OBG's St. Louis Blues & the NHL (NHL 11)

[onlybygrace]

Blues Mid-Summer Stance: Stand Still

St. Louis Blues President, John Davidson, addresses the media at a mid-summer press conference regarding moves this summer.

By Stephen Holley
St. Louis Post Disgrace

After beginning the offseason with a bang while landing last seasons most dominant 'pressure situation' goaltender Jaroslav Halak for next to nothing (Blues traded 7 games of NHL experience), the Blues seem to have come to a halt with regards to addressing the teams scoring issues.

"Well during the first half of the season we really struggled. After Davis Payne took over we averaged 2.89 goals per game, up from 2.45 under Murray. We'd like to think that with the roster we knew we had, the 2.89 is closer to what we were expecting,"said Davidson. J.D. neglected to mention that the Blues lost over 30 goals and 75 points after the retirement of Keith Tkachuk and refusing to offer Paul Kariya a contract after a dismal performance over the duration of his 3 years in St. Louis.


Davis Payne led the Blues to a 23-15-4 mark after taking over Andy Murray's job on January 2nd, 2009.

With a younger and seemingly more approachable coach the Blues would gel while players who seemed to struggle under coach Andy Murray (most noticeably Patrick Berglund) played with more confidence and purpose under Davis Payne.

The Blues, at this point, are headed toward the 2010-2011 season with the attitude that improvement must come from within.

Brad Boyes scored 14 goals last season after registering 33 and 43 the previous two seasons. If Boyes plans to stick around St. Louis after Christmas this trend must stop.

After putting up 80 points in his first 95 games as a Blue, Andy McDonald registered just 57 points in 79 games last season. He needs to find the 70 point mark 2010-2011.

David Perron, assuming he and the Blues come to terms, needs to work his way from 20 goals in his 3rd year to around 30 in 2010-2011. We need to see a breakout season from the kid with the magic hands.

TJ Oshie played well in 2009-2010 putting up 18 goals and 48 points in just his 2nd season, however he is no longer playing in a group of forwards with hall of fame careers to compete with. He finds himself at the head of the line and in position to step it up along with the aforementioned forwards.


Where's the 'C', already? David Backes is the choice of most Blues fans for the Captaincy in St. Louis if a change were to be made.

If the Blues should ever listen to their fans on anything, it should be to the overwhelming desire of many fans to personally steal David Backes' jersey only to return it with a big 'C' sewn to it's breast.

A leadership change, even if we all know leadership is more than a letter on a jersey, is still a symbolism of a 'changing of the guard'. Backes has consistently shown himself to be of not only high charachter and commitment, but also very personable and articulate. Backes is a far cry from the more reserved Eric Brewer, the Blues current Captain which many fans bemoan his spot on the roster at all, not to mention his captaincy. It's a laughable situation, really.

Someone needs to tell Patrick Berglund that if he wants to stay near his good buddy TJ Oshie, he needs to 'man up' and begin to be the player many think he can be after registering just 26 points after 21 goals and 47 points his rookie season.

At the end of the day here in mid-July, the Blues have gone from putting their eggs in a bunch of 20-year old baskets in 2009-2010 to putting their eggs in a bunch of 21-year old baskets with the help of what may be an amazing goaltender in 2010-2011.

Everything is a question waiting to be answered here in St. Louis. But with 92 and 90 points over the last two seasons, at least a winning attitude has been established.

Go Blues.

[Bolts_26]

I like the intro. Maybe a bit too early, but I understand, we're all really anticipating NHL11.

Anyways, good luck, I'll follow when I can.

[onlybygrace]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bolts_26

I like the intro. Maybe a bit too early, but I understand, we're all really anticipating NHL11. Anyways, good luck, I'll follow when I can.

Too early???

Ha, good one.

I'm starting this just ten days earlier than I started my Blues chise last year for NHL 10 because I've reached the point where my chising has hit an offseason, so to speak.

In fact, I'm no longer really playing NHL 10 that much due to the truth that my NHL 11 flu has reached a boiling point.

