2FC 1.26: Playoff Push… But At What Cost?

Episode 1.26 and the Blues are still hanging in the playoff race… but it wasn’t the strongest week. After grabbing just 3 out of 6 possible points, we’re breaking down what’s missing. It starts with consistent scoring.

The defense continues to hold steady and the goaltending is doing enough to keep them competitive, but without offensive production, it’s hard to feel confident down the stretch.

And even if they do sneak into the playoffs… do we really want a first-round matchup with a 110-point Avalanche team? 

We get into it all: the good, the frustrating, and what needs to change ASAP if this team wants to make any real noise.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back, blues fans. Three games this week. Long road trip. Had some high hopes and fell pretty I would say short of what we had hoped. We netted three out of a possible six points.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

So far. We still have one more road game tomorrow. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

One more road game in Colorado. That's a tough one.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

We have a lot of games against Colorado. We got two games coming up.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Yeah, and they're gonna be the toughest to beat out of the slate we had this week in comparison. So, you know, we're hoping to have more than three points to show for this week going into two games with Colorado, one here or one there, and then we come back here and we play them Tuesday. Nice little nice little home and home. I don't like home and homes. So we'll see. It'll be interesting to see what the Colorado lineup looks like. The blues currently sit as a Saturday night three points out of a playoff spot. So we're still in it. We'll see. Somehow. Somehow, some way we're still here. Alright, let's dive in.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

From the Lou to the league, we've got you covered. This is two for chirping. Gals from the Lou watching all 32.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

It's hockey talk with flavor. You're welcome. We started off with San Jose on this road trip. So it's a long California road trip, and then we have our game in Colorado here tomorrow, which is Sunday. We start off on Monday in San Jose, and Lex, to your point, San Jose just does better when Macklin Celebrini is able to get on the board. Well, boy, did he get on the board?

SPEAKER_01 1:42

He almost meet us by himself.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

So first of all, this game, shout out to Theo Lindstein. He nets his first NHL goal in this game, and it's a beautiful wrist shot from the top of the face-off dot. He receives a really great pass from Jake Neighbors. It was beautiful. Everybody was just so excited for him. I think that I screamed extremely loud when the goal happened because I was so excited. Because I don't know, I always find the nostalgia of somebody getting their first goal to be amazing. And when that happened, I was really excited. So we get Theo Lindstein on the board, but then our penalty kill really struggled this game against San Jose. They get the first power play, the Sharks do, and Alexander Winberg nets hit a power play goal with an assist by Macklin Cellebrini and Tyler Tefoli. A lot of these goals, minus like the couple of shots from Macklin Cellebrini, there was a lot of just net front presence and just a lot of tappens when Hofer was off his not center with the with the play. Not the word that I'm looking for, but it'll have to do. And so that goal kind of just is hit in because Hofer loses sight of it, it drops in front of him, and they're not able to clear the fuck out. It was a beautiful goal by uh Alexander Winberg. And then we turn around and Macken Cellebrini nets his 100th point this season. Which holy cow, for a rookie to have a hundred points, my goodness, he has been so fun to watch. And he's one of those guys that you love to watch, but you hate him to play against you because you know that it's going to be if he scores, it's gonna be a rough game.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

That's just all it is to it. It's so true. And watching that game and seeing it's the SAP Center, right? Seeing the SAP Center just totally buzzing. They were wild in there. They were a hundred points for a kid his age. And to see that in San Jose, I kind of feel about San Jose, how I feel about the wild sometimes. Must be really nice to be a fan of that organization right now. But I I mean, just absolutely incredible by Macklin Cellebrini. And I remember saying when we recorded last week, he's gonna want he's gonna want that game back against us where we won. And he came in and yeah, had two goals.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

He had a I was saying he had a vendetta against us. Two powerful.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Two goals and an assist.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

And an assist, yes. He just played a great game overall. And like we said last week when we were talking about the San Jose Sharks, when Macklin Salabrini's on his game, they seem to just be clicking at the right time and getting the points that they need out of it. So this was a big two points for San Jose, and it was a big two points that we lost in this. Uh San Jose is in and around us for the playoff hunt, which I do believe that they are the ones that sit in the bottom seat right now. If I am thinking correctly.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Actually, no, it's the Kings right now. Okay, it changes about every yeah, it changes about every 10 minutes at this point. So the kings have 81 points.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

The Kings won an overtime today, which I think had a franchise record and or an NHL record of the most overtime games. They hit 30 overtime games this year, and they have the worst overtime record, which is crazy too.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yeah, they have 19 overtime losses. Nine crazy. Vegas has 16, which is also crazy to me.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

That's a lot. But so this first period was just a scoring match between San Jose and the blues. So after the Macklin Celrini goal, we get a Pavel Bucchnewich goal, which was nice to see him get on the board again, assisted by again Jake Neighbors. Jake neighbors was all over the place during the San Jose game. He was flying, he was trying to prove himself. I don't want to say prove himself because I feel like that's a tough word to use when talking about Jake Neighbors. Jake neighbors is very much the one that I look at that feels like he always gives 110%. And if he's not giving his 110%, then something must be going on. Because even when he's not scoring, he's getting into different plays, he's throwing his body around, he's producing points on the assist side of things. So that's where I look at it stinks that he's not getting the points and goals, but seeing him get the assist is okay with me, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Yeah, I was gonna say he's in a bit of a scoring drought, and we talked last week about how he had been open about that and had been putting in some extra time before and after practice.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Yeah, he was the one that was staying in after practice, right? That's why.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Yeah, and he was saying that I believe that if I put the work in that I'll get what I want out of it. I think the Sharks game was probably his best game of the week. Uh he tends to find himself in the box. I think that's one of the things. Although as I look at this, I might have dreamt that he took some penalties. I find that Jake Neighbors finds his way to the box when he's not producing two. And I think part of it is just he's trying to use the things that he knows he can contribute. So sometimes that's just mixing it up with other people and things that aren't gonna garner points, but it's just how he feels like he's contributing. But yeah, I mean he had a pretty good game, I think, against San Jose, which is the Blues almost they only lost this game by one goal. And it wasn't it was 30 seconds of the game.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Yeah. Again, one of those. But uh what I call out the last goal of the first period, again, another Macklin Celebrini goal. We see a familiar name on the score sheet for the assist, Mr. Nick Letty.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah, not only do we see Mr. Nick Letty on here, but we see Adam Godet, who was in the blues organization, is the one that pulled the win off here. He had the game-winning goal with 22 seconds left. I'm talking about just ouch, just big ouch. Like if you stayed up for this one, boy, was it heartbreaker.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

I will say I did not stay up. I actually went to bed when it was four to two. So it's your fault.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

You thought we lost.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Yeah, I had I had thought we lost.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

So like we're gonna lose. I'm going to bed.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

I'm sorry, guys. It was I was really tired. It was my first day back from spring break as a t as a teacher. The kids, the kids were mean to me.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

So I think I made to the Cam Fowler goal, which is a time. I didn't and I think I was I was done after that. Between the traveling home and like I got home that night. I had been home like 20 minutes before this game started. I was like in bed going to sleep.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the Philip Robert goal, but I did feel some I get the notifications from the blues via Twitter or X, whatever they call it now. I got the notification, I felt the vibration of the notification from the Philip Robert goal. But then when I when I woke up in the middle of the night, I leaned over to check my phone to see what time it was. And I saw the Cam Fowler goal tweet, but I didn't see the final tweet, and I was like, oh, they tied the game. That's cool. Rolled back over and went to sleep. And then I woke up the next morning. I was like, I would have been so mad if I had stayed up for us to lose with 20 seconds left. And that's one of the things that I think talking about moving forward is how many times this year where the blues lose the game or get themselves into a situation where the game gets tied really late in the period, and then you're having to go to overtime and potentially lose there, but are losing with those 20 seconds left in regulation to not even get points. I think a lot of it comes down to this again was a face-off, but unfortunately, it was a I believe it was a offensive zone face-off that they just lost control of and it was a misplay. And they come down and score. It was a very weak goal, in my opinion. It was a very weak goal that Hofer lit up, and it was weird to see Hofer lit up a goal of that nature, with especially with how well he's been playing. Watching that, I was like, oh, that's one that Hofer's gonna want back, and one that the Blues are gonna want back. But unfortunately, I feel I find myself saying, Oh, that's a game that the Blues are gonna want back a lot this year. Where the two or three Dallas games that we had back to back to back, all three of them we lost with either a small amount of time in overtime or just in regulation. So I mean, you're talking about potentially four to five points that you're missing out because you lose so late in the game.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah. In this game, it felt like the blues didn't come to play. The first period, even though there was three to two after that period ended, we played terrible. The second period was also terrible. The third period, they played it to too little too late at that point. I understand that we managed to get the score back to four to four, but it just feels like if you had given that effort for the full 60, this would have been a very different game.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

