe in your guys. You want to put them out there when it matters most because you want to show that you trust them and you know, maybe Falk has the potential to put one away and, you know, in a, in a different counterfactual world, maybe, maybe he does, but we're not living in it right now. And unfortunately his struggles just continue. Counterfactual world, I guess. And then the blues lose in a shootout. Thanks again on the Kyle Conner. Blues another Blues Achilles heel, and he gets it past Hofer there. Not much he could do. He kind of just froze. I don't really know what happened there on that one, but really not much you can do if you have three skaters who do not have very good attempts at the net. Shen probably had the best one, but all of them made very similar moves, at least Thomas and Booch. backhanders trying to test the blocker side. Nothing, nothing worked or on the glove side and nothing worked. So that was sad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. You're right. You're right. So tough loss for St. Louis, but you move on. That's against the, sorry, against the number one team in the central, hard to deny and jets are good. Could have won the game. have to move forward as a team but you don't get much of a rest for the Blues and I'm sure Jordan Bennington didn't get much of a rest because he'll probably be starting tonight against Colorado he is yeah yeah and what's I mean I guess you have to do it you got to go and literally the Four Nations was on Thursday and now he's playing on a Sunday which is probably a good enough time to rest but he he didn't really he played every single game for Canada So he didn't get much rest at all. But so in the last ten, Colorado hasn't been too great. They're five, four, and one. And Blues, though, are three, five, and two. So different little sets there. Colorado in the central right now is just not even in the top three right now. Winnipeg, Dallas, and Minnesota right now are in the top three. And then Colorado sits on top of the wildcard race with sixty eight points. They're five points ahead of Vancouver in the second wildcard spot. And then the Blues are at fifty six points right now. So twelve points behind Colorado would love to get a win tonight to settle some of that and get in sort of point little streak here. I mean, you would like it in a, in a perfect world. Colorado is also coming off a back to back. They lost to Nashville last night in Nashville and Nashville is not a good team. So maybe that's a good sign for the blues that they could potentially pull this one off tonight. We always struggle against the avalanche, so I'm really not holding a lot of hope that they're going to get a regulation win here. Maybe they could force an overtime. I'm not sure. But Hope and McKinnon's a bit gassed. Makar's a bit gassed. And we can go in. Yeah, and Taze. I forgot about him. And we can attack and expose them, but we'll see. I'm not really sure how it'll go. They really, really need to win this game. They really, really, really need to win the game. And if they don't, you're at home on Tuesday. And then I know we're going to the game on Saturday, which I think we can talk about a little bit later. But they're away besides the game on Tuesday and that game on Saturday. They go on the road for like six straight games. So they need to rattle off a couple of these wins at home and three of the next four. So I'm hoping, praying, but I'm not feeling great about tonight. Yeah, I will see what happens. I think Blues have been surprisingly not that good at home. And that's something that needs to very much improve if they want to start to get on a little streak here. But it starts tonight. Jordan Bennington in net. And first time that we played Colorado without Mikko Rantanen in a very long time. That feels good. Actually, no, the last game we played. You're right. We did. You're right. I forgot that we played them just before the Four Nations. So second game, but we lost that one anyway. That can't happen again. They got absolutely dominated that game. So I'm praying that that doesn't happen. We hope so. McKinnon and Thomas in the last five games both have eight points. Thomas off on a five-game point streak. as well in that span. So Rob's on an absolute heater. I gosh, he looks so good yesterday. And I mean, I'm even thinking potentially like he's going to get the nod for team Canada next, next winter Olympics at this rate. Oh my gosh. He was fantastic. And I'm, I'm hoping he continues it because he was flying. I know I said this before, but it was so much fun to watch. I hadn't seen him play like that in a while and it was refreshing. Robert Thomas on team Canada in the one, the six Olympics. Prove them wrong, baby. And we will, shall see Nick and then upcoming schedule though, besides Colorado for the blues. And then they have Seattle at home as well on Tuesday. That's his game. You need to win their middle tier central or excuse me, middle tier Western conference have to win that game. You're at home as well. Again, Then you've got the number one team right now in the Metropolitan against Washington. You're in Washington on Thursday. That's going to be a tough game and a surprising season from the Capitals as they're really in this retool sort of era with Ovechkin sort of aging out and the rest of their core, but they're doing spectacular with it. So that's on Thursday, and then Saturday we arrive. on a little Mardi Gras celebration to Enterprise Center against the LA Kings. Going to be bumping. I don't understand the Capitals' success. They were not good last year. It's almost as if it makes you think that the Blues could just be bound to rattle off ten straight wins or something, just given the success of Washington. I'm not really sure how that's happened, but that needs to be studied