2FC 1.27: No Playoff Blues — Now What?

The Blues are officially eliminated from playoff contention.

With three games still left to play, the final blow came from out west as the Kings’ win over the Oilers mathematically knocked St. Louis out of the race. A tough way for the season to end, especially with meaningful hockey still on the schedule.

This week was a perfect snapshot of the season: a huge statement win against Colorado, followed by a flat rematch, a frustrating loss to Winnipeg, and finally a strong bounce-back win over Chicago.

We break down the emotional rollercoaster, what ultimately cost the Blues a playoff spot, and what we still want to see from this team in the final stretch.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back, blues fans. So, as our recording on April 11th, Saturday night, the blues are officially out of the playoffs. It's an unfortunate sight. I have felt very confident looking at this top line of ours, and I feel like bits and pieces of our team are connecting right now. And it feels like it's a good spot for them to be in and for Steam to take over. So we're gonna dive in, talk about the Blues playing the Avalanche twice, the Blues playing the Jets, and then today's game against the Chicago Blackhawks. So sit tight, get ready to listen.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

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

SPEAKER_00 0:56

It's hockey talk with flavor. You're welcome. Alright, so we start off by playing the Colorado Avalanche last Sunday. And let me tell you, if you would have told me that the Blues were gonna play the now president's trophy-winning team the way they played them on Sunday, probably would have laughed in your face. I'm not gonna lie. I just track record, we don't do very well against the Avalanche. They're a very fast team, very talented team. And this was the first time that we played them, and I was like, holy cow, we're keeping up with them.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Yeah, because if we actually Colorado wasn't like not playing well, it didn't feel like Colorado was just on their heels and not playing a good game. It really felt like we actually kept up with that team's potential. It was kind of odd. And I mean, to be fair, like from a score perspective, Robert Thomas beat the Colorado Avalanche. He was the only one that's true. But still, the whole team looked the blues looked great as a whole.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

They really did. So this game starts off with a Robert Thomas goal, and it was this line of Thomas, Snuggerood, and Holloway. I don't even have the words to describe it. I mean they have just been playing out of their mind hockey since the Olympic break. And it has been just their it's been the identity of the blues, really. You hear blues and you think Thomas snuggered in Holloway. And I'm not saying that anybody else on our team isn't talented, but just the uh pure chemistry that they've had. I I don't even think that I've seen chemistry like that on another team in a while. They are a top line that has been outscoring and outplaying most of the NHL right now. And I wish that this line could have gotten going sooner. Because I if this line would have gotten going sooner, who knows where we would be at in the standings. We actually might be in that either top wildcard spot or potentially that third spot. Now I know hindsight being 2020, we have 80 points right now, and the third seed is Minnesota at 102. That's 20 points, 22 points. But those games where you were losing by one goal, or you know, you had it tied and you go to a minute left in the game and they get a goal to put the game ahead. Those games you look back and you think on, you're like, man, if only. Now again, hindsight being 20-20, you can't go back and change anything, but hopefully that's something that is looked at in the offseason of how to defend in that last you know three to five minutes of the game. Because that seems to be where our issue is.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Totally. And I feel like the you're right. This not only did Robert Thomas have his first career hat trick score three goals in this game, but Snugger and Holloway assisted on all three. So it's just the that line single-handedly scored us this game, but they are statistically above the NHL to your point. There was a stat shared on the broadcast tonight during the Chicago Blackhawks game that Dylan Holloway and Robert Thomas lead the league in plus or minus since the Olympic break, with plus 24 and plus 22, I think it was, respectively. And Snuggerood was in there too. All three of them were in like the top six since the Olympic break in plus or minus. They're worlds ahead of literally everyone else. And to be fair, it's most impressive for Robert Thomas. He finds himself on that penalty kill where you know Holloway and Snuggerude do not, sometimes Holloway, but not usually. Snuggerood never. And so it's a little bit more impressive that Robert Thomas finds himself in that place given how much ice time he has. But yeah, they have just an incredible chemistry and they really haven't laid off the gas. It's been a little bit hard, I think, for the blues to find what they need out of the bottom two lines. And I think looking back at this week as a whole, Sunday it felt like a completely different team. They all looked like they were playing well, but the rest of the week I felt like the players that don't fit into maybe the future system of this team stuck out really obviously. In that Sunday game against the Avalanche, the thing that they did that made them successful that they really didn't do again until tonight against the Blackhawks is they skated right up to the player and knocked the puck off their stick. They were really direct in their play, they were for-checking really hard, but they were just skating right up and poking the puck off their stick, intercepting passes, breaking up plays. They took control of that game, and they really didn't do that after that. It was like the last time we saw it. It felt like it went from a really high place on Sunday night to like seeing them Tuesday. You and I went to that game together, and it just felt like uh we didn't do any of what I just said. We sat on our heels, we were afraid to go up and kind of be a little bit aggressive with them on the puck. Still kept Nathan McKinnon to no points.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Oh no, he had he had an assist on the Marty Natchez goal in the game on Tuesday. Oh, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

But I mean, one one point, and it's an assist out of Nate McKinnon. I that's impressive hockey, right? That's impressive defense. And you know, that goes back to one thing we said last week, which was out of all the things the blues are doing right now, defense seems to be the least concern. And that I do think actually was pretty consistent this week, except our goaltending. Our goaltending kept us in games all week. Joel Hofer still playing on his head.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

And honestly, I that that game on Tuesday against Colorado where Bennington was in net, no. Sorry. It was Hofer. I'm thinking of the Thursday game with Bennington against the Jets. Honestly, I don't blame Bennington for those three goals that were scored on Wednesday. I felt that was a collapse of offense and defense.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Totally. And I mean, Colorado had how many shots after the first period alone? Like almost 20. Oh, yeah. More than the other thing. I was gonna say it was it was a ton.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Let me see if I can look at the breakdown.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

I still stand by like Joel Hofer, and I think this every time I see him, but it's not like preconceived. It just comes to mind every single time. He literally looks like there is nobody else on the ice. He looks like he can see through people. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

It's it's those blue eyes, man. He can just see the world. We actually scored the first goal in that Tuesday game, so I know I'm kind of jumping back and forth between the Sunday and Tuesday game. I kind of want to compare the stats real quick. Okay, so the game on Sunday in Colorado, we had 29 shots, and Colorado had 28 shots. And I don't necessarily like using the comparison so early, but that felt like a playoff game. That felt like a Game One playoff game where they were on each other's heels, and it was an ESPN broadcast, and I usually hate national broadcast because it feels like it's a just a shit show of like let's shit on the blues the whole time. And granted, some of the times we do deserve it. I'm not gonna lie. But this was a game where I saw us keeping up with the Avalanche, and it was actually Eric Johnson, former blue and former Colorado Avalanche, was on the broadcast. He was in between the benches. He did a fantastic job of keeping everything objective. He was saying praises to both teams, which was amazing. And he was talking about just the highs and the lows, and just really praising when things were going right for the blues. And even when things were going wrong, he was saying, I like how they're doing this, they just need to tweak this, not saying, like, oh man, look at them be super bad at at this. That was something that I looked at and I was like, okay, like they're we're being taken seriously because we're playing the top team in the NHL and we're keeping up with them. Like that that's something, and it's funny because we even said they I think they even mentioned like these two met in the playoffs, like this could have the potential to go seven games if if they continue to play like this. You know, and then you look at it, there's 14 hits to 13 hits, and that's not a lot, but it's because of how quickly this game moved. It was the first time that I looked at how north-south the blues could actually play. They were playing a north-south game and actually keeping up with the Avalanche, which didn't know that could happen. So then you turn over to the game on Tuesday against the Avalanche. So Alexa and I go to this game. I have really high hopes for this game. I think, man, this has the potential of being a very good game. This has the potential of being the time where the blues can gain those points. It was a Tuesday game, so a lot of teams in the NHL are playing. The other teams that were ahead of us in the standings were losing, so I'm like, okay, this is it. Colorado had 37 shots, and we only had 19. It was like we were trying to get the puck and trying to be fancy with it instead of just playing the shooting game. And it's so hard for me when you the team sees success one game, and it's like, why couldn't you just go out and do the same thing? And I get that there's changes and things that you have to make. One thing that I noticed with this game that from the first and second game, the only difference that I saw was that in both games, Kale McCarr didn't play for the Avalanche. I believe he's entered right now. In the first game in Colorado, Val Nashuskin didn't play, and he played on Tuesday, and he accounted for two of their goals.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

So the Colorado Avalanche also took three penalties, and we failed to produce on the power play. So special teams like just absolute breakdown, and they looked terrible. These are not power plays where we're like, oh, we were so close. We were no, they weren't this week. We couldn't hold the zone. We weren't connected, we weren't shooting. We truly just weren't shooting. It was back to the early season blues pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, never shoot. And we weren't connecting on anything. Robert Thomas, again, the only goal that we get. So Robert Thomas accounts for four out of four goals in these two games against the Avalanche. Um Snugger gets an assist on this one, and Theo Lindstein gets an assist, which was a great play by Lindstein. It really was.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