A hundred percent. That that I think that's the hardest part. Uh what I'm seeing right now with the blues is it's it just seems like we're losing these games that you put in the effort or you put in the grit to come back, and then it just seems like you're giving up with the small amount of time left. It's if you would just hold on. Even some of these games where we're losing, just for example, that game, when you're losing 20 seconds left, if you would have held on and thrown that grit, that's an extra point. And an extra point goes a long way in the standings, as you can see. We're at the point where we're between three and four points out of a spot right now. That's a potential of us being in the wild card spot. Yeah, do I think that if we were in the wild card spot right now, I would feel confident going into a playoff series with the way we've been playing in the month of March. If that team shows up, yeah, I have all the confidence in the world in them. If my team from just November, December shows up, okay. Nice playing four games, an extra four games. See you next year.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Honestly, if your team from April shows up, I'm not feeling super great about that either, even though there's only been two games in April. I and put plus this game, we've just got too many key players in the box. Thomas has a puck over the glass delay of game penalty, Dorsky has an interference call. Suter ends up in there for high sticking, and Broberg for hooking. Like those are with the exception of maybe Suter, and I don't Dorsky is probably not on the PK, but Thomas and Broberg alone, you can't afford for either of them, especially Broberg, to be in the box.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

And and funny enough, we stick with them in shots too. San Jose had 29 shots and we had 26. We stuck with them pretty much with hits too. San Jose had 18 and we only had 15. But and I feel like that's also another big part of our game. When we're not being physical, I feel as though we're not having the game that we necessarily want to have. And then you so you lose that game, you have a day off, and you have to travel to LA. We get to LA, and of course, with Kobotar retiring this year, it just seems as though that's a team that a little bit on the struggle bus as well. They're in the spot that we're in, they're fighting for that playoff spot. You would think with a team like that, you would see a little bit more of a push, especially since you've got a big star player that has been the forefront of your organization for so long. Want to see him get to that point and get to the playoffs. It seemed like it was a just a back and forth. No one had the tilt in the first period of this game. It was a lot of back and forth, a lot of no, you take the puck, no, you take the puck, a lot of missed opportunities, a lot of gaining the zone but not getting a shot off. It felt like in the first period. But then we turn around, and really for majority of the second period, too, we're without a score. A lot of back and forth. You get the majority of the second period gone, and then again, you get thrown on the PK, and the PK struggling right now. Adrian Kempe nets a power play goal, and it was there was no chance for Bennington, it was just a pass across, wide open net for Kempe. So beautiful shot by Kempe, but and a beautiful play by Lafarrier and Pan Panarin to get that across to him to get that goal. But so then you go into the third period where you have almost the whole third period without a goal, and we get four minutes left in the game. You got Robert Thomas who nets the goal. So you're tied one to one. You felt a little bit of a life at that point, a little bit of a spark in that one. Great OT.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

This was a great OT. I had so much fun watching this one.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

This OT was definitely bummed. Yeah, of course. It was it was not the outcome that we wanted, but it was very aggressive by both teams. You were worried about possession, but the teams were coming in and they were getting shot after shot in this OT, which is not something that you normally see. It just so happens Trevor Moore gets gets the break and a pass from Anze Kopitar and Drew Dowdy to net the goal about two mi with uh about two minutes into overtime. And this is a game that I look at again, even on shots, 26 to 24. And then here's where, again, I think we didn't have the edge is hits. The team we only had 15 hits to LA's 26. And I feel like there was a little bit of I don't want to say tension, but you get Matthew Joe Joseph playing against him, you're playing against Joel Edmondson, you're playing against some of these old players, so it almost feels like you're trying to prove yourself, and uh seems like it was trying to be a little more howdy-duty kind of plays, whereas we needed to just have the simple pass the puck, shoot the puck, not the trying to do the fancy moves.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Yeah, and you know, looking at penalties, Jack Finley gets in a fight. Now he gets into this fight about three minutes into the third period. Listen, I love a good fight. Like I am I am here for it. But Jack Finley, just no matter where he's playing in this lineup, is pivotal in the face-off dot. So in a come from behind, at this point we were losing. And so that one hurts a little bit. We still managed to get that goal after he's back in the game or around the same time he comes back in. But looking at other people in the box, in the box again for holding, Justin Hole ends up in the box, and same with Mayu. But if you compared it to the Sharks game where we had people that we were like, I just really we really can't afford for that person to be in the box. This is a little bit more palatable, but that Finlay fight could have turned things probably for the worse. Because we were only 47% in the dot. They're pretty good up the middle in LA.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Yes. No, and this is just a unfortunate loss in overtime, but you still get a point out of it. And then you turn around, we have a game on Friday night in Anaheim. Now, this game, you didn't hear a lot about practice in between the LA game and the Ducks game. And usually you can hear things about practice, things how things are going. And the projected lineup didn't come out until pretty close to game time for Anaheim. So for me, uh you're thinking, okay, something's gotta change. I don't know what it is, but something's gotta change. And Montgomery was pretty open with the media, apparently, and saying that there was gonna be some big changes for the Anaheim game. And there were. So Montgomery decides to take out of the lineup Pavel Buchnevich, Alexei Torpchenko, Jack Finley, and Justin Hall. Now, this is the first time that I think Jack Finlay has been out of the lineup since coming in from the Olympic break. He's been very good up the middle. So I was shocked to see that. I was also very shocked to see Pavel Bucnevich come out of the lineup. However, I was talking to Alexa before we recorded this, and I said I was surprised that he came out, but also at the same time, I'm not surprised because at the I believe it was the end of the second period of the LA game, they panned to Montgomery on the bench, and him and Bucnevich were having words. Now it didn't look extremely heated. Yeah, it was kind of funny watching it.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Like it was kind of like it was in respectful, but definitely not happy words, you know. Like they were having a constructive conversation for sure, but neither of them looked like they wanted to kill the other one. So I was like, well, at least that's something. But yeah, I I totally agree. I caught that also, and it was funny because it really wasn't talked about on the broadcast at all. Like they ignored it, which is pretty rare. Like, usually, at least there would be a comment made that's like, oh, it looks like Montgomery and Buchnavich are maybe having words, but it was like they panned to it and it was on for probably five to ten seconds, and nothing was said about it.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

It was there was definitely a lot of and it was like I said, it wasn't heated, but you could definitely tell you saw Montgomery pointing, you saw Buchnavich pointing, like you saw the conversing there, and it like you said, it just felt constructive, but also heated, but not to the point of them like yelling at each other.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

It was a very Montgomery was making his face where he raises his eyebrows, like, oh really? And that's how like you can tell he's mad. And it's like like almost like he was being sarcastic. Like whatever he was saying, he was like, Oh, so like you're gonna do this instead. And I think that might be why it looked like it wasn't as like heated as it maybe. I don't think they don't like each other or anything. I don't think that like there's a brew between Montgomery and Pavel Bucnevich, but it was definitely noticeable and Bucnevich to be fair hasn't had a great year. And no, he's one that I struggle with his effort when he's not playing well. Like I feel like his effort's not always there. It's funny.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

