Finally! The wait is over! St. Louis Blue T.J. Oshie is going to be back on the ice wearing the blue note for the first time since November 10th. Oshie missed 31 games. His presence back will give STL more strength, speed and skill. His return is just what the Blues needed as once again their replacement forward was claimed by another team through re-entry waivers. Kyle Wellwood was claimed by the Sharks after the Blues signed the ex- Maple Leaf, ex-Canuck and, most recently, ex-KHLer. But because he played in the KHL this year for a spell, he had to clear waivers. Much like Marek Svatos had to do just a short time ago. And the unfortunate ending of Svatos's story was repeated. Wellwood was claimed.
At least this Oshie story seems to be taking a good path!
It may take Oshie a few games to get back into the pace but he will help propel the Blues in the standings down the stretch. His return will give them a month to evaluate their team more accurately before deadline to see if they have any needs they want to address and how to go about that. A veteran presence on the forward corps would most likely be their best addition. They miss Paul Kariya. Look for them to move one of their bottom forwards with an expiring contract and a draft pick or prospect for someone with playoff experience and will have secondary scoring.
Showing posts with label St. Louis Blues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Louis Blues. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Why Are The Blues Struggling?
A few weeks ago, we did a write-up on the St. Louis Blues returning to their former glory. However, two injuries and a confidence-ridden goalie later, they appear to be playing themselves out of the playoff picture.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="518" caption="AP Photo/ Jeff Roberson"]
[/caption]
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="518" caption="AP Photo/ Jeff Roberson"]
[/caption]Thursday, November 11, 2010
Blues' T.J. Oshie Injured
The Blue Jackets beat the St. Louis Blues 8-1 Wednesday. To add injury to insult, dangler and hard-hitting forward T.J. Oshie broke his ankle. This looks to sideline Oshie about a month, but more will be known after a re-evaluation today.
Oshie has 1 goal, 9 assists for 10 points. The Blues need to bounce back from this loss, and loss of a core forward, if they want to keep atop the division.
Blues start that test tonight against Nashville.
Oshie has 1 goal, 9 assists for 10 points. The Blues need to bounce back from this loss, and loss of a core forward, if they want to keep atop the division.
Blues start that test tonight against Nashville.
Monday, November 8, 2010
10 Things I Want To See This Year in the NHL
What do you do when you are bored? Make some arbitrary posting about ten random things (in no order) that you want to see happen in (or to) the NHL this year.
1) Florida Panthers to make noise in the playoffs
Yeah, I think expansion was overkill by Gary Bettman, but the problem for the Panther's attendance issues is not lack of interest in hockey, but rather lack of success. If they can get back to the playoffs and make noise, maybe this young team can create loyal fans.
2) Taylor Hall to win MVP
Two years in a row that a non-number 1 overall draftee won the award. As an elitist I can not stand for this.
3) Tomas Kaberle to get traded
So Eklund can finally stop promising us it will happen "this time." And in the same vein, for the trade deadline to actually be good this year.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="404" caption="TARA WALTON/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO"]
[/caption]
4) St. Louis Blues finish where they started
The franchise in Missouri has put in a few years to get where they are, if the rug is pulled out from under them this year it may just break the good fans' hearts.
5) Colin Campbell and the NHL stop over-calling hits to the head
Rules against head contacts are good but penalizing clean hits because players are not responsible enough to keep their chin up is only going to ruin hockey. I would like to see a clause for players with their head down, a clear and concrete clause.
6) The NHL changes the home uniforms back to white
Home fans should be able to see the color spectrum of the NHL jerseys, not every visiting team's white.
7) Steve Stamkos to finally enter Ovechkin/Crosby level
This one is for Matthew O'Brien, you know what you did.
8 ) The Winter Classic to bomb
Teach the NHL to use the Penguins two times so soon. I want the 30 team league to enjoy the Winter Classic.