because they were very middle of the road last year, if not kind of bad. yeah so I don't know hopefully they can come back to earth but I did see a stat for them that their goals above expected and save above expected were off the charts like benefiting them so there's a puck luck I think situation with them going on but it's been you know almost so it's not like there hasn't been enough sample size for that to regress back to the mean but I don't know. And then for the Capitals, we may see Charlie Lindgren in net for that. Logan Thompson, who is apparently a Team Canada snub, according to all of our Twitters. But that's exactly the point. Apparently, he should have been starting over Jordan Bennington. I don't necessarily agree. So we'll see what happens there. Ovechkin, leading scorer there at the age of, I think, forty, twenty-six goals for him on the season. And we'll see what happens there. And then for the game that we're going to be at for L.A. against, again, a team who is third in the Pacific, sixty-seven points for them. And so they're in pretty good territory for their purposes. So But that'll be a fun game. I'm excited to go. I am into a Blues game since November over Thanksgiving, and a lot has changed since then. And I think we'll enter our little final topic here just about the Blues core here, and maybe for about ten minutes here. I think what's changed here, Nick, is that You know, you have Thomas catching fire, which has been a great thing, and we've talked about it. And we've also seen a great season by Jordan Cairo. Thomas and him are now tied in points at forty four and Cairo leading in goals, though. But it's just the tail of those two. And we talked about it. Can these two as the main points of our roster and our main points of our salary cap as well alongside Bucinavich, can those three guys win us a Stanley Cup in years to come as you build up the young core with Dvorsky and Snuggerud and Stenberg, etc. ? John Kelly had a partial answer to that in our interview as well. He said, well, Snuggford may be coming up this year at the end of the season, which would be great. And you just don't know, though. You don't know how this team is going to end up developing in the future. But it's my understanding that Thomas and Kyrou and Booch, at least from what we've seen this season, probably can't do it themselves, unfortunately. Yeah. No, I don't think they can. Last night, Kyra was not on that line, I don't believe. He was not. It was neighbors. Yeah. I mean, Thomas and Butch had a fantastic night. Important to keep in perspective the whole season, though, and not have a recency bias thing going on. You said that Thomas and Kyra are tied in points now? Yeah. I think Rob's played like eight to ten less games than Cairo has. So I think Rob, I know he had the two goal and an assist night last night. I still think he's a much better, well-rounded player than Cairo is still. I think Cairo is much more one-dimensional when it comes to he's a goal scorer. And I think if we're going to consider him a goal scorer, I would like to see Cairo score at least thirty five goals a season. And I'm not saying he can't do that. But if you're going to be that guy and you're not going to be Robert Thomas who's skating around winning pucks along the boards and distributing to teammates and setting them up in high danger chance and high danger areas, I need Cairo to score a lot more goals. Yeah. I think the problem that the Blues face right now is that if we're going to keep the core together, then how are we going to bolster a second and third line? How are we going to make the team better around them to set them up for more success? And right now, they just don't really have it. I know Dylan Holloway is playing better this year, having a great year relative to, I think, the expectations. Matthew Joseph, eh. Had a couple good games in the last ten games or so. He's not going to do it for you in the long term. Bull Duke, eh. Not really anything to be super excited about as far as I've watched from him. I guess you could argue that he needs to see the ice more. I don't know. Sonny, you kind of know what you get with him. And he had a good night last night, I thought. He's put together a couple good games. Still, eh. Yeah. There's there's nothing that's really popping out about those few players. I think Holloway has absolutely the most upside of anyone that I just listed. But, you know, there's a lot of things that probably need to change. And I don't think I was the problem, but the problem is not going to go away. And there's they don't have a bunch of cap room. And they need to figure out how to alleviate some so they can get a legitimate two-way forward who's been in the league and is preferably around that same age of the core, which is like, you know, twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight. And you want them to perform for you. And it's easier said than done. But until then, I don't really know. Like, there's nothing this core is going to be able to do just themselves. And that's what I worry about. Yeah, I'm with you. I think the, I think what you're saying is that we may need Brady Kachuk. Yeah, it'd be unbelievable. And obviously we were in the Matthew Kachuk sweepstakes for a second there, but we decided, Hey, let's trade Vladimir Tarasenko in a first and that'll be good enough. Unfortunately not. Um, but, uh, well, Brady is apparently rumors wise again, is that it's inevitable that he is moved out of Ottawa. And, um, If I'm Doug Armstrong in this, all hands on deck for Brady Kachuk, man. So who are you willing to give up to get Brady Kachuk? Well, I think that I think Braden Chen gone. That's not going to do it. Well, obviously not. But I think if you give up two first rounders in the next two years, I think you