I'm now reading this projected lineup thing. Um, it says with Bucnevic, Montgomery says it's a quote, maintenance thing with back-to-back games coming up against Colorado. Quote, he won what we want to make sure he's at his best for those games, those they said two games. They spelt it TO, not TWO.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

That's Montgomery, regardless of what they were saying, that's Montgomery protecting his player, which I think is a good thing to hear is a good thing to see because I totally agree. And I don't think it's just limited to the conversation they had on the bench during the Kings game. It's been noticeable the last couple of weeks where I feel like they communicate a lot on the bench. So I don't think it's always bad, but it just seems like their communication is a bit higher than it is with some of the others. And I and Buchnevich has had a very tough year. And so I'm just yeah, I think I was surprised, but at the same time, like if you looked at his production and where he falls in the lineup over the course of the year, I'm not sure that it was wrong. I don't know. I hope that it's truly just a maintenance thing, and I hope that he comes out and he scores eight billion goals against Colorado and then him and Montgomery. Can share a beer over it and just a quick quick update.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Sorry guys, I'm uh scrolling on Twitter to keep things fresh so that we can talk about everything. Currently, the Preds are leading three to nothing against San Jose. Both of those guys, again, above us in the standing. This is one of those ones that excuse me. No matter what happens, whoever the team is, they're gonna bump up and they'll have 81 points, whoever wins that one to be tied with LA. I just want to keep you updated on that. But anyway, going back to the Anaheim game, so we start out this game with a goal almost two minutes into the game from Anaheim, and I remember just sitting there thinking, oh no, here we go. Oh no. And I I got worried for a second, I'm not gonna lie. I was like, and this is again a game where you look at it's a team that's in the top of the Pacific, but at the same time, it's a very I was reading a stat that they showed on the broadcast, and they talked about our record against teams based on the divisions. So I think we had the best record against Pacific teams, and then our second best was Atlantic, our third best was Metropolitan, and then our last was Central Division, and you figure that's the division we play the most. But going into this game against Anaheim, I was like, we should be able to beat Anaheim. This that I have confidence of us now. To be honest, I had confidence of us potentially beating both LA and San Jose. I looked at this road trip and I said, oh man, can you imagine if we got all six points out of this? This would be huge. And it goes back to what team is gonna show up. And it also comes back to are we gonna get more production from just the top line? This is a game where you get production from majority of your lines, but you still have your top line producing in this. We start off with a goal two minutes into the game. Again, got worried, but then five minutes into the game, we get a goal, a beautiful goal by Robert Thomas. And let me tell you what a pass from Philip Broberg. So Philip Broberg actually gets hit in the defensive zone, is able to get up, get the puck, skate with it, get the puck to Robert Thomas, and Thomas nuts the goal. But congratulations to Philip Broberg. So, with that point, he has extended his point streak to seven games, which is a new career high for him. So this is a top one defenseman for me. I'm looking at the way the way he's playing, and I am so happy that we signed him to the deal that we signed him to because he is just playing amazing. And we get Colton Preko on the assist on this one, too. I'm happy to see him producing, and we'll talk about him here in a second as well. About five more minutes later, we get a beautiful power-to-play goal by Dylan Holloway, and what a pass by Jake Neighbors! So I also have to call out Dylan Holloway in this one. Dylan Holloway gets the puck, and when he has the puck, he makes a head fake, like he is going to go past the puck to back to Jake Neighbors. So you can kind of see Dostel shifting towards back towards Jake Neighbors, and Dylan Holloway just releases a no-look shot down pat in between the pad and the glove for a beautiful goal. I re-watched that goal multiple times because I was just amazed by it. But we gained the lead, then about five more minutes later, Anaheim ties it. And that's this is where I was kind of like, oh, okay, we're getting into rough territory. But two minutes past that, Don Derggren answers and scores a beautiful goal. It was a beautiful shot, a beautiful pass by Pew Suter. And this was Bergren's 200th NHL game. So it was nice to see him get on the board. He's played really well. I have loved Bergren being in our lineup. It just doesn't seem like he's been producing right now. And I can say that with like our second, third, and fourth line in general right now, it just seems like our top line is producing and we're getting bits and pieces sprinkled in from our bottom three. And to see this, to see him get a goal, I was so happy. We come into the second period early on, we get a Pew Sudor goal. And this was a great play because this play starts with Jake Neighbors in the defensive zone. Jake Neighbors gets a hold of the puck, he skates in. I mean, he pushes to the net, he makes a great play, he sticks with a puck. He almost gets the puck knocked off at the blue line in the defensive zone, which could have been a nasty turnover, but he sticks with it, skates in, tries to get the shot off, gets the shot off. He doesn't get the angle that he wants, but credit to Tyler Tucker. He's pushing in on this and he's working hard. He skates in, gets the pass over to Pew Souter. Pew Souter has a wide open net and gets a beautiful goal. Now I will say Tyler Tucker also in the first period had a great hit. And this being his first game back since having his injury. So it was great to see him getting into the play. We've seen now Pew Souter has a couple, a goal and an assist at this point. So again, we're seeing different players. We get Jake Neighbors in on there twice. He gets two assists. We have Colton Pereco. He had an assist earlier, but then he gets a goal in the second period. Only his second goal of the year. I know. Hey, listen. Shh, shh, shh. I listen, we don't talk about it, okay?

SPEAKER_01 27:56

I forgot he had scored. I almost thought that this was his first goal of the year.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Well, he unfortunately he scored in a game that we again don't like to talk about because we had a 4-0 lead against the Nashville Predators and came back and lost that game five to four in regulation. But I digress on that. And this was a great pass, and this was a great look by Dvorski. Dvorski just sees that Pareko's wide open, but he's a right-handed shot, so the pass kind of came and Preeko had to settle it before he shot it. It was a great shot. I I loved this goal. He was so excited. The team was so excited. But we also see Kyro get an assist on this one, so it was good to see him get on the board as well. And then third period, we get another power play goal by Dylan Holloway. Doug Alexander Steen, if you are listening to this, please sign this man. Please sign him so that we can have him long term. Because I fear that if you let him go to arbitration, you're gonna be very upset with the number that you're gonna have to sign him to. Oh, I don't know. Again, he's been so good.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

He is hitting his stride.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

We've found his pairs. They have found his pairs, and to see him coming back from an injury and playing as well as he's playing that to me, I look at that and I say, okay, this is truly a person that you're going to see 50 to 60 points from when he hits his prime. Because truly, I believe he hasn't hit his prime yet. He's still very young. He is working super hard. I think that if you get him signed, you are going to be happy with his production.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

And again, it's close to he'll have 20 goals before the season ends. He's got 19 right now, and that's with an injury. Well, an injury, two two stints on the injured list to mend that injury. Very good, very good at what he's what he's doing in Berlin. Oh my goodness, this I mean those Philip Roberg is just those Edmonton, those what are they calling? Offer sheet boys.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Those offer sheet boys. It's been I can't say enough about them. I I truly can't. I I love the way that they're playing, I love the chemistry that they're building with this group. I love that line of uh Snuggeroo Thomas and Holloway. I truly hope to see that line continue for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

And I like to see the Jake Neighbors edition for the power play with those guys. Jake Neighbors is slotting in really effortlessly with that group on PP1, and it's just it's made for a really a pretty effective power play unit. We're struggling, I think, to be disciplined right now, which is not something that we've seen so much out of the blues the last few years, but we've seen it more this year than last year, and this week especially. I felt like we were constantly in the box, and so our penalty kill has struggled, but it's nice to at least see that our power play seems to be a little bit more back on track from where it was earlier in the year, which was like one of the worst in the league. So I we're still it we'll never like make up our rank with how bad our power play was at the beginning of the year compared to other teams over the course of the season. But the last few weeks it's been like since we came back from the Olympic break, it's been much better. I need to correct myself.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