9) The Coyotes to move back to Winnipeg.
Or somewhere back north. They had to bring in NHL employees to sit in the arena during the playoffs to make it "appear" to be packed.
10) Iginla to escape the Flames
The guy would be a clear first ballot hall of famer if he didn't have to be the whole damn team his whole career in Calgary. How they ever got to the Stanley Cup amazes me. I want him to go to a team that will give him a chance to win. Philly needs another winger....
1) Florida Panthers to make noise in the playoffs
Yeah, I think expansion was overkill by Gary Bettman, but the problem for the Panther's attendance issues is not lack of interest in hockey, but rather lack of success. If they can get back to the playoffs and make noise, maybe this young team can create loyal fans.
2) Taylor Hall to win MVP
Two years in a row that a non-number 1 overall draftee won the award. As an elitist I can not stand for this.
3) Tomas Kaberle to get traded
So Eklund can finally stop promising us it will happen "this time." And in the same vein, for the trade deadline to actually be good this year.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="404" caption="TARA WALTON/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO"]
[/caption]4) St. Louis Blues finish where they started
The franchise in Missouri has put in a few years to get where they are, if the rug is pulled out from under them this year it may just break the good fans' hearts.
5) Colin Campbell and the NHL stop over-calling hits to the head
Rules against head contacts are good but penalizing clean hits because players are not responsible enough to keep their chin up is only going to ruin hockey. I would like to see a clause for players with their head down, a clear and concrete clause.
6) The NHL changes the home uniforms back to white
Home fans should be able to see the color spectrum of the NHL jerseys, not every visiting team's white.
7) Steve Stamkos to finally enter Ovechkin/Crosby level
This one is for Matthew O'Brien, you know what you did.
8 ) The Winter Classic to bomb
Teach the NHL to use the Penguins two times so soon. I want the 30 team league to enjoy the Winter Classic.
9) The Coyotes to move back to Winnipeg.
Or somewhere back north. They had to bring in NHL employees to sit in the arena during the playoffs to make it "appear" to be packed.
10) Iginla to escape the Flames
The guy would be a clear first ballot hall of famer if he didn't have to be the whole damn team his whole career in Calgary. How they ever got to the Stanley Cup amazes me. I want him to go to a team that will give him a chance to win. Philly needs another winger....
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Blues are Back in Style
Through the first ten games of the season the St. Louis Blues have posted an incredible 7-1-2 record which is good for first place in the Central Division and second in the Western Conference behind only the Los Angeles Kings. Led by Jaroslav Halak, the Blues are turning heads and giving their fans a reason to believe.
From the 1979-80 season up until the first season after the lockout, the Blues had made the playoffs every year. In fact, since the expansion that brought a team to St. Louis in 1967 the Blues have made the playoffs all but seven seasons, four of those seasons in the post lockout era, although they made a push last year but came up a little short. Now that they have a solid core of young, talented players, a coach who seems to have a plan that the players are all buying into, and a true all-star between the pipes, the Blues are back and better than ever.
The Blues are ranked 17th in the league in Goals For/Game with 2.70 but are second in the league in Shots/Game with 34.0 behind only the San Jose Sharks. They rank first in Shots Against/Game with 25.7, narrowly edging out the Flyers and are second to only Boston Goals Against/Game with 1.6.
[caption id="attachment_152" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Oshie looks to continue his point/game production"]
[/caption]
The Blues offense, led by T.J. Oshie (1-9-10) Matt D'Agostini (5-2-7) and David Perron (5-2-7), has no one with more than 5 goals and 10 points but has a remarkable sixteen players with at least 1 point. The Blues are also good enough to protect a small lead, as demonstrated against the San Jose Sharks last night. The Blues had a 2-0 lead in the third period and were able to control the puck and waste time down in the Sharks zone, limiting their ability to climb back into the game. It is the depth of the Blues both on offense and on the blue line that makes this team so scary.
