My Blues are killing me

[fungchen3]

Pietrangelo and Shattdeuces are killing me right now. Luckily Doughty has picked it up, Subban has been beastly and Yandle a rock. If my two Blues don't get going tonight I am in big trouble. Anyone else frustrated by this or am I on an island??

[Shiva Blaster]

I know this is in the Keeper D section, but I own Backes and I'm currently in the finals of my H2H keeper league.....other than a few hits and a single assist, he's been silent lately. I think all owners of St. Louis Blues offensive players definitely share in your frustration....they have been playing great defensive hockey, but they are stagnant offensively.

Last week, the Blues were winning on shutouts and scoring from the 3rd and 4th lines, screwing the rest of us.........the last couple of games, their offense has completely dried up and they've lost.

Hopefully we see an offensive outburst tonight, although a stingy Canucks team doesn't exactly bode well.

[Wotan]

I also own backes... next 3 games are at home for the blues, hopefully this helps....

[SeaDawg]

yeap, I've been complaining about this in a bunch of threads around here. It has gotten so bad for me that about 2 weeks ago I started watching St. Louis games closely to see if I could figure out what was going on and give myself some hope that things would turn around.

Well, I'm sad to say I have no hope for the future. Hitchcock is fully to blame here.

When he went out and got Leopold and then later JBo, he had the defensive pairings he needed to properly implement his system, and the bad news for us fantasy owners is that his system has been working (the team has won 5 of their last 6 games, I believe). Even though they are winning, they aren't doing it by scoring a lot of goals. They are relying on their power play and capitalizing on turnovers. Shattenkirk and Leopold are one pairing, and getting PP time together, and Pietrangelo and JBo are another pairing, often getting secondary PP duty. Pietrangelo and JBo are getting most of the defensive zone starts and going up against the other team's best players. Pietrangelo is hardly generating any offensive chances, as he is really concentrating on defense now. Shattenkirk is generating some opportunities, but not many, partially because the forwards in front of him are doing nothing of significance either. Unless the PP turns around, Shattenkirk won't get many points going forward, and you can pretty much write off Pietrangelo's offense.

I'm not saying things won't change next year when the forwards mature and get better, but right now they simply aren't creating much offense and I don't see any of the forwards on this team getting more than 60 pts next year.

[SeaDawg]

Here are some related threads:

http://forums.dobbersports.com/showthread.php?t=151797

http://forums.dobbersports.com/showthread.php?t=151696

[fungchen3]

I also own Backes and Tarasenko but more concerned about my D paring. Ugh.

[VincentVega]

Somehow I've managed to collect four Blues: Oshie, Stewart, Schwartz and Jaskin. That's too many but I like the potential of the last two. But currently I'm getting nothing out of the first two: Oshie's injured and Steward is slumping.

[27Blue]

it's not hitch's fault. gotta let that one go.... the team is still in the top half of the league in goals scored despite their offensive woes as of late. and the blues really don't play any different of style than any of the other playoff bound teams in the league. the only real difference is that they don't have any difference makers on offense. maybe tarasenko, but he is on such a short leash right now due to his soft game and lack of defensive awareness that he is getting short shifts and he isn't helping the offence much either. the problem is the players - not the coach. having jaskin on the team will help, so will having oshie return... not because either of these guys is going to get the offence going on their own, but it should create some competition for a spot in the line-up. the team, as a whole, is playing good defence right now but the offence does need to get going without sacrificing the other side of the puck. andymac has been awful all season and he really doesn't deserve to be playing right now. sit him and put jaskin in for a few games. then when oshie is ready in another game or two, sit the next weakest link and give andy another shot, then do the same for the next game. hitch basically said that with the extra bodies now, anyone who isn't going full tilt will sit a game and he will keep rotating for the sake of competition. the team needs to get their offence going before the playoffs start. i think there will be some changes to the core of this team over the summer and we will see some pieces moving out for a legit center... backes and berglund are a good duo for the number two and three lines, but I can see the blues making a move for a number one over the summer. i know it is easier said than done. joe thorton anyone? probably not, but army is going to try....

[BlackGold]

maybe tarasenko, but he is on such a short leash right now due to his soft game and lack of defensive awareness that he is getting short shifts and he isn't helping the offence much either.

Sigh, that was the last thing I wanted to hear about a young Russian stud on a hitchcock team. Way to ruin my day!