I said that Broberg has had a career high with seven points with his assists late in that game against the Ducks. He reached a career high. It's now eight points, two goals and six assists in that span. So congratulations to him. That's amazing. I love to see how hard he's been working in it and it being recognized by everybody right now.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

So yeah, we played great here, and so Hofer gets the start for the Ducks, and he that this was talked about a ton on the broadcast. He's great in Anaheim, like his career stats there are great. So when they started Bennington for the Kings game, that was intentional because they wanted to start Hofer against Anaheim and the Sharks for that matter. So they were very specific about who they elected, and his history in Anaheim has been just great, and last night was no different. And Bennington, to be honest, I mean, we lost to the Kings in overtime, but Bennington did his job. He came in, he gave up two goals total. Can't complain much about his play there, but Hofer's been playing some really great hockey. His Sharks game was a little rough, but it was nice to see him have a good outing against Anaheim to put that to the back burner because I would be surprised. I I think we'll see a goalie split for this home and home with with Colorado.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Yeah, I think you probably see Bennington was was the one that got the call the last time that we were in Colorado and that game on New Year's Eve, and that was not a very good game. That was uh that was a bad game, and that was also the day that they had announced that he was the starting goalie or one of the goalies chosen for Team Canada. So I'll be interested to see what that looks like if we see him make that start in Colorado and then Hofer here in St. Louis, or do you switch it to where Hofer gets the start in Colorado and then Bennington gets the start at home? So you definitely probably are gonna see the split, but it'll be interesting to see who who they choose for what game. And it's a later start, it's an 8.30 start time, so I guess that's what 7:30 their time. So it's an actually a night game rather than a day game.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

So yeah, as far as penalties, Mayu took another penalty in this game, Sunquist took a penalty, Dvorski again. So three games, three penalties for Dvorski. He struggles a lot. It's tough with younger players, they often find themselves in the box more often. It's just an adjustment, but it's tough to see him in the box because he can produce at such a high level. And a lot of times it's not just a matter of him being in the box for two minutes, but when he takes undisciplined penalties, Monte will sit your booty on the bench, and so he has less ice time. And so I think he's been in a little bit of a rut. Hopefully, he can snap out of that and kind of get out there. And then Snuggerud had a hooking penalty against Leo Carlson, which I don't remember that play. I was probably asleep by then, if I'm being honest, but Leo Carlson is a great player, so I I I probably should have looked at it before we hopped on, but I would venture to guess that was probably a hooking penalty we could live with.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

I remember no, this one was off the boards, if I remember correctly. This one was off the boards. It was kind of an undisciplined play, if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Yeah, so not one that you want to take, but at least we were in a point where we were we were we had this one kind of in the bag.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

And the that Logan Mayu one against John Carlson, that came after Mayu actually made a push towards the goal. That one I wish we could.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

That one wasn't like I didn't feel like it was a terrible it was a roughing call, which always kind of is like gross. Like, I don't really want to take a roughing call, but it felt in the soft almost.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Oscar Sunquist had a slashing call against Troy Terry, and I felt that it yes, it was a slash. It was up at the hands, but it wasn't like a whack, it was just a tap. But then Troy Terry had also had a slashing call against Colton Preco earlier, and it was it it was similar. I don't know. It the officiating calling the slashings right now are hard for me because it just I don't know, it just feels like it's I don't want to say weak. That's not the word I want to use for it, but it's definitely not you're not able to get away with as much as what you maybe would have seen last year, if that if I want to put it that way. You definitely are seeing them crack down on the oh it's at the hand, so we gotta make a call. Whereas last year, as long as it wasn't extremely noticeable, you were getting away with those a lot more. Yeah. But let's talk, let's go around into do we want to do chirps or do we want to do around the league?

SPEAKER_01 36:05

My chirp kind of leans around the league. What's your chirp?

SPEAKER_02 36:09

I don't know if I I I want to call it a chirp, but I just I I have to take a I have to laugh. I want to give a shout-out to the Buffalo Sabres for ending their 14-year playoff drought, but I also am gonna give a shout-out to Heat at Rivalry for making fun of the Buffalo Sabres in the show, and then they turn around and have their nine-game winning streak and now have made the playoffs. So good on you, Buffalo. You took that and you ran with it. You took it personally and you ran with it.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Well, and you know, like, yes, shout out to Buffalo, all jokes aside, but it's kind of insane that like I I know, like sometimes, you know, put things in a pressure cooker, they work out the way you want, but they had their two best players at the beginning of the year saying, playoffs are I walk. That's insane. And they took some we know they took big swings at the deadline and they didn't get Pereco, which was the biggest swing they took. They brought in some other guys after that that obviously has worked out for them and they found themselves in a playoff spot. So good for that.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

I mean, like truly Thompson is just having the year that just having a year, they've got things clicking, they've got strong goal tending right now. I they're just clicking. So I just I hope that even if they're not a team that makes it far into the playoffs, this to me, to see the city of Buffalo rallying around this and to see the league rallying around the Buffalo Sabres making it into the playoffs is something that I want to stand by. But my chirp is I love that w they've been the butt of the joke and now they're like, oh, I took that personally for 14 years.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Yeah. I don't really know that mine's a chirp either, but it's a gripe. What are we gonna do about this imbalance across the league? The two teams that lead the Pacific right now are Edmonton and Anaheim with 87 points each, and that would not even put them in a wild card in the East.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

I mean, how bitter are you if you're some of these teams? Detroit has 88 points, Philadelphia has 88 points, Columbus has 88 points, the Caps have 87 points. That would put them in the lead in the Pacific Division.

SPEAKER_02 38:25

Yeah, and you've got the Senators at 88 points, so they're the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. So I'm looking at that, and I have to think that's gonna be a tight race down for the Eastern Conference second wildcard spot. Like, it's probably gonna be last game of the season. Who's gonna be able to lock that up? But then, like, again, at the same time, you've got Tampa at 102, Montreal at 100, and Buffalo at 100 points, which is crazy that Buffalo's got a hundred points. I and then the Kurt Carolina Hurricanes at 104. But a start comparison to the Colorado Avalanche at 110, Dallas at 102, and Minnesota at 98.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Yeah, I just feel like these playoffs have the potential to be like a bloodbath. But it I mean we've talked throughout the season about the Central Division becoming just a behemoth. Like I on 32 Thoughts, Elliot Freeman said there was a GM, he didn't name the GM that called it Death Valley. And that's so true, but like these three teams, Colorado, Dallas, and Minnesota, at least they're in the same conference as the Pacific. So like they'll be able to bump out some of the ones that it feels like almost unfair that they're in the playoffs. For some of these, if I'm in the Eastern Conference, I'm just really like bitter. And it feels like just so imbalanced. It has the ability to make for a really boring Western Conference.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

Um, the Western Conference, you know, the Western City.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