It was a beautiful pass by Lindstein over to Thomas, too.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yeah, it was a really impressive goal. And it was in the second period, so you kind of felt like even though they had already scored at this point, that was the last goal of the game. It felt like all hope wasn't lost. It was just a really, really tough game to watch. It just felt like we never really had any momentum. The other interesting thing is we were 56% in the dot on Sunday, so we actually beat them in the face-off circle, and then they were 55% in the dot on Tuesday, so they beat us in the face-off circle. Um, so that doesn't help either, even though it's only 10%. I mean, that's 10% of face-offs when you have possession of the puck. Um, we know that they're a fast team. We know that they're very hard to knock off the puck, but we still did a really good job of that on Sunday. So you pair that with not being able to get possession out of the face-off circle, we couldn't gain any momentum. Um, we spent no time in their zone, and when we were there, we were just passing around. Plus, we give up a short-handed goal, which was that took the wind out of the sails for sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

It really did, and honestly, it was a beautiful goal by Nashuskin, but it was kind of a weak goal in the sense that it's a goal that Joel Hoefer's gonna want back in in that case. Because if he doesn't score that goal so early in the second period and Robert Thomas scores, that's a two-to-one game. That's a more doable situation than being down three to one or three-nothing and then getting a goal. If you're down two-nothing and get a goal, it feels like you have a little more life. Notably, as well, the Colorado Avalanche only had 11 hits that night, and we had 22, which is weird because it felt like we weren't going after them as much. So when I was reading that stat, getting ready for this, I was like, that doesn't seem right. But when you're going through the follow-through on the play and you're hitting, I guess those are what counts. And this is where I believe Walker slotted back into the game, and so did Finley and Tuarbchenko. So those are three big those are three big players that are gonna finish their hits, and you could tell that they were trying to get momentum going. They were trying to get the hits going to get the team riled up. It just it felt like a lackluster effort.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Yeah, uh, Jake Neighbors had three hits in this game, and Perico and Tucker each had three hits, also. That's the most hits out of anyone on this team. The other thing is we had a ton of giveaways in this game as I look at the like box score, which of course cost us, but Jake Neighbors still struggling, but I felt like he was definitely trying to ruffle some feathers without taking any penalties, which was nice to see. I also want to call out not uh again, this is just the norm for me. May you looked great in this game. He was a minus two, but he offensively looked great in this game. We had how many shots on goal? 19. He had three. Yeah. And Broberg had three. So our defense accounted for roughly 30% of our shots. But Mayu just really has come into his own. I felt like he played with a lot of confidence in that game, and it was a game where everyone really looked like they were afraid to make moves, and it didn't feel like he was that way at all. So I felt like he stood out in a really positive way. He just looked like he was commanding the ice and he wasn't afraid to get in close to the net and try and take a shot, and he recognized kind of the state of the game. I just thought he looked really great, and I think that it's always nice to see that out of our defense. Again, overall, I felt like our defense played pretty well this week. If you look at these scores, we didn't give up a ton of goals, we just didn't score enough. It's nice to see that they're doing well defensively since that's what really their main focus, of course. But Mayu just really I he kept us. He I thought he was gonna get one in this game.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

And it was nice to see him moving that way. He was moving a lot. His overall movement with the puck and his read of the play has gotten so much better this year. And I know that when we did about halfway through the season, and we did our like I the my award was on the shortest leash, and it was Logan Mayu.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Um I said improved was Logan Mayu, and so we contradicted each other, like like we always did.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

And I I do have to eat my words on that because as the season has moved on, he I've seen him grow in the game, and it's something that I take back and I look at and I'm like, at the time when he first came in and it just felt like he wasn't connecting, wasn't paired well, or just wasn't gelling with the team. I kept thinking to myself, I'm like, man, this might have been a dud on Doug's behalf. Like, I'm just not I'm not seeing it. And then to turn around and him have this fantastic end of the year so far. I'm thankful in Doug for seeing that opportunity in him because I don't think it he would have had this opportunity if he were still in the Montreal organization. So I'm just really happy to see him have that ability to get to play and everything. That game on Tuesday, and we were talking about it before we hopped on and started recording. That loss kind of felt like the nail in the coffin almost. I know mathematically we weren't out, but it definitely felt like uh we were one step closer, and then we get to our Thursday game. You were at that game with your dad, I was at that game with my dad. So this game had high hopes again. Coming into it, I was very excited. We were gonna have our Hellebuck and Bennington matchup and then we waited all year for this. We waited all year for this. It's this was a game that you I don't even know. I know if I have the words to describe it because even though we were down three to one going into third period, when Pereco scored that second goal, I like had this ever little bit of hope in me. I was like, okay, there's still seven minutes left in the game. We're gonna do this, we're gonna we're gonna come back and tie it, and then we're and then we're gonna go in overtime and we're gonna win and we're gonna get the points. I was thoroughly just I was convinced that it was going to happen, and it was a very hard loss for me in that sense, because I look at it and I'm like, okay, very early into the game, Hayden Fleury takes a penalty, and who scores, but Dylan Holloway on the power play. Beautiful goal, and it was a beautiful pass by Thomas, too. I'm convinced that Thomas has eyes all over his head and can his hockey sense him and Snuggerood I I we joked about this, you and I, Alexa, how we don't know if either one of them are known for their passing or for their shooting, like what you would like how you would describe them. And genuinely at this point, I don't even know if I could tell you what I I a hundred percent as.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

And like this may be a huge statement and I and maybe I won't feel this way in a week or three, but I think that Robert Thomas and Jimmy Snuggard's chemistry and Dylan Holloway since the Olympic break alone is enough to cement Robert Thomas here. I wouldn't be moving him. Based on what I've seen out of those three, I would not be moving Robert Thomas. And I didn't want to move him in the first place, to be clear. I was not a fan of that idea ever. I don't like it at all. But if you're Doug Armstrong or Alex Dean, and this is the Thomas that you see with these two players that are in a right mind at least, pillars of the future blues success, you don't move Robert Thomas. There are only I believe that after seeing a full season of, well, minus three games of Jimmy Snuggerood that Robert Thomas is one of few players that can keep up with his hockey sense, to your point. I think that they are such incredible hockey minds, and I think it takes a really special player to understand that. And I actually think that Dylan Holloway maybe isn't as appreciated for his hockey sense because you see him make really impressive passes too. And I think if you watch Dylan Holloway's play since he joined the Blues two seasons ago, you can see the things that he's picked up on from playing with Thomas and Snuggerude. He does that that Robert Thomas move that Thomas has done his whole career where he skates to the circle and he spins around and he shrugs off the other player. He's picked up things like that, but he also his hockey is just so elevated. And I think that the three of them should be untouchable as we go into this offseason.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

I agree with you because I was even thinking about this today when watching watching the game, Holloway did a Thomas move where like he received the pass and he kind of like shifted and was able to take a toe drag and then get a shot off. And it it was I was like, okay, that that is a Robert Thomas move. Like he's he like you to your point, he's just picked up so many things from all the people that he's had around him, not even Snuggerot and Thomas alone, but just everybody else that he's played with.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Well, and he was he was great before. But yeah, right, he has picked up some of those things and accentuated his game really nicely.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

I wish that we would have gotten a full season. season for him both the times both these past two seasons. Unfortunately, just those ankle injuries, knee well, knee the first time and then ankle the second now this year. I wonder what his threshold would have been if we would have had him for a whole season.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Yeah. And I'm grateful that he took that whether it was him or the team or both, that when he came back and didn't feel a hundred percent that he laid back off. Because I I don't think this is the production or success that we see out of Holloway if he keeps trying to push on that after that first stint on the injured list. He came back for that game and then he took some more time off. I think that was totally the right move and I don't think we would see this out of him. I hope that we get a full healthy season of Holloway next year. He is really impressive.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

And with him being the restricted free agent this offseason, man has been taken his value and just skyrocketed cap jumping too.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

I mean he's he's RFA at the perfect time.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Yeah. If we don't sign him I will be extremely upset. I can't imagine with the production that he has that that's not Steen's first move as a GM.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

If I'm Steen, I've been on the phone with him for three weeks. Now what might work in our favor actually you know just to put a positive spin on this whole situation of us not making the playoffs is if I'm Steen, I'm calling him right now 9 p.m central time and saying great so now that we're not pushing for the playoffs anymore and you can't feed me that I want to focus on making it to the playoffs line can we talk about re signing you for next year? Because we all know that there's a ton of players and it's totally fair. It's probably how I would be as well where they're just like I am not talking about this until I am focused and I am not worried about winning in the playoffs. I'm not talking about any of that. And now that that's that door is shut that's you can start those conversations right now. 100% and yeah we need to lock him in because I'm telling you Doug Armstrong's move to get Holloway where he the offer sheet to Edmonton was a smooth move but Dylan Holloway is so good that he is a great offer sheet option if we don't lock him up before he goes um 100% RFA. I mean for sure he is he is so talented he's gonna make a ton of money um but I want to see this top line stay. I think it's been too successful to not do that.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