The defense has also been playing incredible starting with Erik Johnson and Alex Pietrangelo, who could just be the players they've been looking for since Chris Pronger and Al McInnis played together from 95-96 to 03-04. Pietrangelo has 6 pts (all assists) in the first ten games and is a plus-7, while Johnson has 1 goal 2 assists and a plus-1 rating. These two see an ever-increasing amount of work being thrown their way because of their ability to step up and perform in clutch situations so far this season. They are the driving force behind the incredible defensive statistics the Blues are putting up so far.
Jaroslav Halak is nothing to overlook either. Although the Blues are one of the best defensive teams in the league, it's also good to have one of the best goalies as well. Halak has three shutouts already this season, which is good enough to surpass Jacques Plante for the fastest three shutouts by a Blues goaltender in the team's history. He has allowed just 14 goals in 9 games and is in the top 10 for every important goaltender statistic. He is 3rd in the league with 7 wins, has a .940 sv% which is good for 6th, a 4th best 1.53 GAA and tied with Tim Thomas for league lead in shutouts with 3. He is already been in Vezina talks for this season and he can keep it up I don't see any goalie out there that can compete with him.
Although there may still be 72 games left there's no reason to believe that the Blues won't be playing through April. They will be a team to keep an eye on throughout the rest of the season and if they can keep it up a long playoff run is not out of the question. After all, Halak got his Canadiens to an Eastern Conference Final last year and the Blues seem to have a much better team in front of him this year.
From the 1979-80 season up until the first season after the lockout, the Blues had made the playoffs every year. In fact, since the expansion that brought a team to St. Louis in 1967 the Blues have made the playoffs all but seven seasons, four of those seasons in the post lockout era, although they made a push last year but came up a little short. Now that they have a solid core of young, talented players, a coach who seems to have a plan that the players are all buying into, and a true all-star between the pipes, the Blues are back and better than ever.
The Blues are ranked 17th in the league in Goals For/Game with 2.70 but are second in the league in Shots/Game with 34.0 behind only the San Jose Sharks. They rank first in Shots Against/Game with 25.7, narrowly edging out the Flyers and are second to only Boston Goals Against/Game with 1.6.
[caption id="attachment_152" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Oshie looks to continue his point/game production"]
[/caption]The Blues offense, led by T.J. Oshie (1-9-10) Matt D'Agostini (5-2-7) and David Perron (5-2-7), has no one with more than 5 goals and 10 points but has a remarkable sixteen players with at least 1 point. The Blues are also good enough to protect a small lead, as demonstrated against the San Jose Sharks last night. The Blues had a 2-0 lead in the third period and were able to control the puck and waste time down in the Sharks zone, limiting their ability to climb back into the game. It is the depth of the Blues both on offense and on the blue line that makes this team so scary.
The defense has also been playing incredible starting with Erik Johnson and Alex Pietrangelo, who could just be the players they've been looking for since Chris Pronger and Al McInnis played together from 95-96 to 03-04. Pietrangelo has 6 pts (all assists) in the first ten games and is a plus-7, while Johnson has 1 goal 2 assists and a plus-1 rating. These two see an ever-increasing amount of work being thrown their way because of their ability to step up and perform in clutch situations so far this season. They are the driving force behind the incredible defensive statistics the Blues are putting up so far.
Jaroslav Halak is nothing to overlook either. Although the Blues are one of the best defensive teams in the league, it's also good to have one of the best goalies as well. Halak has three shutouts already this season, which is good enough to surpass Jacques Plante for the fastest three shutouts by a Blues goaltender in the team's history. He has allowed just 14 goals in 9 games and is in the top 10 for every important goaltender statistic. He is 3rd in the league with 7 wins, has a .940 sv% which is good for 6th, a 4th best 1.53 GAA and tied with Tim Thomas for league lead in shutouts with 3. He is already been in Vezina talks for this season and he can keep it up I don't see any goalie out there that can compete with him.Although there may still be 72 games left there's no reason to believe that the Blues won't be playing through April. They will be a team to keep an eye on throughout the rest of the season and if they can keep it up a long playoff run is not out of the question. After all, Halak got his Canadiens to an Eastern Conference Final last year and the Blues seem to have a much better team in front of him this year.