can do it. And I think you'd have to give up more. I don't think they're going to be two first rounders, two first rounders, two first rounders is, is they don't want a, like a sixteenth overall. They, they want a top five. They want to like a legitimate top five lottery. That's why you give them two. but why what makes you say that they would get a top five pick because the Blues are not in that in that spot right well you trade up that that's that's it can't just happen that's why I don't think they're gonna do it well first round picks are great but the best players come in that top five top ten threshold that's it's rarely uh in outside of that top ten that you're gonna we don't have any we don't have any second round picks the rest for the next two years So second round picks aren't going to do it either. We're going to have to throw in someone else, man. It can't just be two first rounds and Brayden Shen. Okay. So two first rounders, Brayden Shen and Justin Fultz. But we would have to like retain Falk, man, like we would have to pay them to take Falk. Like no one really wants Justin Falk, unfortunately. OK, I just said that I didn't actually want trade scenarios going on here. I'm just saying is that but your point is correct. Also, Brady Kachuk has has has forty four points this year. So I like, let's not overvalue the guy too much. He's great. He's going to be, he's a great player and he has twenty one goals in fifty six games, but he has not had a season over there over thirty seven goals. He's never scored in the forties. So this guy is in a you're crazy player who can get you a hundred points a season. He is he's Jordan Cairo has had the same amount of points as him before, as well as Robert Thomas. So let's not overvalue Brady Kachuk too much. He's a very valuable asset considering his physicality as well. But he's not as good as Matthew. And so we can say that for sure. But I don't know. I don't know what you think about that. But let's not overvalue him. I think Brady would bring a lot more to the table to the Blues in a hypothetical situation than Kyrou would. Maybe he's not going to score forty goals, but the guy's physical as can be and gives you that effort that I think a lot of Blues fans wanted Kyrou to give. But Kyrou just doesn't have the physical dimensions that Brady Kachuk has. It's not even close. So I wouldn't be asking Brady Kachuk to score forty goals. Just like I don't ask Jordan Kyrou to score forty goals because he doesn't score forty goals. So it is, I mean, how many did you score last year? Like thirty four, thirty five, thirty one. So, I mean, if that's where if that's the main argument, well, Jordan might score a few more goals. That doesn't really bother me. I think on the other parts of the ice, Brady would work, work it out and make it much more worth it to have a guy like him rather than Cairo. But as of now, I don't want to trade Cairo. I really don't. I just think the blues are between a big rock in a hard place when it comes to what they should do about their roster. And of course you can wait for Snuggerud, you can wait for Dvorsky, but now if we are going to be looking at potentially, if that's the mentality around the blues, you're not going to get Snuggerud and Dvorsky as primetime NHL stars in the next two years. There's literally no way. Snuggerud's And they're not Connor McDavid. They're not Nathan McKinnon. They could be great players, but they're not going to be that caliber. So you're going to wait a while. So that's why I think they need to bolster their roster around their core right now and still have patience for their prospects to develop. But I don't think they have to... be complacent and sit back and make sure that their prospects are developing and we have to keep the core happy. We need to make sure that we're still being competitive. And I think that's possible. They'll just have to get creative. And I don't want them to trade anyone. But unfortunately, I do think it may have to come down to that if they really want to be competitive in the next two years. If they don't, that's a different story. Well, you're backtracking from a couple weeks ago when you said Jordan Cairo should be on the table. I just mentioned, though, if they want to be competitive in the next two years, they probably have to think about it. If they do not want to be very competitive and want to let their prospects develop, I don't think they're going to be very competitive. And when I say competitive, a contender, not just squeaking into the wild card. I'm talking about maybe winning the Stanley Cup. I just think that you're undervalued in Cairo a little bit because this team, as I said a couple weeks ago, you're right. I think Thomas is better. I really do. I won't disagree with you on that. But when it comes to his goal-scoring ability, there's nobody else on the Blues that can do that. And we would be in very dire straits right now, as I said two weeks ago, without him. And thirty-seven goals two years ago, thirty-one goals last year. So he's been a dirty goal scorer the last two seasons. He's probably going to get to the threshold again by the end of this season. So probably not as good, but still right around thirty. So or maybe a little bit more. So having that guy and there's no other guys who score thirty goals for this team, at least right now, maybe Booch can do it, but he's not a reliable guy right now when it comes to that. So he's the only guy that can do it. So if you part ways from a guy like that, And you still have Thomas. He's a great player. He can give you plays. But who's the guy that's going to pass those pucks to him? Who's he going to pass it to? You're acting as if Cairo would get traded, hypothetically. You're acting as if no one would be on the team. There would be another person. It