[Shiva Blaster]

Yeah, Tarasenko is probably the only real elite offensive difference maker on that team. Backes isn't expected to put up elite numbers, but he's been snake-bitten and has scored at well below hit career average rate thus far. He's also been quiet in the peripheral stats lately too, which is where is value really lies...I need him to come through big with some PPP, a fighting major or pile of PIMs, a shp, and really make a difference. I hope he comes out and plays nasty against the canucks tonight.

[SeaDawg]

it's not hitch's fault. gotta let that one go.... the team is still in the top half of the league in goals scored despite their offensive woes as of late. and the blues really don't play any different of style than any of the other playoff bound teams in the league. the only real difference is that they don't have any difference makers on offense. maybe tarasenko, but he is on such a short leash right now due to his soft game and lack of defensive awareness that he is getting short shifts and he isn't helping the offence much either. the problem is the players - not the coach. having jaskin on the team will help, so will having oshie return... not because either of these guys is going to get the offence going on their own, but it should create some competition for a spot in the line-up. the team, as a whole, is playing good defence right now but the offence does need to get going without sacrificing the other side of the puck. andymac has been awful all season and he really doesn't deserve to be playing right now. sit him and put jaskin in for a few games. then when oshie is ready in another game or two, sit the next weakest link and give andy another shot, then do the same for the next game. hitch basically said that with the extra bodies now, anyone who isn't going full tilt will sit a game and he will keep rotating for the sake of competition. the team needs to get their offence going before the playoffs start. i think there will be some changes to the core of this team over the summer and we will see some pieces moving out for a legit center... backes and berglund are a good duo for the number two and three lines, but I can see the blues making a move for a number one over the summer. i know it is easier said than done. joe thorton anyone? probably not, but army is going to try....

yeah, you have said this before in another thread, but we will just have to disagree about this. I do believe Hitchcock is the main reason this team isn't scoring. Historically, all of Hitchcock's teams play this way. Maybe other teams are playing solid defense also, but Hitchcock's teams take it to another level (similar to Nashville). I also blame Hitchcock for the situation Shattenkirk and, more importantly, Pietrangelo find themselves in. Pietrangelo just doesn't have the opportunity to generate offense right now because of the way Hitchcock is using him. I know this is the best for the Blues, but it isn't very helpful for my fantasy squad.

The Blues are 15th in the league in scoring, but if they played all season they way they have been the last 15-20 games, they would be lower in the league in goals for.

But it isn't just the goal scoring. It is the goal-scoring opportunities. I agree that they don't have any superstar players and that is why they are playing the system they are playing, but ultimately this leads to fewer quality scoring chances and all the numbers for all players on the team are going to suffer.

There is a reason Shattenkirk and Pietrangelo in particular have pretty much disappeared from the boxscores over the last 20 games after being among the league leaders early on. They haven't lost any talent; Hitchcock is simply forcing them to play a different game.

[Rocky71]

Have to admit, I'm dissapointed by Pietrangelo's offensive output. He's currently on 41 point pace (82 game schedule). I had him pegged for the Norris, and a consitent 50 point pace. I've not given up on him, but am more convinced more than ever that D's (with a few rare exceptions) are a crapshoot, from one year to the next.

[SeaDawg]

Have to admit, I'm dissapointed by Pietrangelo's offensive output. He's currently on 41 point pace (82 game schedule). I had him pegged for the Norris, and a consitent 50 point pace. I've not given up on him, but am more convinced more than ever that D's (with a few rare exceptions) are a crapshoot, from one year to the next.

a 41 pt pace doesn't sound all that bad, but if you consider he got most of those points early on in the season and only has 2 pts in his last 14 games, his numbers are not very impressive at all

the same can pretty much be said for Shattenkirk's numbers

[27Blue]

pietrangelo has had a rough year... nothng close to where he was at the second half of last season. that said, he has played his best hockey all year the past 10 games (give or take). i really don't think hitch has used pietrangelo any different this year, even after jaybo arrived. in fact, if you go to behind the net and look at his zone starts, you can see that nothing has changed in his on ice situation/usage. what has changed is that the forwards have quit scoring and unless you name is erik karlsson, a defenceman's point output relies heavily on forwards doing their job putting the puck in the net. well, that hasn't been happening lately for the blues, and as a result, both pietrangelo and shatty's numbers have suffered.

[blayze]

My Blues are absolutely kicking ass! They are single handedly winning my weekly H2H matchups during these playoffs.

And by "Blues" I mean solely Brian Elliott