You're gonna end up kicking teams out and feeling like you should only have central division teams, but that's not possible.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Okay, so you've got the three, it's essentially four and four. You got three in the central and three in the Pacific that are sorry, four and four. Four in the central and four in the Pacific that are in right now. If two central division teams make it into the wild card, you have the potential of five central division teams. I mean, I don't know. I just I'm looking at this and I'm looking at how well like the Red Wings had done. They have hit a slump, but like the Senators potentially being in, Columbus has had success, and I they went on their road, they went on their win streak. I'd love to see them in a playoff spot. I would love to see I love like seeing teams that have not been in it in a while. The Sabres being in right now. I love that. That to me just it gives me hope that there's a potential of them moving on. I I like the idea with how well Minnesota's been playing, the idea of Minnesota making it past the first round. I think with this I think with the team that Dallas has, if you don't see a Dallas Stars Stanley Cup win within this year, I I look for that to kind this kind of be the kind of plateau for Dallas. Colorado, they're just on a another level right now. But again, uh I look at Colorado how they when they won back in what were they 20 or they 21? Anyway, they were set up for success because you had 22. Oh, I was close. The way they were winning, uh their goaltending wasn't spectacular, however, they were winning because they had all of their offense producing. And of course you have your defense of Kale McCar. There's more to that, but your defense of Kale McCarr. That kind of led that. Whereas I look at some of these other teams where there's more of a balance in their game. Like for example, I'm back in the East. I look at Columbus having more of a balance in their team. I look at Detroit having a little more balance in their team. I don't it just seeing some of these lineups, I I don't know, man. It just I I have a feeling that the the Western Conference is gonna kind of be boring this year for the playoffs, unfortunately. Yeah, I mean I I agree. You've got the Eastern Conference that is a little more uh I don't know, a little more out like I look at Pittsburgh making it in. Of course, that's a little bit of the nostalgia. You've got Sidney Crosby in there, you've got Malkin in there, you got those core players that you're potentially seeing them towards the end of their career. We've always talked about how we enjoy watching the Carolina Hurricanes, they're a great fun team to watch. They they look bad in the playoffs most of the time, they don't make it very far. And I don't and that's just so crazy to me because you get the home ice advantage, which they do very well at home. It comes down to management during the playoffs, and it comes down to specialty teams, and they gotta be able to be able to be disciplined, so that it'll be interesting to see them this year. So teams that have clinched a playoff spot right now. In in the east, you've got the Tampa Bay Lightning, again, they have a hundred points, the Buffalo Sabres, they have a hundred points. In the Atlantic Division, another team, uh the second place team who hasn't clinched, which is weird to me. They've only clayed seventy six games.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Oh, thank you. So have the Lightning. But the Lightning have a hundred and two points. So it's a matter of points versus games played.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

Montreal, again, at a hundred points. Hundred points, they're sitting at the second spot. In the Metropolitan, you get the Carolina Hurricanes who have clinched the playoff spot, they have 104 points. The Pittsburgh Penguins, currently sitting at second, haven't clinched, but they have 94 points. And the New York Islanders are in third with 89 points. Then looking at the wild card spot, in the first wild card spot right now is the Boston Bruins. They have 94 points, which if you would have told me at the beginning of the year that the Boston Bruins were going to potentially make the playoffs, I don't know if I'd be telling you that they would. And then in the second spot is the Ottawa Senators with 88 points. But again, like we said, there's one, two, three teams that have 88 points, a team that has 87 points, and then the the New Jersey Devils have 81 points. So technically not out of reach with the amount of games we have left, but it's definitely going to be a climb, and they're going to have to see a push. But as far as eliminated teams in the Eastern Conference, you've got your reigning Stanley Cup champions, Florida Panthers eliminated from the playoffs, Toronto Maple Leafs eliminated from the playoffs, and the New York Rangers eliminated from the playoffs.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

Whopper, whopper, whopper. Those Panthers see what happens when you lose Sparkov. See what happens when you lose Sparkov? I mean, that guy is so, so, so good. And I know that we understand that he's good, but losing him for a year as your captain, I know they lost Matthew Kachuk for half the year, but like I don't care. I mean to be fair, it was gonna be hard to pull out of the hole that not having Barkov and Kinchuk the first half of the year was gonna put them in. But like, yeah, I mean, really just not not an impressive team this year, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_02 45:51

Not an impressive team, and I get to say this because I've have Sergei Barbrowski on my fantasy team. He was not good this year. He was litting up numbers that I haven't seen in a while. I'll be interested to see what you see with him this offseason if you see him in Florida next year.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

I will definitely be interested to see that. His contracts up. And I say not of impressive team. And for all of you saying the Blues have 76 points, yeah, I don't think that over the course of the year the Blues have been an impressive team. Like, I think that we have had impressive moments. And I think we've had impressive, but I'm not saying that we're an impressive team at all. So, like, I again to my point earlier, I would probably be salty if I were the Panthers and I had 77 points, and you've got teams out in the West that are still fighting for a playoff spot with less than you. Like, yeah, that sucks. Right. But Florida just really not as impressive as they have been in years past. You lose Barkov for a year, that's a huge, that's a huge deal. His production alone wins games. So that's that one hurts. And of course, the Leafs, we knew that was gonna happen. You know, I mean the rumor is out there on Matthews. Like, I don't think he'll be a leaf next year. Um, I don't I don't see him being a leaf next year.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

I mean, you get rid of your GM. Yep. I will be very interested to see if you see Craig Brube behind the bench next year. And I will be very interested to see if you see Austin Matthews in a Maple Leaf sweater next year.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

I think he'll be gone. It felt dramatic in the moment the first time I said it, but uh truly, like I don't think he'll be back, you know, and one of the things they're talking about is that he's a he they think Utah'll make a big swing for him. And while that seems insane to me, that used to be the Arizona Coyotes, and he's from Arizona, and like I just it's it's not out of the minimum of possibilities. They've got enough money for it. I think Seattle will make a big swing for him based on their track record this year and who they've been going after and what they need.

SPEAKER_02 48:01

But if if you can get if you have the money to have I mean, he still has a year left on his contract, right? Did he sign or does is he up for the Eastern Conference?

SPEAKER_01 48:15

If he stays in the Eastern Conference, it would have to be a block buster, which I know any with a player like Austin Matthews, it's always gonna be that way. But the Western Conference, some of these teams could accommodate him without disrupting their whole lineup. They have some they have more cash flow right now. They're under the cap. So I would be curious if if he lands in the Western Conference. The other rumor that is more blues relevant about the Leafs right now is there's a lot of murmurs that Doug Armstrong, his plan, of course, has been to remain here as president of hockey operations when Steen takes over his GM, but he's made some comments this year that are like, well, you know, maybe, you know, maybe not. I don't know. Well, and if you're the Leafs, who else would you want? I mean, I mean you shut us. That's who I'd want. Yeah. I would be curious. To be fair, like it's a tough one because I don't think he wants to be a GM. I think he'd rather be a president of hockey operations. So I just think it looks different.

SPEAKER_02 49:23

For for um people that may not understand me included, what is the difference between a GM and a president of operations?

SPEAKER_01 49:31

The president of hockey operations oversees more things in the GM, does more of the contract maintenance and the actual negotiations, but the president of hockey operations is over, I think it usually includes a more robust scope of like scouting and um stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 49:51

See, and I see more Doug R.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

It's a newer role. I should probably have said that first. President of Hockey Ops has not always existed. It's a newer role in the last like five to ten years where they've realized I think that a GM with the scope of chain of the how the league is changing, the amount of money you're managing, the amount of teams you're managing, um expansions, all the things that come into play to have an NHL team, um, your minor league teams, your scouting, I think they've just determined that it it takes more than that. And I also think that um the talent pool for it is kind of big. And so you want and the and these guys like to stay in hockey for a long time. So you want Doug Armstrong, his expertise, but he probably isn't gonna want to be sitting on the phone fielding phone calls with agents and other teams every single day for another 10 years. And so I think it's a good way for them to still have that advisement, um, but maybe in a little bit of a different scope, and also to train up the GMs that are newer that are coming into those jobs. So that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

Um so yeah, the the the Eastern Conference just uh seems kind of like it's a big jumble of a lot of possibilities still left with their and then you flow into the Western Conference where you have the central division who has three of their the all three of their teams clinch the playoffs, or the three top teams clinch the playoff spots again. The Colorado Avalanche have 110 points, the Dallas Stars have 102, and the Minnesota Wild have 98.