So and now who's to say that like off season training happens and there's the I'm assuming the chemistry will be there next season when it comes back but if it weren't you still have three talented players that have the potential to lead three different lines. Obviously you're not putting Dylan Holloway Robert Thomas or Jimmy Stuckard on the second or third line but the leadership that they can bring to if they like one moves to another line or two move to another line there there's that potential with how much they've earned learned this year. Just to finish up talking about this Jets game so it's one to one going into it first intermission. That was great and I think there was just too many missed opportunities in this game. There was a lot of hesitation to shoot as well again I don't know what it was but then on the flip side in I can't remember if it was the end of the first or the beginning of the second Dylan Holloway had another chance he completely beat Halibuck.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

It was Josh Morrissey who made a great defensive play and stopped in the second my dad was he was like I don't understand how it didn't go in and I said it was Morrissey. It was Morrissey yep Morrissey stopped that Morrissey is so good against the blues always he's very good always got to get a goal against the blues and but that play was just unreal and honestly I I totally agree I felt like in the first period the blues Dylan Holloway of course leads with the power play goal which we talked about but I felt like the blues were so close so many times that I was like this is going to be a fun game it's gonna be super tight and then the second period just the ice tilted heavily in the opposite direction.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Yeah yeah Connor Hellbuck he's a gold medal winner gold medal goaltender so there's a reason that he plays to the level that he plays at he was standing on his head there was a couple of great saves that he made now there was a couple times where I was like okay yeah like that should have been a goal he's got better be thinking his lucky stars that we didn't score there. Also in the second period we get a Jonathan Taze go goal and I'll tell you this one made me so mad because the blues fans booing made me laugh I was like that was nobody forgets that was a complete defensive breakdown both offense and defensive breakdown. There was five players on one side and here's Jonathan Taze just beep booping around wide open in front of the net to credit Cole Perfetti he saw that and made a perfect pass to Taze and Taze isn't missing a wide open net from that spot. It was rough going into the third emission I was telling my dad I'm like okay if we can come out and get a goal within the first five minutes like it we still have time. I'm putting the positive on it we're not it was a bad period but the first period wasn't terrible we just need to keep shooting to quote the SNL skit I just I just kept looking what is going on what are we doing what is going on the whole time. There was a lot of plays between Thomas Buchnavich that I just kept saying to myself what are what I'm not understanding the lack of movement. I felt in this game that Kairou was almost trying too hard trying to do an e the extra move to try and be fancy and that caused for a lot of turnovers and that made me really frustrated. Yeah he had a this was a terrible game for Kairu he stuck out like a sore sore thumb he stuck out like a sore thumb in the Colorado game in my opinion too just that lackluster didn't feel like he was moving his feet as much and that's something for Kairu that I've had a struggle with because there's some games where he's great both offensively and defensively he's playing a 200 foot game and then there's some games where it doesn't feel like he's moving his feet at all and that's very frustrating.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

We go into the third period again it's a a rough game we're not getting the shots but Colton Preco scores his third goal of the season and what a shot it was it was a beautiful shorthanded side goal this felt like a a a good goal for him every goal's a good goal but it felt like a monkey being thrown off his back kind of goal I jokingly looked at my dad I said oh man this is a payback for Milan the the and he was like yeah it's a day late and a dollar short for that I was like no I know leave me alone shout out to the blues on the scouting report though they knew glove side they knew Holloway and Pareko both in the same spot right below his glove both of them tic tac-toe right where they knew it was gonna be I looked right at my dad I said they looked at scouting report because it was the same it you could have copy paste and you wouldn't know which goal was which if the shooter wasn't in the frame it was wild. We've played Hellabuck God knows how many times we could only hope that we'd have the scouting report on that one. This was tough because it really felt like in the first period this was going to be a really evenly matched game and then the rest of the game it just the whole time I'm sitting there I think we're done. I I don't think we have anything left. I didn't feel like they weren't giving effort it was like the wind was out of their sails. They didn't have the confidence to shoot or to make the pass. They were making half-hearted passes or then they were making a pass that was too hard like they were gripping the stick really tight and it just didn't feel like they were settling in. You know they could it was like you could tell our backs were against the wall and you could tell the almost the youth of the team even when you get in a situation like that we also dumped a lot of players that sat on Tuesday back into this lineup. I don't know it I felt like maybe the youth of the group showed a little bit but I even the veterans I just felt like everyone was trying really hard just lacked a lot of confidence in how to go about it. So I I felt like this was kind of the like I felt like Tuesday was the beginning of the end but Thursday pretty much cemented it for me.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

I was like I love this team I love these guys they're trying but like it's over the the season is no this is this is it it's no I completely agree with you and I mean shout out to the Jets in this game too they were able to read the blues completely they were able to see yeah that they looked shaky to your point when you're gripping your stick too hard the shots those are a little bit easier to block because there's they almost have like a direct path whereas if you you're looser on the stick then you have a lot more freedom to move around and you can do those drags and toe drags and everything like that. They were reading that very well. And this is a a team whose defense struggles as well. Looking at this too so Mark Stifley had two assists in this game but you didn't see Kyle Connor on the board and that's a person that always scores for the blue when they're I was waiting I was like they've got to have at least one more goal in them because Kyle Connor hasn't scored yet that's how I felt the whole third period. Right.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

And Morrissey takes a really bad penalty late in the game the power play couldn't get anything going to be I mean and these are not good penalties that they're taking either two high sticking penalties a too many men penalty oh three three high sticking penalties and a just penalty and then a too many men those are undisciplined penalties.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Very much so so I mean like they were giving the blues opportunities that and the blues just weren't connecting on so to your point yeah this kind of felt like the beginning of the end which you know this time of year it's a lot of scoreboard watching and I know that the players probably don't necessarily do that while they're playing they're just focused at the task at hand but there's also got to be a little bit part of them that's okay like we're losing do you think like the team ahead of us are losing that was I think the difficult part in this I also want to point out the face-off dot usually where it's pretty even only off by maybe five percent or so something like that the Jets dominated the blues in the faceoff dot 65% to 34% and it felt that way.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Yeah Dorsey and Finley both only 20% in the dot that night Robert Thomas I want to call out 78% that night seven and two um so that's great but then Finley went two and eight really on like that is not common for him to know how good he's been to say that's uncharacteristic. Yeah Dalbor Divorski three and twelve Bucnevich one and three Walker two and two Holloway O for one Thomas had a great night in the dot everyone else terrible especially Dvorski which Dvorski typically is pretty reliable in the face off dot and I want to this was a really bad night for him but I also think that he found himself playing against those you know better lines a little bit more often and I think it just it showed he in this specific stat. But Dvorsky has worked heavily with Robert Thomas on improving his face-off approach and I think it comes through the majority of the time first full season so I think it's yeah him and Snuggerwood both played some games at the end of last year it's both of their first full seasons and I think we've done a really good job and rightfully so at not comparing the two because Dvorski's his lack of experience shows a lot more glaringly than Snuggerwood's does. Dvorski's still sitting a game every once in a while even as a scratch. He spends a lot of time working with Robert Thomas on his faceoffs when Thomas was hurt for the that like week or so where he was playing but not taking faceoffs. They spent some extra time working on that so my hope is that we can see some better success out of him but a really bad night for him three and twelve is I mean that's some of the worst I've seen maybe ever from anyone so that's tough. But he'll be better for it hopefully long term. Five power plays only convert on one and then you never have possession you just never have possession and these are guys that have been playing together the ones that are scoring they've been playing together for a long time. They're not gonna not connect they have enough chemistry to make that happen and they got a great goalie that's gonna stop the majority of what comes at him.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Just wasn't enough unfortunately it was an unfortunate game and then we have a game against Chicago the a Saturday afternoon game and the games against Chicago have been just back and forth. Like if you look at it the first game of the season that we played we can't talk about that game. That that that game is is forever closed it's actually we're burning all evidence of it. Yeah then we go out and we win the second game we're also gonna burn the third game because that was a bad game and then we come out and we win so the series tied two and two Chicago has has not played well this year. Chicago has had a difficulty connecting and they've got a lot of great talent on this team and and putting Connor Bedard aside obviously he is a fantastic talent there's plenty of other talent on this team that I just look at and I'm like we just need they have the potential to be so good I I just really wonder where the disconnect is for this group four first round picks over the last two to three years on this team.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

If they can figure this out they're gonna be stacked they need to get some experience in here I think I just don't know who it is. They lost full of deadline and you know I don't know what the missing piece is but they need like a bunch of Tyler Bozaks like to help their groups connect and then yes much improved goaltending they need the goaltending's rough this is just a this is just a great typical St.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Louis Chicago showdown you start off we have Jimmy Snuggerude who gets the first goal of the game it's a nice deflection goal. It was beautiful Tyler Tucker when did you get eyes like that Tyler Tucker loves to play against Chicago and play in Chicago he just has like a vendetta every time he comes in and this was well they were talking about this on the broadcast so this was alumni weekend for the Blackhawks so they are honoring like Duncan Keith a lot of the different alumni for the group and what's the word I'm looking for banner retired numbers retired yeah retired numbers championship banners or championship all the things yeah yeah all the things I could I can't it was like every time we looked up at the screen they were stick tapping for someone and getting a standing ovation and I'm like who is it now? The big one I know I was gonna say I know the big one was Duncan Keith was there which he had a fantastic career for the Blackhawks was part of both teams that won in the early 2010s. But the Blackhawks come and score later in that first period and it's a beautiful goal by Ryan Green and what a pass by Connor Bedard to see Green open that way. It was a little bit of a misplay unfortunately by Jake neighbors he went to go catch the puck and it bounced off him went to Connor Bedard and Bedard saw Green wide open and it's funny because Joey Vitali was saying like oh this is usually a goal that Joel Hofer saves I was like this was top shelf coming in at probably 90 to 95 miles per hour.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