So...I've been playing a lot of MLB 2K10 this summer. For one, its the funnest baseball game I've ever played and a couple gameplay fixes away from being the most realistic game as well. Secondly, the presentation is just so damn perfect. So immersive, in fact, that I feel no real need to write a baseball franchise because the immersion level I require is in the game.

Enough rambling, though...lets talk about this chise for a moment.

The era of doing game-to-game franchises is dead to me. I admire the time others have but I've got to face the fact that I have less time right now than I've ever had in my whole damn life and its not going to be changing anytime soon.

In fact, its only going to get worse.

My wife wants a 3rd child...and so do I. It just makes me a lot more apprehensive or defensive than it does her. Why??? Because I have far more to lose when it comes to my free time and how much free time it requires to do the things I like.

So what does that have to do with this franchise???

In lieu of doing game by game updates I am going to do updates for each month of the season, which figures to an update every 12 games or so as well as a trade deadline special.

In addition to these updates, I will also be doing updates from around the NHL. I am hoping to have considerable NHL coverage in this dynasty. I think having league wide coverage adds a considerable amount of flavor to a franchise.

Basically, I want to get out from under the burden of having to write and begin to choose to write what interests me.

For instance, if Lightning are on a ten game winning streak and 3 of their forwards are in the top 10 in NHL scoring, I'm sure you'd like to know.

So yeah...plus, it really brings the league to life for me since I can write about the real news this summer because it pertains to my upcoming chise.

Pretty kewl.

Late.

[onlybygrace]

Perron Signs Two-Year Extension With St. Louis

NHL Goal of the Year finalist, David Perron, will remain in St. Louis for the next two seasons.

By Stephen Holley
Operation Sports Hockey Network (OSHN)
NHL 11 Beat Writer


St. Louis Blues Executive President John Davidson and GM Doug Armstrong announced today that the club has reached terms with young forward David Perron.

“I love playing in St. Louis and in front of our fans,” said Perron. “For the past three seasons they have treated me great and I can’t wait for the season to start.”

The 22 year old forward tallied 47 points last season and a career high 20 goals after registering 50 points and 35 assists the previous season.

The two year extension will pay Perron 4.3 million dollars, an average cap hit of 2.15 million .

[onlybygrace]

Many Find New Homes In First Three Weeks Of Free Agency


Alex Tanguay returns to the Flames after signing a one-year deal. The 30 year old forward recorded his last 20 goal season in 2006-2007 with the Flames when he also reached a career high 81 points.

Sergei Gonchar will find himself in a new home as he is headed to Ottawa in 2010-2011. The 36 year old offensive defensemen signed a 3 year deal with the Sens which will pay 5.5 million USD annually.

Zbynek Michalek has signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins, giving the Pens some toughness on the blueline. The 27 year old was considered untouchable in Phoenix as he was the anchor in front of Ilya Bryzgalov...guess not. The Pens signed Michalek to a 5 year deal worth about 4 million per season.

Anterro Niittymaki will be the new face between the pipes for the San Jose Sharks after signing the 30 year old to a two year deal.

Chris Mason could not come to terms with the St. Louis Blues, who decided to move on with Jaroslav Halak. Mason would sign a multi-year deal with the Thrashers.

Paul Martin signed a 5 year deal worth 25 million dollars to play in Pittsburgh as the Pens look to stabilize their defense.

The Calgary Flames have brought back another familiar face, adding Olli Jokinen for two years at 6 million dollars.

Ray Whitney has signed a two-year deal worth 6 million to play in Pheonix. The forward had 21 goals and 37 assists this last season in 80 games.

[GoldenJet]

Beautiful work man, great job.

[BLemieux]

I didn't know you were THAT old.

I wonder why I always think of the people here can only be teens...

[onlybygrace]

Quote: Originally Posted by BLemieux

I didn't know you were THAT old. I wonder why I always think of the people here can only be teens...

You'd be shocked to see how many of us OSers are in our 30's or more. Hell, if you are 17 for example, that means you were just an infant when NHL 94 came out...I was 14.