SPEAKER_01 51:33

To your point earlier, I would a hundred percent pull for Minnesota in the central. I would totally root for the Minnesota Wild in the Central Division. I can't stand Colorado and I can't stand Dallas. I would root for Minnesota every day.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

I would root for Minnesota to even with just for the fact that Minnesota we could have kind of we've met them in the first round of the playoffs many times. There's a little bit of I don't want to say bad blood between Minnesota and us. I feel that way about the whole central division. Division matchup. I can't really stand the predators, I really can't stand the Jets, but of the central division teams that I have to root for or would want to root for to see would be the Minnesota Wild. I mean, I don't mind Utah either, but they're just yeah. Yeah, and Utah still has the potential. So the top three central or the top three central teams have clinched a playoff spot. The top three Pacific teams, there's no clinching yet because of how close they are. So you've got Edmonton with 87 in the first spot, Anaheim in the second spot with also 87. The reason that Edmonton has the lead is because of is it the amount of well Anaheim has more wins. Give me a second, guys. I'm looking at is it the home record? No. Sorry, say that one more time. Why is Edmonton in first and Anaheim in second? I'm looking at it. It's games played, wins, they have three. It's goal differential eventually. Oh, thank you. Okay, yeah, the goal differential.

SPEAKER_01 53:08

What do you want more or less? More.

SPEAKER_02 53:12

Okay. So they have to go.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

Because you have more goals than the other team.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

I was thinking goal when I think of goal differential, I think of like oh, I I I was looking at the wrong spot. Okay, anyway. So both of them have 87 points, and then the Vegas Golden Knights are in third with only 84 points. And then your top two wildcard teams are the Utah Mammoth with 86. So there's no chance of anybody reaching the top three centrals. So even if Utah won out, they wouldn't be able to catch up. But they sit with 86 points, and then currently, right now, LA has the top spot or the second wildcard spot with 81. Potentially, you might see the Los Angeles Kings bumping up into that third spot in the Pacific if Vegas were to lose. And I mean, they're only three points out of that. And then again, you've got the San Jose Sharks was 79 points, the Predators was 79 points, the Jets was 78 points, and then the Blues was 76, and the Kraken was 75. Um the Flames still haven't been eliminated. They do have 70 points. That would be a big it would be definitely a big push, but still not out. And then your out teams are currently the Chicago Blackhawks and the Vancouver Canucks, which we poor Vancouver, only 52 points on the year. And that was a team that I had such high hopes for. I love the Vancouver Canucks. Again, it's just a team that has been struggling as of late. And we've talked about the how everything that went through with the Blackbuster Quentin Hughes trade. So I seeing that surprisingly enough, seeing the Blackhawks down this low still, that to me just is mismanagement of your draft picks and your development because you've had a first-round draft pick, you have a first round, you have a first-round draft pick that's currently playing and having the production that he's having. You just you don't have anything to back it up with. At least when they were going out and getting the players and getting top draft picks back in the early 2010s, uh, they were surrounding Patrick Kane and Jonathan Tayes with other good players. That's why they had the dynasty that they had for so long. And now it's like they're getting the draft picks, but they're not putting things around them. So how do you expect Connor Bad you just expect Connor Bernard to play forward, defense, and goalie and be able to get you 110 points? That's just unrealistic. And that's unfortunate because I worry similarly to like an Austin Matthews situation, you've got such a great player, but you're not being surrounded by the players that he needs to be successful. At some point, you're gonna get to the point where he's gonna get frustrated.

SPEAKER_01 56:02

Yeah, I agree. And it's just it's tough. It's tough to see those two teams where they are. Quinn Hughes actually said what you said last week. You were like, none of their players from the beginning year on this team. He played them the other night and they asked him about it, and he's like, I don't really know any of the guys on their team. My brother in Christ, he knew like half the players. Yeah, but they weren't like, I don't know, they it felt like they weren't like his guys. I don't know. They're not, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:30

And that's going back to how Vancouver has handled this situation. They've gotten rid of majority of their big name players. And the only big name players that they have kept on the team, besides like Thatcher Demco, you got Blueger, you got Besser, and you got Pederson. You get rid of Garland, you get rid of JT Miller, you get rid of Quinn Hughes. Those are big name players and big name talents that you get rid of that are big producers in the lineup. So that's I think that's why they found them in the position that they found themselves in this year, which is unfortunate. And I don't know if I see them making the push and making the changes that they need to potentially put themselves in contention within the next couple of years.

SPEAKER_01 57:19

Oh, well, that's because that requires a rebuild, and they think they're only retooling. So well.

SPEAKER_02 57:25

I want to kind of talk about what we had kind of talked about before we started recording. Um, you you see the St. Louis Blues in in this position of 76 points. I mean, yes, they're not out of a playoff spot right now, but if they were to make the playoff spot, it would be the second wild card spot, and that automatically puts them playing the Colorado Avalanche. And I'll be honest with you, I don't see us playing the Colorado Avalanche and winning a single game. You think we'll lose both of the next two games? I I don't see us winning. If we do, it's because they're going to sit every single one of their players because why continue to let them play when and actually they've only played 75 games. So they currently are on a back-to-back. They play tonight, they do play tomorrow against us. Um so only hope that maybe Nathan McKinnon gets tired somewhat. Maybe he's at 98% instead of 118% that he normally is at. That that dude is a machine. That dude is a robot. I'm thoroughly convinced he is a robot. Truly. Um, he's so good.

SPEAKER_01 58:35

He's so good. But I mean, it makes me mad because we played Avalanche, and I you can't watch him play hockey and be like mad because he's just so impressive. He's just so impressive. And I can't stand the Avalanche, and so it just makes me so angry.

SPEAKER_02 58:51

They just have such a great team, they have so many great talents from front to back. But I look at the blues and I look at what the hopes were for this year, and I did have high hopes for us this year, and I feel that those they fell short. I feel as though goaltending was not at the point that we needed it to be. I feel that our defense struggled. I feel that it's gotten better since the all-star break and since the trade deadline. It feels like we're in a little bit more of a groove. And then I look at our offense, and I think that we have the pieces. I just feel as though we're missing a couple more pieces to make the puzzle complete. I look at the production that Dylan Holloway, Robert Thomas, and Jimmy Snuggard have given us in the month of March and how well they've been playing. And then I look at our second, third, and fourth line and think, okay, you guys have not gotten us to the point, uh have not produced to the point that's gonna match up to what your first line is giving us. I feel as though it in order to be successful, you've got a team that you've got to have multiple pieces on a team. And I just don't feel as though we have those pieces. I I don't know what it is that's going to get us to that point, but I we're just missing we're missing something, and I I don't know if I can tell you what it is besides somebody that that's gonna help us with consistency um that in both goaltending and in the the producing aspect.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:39

Yeah, I agree. I think if I'm basing our potential off of what we've seen since we'll say trade deadline, maybe I think that the biggest need is for consistent scoring. And so you're I think you're totally right. The first line, I wouldn't touch it, I'd leave it. And other than that, I think we need a really reliable center. I think that Thomas is great, of course. But then you've got like Suter Stenberg and Finley and Sunquist up the middle, and that's just not that's not the winning formula up the middle. I think that kind of a plain way to say how I feel, I guess, about our offense is we have too many moving parts right now. There are too many, well, we could swap this person for this person, or we could swap this person for this person. You have to have, I think, a more stable, consistent set of groups. And I understand that we're changing it because we're not stable and we're not consistent, right? Like I get that, but we have to find, we have to find stability somewhere. We have to figure out what that looks like and look how long it took us to get Snuggroot, Holloway, and Thomas in a groove. And that's always hard. I think that Stemberg, to go back to what I was saying about centers, Stemberg is just really young. So I do believe that they have hopes for him to be a second, maybe first line center in his career. He's a first-round draft pick. But with all that said, he's not there yet. I think that I see him starting as like a fourth line center in the fall and maybe getting to third line center if he has a really good year. And I think that's what you would expect out of a rookie. I I think we just we need to find someone that's pseudo caliber or better that can help lock up some of our center space that complements some of our wings. But with that, I don't like talking about people I'd push out this early on because we're trying to like we're talking about the loss maybe being in the playoffs, but I look at the same people that we didn't move at the deadline. I think Bennington will probably be on the move. I think Kairu probably should be on the move. And I honestly I think Booch Nevich, which we didn't really talk about much at the deadline, those are three that I just don't know that they're part of the success of this team. And anymore. And I think I think they'll I think Kairu and Bennington will be great somewhere else. Kairou more than Bennington, perhaps. And Booch, I don't know. I just hope Booch finds success in general. He's had like bouts of greatness here, but he's never been consistent. And I'm not sure that we have the pieces I don't know I don't know what to do to make him consistent. And I feel like it's not fair because we've tried to stick him at center so much too, that he hasn't always been in his true spot, but I just don't know what the I don't know how to fix him.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:41