I don't know if he's actually saving this or not that puck had eyes it was going in no matter what I think I think one of the things Vitaly I was kind of saying was like the distance between the shot and the goal but I'm like I don't know like to your point that puck's going in I like that this puck has eyes I like that I like it almost as much as the honorable mention favorite quote of the year going to Eric Johnson on the broadcast Sunday that Jimmy Snuggerood can stick handle in a phone booth what a line he said that and I was like oh my god what a line that is incredible and also so true. It's so true.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Anyway I like that that puck did have eyes it was going in either way it was it was going in either way I don't care I don't care what Joey Vitali says that goal was going in.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

But then we start the second period and we get a quick goal by Chicago oh my god I can't bev thank you I would that's what I thought I was I would I would have gotten there I would have phonetically sounded it out it was a great shot he scored twice he's really he's actually look been really good for them this year he's got 17 goal or 18 goals now because he scores again at the end of the game he's been good for them I think they'll probably see him emerge he's one of one of their four first round picks all not only four first round picks but drawn in the first 20 picks so like these are so that's a big yeah yeah they've got really good young talent to your point they're just not connecting with league vets like Tyler Bertuzzi how could you not have any locker room chemistry I'm I'm wondering that is true Bertuzzi's been around the league a really long time at the he was in Detroit he's done kind of the tour de NHL I think that's how it feels at least okay he did he played 22 to 23 there in only half a season he played in Detroit 16 to 22 22 to 23 for the Bruins and then 23 24 for the Maple Leaves I digress to continue on talking about this beautiful game Alexi Turopchenko gets a breakaway not even a minute after the Mik Mikhae thank you I keep one as me Mikhaev I don't know why there's not an A.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

Anyway it was and it was a beautiful read by Pew Suter Pew Suder actually fell and was getting up and got the pass to Torchenko Torchenko saw the just the the misplay by the Blackhawks and Pew's picking that up and just he broke free and it was a great he kind of did like a little dipsydoodle move little little great goal great goal and he was very chill about the whole thing like I was like okay okay Jorbo it was it was it was I would have been on the bench like hey Monty next time we have a shootout how many put me in coach and then the Blackhawks go on the penalty kill. The blues actually converge on a power play none other than Mr Jordan Kairu who gets the goal assisted by Meiu and Buchnevich. So again two people that we haven't really been seeing on the score sheet as prominently as we probably would like it was a great shot by Kairu it was and it was a it was kind of a broken play so the defenseman actually lost their stick and Kairou reads that and picks up the puck and takes the puck and to and shoots top shell from the top of the hash marks ish area of the circle like face off dot part of the circle and great shot again another puck that had eyes and just I'm happy to see Kairu get on the board there if I'm just being honest. Happy to see him bring Buchnevic both yeah so it feels like Buchnavich Kairu and neighbors are just stake bitten right now like they can't buy getting the goal or anything like that. That's been very hard. And then we end the period with Mr Cam Fowler getting a goal I love Cam Fowler you will not find me saying anything bad about Cam Fowler I love him. And another assist by Tucker too like he another assist by Tucker and then Jonathan Bergren has two assists this game. Yep he's almost earlier in the game hey man he had a good look and I I think this was on the broadcast Joey was saying in the 30 I think 32 games that we've had Bergren for since picking him up off waivers he's had 16 points it feels like more than that even he's been a great piece he's been just even if he's not producing it feels as though he's giving 100% he's getting into the dirty areas he is trying to make plays even if he's like I said even if he's not producing it still feels like he's producing in some way and then we start the third period we get a great Dalbor Dorsky goal again great to see him get on the score sheet. He's been a little snake bitten as well assisted by Jake Neighbors and again Jonathan Bergrim but Jake Neighbors gosh even though he's not getting on the score sheet with goals he Is taking it with stride and is trying to play to the best of his ability. And I love that about him. You can tell that him not scoring is getting to him a little bit. You can see the frustration. However, he is one of those guys that will be the first one to tell you, yeah, I I'm making mistakes. I'm trying to fix them, and he's always giving those extra practices. I love that about him. He's got great work ethic, and I love his future here. So I hope that we even if he doesn't end the season with any goals or anything like that, I have to say that he's my one that like I just think the hard worker. He would be like my hard worker award.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

Yeah, I hope he can get one more because he'll have 20 or no. How many goals does he have right now? He'll have 20 assists. He's one shy of 20 assists, which is pretty light for him. He's been injured a bit this year. He has 14 goals. So that's a pretty slow season for him. He's only got 33 points. We see way more out of him than that in 66 games. So projected 69 games and 34 points, minus six. It's been a little bit of a rough year for him, but he's still been such a big piece. We talked about um, you know, losing Shen in the future of the captain role and all of those things. When the Blues were playing Toronto a couple weeks ago and the Canadian media was here, they talked about that blues game on 32 Thoughts. And when they were wrapping up, first of all, they glowing reviews, because we played such a great game that night, but they were talking about that Snuggeroo Thomas Holloway line, interviewed Holloway after the game, talked a lot about him. But the final thing that they said as they closed that out was Kyle Bukaskis said, What do you think about uh Jake Neighbors there as the next captain? You gotta feel like that's what's gonna happen, right? And Elliot Freeman was like, Yeah, I mean he's he would be a great captain, but I think they've got a lot of options there. And it was just so interesting. You know, they interviewed him when they were at Wrigley for the winter classic last January, and it's a really great interview. I encourage anyone to go pull that podcast from a year ago. They did a great interview with him, but those are people that do not watch this team a ton. They noticed that about him just from the way he carries himself on the ice and in the locker room, the way he talks to the media. He's just a great blue, and it's he's of course had a very tough year. Lost a really close friend of his before this year started. He's had a lot going on, and he still comes out and gives you can always tell he's given 110%. I'd love to see him get at least one more goal as we wrap up this year. You can just tell he's putting in all the work, but he's definitely giving the effort. He's been laying a lot more hits, and he's been staying out of the box, which is big for him. Yeah, that is one call out. It's big for him for today. Sunquist slots back into the lineup today and takes a penalty off the first shift. And I was like, man, like that that's not helping yourself, Sunquist. He gets a gets an assist later in the game, which was nice to see. But yeah, I mean he takes that penalty, and I'm like, I'm sorry, did you want to continue to play on this team? Because that is not the way to do it, my friend.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

Okay, so we end this game five to three win. It felt like a just a commanding win for them. It was that was nice to see.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

Um but then Yeah, and it was hard like sitting here because then we know but it was before the Cam Fowler goal that we found out the Kings had won. Yes. And so the Blues were not going to make the playoffs, and so we know that it feels so like somber like sitting on your couch watching this game, and they're just and then Cam Fowler scores, and you're like, Do you think they know? Like they probably don't know yet. So I also have to because they're probably not scoreboard watching that hardcore at that stage in the game, but they had to know by the time they were coming into the third. I was gonna say, but it's so weird.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

My guess was that they they found out in between periods that they but it wasn't like they gave they you know gave up. They played a great full game. They did. And I my hope is that even though they know that they're not gonna make the playoffs, you still have three games on the season, and they're three tough games. You're playing three teams that are in the playoffs. So now again, I say three tough games. You also might see, I do believe Minnesota lost today. Give me one second, let me confirm that. Yes, they lost two to one. So, because of that, Dallas secured home ice for that first round matchup. So I'll be interested to see what the wild do with their players. If you'll see like your top players playing, if you'll see the Caprizovs, Terasanko's Hughes play, or if you'll see the younger kids get a chance to play these last couple of games because they know that they can't secure home ice now, and now it's a chess match of if you're gonna wrest people or not. It was like the this afternoon the Penguins played, and like a couple hours before Puck Drop, it was announced that like Crosby was out, Malkin was out, Carlson was out, like they sat a lot of players in Pittsburgh or and or Sydney Crosby. If you are listening to this podcast, I know you're not, but if you are, Sydney, please play on Tuesday in St. Louis because if I have to miss you playing, I will cry.

SPEAKER_01 49:43

Especially since it's an 8:30 game and this is a teacher we're talking about here. That's a late night for a teacher. Like it would be a disappointment if you were. I I will cry.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

I am not gonna lie. I am gonna I I and I I cry for a lot of things, but this this feels like it would be a valid reason to cry. Yeah, and you know, and if Quent And if Quinn Hughes doesn't play on Monday, I will be mad too. Same thing.

