MINI BTP: Vision For The Division (St. Louis Blues)

Brandon Mileski and Pat Micheletti preview the St. Louis Blues in their "Vision For The Division" Series on this episode of MINI BTP!

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hey, welcome to another episode ofMini BTP. We are continuing our vision
for the division series. I'm BrandonMoleski, He's Pat mcclody and Pata.
We're going from the bottom ups.We've already talked about the Chicago Blackhawks and
the Arizona Coyotes in the Central Division. If you've missed those, you can
listen back to those on the iHeartRadio app wherever get your podcasts. You
can also watch it at the KFINYouTube channel. Let's go move up to

(00:22):
the next team. That would beyour sixth place team in the Central Division.
Last season, the Saint Louis Blueshad a disappointing season for St.
Louis. I'm guessing they still thoughtthey were not necessarily in rebuild mode,
but maybe they are now. Afterthe Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O'Reilly era is
over, they've moved on from that. They decided to pay some of their
younger forwards, and they really didn'tdo a whole lot this summer. They

(00:47):
really didn't. Brandon, and youknow, I was just looking throughout the
whole division and some of the movesthat some of the teams have made,
and it appears to me, likea lot of these teams, and the
Blues are no exception that they're trying. Yeah, they're they're paying some of
their younger guys Kirou Thomas, butyou know they're they're they're adding guys that

(01:08):
you know, have been around whohaven't you know, like Kevin Hayes is
a new member of their team thatthey're just trying to, you know,
get a formidable team together and waitfor some of the younger draft picks kind
of like Minnesota has in their pipelineand you know, things like that.
So you know, and that's whyI look at at at some of these

(01:33):
teams and you know, they're allkind of similar and the Blues are no
different. Yeah, they really didn'tdo a whole lot this summer though.
At the beginning of the summer thekind of interesting storyline where it looked like
they were gonna have a big tradewith the Philadelphia Flyers, right and Tory
Tory Kruge had a no mover orno trade clause. Yeah, nixed the
deal, so that deal was off. The Blues end up get get Kevin

(01:55):
Hayes anyway center from Philadelphia just fora six round pick and really other than
that, they signed Oscar son Quest, who was was on the wild roster
at the end of last year.He resigned to Scott Prunovitch j a one
year, one way extension. Butother than that, you know, other
than hey, is there pretty muchrunning back the same team. Yeah,
they are, and you know theird has been suspect as of late.

(02:19):
You know, there's been a lotof talk about Paraco maybe being moved and
you know he wasn't moved, andand you have Nick Letty, now,
who I can't believe is a isa veteran UH back on that decourse.
So you know, I it's prettyironic with the with the Tory Cruz situation.

(02:42):
UH turns down the trade, whichhe has every right to do because
he signed a no move deal andthey gave that to him, so he
has that right. But now wejust find out he gets hurt UH an
offseason training and he's not to beavailable or be reevaluated till October first.

(03:04):
So UH, in a way,you know, it's great for a kid
like Scott Perunavich, who you knowcan jump in and run the power play
and and really get his chance.And you know the question with him is
is he gonna stay healthy. Whenhe's healthy, he's he's really really good
and uh but you know in histwo years now, he's he's gotten hurt

(03:27):
both years and you know, it'sbeen a tough grind. So we hope
he does well. You know,you talk about the blue line and it's
the one area of the team wherethey have a lot of experience coming back.
But I remember, you know,back when the Wild we're losing the
Blues in the playoffs. You know, a couple of years ago, a
team like they had all these bigtall trees and the Wild gets the wildcon
gets in the middle of the ice, and they've transformed their blue line over

(03:50):
the years of you know, thefolks not small, but he ain't the
biggest guy. He's more of apuck mover. Ye, Tory Krug's slight,
Nico Letty's not the biggest guy youmentioned, and Prunovic, you know,
break Old there's the one guy who'sstill a big, tall guy.
And I know, you know,you go back, you know, if
you go to their fifth, sixth, seventh defenseman, they have some taller
guys, but you look inside thetop four, it's a lot of you

(04:11):
know, under sized, puck movingdefenseman. And it goes to show you
how old we're getting Brandon. Ifyou recall, Marco Scandela and I were
at the Mall of America when hewas, uh, I think his rookie
year and and you know, wehad him and Spurgeon and a few guys
out out there and you know,talking to them, and you know,

(04:34):
he's a guy that you know canstill play a little bit. But again
he's getting up there in age andhe gets you know, he's off offt
injured and I think he missed geez, I don't know, half the season
last year due to injuries. Soyou know, they're they're they're getting they're

(04:54):
getting a little old back there also, and so you know, I think
they're in a trans asition, justlike a lot of teams in the division.
Before we get to their goaltending,which is a big time wild card,
let's let's talk about what they haveupfront path because as I mentioned,
they've they've you know, back whenthe Blues were going well, it seemed
like they always had three four stronglines and could get scoring from anywhere.