And so that's another piece too. If you can find a consistent center that's going to be good up the middle and can get those face off, centers are so hard to find.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:51

That's why we don't have one. That's why we don't have one in addition to Robert Thomas.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:55

How about we just go ahead and make a move for Austin Matthews?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:58

Oh, well, I mean Alexa doesn't do names on jerseys, but boy would I. Boy would I.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:07

But I mean, if you could find that consistent center, maybe you put Booch back in his natural position and have him potentially see success. I don't know. I do think that you see uh the potential move of Booch this season, this offseason, the potential of Bennington and Cairo it, and I do look for the blues to try and move out Pareco this offseason. Now will he waive it? That I again you're at the point where all these moves are based on the players and their willingness to make the move with the no trades that like but yeah, I but I the centers are hard to find.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:49

There's gonna be another one out on the market with Austin Matthews, but there's just not very many of them. And to your point about Pareko, I think they'll try and move Preeko, maybe, but if they're smart, they won't. Because defense is the only thing that seems like it doesn't need to be fixed right now. And I think that he's a young enough, solid enough leader that he would be a really nice piece for them to keep through this transition. He is not that old. It's like you're practically calling us old, which maybe we are, but be nicer to us ourselves. It's called self-care. I think he could see us through this transition, and I think he wants to. And I think he's it's worth staying at this point. I don't disagree with you because I think he would heal. Especially with his impact on Linstein.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:39

Yes, that's a big I do want to call that out. Um I think I called it out last episode too, about how Linstein has talked about his transition and being with Preeko and how it's been beneficial and how um Pareko has helped him with understanding situations and talking him through. And it was funny Um, the beginning of I can't remember if it was the beginning of a period in Anaheim or in LA. They had pans of the bench, and Preiko was actually being vocal on the bench and was like, I don't want to, but he was like yelling, but not like angrily. He was it looked like he was doing like words of encouragement of come on guys, like we've got this, let's look for this. That's what it seemed like. And I don't think before this year you really saw him be that vocal. And I could potentially see him just being that veteran presence that, well, maybe not the captain, but being that assisting captain who can quietly lead these smaller moments. A lot of I think that he's got a lot, and I'm probably gonna get shit from some of my family because they're like, he's not that good. And maybe he's not your top defenseman player. Maybe he's not the guy that's going to be getting you the goals, but he is currently seventh overall this year on block shots. He yes, we don't have a lot of goals this year, but it just seems like he's getting more confident with his ability to set up plays and to talk through plays and to make those shutdown defensive plays, which again, you wanted him to do when Petrangelo had left, but then uh the need came for him to be that step-up defenseman. I don't know. It's he's been thrown through a couple of different transitions in a couple of different roles. I would like to see him, and second of all, I would just like to see him get to a thousand games as a blue. That would be playing his whole career here. That I'm a nostalgia person on that end. There's a lot of potential for him again, not your top defenseman, but if he's gonna be your second line, gonna he eats up a lot of minutes. He is on the penalty kill, he is a big body that can push them out, especially when he's on his game and he is feeling that I don't know, it seems like there's some times where he gets more involved and is able to push out more. That would be nice to see him be more consistent in that. But we've also seen that he's had some injury, so uh what that might look like down the line.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:23

Yeah, and I mean he could be consistent. I'm not as hardcore of a Colton Pareko fan as you are. Like he's not my favorite player. I love Pareko though. And I I would uh Alberti family out there listening to me, I would dis he is that good. I mean he's on the Olympic roster for Canada. Like, the dude's a really good all-around defenseman. I understand he's not Kale McCarr. I understand he's not Quinn Hughes, but uh he's good enough. To your point, he he's in the top ten in block shots on a pretty regular basis. He's just a great all-around player. There's a reason that these teams are coming out here and trying to get him. There's a reason that we're calling him and asking him to waive his no-trade clause. Owen Power was rumored to be in the deal at one point from Buffalo. I like he's a great player and there's not enough of him. Whether we look at Preeko and we feel like he's that great, what determines the value of a player is the market. And the market's not great. Pareko is one of the best options out there for someone that is a well-rounded defenseman and he's really reliable. He doesn't cause problems. And while we might feel like we want more out of him because we've seen his full potential, these other teams are looking at his stats and saying he's not a liability.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:46

I think that's the biggest thing when you look at defensemen, is that they're not going to be a liability. Um like looking at the beginning of the year, I looked at Logan Maju and I'm like, oh my god, this this guy's liability. Whereas he's a totally different player. He's a totally different player. Do I think that he's at his full potential? Absolutely not. God, I hope not. He had a rough game against wasn't it, it was against San Jose because he had a couple of shots bounce off him and go in. Similarly enough, like Pareco's had those games where like it's just been bad bounces and the pucks have gone off him into the net. And same with like I look at Cam Fowler's had that kind of luck as as well. It just when you got a big body and it's like, Falk had a couple of those before he left. Yeah. I so it's just I don't know. I I look at our defense and I'm happy with it right now. Do I think that if we could get an extra piece into it, yes, I would love that, but I'm happy with that top pair right now. Especially if you're gonna continue to see Philip Robergo grow and Logan Mayu grow, that would be great to see those two come into the full potential together. If you keep Pareko and Linstein together, you're only gonna grow Lindstein to potentially be playing with Philip Roberg by the end of next year, if that were to be what they wanted. And then Fowler to me is just a consistent shutdown guy. Fowler's done great. I think he does really well with Tyler Tucker, and I didn't feel that Justin Hall had a bad game the past couple games, so it was interesting to see him be pulled out. I think if you have that bottom rotation of being like Hull, Tucker, and Fowler, that would be a good rotation at the bottom for me because they are that shutdown. Fowler moves the puck really well, and is sometimes when he gets that burst of speed and can get up in the ice and get up in the play, that's really good. And then you're seeing Tucker get involved, and that goal in Anaheim is a good proof of that. And I feel as though Hull has that Nick Letty shutdown a little bit no offense, Nick Letty, if you ever listen to this podcast, but a little bit better than Nick Letty. So that's just where I'm at with I think it just overall, you need consistency. Uh you see how well Hofer is playing right now. I just only hope that the way that he's playing right now can be carried over into next year. And then if you can get something for Bennington, uh I my suggestion would be try to get something, somebody that's NHL ready, but then again, that kind of goes back to uh the production in in our minor system. We had Colton Ellis in our minor system for how long uh we kind of handcuffs ourselves, have to put him on waivers, and he gets picked up by Buffalo, and here they are in a playoff position right now. So at what point do you start trying to bring those guys up? I don't know. I struggle with that. Yeah, fair enough. That's that's that's the one part I do.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:54

But yeah, uh one other piece of league news, I made this joke last week that the Columbus Blue Jackets were the only team that had made a coaching change this year, and in less than two hours, wrong, wrong, uh the Vegas Golden Knights, who yes, are in a playoff spot and yes, were in a playoff spot when this happened, fired Bruce Cassidy and brought in John Tortorella.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:26

Mitch Minor. I loved that everybody was I love that everybody was out there saying, Oh my god, protect protect Mitch Marner, or oh my gosh, Mitch Marner's requesting his trade immediately. People had made the joke that Tortorella came into the locker room. I or they said, I bet Tortorella is coming into the locker room and asking Mitch Marner who he thinks the best Vegas Golden Knights player is.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:50