Thornton Suspended 2 Games for Hit on Perron 11/5
Colin Campbell has suspended San Jose Sharks captain Joe Thornton for a "blindside" hit on David Perron of the San Jose Sharks in a game on 11/4. The hit was covered in Thomas Krulikowski's Game of the Night Recap (11/4).
Game of the Night (11/4) Recap
Eh, so maybe T.J. Oshie wasn't the star of the game last night, but who called that two goal differential?!
The Blues handled the Sharks last night for a 2-0 victory. The unanimous first star was Jaro Halak, who stopped all 25 shots he faced. This guy is in playoff form and it's only the beginning of November. What a steal for the Blues!
In the opposite end, Niemi got the nod over Niittymaki which I had said in the game preview was unlikely but had wanted to see. Niemi played pretty solid and any time your team fails to score (especially with Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton and the rest of the Sharks offense) it's hard to win. Niemi made 27 saves on 29 shots, keeping the Sharks in it.
In the game preview I talked about puck control. Well, the Blues owned the puck. Despite going 0-7 on the power play, the Blues' numerous extra man efforts allowed them to establish offensive presence and rag the puck. On the other side of things, being constantly short-handed, the Sharks could not find their game until the 3rd. But then it was too little, too late.
The key to the game was definitely keeping the Sharks off the PP. The Blues only gave the Sharks 3 opportunities with an extra attacker. And stopped them all.
Joe Thornton was ejected a little over five minutes into the second for what they deemed to be a blind side hit to the head on Perron. Missing Big Joe didn't help their comeback efforts.
Looking at the replay this morning, I don't think there was anything Joe could do. Honestly. Perron had his head down and Thornton came in laterally, which is legal, and because his head was down, caught him. But I would guess he gets suspended. They are going to extremes with this new head shot rule. Thornton does have a conference call scheduled regarding that hit, Darren Dreger has reported.
My only problem is that this ruled is being used to protect players who have their heads down. If they had their heads up, it would not be head contact. This year we will see a lot of suspensions while they work out the kinks. Hopefully, they make a clause about players lowering their head and/or the player being checked's responsibility. If they don't, we will have guys skating with their heads down all over the ice so they can't get hit. But enough of this...here is the video of it:
The Blues handled the Sharks last night for a 2-0 victory. The unanimous first star was Jaro Halak, who stopped all 25 shots he faced. This guy is in playoff form and it's only the beginning of November. What a steal for the Blues!
In the opposite end, Niemi got the nod over Niittymaki which I had said in the game preview was unlikely but had wanted to see. Niemi played pretty solid and any time your team fails to score (especially with Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton and the rest of the Sharks offense) it's hard to win. Niemi made 27 saves on 29 shots, keeping the Sharks in it.
In the game preview I talked about puck control. Well, the Blues owned the puck. Despite going 0-7 on the power play, the Blues' numerous extra man efforts allowed them to establish offensive presence and rag the puck. On the other side of things, being constantly short-handed, the Sharks could not find their game until the 3rd. But then it was too little, too late.
The key to the game was definitely keeping the Sharks off the PP. The Blues only gave the Sharks 3 opportunities with an extra attacker. And stopped them all.
Joe Thornton was ejected a little over five minutes into the second for what they deemed to be a blind side hit to the head on Perron. Missing Big Joe didn't help their comeback efforts.
Looking at the replay this morning, I don't think there was anything Joe could do. Honestly. Perron had his head down and Thornton came in laterally, which is legal, and because his head was down, caught him. But I would guess he gets suspended. They are going to extremes with this new head shot rule. Thornton does have a conference call scheduled regarding that hit, Darren Dreger has reported.