(05:17):
And you know, O'Reilly's gone andTara Sinko's gone, and they've lost some
others and you kind of look atit now and it's like for this team
to be successful up front, likeCairou and Robert Thomas gott to turn into
superstars, and I think they werethinking they were going to, and maybe
they still can. But last year, I don't know if that came to
fruition. They they just don't haveas much depth up front. I find

(05:39):
it really interesting brand and when whenyou're in A and and and they were
in a in A in a toptier role a year ago after the moves
and so forth and so on,but but they thrived when they were in
a secondary role. And I don'tknow if it's not feeling the pressure or
you know, just going out anddoing your thing, but now to be

(06:01):
you know, the keys are handedto you and you are expected to produce
every night, just like a caprisofjust like a Boldie Sucarello. You know,
those type players. And it'll bereally interesting to see how they handle
having to be the guys every night. They're gonna be on the power play
every night. They're gonna get themajority of the minutes, especially late in

(06:25):
games when you know if they needa goal. So how they handle it
will be a big factor and howthe Blues end up this year. All
right, let's talk about the goalie, Jordan Bitnington. I never know how
to get a read on this guythat because I mean, he's won a
Stanley Cup. Yep. You know, he came in in relief two years
ago against the Wild and did prettywell. Yet there are you're a moment,

(06:48):
especially last year during the season,where he's you know, he wants
to get in a fight with MarcAndre Fleury and like the Wild, we're
getting in his kitchen non stop,and Hartman was getting in his head and
he's a loose cannon man. AndI wouldn't write him off because he's won
a cup, but uh, like, he's not that goalie that you know
what you're gonna get out of himevery single game, And I think that

(07:08):
can be tricky for a team outin front of your goalie. Sometimes he's
one of those guys when he whenhe's focused and when he's on his game,
he's really good. But you know, as we saw it, he
can he can lose it and andonce he loses it, he doesn't just
lose it brand and he goes crazyand he wants to fight everyone and he

(07:30):
and he you know, and Idon't know, sometimes it's good. We
saw Patrick wa do that and someof the goalies in the past, and
and but they did it in away where, you know what, they
got their team fired up. Thisis old hat. You know, those
guys must sit on the bench.This is I'm melting down because I just
gave up three goals in two minutes, right, and it's like here we

(07:51):
go again. And and sometimes thatcan that can be a real detriment to
the players on the bench in frontof him. So yeah, he's uh,
he's a he's a wild card.You know. If he's when he's
on his game and playing well,you know, and focused, he's as
good as they get. Uh.You mentioned maybe the team in transition a

(08:13):
little bit. When you look attheir pipeline, they had three first round
picks in this in this previous draft, and they also they also have a
Jimmy Snuggerood Golden Gopher in the pipelineas well. Who I know, I
know, the Minnesota Wild We're goingto draft him if he would have fallen
to them. He uh, I'mreally really happy that he came back as
he needs another year of of justmaturity and and and really uh, you

(08:37):
know, even taking his game toa higher level. Could they have signed
him, could he be in theirlineup? You know, probably, But
but I think I think they're doingthe right thing with him and and uh
and I think this year of collegewill be really really good form. You
know, I'll say the same thingabout Logan Cooley, both guys. Skill
wise, I'm ready to play inthe National Hockey League. But there's more

(09:00):
to it than just skill. It'smaturity, It's it's playing with the veterans,
it's learning the league, it's playingin a long, long season and
getting used to that. So manymany things involved. But the Blues got
a good one in Snugger, that'sfor sure, all right, Pat.
Where will these Saint Louis Blues finishin the Central Division this season? Well,

(09:22):
I think they're gonna be like someother teams that they're gonna they're gonna
buy for a playoff spot, andyou know, we'll have to see how.
You know, right now, Iwould say probably not make the playoffs,
but you know they're gonna be inthat mix to make it. Also,
yeah, I agree with you.I think they'll kind of be.
There's a bunch of teams that willbe jumbled up in that four to six

(09:45):
range in the division. I thinkthey could they could easily be six,
and they could easily be fourth.All Right, Thanks Pat, We'll talk
about the National Predators on our nextepisode of a mini BTP. Thanks for
joining. Yeah, sounds good.Thanks. He's Pat mclatty. I'm Brandon
will ASKI. This has been anotherepisode of Mini BTP. Like I said,
we'll talk about the Predators next.Thank you. Bye,