SPEAKER_01 50:08

Yeah. To touch on Pittsburgh, I am so impressed with their play this year. I mean, we're going into this year and everyone's basically telling them, Come on, Sid, this team is not gonna make the playoffs. You could play anywhere. Are you sure you wanna play here? And now we get to see that trio that has been they'll go down as one of the most impressive sets of three on any team ever, with Crosby, Malkin, and Letang. And we're gonna get to see them in the playoffs again. I shout out to Sidney Crosby for sticking in there with that one. I think that's always what he wanted. I think that everyone was talking about what a shame it was. And you get those glimpses of it with him playing in the four nations last year and with him playing in the Olympics this year. You see how good he still is, and to see the Penguins make this happen is just they're one of the teams I'm most impressed by as we look at who's made the playoffs so far and he's seeing him in the playoffs is that's what this league needs. Um he's he's just so talented. Really, I'm happy for Pittsburgh, and I'm hoping that it'll be a good game on Tuesday to close out the blues season or at home.

SPEAKER_00 51:29

Yeah. So, yeah, to your point. So Tuesday is our last game at home. So we have three games this week. Game on Monday against the Minnesota Wild, Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then we end on the road in Utah on Thursday, and that game time was changed to an earlier start time. I noticed that the other day when I was reading on Twitter, which is weird that they just like randomly changed the time of the game. I don't know what made me think of that, but I look at this team, and yes, I am sad that we now know that Thursday is our last game. However, I I am proud of the growth that we had this year. And if I could have one complaint or maybe my chirp, part of my chirp, I have a two-part chirp. I wish that this team would have realized that if you can connect in October, it makes for an easier March. The Blues love to play in March. It's a lot of fun hockey, but it's a lot of tough hockey at that time. There's a lot of chasing going back and forth. If I could have one thought process to go into these last three games and go into the next year, I need to see a better start of the year by the blues and be consistent throughout the year rather than this like lose two, win one, lose three, win four. It you gotta be consistent. You can't have big stretches of losses. You also can't be having a game where you're up four to nothing and lose five to four, or be tied going into the last five minutes of the game and lose within, you know, 30 seconds of the period being over. Those games where those things happen, those are what are gonna come back and haunt the blues down the line. And what did come what did haunt them down the line, you have to look at a team like LA, they had what 30 overtimes this year, 31 overtimes this year, and they're currently sit sitting in that wild card two position. So even if they would have if the blues would have just pushed to make it to the overtime slot, that's a potential of you earning that many more points.

SPEAKER_01 53:47

And to your point, we need to have a better start to the season. I don't remember the exact stat, but if you're not in a playoff position by Thanksgiving, it's like a 11% chance that you end up in the playoffs. Like it's something ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

And it has I'm gonna read a t I'm gonna read a tweet to you because this uh to your point, while yes, the stats about an 11% chance you don't make it. On January 25th, the Detroit Red Wings had the most points in the Eastern Conference and had a 89.5% probability to make the playoffs, and they were just eliminated from the playoffs today as well.

SPEAKER_01 54:27

So, I mean, it does Yeah, the stat about how hard it is to make the playoffs if you're not in the playoffs is more about having to come from behind. It's actually quite impressive they managed to lose that spot. I don't know the stat for that. How hard is it for you to not make the playoffs if you're in that spot? Well, you know, um Yeah, that's that's yes.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

Like I read that tweet. What do you do? I read that tweet and immediately liked it because I was like, I need to read this for the podcast. This is wild.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

What do you do? Steve Eiserman's been there quite some time. How long? The Eyes are plan is not working. What do you do?

SPEAKER_00 55:07

Yeah, I will be interested to see uh what kind of moves in the office sense for a lot of these teams. Like, this is now the uh is it, I think I read the 10th season that the Detroit Red Wings did not make the playoffs. You're getting into the Buffalo Sabres territory of droughts.

SPEAKER_01 55:26

I'm 15. Yeah, they better stop now. We don't want to get to Buffalo at 15 years, that's a long time.

SPEAKER_00 55:31

And you know, I I'm looking at the the bracket and how it's laying right now. I'm not gonna lie to you. I like the Eastern Conference look more than I like the Western Conference look. Like, there's teams in the Eastern Conference that like I am rooting for. I'm rooting for Buffalo. I'm rooting for the Penguins, I'm rooting for Carolina. Those are teams that I want to see go. Look at Philadelphia in there.

SPEAKER_01 55:57

Oh, did they what? Did they uh are they in two Rick Tocket? They haven't so they haven't clinched, but they're sitting in the third spot in the metro with 94 points right now.

SPEAKER_00 56:08

Oh, I also lied uh the New York Islanders are another team that I I'm that I got a little close to my heart.

SPEAKER_01 56:15

Yeah, I can't believe that they're I mean they're still in the wild card race, but it's it's they're losing steam. You know, let's talk about the Islanders. So um Islanders fire Patrick Waugh on Easter. On the Lord's Day and hire on the Lord's Day and hire Pete De Boer. Now, I thought this was odd, but what I found is actually so one, the Islanders are on the downslope, right? We're looking them right now. They have 91 points. The wild card for the Eastern Conference is 96 points. Ottawa and uh Boston have both clinched. Whether they'll be in a wild card spot, we don't know. So it's we're they're kind of going back and forth here. But anyway, Islanders are still in the mix, they're not eliminated yet, but they only have 91 points, so they have they'd have to like win out at this point. But they had a this was their four-day break. So every NHL team gets one four-day break in addition to the Olympic break. They hired Pete Debore the day after they played, because basically they didn't play again until Thursday, and so he had that many days to basically whip them into shape, and it worked.

SPEAKER_00 57:29

I was gonna say they've been playing pretty great. But kind of also the same to that. The Golden Knights have been playing well under um Tortorella. So that's so crazy to me.

SPEAKER_01 57:40

And so Pete Debore, it's been a couple years since we've seen a coaching change this late.

SPEAKER_00 57:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:45

In the season, two of them for that. Yeah, we've seen two two whoppers, honestly. And the weird thing is Pete Debore being hired was actually the headline, not that Patrick Wall was out. Um, so that was kind of weird. I was like, where'd Patrick Wall go? Which they have said now. He actually took him out back. They've said that Patrick Wall's probably gonna stay in the organization and do some scouting. So I guess that wouldn't they were trying to figure that out.

SPEAKER_00 58:12

But yeah, because from what I had heard that this Debore deal uh was coming with an extension, yeah, I was gonna say with a term, so yeah, um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:21

I don't think they've announced what it is yet, but I don't think so. I don't think so either.

SPEAKER_00 58:24

Yeah, I heard I heard three years, I think.

SPEAKER_01 58:28

But so anyway, I think Waugh's gonna stay in the organization, but it's so weird because I sent the message to Alyssa that was like Pete Debore hired in New York Islanders, and I was like, where's Patrick Watt? Like usually it's Patrick Watt is out in New York, and then anyway, but good for Pete Dabor, you know. Um, Pete Dabor, I was shocked at the beginning of the year that he didn't have a team, but he was one of the coaches for the Olympics, not a head coach, but on the coaching staff. And so I think that that consumed a lot of his time. And he had so I think he just kind of focused on that and he kind of had known he was gonna land back in the league.

SPEAKER_00 59:07

Like he kind of had a I don't want to say an abrupt uh exit uh from the stars. Um he led the stars. Well, his thing with Ottinger totally just been that was seeing hearing that, yes, I understand the reason why. Um, but Pete DeVore has brought many teams to the playoffs and far into the playoffs for that matter. And he's undefeated in games. If the uh Islanders don't make it this year, I do see that that being a team that has the potential of making it uh going forward. They've got those pieces. Uh Matthew Schaefer, we talk about him a lot on this podcast. Uh he's just so beloved, and I would love to see him have that possibility. Oh, could you imagine if the Flyers do win, though, that would be the Battle of Pennsylvania for the first round. I don't think that's a thing, but the battle of Pennsylvania, I'm calling it right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:10

Well, we're making it a thing. Toofer chirping made it a thing. No, but I agree, like the you know, one of the big changes Debore made was he put Shen on the wing. Um, friend Brayden Shen.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:23

Yeah, our close personal friend Brayden Shen.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:25

Um our close personal friend, no, I mean you know what I mean. But um someone who we're all familiar with. They they moved him to the wing. But my understanding is they had some pretty hardcore practices this week to try and change things around. And um they won pretty spectacularly on Thursday, but they've lost since there was no new coach like hardcore bounce there, uh just a really good outing, and then they lost probably today. Um I don't know for sure who they played, but anyway, it that's a bummer, but they're not eliminated yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:58

They they lost to Ottawa, who has also clinched a playoffs. Who has clinched to spot yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:04

Um so if we run through the east, so the Atlantic is locked in. It's Buffalo, Tampa, Montreal. Love seeing Buffalo at the top of the Atlantic and love seeing Montreal in here too. Go Montreal. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:20

And I do like this potential this matchup of Tampa and the Canadians. I do like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:26