doesn't mean that they would produce as well as Cairo would with goal output. But Cairo... And this is what I don't think you're understanding either. Of course, Cairo is a great goal scorer at times. He's inconsistent as well. We have to throw that out there. And he can be very streaky, just like a lot of players out there. I'm not going to hold it against him. But Cairo is not a great two-way player at all. We all know that. And he hasn't been since he's been on the Blues. He's been better this year. I'm not going to act like he's just as good of a two-way player as Rob and Booch. They're both way better two-way players than he is. it doesn't mean that they're as gifted goal scorers as Cairo is, but it's just one, that's just one facet of the game. And we can't get too hung up on that in order to think rationally about how the blues should deal with this situation. I think I understand that Cairo will get something in return, but when you lose a guy like him, you're not going to go one for one for Brady Kachuk or something like that. When you trade a guy like Cairo, who's now approaching his mid to late twenties in his prime is that when you trade guys like that, you go for rebuild, you trade for picks, you trade for younger prospects. That's how it goes. So you're not gonna get a more experienced guy who's been a thirty goal scorer himself when you trade him, if you did. That's another issue too, though. Not exactly what you're saying. But if you were to wait to trade Jordan Cairo, and let's say fast forward three years, he's dropped off, production's dropped off, doesn't score as many goals, now we're looking to shop him, you don't get anything. You don't get anything in return. So these all need to be held at the same speed. We need to make sure that we can think very objectively about what would be the best time, if ever. I'm not saying you even have to, but at least the ball should be rolling on how we should think about it and maybe entertain a trade if it makes sense and we get a good return. Like we get a good team or a couple of teams involved that can give us a player that could produce potentially at the rate of Cairo, if not a little bit less, but maybe another pick or like this doesn't have to be such a straightforward thing. And I understand what you're saying. Cairo is a good goal scorer, the best on our team. But we have to look at the full picture, and if the Blues want to be competitive in the next couple years, they may have to think about it more. But as of now, I don't see it happening. It's going to be Shen, Letty, or Falk, but even that I feel like has died down. So I don't really know what they're going to do. Yeah, also, quick sidetrack. Letty didn't play last night, right? No, he did not. Or Texas. Was it a healthy scratch? Okay, interesting. I don't know. I don't think he was injured. I didn't hear anything about that. So it must be a wealthy scratch form. Interesting. So, okay, so we'll settle it there. But in terms of a player who you think in the next few weeks of the Blues continue on a little bit of a downward spiral, who gets traded first? I think the most relevant and the one that would make the most sense would be Braden Shen and he would just be traded to a contender. I don't think any team would really want Justin Falk or Nick Letty. Could be wrong. I heard a lot of rumors about Bennington since he's coming off the high of winning the Four Nations and had the overtime gem. Yeah. I don't know I don't people don't really trade a lot of players away to get goalies no so I I don't really feel like anyone would maybe a recency bias could impact that a little bit since he did play well in that last game especially but I don't really see that happening it would be shin I don't really know what the hall would be if they were to trade him to a contender I would hope armstrong could do something fun and we could get a good return for it but I think it would be tough And that's the only one I see. I don't see them trading Cairo. They definitely won't trade Thomas or Booch. No one would want Booch's contract, to be honest. So I think people would want Cairo's and Thomas's contract on the other side of it. But growing cap, it makes sense for teams to want players like that who are young and in their prime. But for the Blues, I don't know. I don't really see them trading anyone right now. I think it's died a lot in the last couple weeks. Yeah, if the Blues got to retain a little bit of Shed's contract as well, which in heightening the salary cap could be better as well, it'd be affordable. If they do that, I think he could be worth a good amount, I think definitely over a first-round pick and more. And so we'll see what happens in the next few weeks. But Blue's got a pretty busy schedule this upcoming week. And we will be anxious to see the results. And Nick and I will be hopefully live from Enterprise Center. on Saturday night, little post Mardi Gras celebration and hopefully a celebration afterwards, depending on how it all goes. Should be fun. I'm excited. Should be fun. But I appreciate you guys tuning in. I hope that the Instagram Instagram seem to be up and running. So we were happy to be on those socials as well. And we'll be up on Spotify, Apple podcast right after this. But in the meantime, if you don't follow our Twitter or YouTube, make sure to subscribe and follow all of those or our Instagram if you're tuning in from X or YouTube, whatever. We're all up to date on all those. Nick is in some heated X Twitter wars right now. I'm fighting the good fight, everyone. He's fighting a good fight. Fighting for you, the people. That's right. We appreciate you guys tuning in. Hopefully you have a good week. Watch some Blues hockey. It's going to be an entertaining week. We'll see. All right. See you guys. See you.