Um, if anyone wants the lore or the background on that joke, when Mitch Marner was a, I believe he was a rookie, I'm almost positive. When he was a rookie, it was one of his rookie years. Mike Babcock was the coach there, and he asked poor rookie Mitchell Marner to write rank his teammates in terms of their effort. From most effort to least effort. And then I believe he told everyone what it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:25

Yes, I do believe that. But and for those of you also who don't know, you got John Tortorella, who was coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets for I think all of four seconds.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:38

And well actually, that was Mike Babcock for four seconds. That was Babcock. John Tortorella was six. No, Tortorella was in Columbus for a couple years, but yeah, Babcock didn't even see a didn't even see a game.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:51

I was thinking Tortorella was the one that went through the phones. It was Babcock. Very thank you for calling that out. Thank you for reminding me.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:57

Yeah, Adam Fantilly said no thanks.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:59

John Tortorella very successful coach in John Tortorella. Very interesting to see. I Bruce Cassie is one of the more winning coaches there is in his time as coach for the Vegas Golden Knights. They've seen the playoffs every year and won a Stanley Cup. It just it was a very odd timing, which makes me wonder did something happen?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:22

I don't know that something specific happened, but uh I was listening to my favorite hockey podcast that's not ours, and uh it does sound like there was some uh it just sounded like he had lost the room a little bit, and maybe the players in them weren't on the same wavelength. And so I was gonna say, and so they thought, hmm, let's bring in John Tortorella, okay. Well, true, but I think one thing about Tortorella he always communicates, he's an over-communicator, and I think that might be helpful. I think this is a really talented team, and I think that sometimes you just need someone that I think that you just need someone that's really direct. In addition, I think that the statement from the Vegas Golden Knights was that we aren't performing to the caliber that we expect and we expect better. And I think to be completely fair, I my response was quite literally they're in a playoff spot. But again, they have 84 points. They want to be at the top of that league if the best team in that league is 87 points. They want to be at over 90 points, they want to be probably at 100 points. They've always had very high expectations. They're a young franchise and they've seen a lot of success in a very short period of time. And that's how Pete De Boer got fired. We didn't really feel like Pete De Boer was terrible either, but out he went. And there are two options. They got rid of Bruce Cassidy. What were their best two options? John Tortorella and Pete De Boer. They're not gonna bring Pete DeBoer back. I think that John Tortorella could be a great fit here. I think one thing that really works in their favor is this Vegas lineup is much older. And I think that Tortorella probably would thrive in that environment a little bit more. Like, I think I just think that those players are gonna be better suited to deal with his style of coaching, maybe, than the youths.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:16

Alexa, I gotta read this tweet.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:18

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:19

The LA Kings tweeted. So the Kings were playing the um the Leafs. Maybe so the Kings won. And someone said, if you're looking for the finals, or the Kings tweeted, if you're looking for the final score, you can just Google the year the Leafs won the Stanley Cup.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:39

Ouch! Shh. And what is that score?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:45

It was six to seven.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:48

Six to seven. Oh I'm losing it over here.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:56

Yeah, that's tough. So, like the blues, I noticed that the blues were taking the tour de California at the same time as the Leafs this week. So that was very bizarre because I'm still boycotting the leaves. They pop up on my lock screen and I'd be like, nope, delete blues only. Yeah, no, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:11

Um but no, I just feel as though we're at the point where Do I obviously I want to see success for the blues right now. I and I know we're jumping back to this. I want to see a success for the blues, but I also don't want us to get to the point of we're getting up the hopes of making it into the playoffs only to potentially be disappointed with a very quick first-round exit. That would be not in my wheelhouse of I just I don't think that I could as a sustain that, if that makes sense. I just it would be too hard for me in my in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:47

It's and I can't believe I I'm so competitive. So I I'll regret this. Like when I edit this tomorrow and we publish it Monday, I'll take it back. But I think that all I can ask of the blues is that they continue to give 110% effort or they try to, and they get as close as they can, and if that lands them short, then that lands them short. I'd love to be in the playoffs, but even if they do land in the playoffs, who are we gonna play? We're gonna play Colorado, aren't we? Because we're not gonna catch Utah. So I mean, what you wanna you wanna make the playoffs and we want to face Colorado? I just don't like I mean, I am all for making the playoffs, but we are not gonna beat Colorado. And I'd rather take the extra time and rest, honestly. Rest your worn-out players because not only are we not gonna beat Colorado, but that's a heavy team. I mean, look at the history between Colorado and the blues in the playoffs. It doesn't come without injury. I just I don't know that I want to I don't know that you have to.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:54

And you have Nasam Codri back on the Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:58

I just Avalanche.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:00

I I just that in and of itself right there.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:03

Yeah, well, it would make for some fun, perhaps. But I just No, I just I I worry. It doesn't seem like a great like it's so funny. Like I I am so competitive, but we're not gonna win a Stanley Cup this year. And do I really want to make the playoffs if we're gonna have to face the Colorado Avalanche in the first round? I'm not sure that I do.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:23

I'm not sure that I I want that. I would rather like you said, give the 110%. However, give the 110%, but not if we fell short, then we fell short. I wouldn't, especially with where we were, say, beginning of the year, end of November, where we were very low in the playoffs or very low in the standings, to get to the point where you push for a playoff spot, that's progress in and of itself. And I feel if you can work together, and I know we made a lot of big changes at the trade deadline, showing the camaraderie and the push as a team to build the closeness and to take what was a shitty situation and turn it into making that push and having a really fun march. That was probably the most fun hockey that I've watched in a really long time. That's something that I want to potentially see all year, not just for the month of March. I want to see our team be consistent throughout the whole time. So, of course, I want what's best for the team and I want to make the playoffs and I want all that, but I don't want to make the playoffs to be bounced in the first round. I want to make the playoffs and have the potential of making a deep run. I agree.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:44

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:45

But we do have a heavy lineup this week as far as our schedules. So we have a home and home against the Colorado Avalanche. Um, and then on Thursday we play the Winnipeg Jets. So again, another team pushing for a playoff spot. So that I feel is gonna be a tough game. Saturday, we go up to Chicago and play Chicago, which I know Chicago is out of the playoffs, but that's always seems to be a tough game, a tough matchup. And then next week, so the week of the 12th through the 19th, that's our last week of regular season hockey. We do have two home games against Minnesota and Pittsburgh, and then we end the season on April 16th against none other than the Utah Mammoths. So if we do make the playoffs, this is a tough stretch. Tough stretch of hockey.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:40

What two teams in here that aren't locked in a playoff spot in Chicago and Winnipeg, all these other teams have secured playoff spots, right? Correct.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:50

Uh except for uh Utah. But I mean That's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:54

They're it's gonna be hard to catch them. They're all hard to catch them.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:57

Yeah, it's gonna be some tough hockey the next couple of weeks, but I'm excited. I want what's successful the success for the team. I want them to be happy and I want them to be playing their hardest. I want these young players that we are seeing having fun playing, continue to have fun playing. So that's my goal right now. Of course, I want what's best for the blues, but uh right now I think watching the development of these young players is where my mindset is going. And if we make the playoffs in that time, I'm okay with that.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:30

Agree. I'm looking at this line, this list of you just read all the games that we have left. I'm on ESPN. There are tickets as low as$17 to see Sid the Kid here on April 14th. Well, he's is he still injured? He should be back by then. At least that would be the hope. I let me tell you, let me tell you something.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:48

It's an eight, it's an 8 30 start time here for that game.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:52

If Sidney Crosby's playing, you're gonna have a hard time not going.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:55

I was gonna say if it but that's our last home game of the season, too. So, like, part of me is I feel like I have to go, but yeah, it's one of those things. Anyway, blues fans, I hope you have a great rest of your week. Happy Easter and let's go, blues. Go blues. Hi.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:15

Have a good week, friends. Bye. From the Lou to the league. We've got you covered. Thanks for listening. This has been Too for Chirping. Gals from the Lou, watching all 32. It's hockey talk with flavor. You're welcome.