Yeah, yeah, you know, one thing that this was brought up on 32 Thoughts yesterday. One thing we'll I'd love to do in the next couple weeks, and we'll we'll tell you guys about our plans for what we'll record in the next couple weeks, but I'd love for us to do um our awards ballots, which like obviously Alyssa and I don't have ballots. I wish we'd like to go through those, yeah, right, to go through um, you know, those awards that are given at the end of the year, and the Jack Adams Award goes to the to the coach of the year, basically. And it's you know who's never won it is John Cooper, and that is insane behavior. I mean, this guy is consistently taking his team to the playoffs because it typically goes to the coach that like does the most with the least. That's kind of the way it pans out, the one that i exceeds expectations. Um I think you have the potential and Jared Bednar's never won one either. Like, what are we thinking? What's going on?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:23

What are we doing? I do think that you have the potential of seeing Lindy Ruff get the uh Jack Adams this year with the Sabres.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

That's a well, and I think he's earned it. Yeah, that's a that's a good thing. But like just insane. Like Tampa, they just never stop. So anyway, that's the Atlantic this year, and then the Metro right now is Carolina, Pittsburgh, and the Flyers. That bottom metro spot is not secured yet, though. They only have 94 points, and the two teams in the wild card have 96. Well, and then um, which of course the wild card is for the Eastern Conference, not by division.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:58

Um why are the lightning in the Atlantic? That doesn't make sense to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:04

Believe me, I know. I we talk about this all the time. Remember that day that we drove around St. Louis and we had to name who was in each division.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:12

Whoops. Yeah, no, it didn't go well. I the Columbus sits only two points out of that spot. I I'm not gonna lie to you. If the if Columbus squeaked in, I would not be sad. I would not. I I love the blue jackets. I and I think that would be really cool to see um the Goudreau family kind of bump in with that as well. Again, that's an organ that's an organization that has just been through a lot over the last two years.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:43

So yeah, but but the Flyers, again, I say, where did they go? That is true. Yeah, never on my radar to make the playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers. Um But I love Rick Tocket, yeah, and maybe it's just the power of friendship.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:00

Maybe the power of friendship isn't just yeah, Travis Yee Yee Kanitke and Trevor Ziegris are Trevor Ziegris and JB Drysdale. All three of them.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:10

Obviously.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:11

Um and then you've got the Washington Capitals as well as uh the Islanders sitting at 91 points. So uh all of them are at 80 games, so there's only two games left. So if the Capitals andor the Islanders don't win, that next game mathematically can't push in unless Philadelphia loses out as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:31

Um yep, so Ottawa and Boston have both secured those wildcard spots. Um wildcard spots, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

Good to see Ottawa in there again. You you so you got some represent re representation with the senators and the Canadians being in, as well as the Oilers. Uh it's good to see that Canadian presence again. I'd love to see the potential of uh a further playoff push for both of them, all three of them, but for specifically the Canadians. I I do like the Canadians. Cole Caulfield. No, yeah, Cole Caulfield just hit his 50 goal season, yeah, which it amazing. I I the amount of work that he puts in, he's such a great player. So I'm I'm happy to see the Canadians.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:19

Cole Caulfield is as fun to watch as all of these young American players that we talk about all the time, like Jack Hughes and Cole Caulfield is is amazing and he doesn't get enough recognition. I mean, he's a snub from the Olympics in Foreign Nations.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:35

I was gonna say he was definitely he was that snu that snub that we talked about a lot of I can't believe he didn't make it.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:42

He's so fun. 50 goals, like I we're just not talking about it enough, and I I'm so happy to see the Canadians in there, and yeah, so I agree with you. And you know, Ottawa I I gotta be honest with you. I wonder if this is bringing. Brady Kachuk's last hurrah if they can't make something happen here. That's a good point. I mean, my God, is he in is he just in a w sticky situation up there? I mean Keith didn't help too much. There's been some you know Matthew and Brady have a podcast called Wingmen and they had Keith on a couple weeks ago, and Keith tip as usual didn't really mince any words and made some comments about basically soft players, like people that are saying they're injured that could be playing, and that's not how hockey players used to do it and stuff like that. And now I I think it's like pretty if you watch the clip, the video of the clip, he's looking at Matthew, which we all know Florida's injured, like out the wazoo. They're not making the playoffs, they're literally injured. But Brady, it was pointed because there was a comment made about an ex-goalie, and Old Mark had just sat out for something that was not disclosed. So anyway, I think it's I think there's I think there's some locker room issues there. And Brady's the captain there, and I just wondered.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:07

And we've talked before about how you know how difficult it is to play in the Canadian market, just in general. And if you're the And to be a captain, yeah. So that's you you've got you've made a really great point. Like, is that potentially the you know last season for Brady in there? Um, I know with him being from St. Louis, if there was a chance of him coming to St. Louis, I think a lot of people would be happy. Um I I don't know. I like I I'm 50-50 on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:37

So I don't know that he fits into this movie. I don't think he does. He's do you try and make the shoe fit?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:44

Like that's I'm afraid that that's because it's brave. I do I do be afraid that that is what happens. However, if we're gonna go after something, I'd much rather go after like a Matthews, because I feel like he fits a little bit better with our style that we're trying to build. Um but I would I would here's my proposed trick.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:09

Don't put thoughts like that in my head. That is never ever gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:12

Jordan Cairou for Austin Matthews, straight up. Right here, right now. No way.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:17

Absolutely not. They don't even make the it Kairou doesn't even make half of what he makes. Or won't. But either way, it's like Brady Kachuk is a Kachuk. So there's that. The odd the odds of Brady Kachuk possibly landing here if he is available compared to Austin Matthews has to be five to one.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:40

Well, yeah, obviously. I mean I mean just practical practicality-wise, obviously, but but I totally agree.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:47

I think that Austin Matthews' game fits a lot better with our better into what we need to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:52

Now, if we were going for the more gritty style of play like we did back in that 2019 run, yeah, uh Brady Kachuk fits in with that, but I don't know. I struggle.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:04

I think we need some grit, but like Brady Kachuk is a few. He almost brings I was gonna say he almost brings too much grit. He's a first line guy. Yeah. And we're not gonna replace that's just not gonna I don't think that's wise. But I'm not the GM here. So anyway, that was that's my two cents on Ottawa. It's good to see them in there, but they probably need to give it a heck of a shot. They're on a four-game win streak, see if they can ride that momentum into the playoffs, but I'm I'm a little worried about Brady's future there. Um Western Conference. So the Central's been locked in for a three months. The Central's been locked up since January 1st. Yeah, so Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, we know this. The Pacific the Edmonton Oilers the Edmonton Oilers have somehow managed, yeah, to clinch the head of the Pacific, even though they have had a really not impressive year for Edmonton. Um how is it? They went 40, 30, and 10 so far. They've played 80 games.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:06

So it's crazy to give clinched, but the Vegas Gold Knights have 89 points, still have I I'm guessing it's because of the wins. Got it. This makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:18

Yeah. So Vegas yeah, because Vegas has gone to over has 17 overtime losses. So Vegas is in the second Pacific spot right now with 89 points, and Anaheim has 89 points, isn't in this third spot in the Pacific. So talk about night and day. Last Sunday or Saturday, we're recording, and Anaheim is leading the Pacific. That's how that's how drastic the difference is, though, between the Pacific and literally the rest of this league. So Utah clinches the first wildcard spot, they have 90 points. Right now, LA sits in the second spot with 87. They knocked the blues out since they beat Edmonton today. That was the final nail in the coffin for the Blues. The Kraken also eliminated today. Calgary Flames are already eliminated. Blackhawks and Canucks have been eliminated also since January, just like when the Central was set in stone. So in the mix for that second wild card spot are the right now, are the LA Kings, the Predators, the Jets, and the Sharks.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:16

But the Sharks do technically have the potential to be in the Pacific.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:22

But so do the Kings, no?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:24

The who?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:25

The Kings, yeah, you're right. Kings. You you do be correct. Yeah. So the Yeah, the Kings or the Sharks. I thought you said the battles. And I mean the Kings only have 87 points, and the Ducks only have 89. So like it's totally. There's a lot of bouncing back and forth.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:40

This year has just been, I feel like, up and down for a lot of teams. Like teams that you would expect to not expect, but hope that would have been good, aren't didn't necessarily meet that potential. I mean, like the New Jersey Devils being eliminated, that was a tough one for me because I felt they had such a good start. And then it felt like they faltered off. You know, you had a couple injuries, things like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:01

Florida Panthers being Yeah, and I'm not feeling good about my two my two favorite teams that aren't my three favorite teams. Like my three favorite teams, the Blues, the Kraken, and the Leeds. Are not. And and now I have the Sharks and the Islanders, and I was convinced one of them was a lock, and here I sit. Here I sit. What am I gonna do if neither of them make it? Who am I gonna cheer for? Sydney Crosby's a good choice. Cole Caulfield. Go all in on the Canadians.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:33