My only problem is that this ruled is being used to protect players who have their heads down. If they had their heads up, it would not be head contact. This year we will see a lot of suspensions while they work out the kinks. Hopefully, they make a clause about players lowering their head and/or the player being checked's responsibility. If they don't, we will have guys skating with their heads down all over the ice so they can't get hit. But enough of this...here is the video of it:
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Game of the Night 11/4
Every night we here at zelePUCKin will try to preview a game that strikes us a THE game to watch.
Our inaugural Game of the Night goes to....The San Jose Sharks visiting the St. Louis Blues @8 pm Eastern
St. Louis is only a point out of the Central Division lead and owe a great deal of their success to their new goalie Jaro Halak. The Blues are a team with a young core, who are finally hitting their stride together. Eric Johnson, David Perron, David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund and Alex Pietrangelo compose the core. The Blues are riding a four game win streak, and with their undefeated home record are strong favorites.
It isn't everyday the San Jose Sharks come into a game as underdogs. But this year things have changed. San Jose sits in the middle of the Pacific Division. They are suffering from a downgrade in net as regular season all star (and playoff disappointment) Evgeni Nabokov left this off-season for Russia. Antti Niemi and Antero Niittymaki are the goalies for the team this year and have let up 26 goals against in 10 games played. It is not the amount of the goals they have let up that is concerning but, rather, the types and times they are let in. San Jose has fallen victim to soft goals at back-breaking times. Expect Niittymaki between the pipes in this one. Although, I would love to see Niemi get the nod.
This game will be won by puck control. Each of these teams likes to control the puck, and by that way control the tempo of the game. Which ever team can dictate puck control and tempo will surely have the better of the game. It should be a fast paced game with both of these teams owning the ability to capitalize on the rush. One big key to this game is the SJ powerplay. With the talent up front and defenseman Brian Boyle quarterbacking, the Sharks can be lethal on the powerplay any given night.
My guess: St. Louis stays out of the box and controls the puck for the majority of the game en route to a 4-2 victory.
Star of the game: T.J. Oshie
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="462" caption="Bruce Bennett/Getty Images"]
[/caption]
Our inaugural Game of the Night goes to....The San Jose Sharks visiting the St. Louis Blues @8 pm Eastern
St. Louis is only a point out of the Central Division lead and owe a great deal of their success to their new goalie Jaro Halak. The Blues are a team with a young core, who are finally hitting their stride together. Eric Johnson, David Perron, David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund and Alex Pietrangelo compose the core. The Blues are riding a four game win streak, and with their undefeated home record are strong favorites.
It isn't everyday the San Jose Sharks come into a game as underdogs. But this year things have changed. San Jose sits in the middle of the Pacific Division. They are suffering from a downgrade in net as regular season all star (and playoff disappointment) Evgeni Nabokov left this off-season for Russia. Antti Niemi and Antero Niittymaki are the goalies for the team this year and have let up 26 goals against in 10 games played. It is not the amount of the goals they have let up that is concerning but, rather, the types and times they are let in. San Jose has fallen victim to soft goals at back-breaking times. Expect Niittymaki between the pipes in this one. Although, I would love to see Niemi get the nod.
This game will be won by puck control. Each of these teams likes to control the puck, and by that way control the tempo of the game. Which ever team can dictate puck control and tempo will surely have the better of the game. It should be a fast paced game with both of these teams owning the ability to capitalize on the rush. One big key to this game is the SJ powerplay. With the talent up front and defenseman Brian Boyle quarterbacking, the Sharks can be lethal on the powerplay any given night.
My guess: St. Louis stays out of the box and controls the puck for the majority of the game en route to a 4-2 victory.
Star of the game: T.J. Oshie
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="462" caption="Bruce Bennett/Getty Images"]
[/caption]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)