Yeah, I was gonna say I if looking at it right now as it stands, if I'm picking a team, I I'm either picking Buffalo or Her the Hurricanes, uh in the east and in the West. Azure want to win or think to win? A little bit of both, but I definit definitely would like to see Buffalo at least make it past the first round kind of experience that I I know the city of Buffalo, I I they're just a great sports town in general. I mean, especially with the Bills. Um but looking at them, seeing the the fun that they're having right now with how well they're playing, I would like to see them go further. Um if I if the Islanders do slot in or the Columbus slots in, I I I'm gonna know that kind of pull for them. Um and the Western Conference, I guess maybe Minnesota for Quinn Hughes. Other than that, uh the Pacific can Pacific and Yeah, I don't really like any of these teams. The mammoth if the sharks pull it off, it's the sharks.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:38

The mammoth I don't hate.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:39

The mammoth I don't hate, and I uh as a St. Louis native, I love um Clayton Keller.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:46

I just Well, and he's had a tough year. So I I would like to see that with losing his dad. Had he won one at the Olympics, brought him a gold medal there. Yeah, I mean, it would be hard not to root for the mammoth. And honestly, I don't think there's a more likable team in the West. Yeah, right now. No, I completely agree. Other than the mammoth and the sharks. So um, yeah, this will be interesting. So we Alyssa and I were talking, and we will do next weekend we'll do a bracket. Like we should have the bracket set for who's gonna play who in the first round. Um, because the season will be the regular season will be wrapped. So we'll do like a little bit of a bracket. Maybe do a little breakdown.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:29

Do a little uh season or uh review of the how the teams played against each other for the season. I like I like looking at the stats, seeing because essentially you look at the stats, but essentially those are wiped when you go into a playoff game. It playoffs are just completely different in it in and of itself.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:46

It's a completely different hockey game, even. Like it's it's insane. I love playoff hockey. This is my favorite time of year. We get March Madness just wrapped up for basketball. We're getting we're getting ready. We're in the final two weeks of the hockey season, so and then playoff hockey kicks off. We've got the Masters going on right now, which I'm a big golf fan, but even if you're not a golf fan, the Masters is the Masters, and baseball season just started. I don't like I don't like football, guys. So all of you that are like, what about the NFL? What about college football? No, the NFL is not going on. So April, well, that's what I'm saying. That most people think that the NFL and the ends in college football is like the best time of year for sports. I disagree. This is it right here. This four-week span, the final part of the last two weeks of March, the first two weeks of April, best four weeks in sports. I'm telling you. Like they are my favorite four weeks of the year. And sitting at home on my couch and watching high-stakes hockey like I did today, mixed with the Masters, is just it's the best. I absolutely love it. Yeah, next week we'll plan to do blue season wraps up Thursday, like we talked about. So we'll do a wrap-up of the last three games, and then we'll do a playoff hockey preview. And then we talked before we recorded this week. We are going to wait a week and do our year in review for the blues the following week. For me personally, at least, I it'll be too raw for me to give that opinion next weekend. Like, I'll probably start saying things based on the last three games, and I really want to like take some time to marinate on all of those things. I also think that even seeing like the exit interviews from players as they wrap up season like the last couple days in media makes a difference. Sometimes it's injuries. Like they talk about all kinds of stuff that I think makes a difference. So next week we'll wrap up the last three games of the blues season, we'll do a playoff preview for the rest of the league, do some stats, stats review for those teams, and also some of our predictions, and then the following week we'll do a more year-in review of the blues and our takeaways and where we think we go from there. It's a bummer. It's officially no playoffs for the blues this year. But I mean, the stats that they were giving six weeks has been fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:14

They really have, and the stats that they were giving, talking about the blues and how in their history, like how many times that they've missed the playoffs and things like that, it's not as many as what you think. And it's been just a fun ride to watch them. And yes, it stinks not making into playoffs. I hate it. I love playoff hockey, and I love the blues as much as the next person. My thing with that is I don't necessarily want to throw these young kids into a playoff situation that they're not ready for. And again, of course, the only way you're gonna gain experience is by experiencing it yourself, but I just don't feel that we're at the point where we're ready for that. I would much rather us have a little more experience under our belt in the regular season and then push us to the playoffs rather than after the fact.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:07

So totally, and in this case, if we had managed to pull it together, we would have to play Colorado and that to me. You're we're playing the one seed, which two years back to back, we played the president's trophy winner last year. I'm not feeling like doing it again. It's tough, and it was tough last year, and we were a team of vets really then. I mean, Snugger and Dvorsky were the two like rookies that were swapping in and out of the fourth line. That was a vet team playing a president's trophy team. We took it seven games, we know that up to the final five seconds of the game. But one point six or one point six seconds, yeah. Ouch. Um, lives in my head. But yeah, I wasn't really thinking I wanted to repeat against the Avalanche this year. To your point, we're not experienced enough, but also just that's a good team. And they're in the no disrespect to them, but they play really hard-hitting hockey in the play. We play hard-hitting hockey. And I just think we come out with dismembered bodies from the blues side.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:09

They've got the speed, that's part of it. I it just it would not feel like but on the flip side of that, all these you know, outlets are saying like if the blues had to play the Avalanche, like the they have the potential of giving them a run for their money. And I love that everyone feels confident about that, and I have confidence that we would have had at least some effort to put into it. I just don't think that it's at the level of what we as fans would expect them to be, and that would be hard to see.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:41

I agree. I think it's a tough place to be. We saw it with uh Montreal last year. They squeaked in to the playoffs last year and just looked like they didn't belong there. And I think that's a really hard thing mentally for for the and they were young, they were super young and super green and just not as experienced, and they were just like it's like they didn't even know.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:06

Well, and I I also worried that that's how the second wildcard team is going to look.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:13

If um possible, yeah. If they get yeah, I mean with the kings, if it stays the kings, you've got you know Kopitar and and Panarin, and you've got I look at like the predators, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:25

The predators have veteran presence, and you've got Steven Samkos who definitely has that presence. Ryan O'Reilly that has that present presence. I just don't know if defensively their goaltending could keep up with the avalanche. And then the Jets. The Jets are probably the one goaltending-wise that could keep up with the Avalanche. They've got two really fast top forward lines. The Winnipeg defense is probably what would hurt them. And I just worry that San Jose is so young, that's gonna be a hard. Now, if they could squeak in and be well, again, it goes back to they're gonna play either Vegas or Edmonton, so that would be I don't know. There's just a lot of factors to the rest of the season and that playoff push that I hope that I'm wrong and that it could be a a switch, but I look at the San Jose Sharks and just how fun they're having and the atmosphere that's been at the SAP Center. The game that we played out there, it was electric in there, and uh that was a Wednesday night game.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:26

Like yeah, they're on a two-game losing streak right now, but they're playing Vancouver. They were winning. They just started the second period, they're winning one-nothing. Yeah. So we'll see if they can pull this one off. It'd be good for their momentum to shift in the other direction. But they've got they they gotta pick up the pace. They gotta win out, basically, if they won any shot at this. That's gonna be tough. But win against the Vancouver Canucks would be a good one. And if they can't pull off a win against the Vancouver Canucks, then perhaps I feel the same about them as I do about the Blues, which is they probably don't want to face the Avalanche in the first round.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:02

Before we go into chirps, I do want to throw out there's a couple of nominations that some blues players have had, and a record that was broken, and a potential record that will be broken. So we have that Bennington was nominated for the Master Tin Trophy. The Master Tin Trophy is a player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. Some notable winners uh include Sean Monaghan last year, Connor Ingram the year before, Chris Letang, Carrie Price, and Oscar Lindbullm. So this is a great honor for Bennington. He does show perseverance in the game. He's always very he's a very quiet person, it seems like, but it does seem like he does do a lot more around the community that we just don't know about. Very quiet about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:04

So well, and I think yeah, and I think seeing him in this role as 1B, uh, the latter half of the season, too.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:13

Has been a different shift for him, but that's a shift, but it's yeah, and I think he's done a good job.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:18

Yeah, I think so. He does what the team needs from him, and absolutely yeah, I think he's really deserving, so congrats to him.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:24

Yeah, is I know that there's been a lot of talk on social media of do you see this as Bennington's last year as a blue? And I do think that is a possibility. So if it is, I just hope that he can go out on that high note. If if no pun intended. But a notable thing, Robert Thomas, the game against the Winnipeg Jets, he became tied fifth in blues history for most assists at what was it, three uh 325. He tied Al McGuinness. Brian Sutter is at 333, and then Alex Buschangelo, 341, Brett Hall at 409, and then a little bit of a jump for the first position. Bernie Federco leads it at 721. So a bit of a ways to get to Federco, but congrats to him on joining in on that list. And then we have one more nomination. Colton Pereco has been nominated for the King Clancy Trophy. The King Clancy trophy is to be presented to the player with the who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community. This is a huge honor. Can't think of somebody. I can't think of somebody more deserving. Colton Preco does a lot of work at Children's Hospital. He's notably his contribution with um Layla in the 2019 season, like that is something that has continued, and he has his own uh charity, Project 55, that he has a person come to the game and he honors and meets with them after the game. And I just can't think of somebody more deserving than him with this trophy, so that's a huge honor for him. And a huge honor for the blues that you have somebody that is just that pure of heart. I love that about Pareko, and I hope that's a good that could be a potential win for him.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:30

Um Yeah, and usually a lot of times we see the King Clancy goes to we've seen it go to captains a lot, and I think naturally the captains of our teams have also been huge in the community. Shen has been nominated for that trophy. O'Reilly was nominated. I know Petrangelo was nominated. And I think it just falls in with that's sometimes just it's not that like they do it because they're captains, but they just that seems like something that they invest a lot of time in. And so I it's nice to see Braiko recognized for that. He's been doing a lot in this community for for years, but as a as a mainstay here, and I think especially as we remember that he elected to stay here instead of being traded at the deadline, yeah. I think he loves this city and he puts a lot of time and effort in to make this city a better place. Really, really much deserved. So congrats to him.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:27

But also to finish off with this, there is a potential for a record to be broken. Pareco, if if he dresses in all three games, he will hit 800 games played in his career, which I believe either ties him or puts him ahead of most games of a defense when played for the blues. They were talking about on the broadcast tonight, and I just I can't for the life of me remember what they said. I wish I would have written it down, but that is huge. He's played all 800 career well, let me try that again. He's played all 800 games of his career here in St. Louis. And I believe it was also said on the broadcast that if he were to continue out and continue his the rest of his contract, he would have the potential of hitting the thousand game mark here as a blue. And he would be one of the first ones to play all 1,000 games for a team. And I again I'm a sentimental person, so I just think that would be so cool. So Colton, please don't leave.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:33

Don't listen to them. That would be really exciting for for Pereco and he's like you said, 800 games is that's that's a ton of games. And with as many injuries as he's had too. Yeah. Alright.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:47

Should we do chirps to end today's episode? Yeah, you go first. So we went into the game on Thursday. And I was like, man, I just really hope that Jordan Cairou does enough to play well and things like that. I just hope that he didn't piss me off. And little did I know that he was the CEO of the piss me off factory, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:17

I and I am not a person It was Thursday that you texted me that, yeah, when it was that it was bad, but we were there together Tuesday, and it it was bad.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:29

I'm not a person that likes to usually if I am talking, and we've talked about this before, how I would talk bad, not bad, but I would just say that this person's really making me mad. Joel Edmondson's a great example of that in that cup run. Usually saying those things, it's out of frustration. Usually when I say those things, like immediately it turns around and they start playing well again, so it's not a worry. It just feels like it's been a consistent I don't know lackluster effort by Kairu. And I know that he was one that when the contract was signed, everyone was really happy about it. And I do think that it's a good contract that he signed. It's just a very long deal. And now with him having that no trade, it can be we're kind of getting into some dicey areas if there is a chance that we would like to try and move him at some point. And I don't know. I've seen his capability, I've seen what he can do, I've seen the amount of effort that he's given in. And there's been games where I've seen him play that full 200 game, I've seen him play and and shoot and do the things that I know that he's capable of doing. And it seems as though specifically this year, but probably last year as well, where I've just looked at him and I was like, man, I just can't. I'm not behind it, and I I I hate that I'm not behind it, but I'm just not behind it. And that game on Thursday where it seemed like he was almost trying to overcompensate for the areas where he wasn't producing in the game before. I I just was very frustrated with it, and I know probably not a lot of people feel the same way that I do, and that's okay, but I was just very frustrated in that, and I don't know if I can look at the production that he had this year and feel confident with continue going forward with him being on that second line.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:47

I agree, and that's kind of my chirp, which is probably not as harsh as a chirp, but I just think that there are players right now that you look at and it is glaringly obvious that they're not the future of this team. I've always loved Jordan Cairo. I have stuck with Jordan Cairo through thick and thin. I think he's gonna be an amazing player. I'm just really, I really don't think it's gonna be here. And that's disappointing. But I just don't think he fits this system, but I also think he's just gone a little stale, and it's not like I don't mean that as aggressively as it sounds, but I just I think we've tried just about everything. But we've also talked about And I just don't know that it's gonna work here.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:33

We've also talked about players who, for lack of better terms, like you said, have run stale and then get an opportunity to go somewhere new and thrive. I I would I would hate to I would hate to see him he'll go somewhere else and he'll hope he's gonna be able to do that. I would just hate with the no trade, like for him to stick it out and be like, no, I'm gonna do it to prove a point and it not go the way he wants or anything of that nature, and it would be hard. So I do hope that whatever is best for him and his career is what happens, but I like you said, I just don't think he's fitting in on the system that we have.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:13

Yeah, and I think if I'm in Kairu's situation, I think the writing's on the wall a little bit. You fall maybe into not probably as hard feelings as Shen felt, where he was like, You've tried to push me out two years in a row, so I'm just gonna go. But I think for Kairou, he's the potential, you can see his potential. He has the potential to be a great pull. And he's also younger than Shen. He's got a lot of skill and he's young. Oh, totally. And so, like I said, I think we've always thought about no trades as you can't ask, and that's just simply not true. It's just you have to ask them. And so I think Kairou probably would get the opportunity to play because of how much he's paid. He's a really affordable, skilled wing, and I think that he's gonna get the opportunity to play for some really good teams that I think it's probably gonna be an easier decision for him to say yes. I think no trades, uh while we've given some of them to people that I don't love, we managed to unload some of them, like Justin Falk, for example, is one that I was more worried about.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:24

It seems like that you know, with someone with that unload, it just seems like it's worked out the and the fact that we've been able to bring somebody up. So looking at what we lost this offseason, uh yeah, or this the season, Shen was the one that I think hurt more than Falk. Totally. But that's just my take on that.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:44

No, I totally agree, but Falk was one that I was worried his value would be hard to move, and he might not have much desire to move. And that turned out really to not be the case. I think that Bennington is a goalie, the goalie market is tough, and I don't think it would be hard to move him. He might not want to move, but I think that now he's in a 1B situation. We'll see. But I think Kairu sticks out as one that just doesn't seem like he fits. I think Bucnevich, unfortunately, I'm just not sure that he fits. And I think that I think this is probably the end of the road for Sunquist. Second hurrah here.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:29

They were talking about that on the broadcast too, of how they thought that this is potentially the last season you see Oscar in a blue note. Which would be hard because of how much he loves St. Louis and how much he just does for the community. But then you've got these veteran oh he loves it. You've got these veteran guys like Walker, uh Sunquist, uh that are sitting out consistently, and that's hard, but they also are one that respect and understand that hey, we gotta bring in these young guys to get the experience and that's the trend in which they're going. So it's a hard one. It feels like a six in one, half dozen in the other in that case. I totally agree. So only three more games of blues hockey. Sad girl. Sad. But again, I kind of look at it as a trying to look at on the positive side of yes, it stinks that we didn't make the playoffs. However, take what we've done these last six weeks of hockey, and you can run with it. You can build a lot from it. I think that we are in a good position for Steen to take over and build around the team that we have. I'm excited for what the future holds, even though I'm sad that we only have three games left. So it's a it's a hard, it's a hard line, but I think that I I'm okay with the not making it, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:01

Yeah, I think that they've I think that the way they've played since the Olympics has done wonders for my perspective on the season. Not that they needed to change my perspective, but I think that they've shown a lot of persistence and perseverance and talent and teamwork and chemistry. And I think a lot of those things working all at once are intangibles. I don't like seeing quit in teams. And I think we saw a lot of quit in this team the first half of this season. And I think what we've seen the last few weeks, even you know what I want to say is I think it would be really easy to look at our production since the Olympic break and say that we're falsely thinking the whole team looks good and really one line is producing a lot of that success. I don't feel that way. I think that our top line is, of course, producing points-wise a lot of that production, but I think that the overall look of this team and their chemistry, their ability to move the puck, their fore-check, they've been more disciplined. I think that in our defense, especially much improved. We've brought up these younger players and seen what they're capable of. I think that this team shows a lot more promise than just production from the top line. I think we've seen a lot of really great things. And I think it's been a good snapshot of what our potential could be. And I think we just need to go into the offseason and yeah, Steener can see what the market has to offer and see how we build around this young core that we have and make them successful. Because my hope would be that next year we try and we're not trying to squeeze into the playoffs, which is what we've been doing for a few years, right? The expectation is we want to be in the mix for the playoffs. That's been the hope, as said from Blues leadership, Doug Armstrong specifically, the last two to three seasons, is we want to be in the mix for the playoffs or we want to try and squeak into the playoffs. I'd like to see this team make more of a run. Um, the Central is gonna be hard for a long time. And so if we want any chance at not having to play the top seed in this conference, we're gonna have to put together a really good team. Squeaking into the wild card isn't gonna bode well for us in our hopes for a Stanley Cup. We need to put together a team that can stand up against the wild, the Avalanche, and then the Stars. I think this is probably their last chance, but the Wild and the Avalanche aren't going anywhere. So if we want to be successful against them, we're gonna have to really beef up. Not to mention all the other Central Division teams that are about where we're at right now. This is gonna be a really hard division to be successful in.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:52

So you're completely right. All right, blues fans. Well, enjoy these last couple of games. And we will see you here next week.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:05

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