2025-26 St. Louis Blues Season Preview Show

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It’s a 5-minute weekly St. Louis Blues podcast hosted by Jeff Ponder that is released multiple times a week to fill the gap between Let’s Go Blues radio episodes. Subscribe today. So awesome. So handsome. So smart. You’ll agree. Kirch, Jeff, and Bill are on TV. It’s radio on TV. Oh yeah. It’s radio on TV. From St. Louis. I am Jeff Ponder and I’m joined by those two dirty rotten scoundrels, Kurt Price and Bill Day. We’re bringing you the often imitated, never duplicated Sophie Cunningham’s favorite podcast, the original St. Louis Blues hockey podcast, Let’s Go Blues Radio. This is the premiere of season 15 and the 529th episode all time. The L Let’s Go Blues Minute uh makes its triumphant return for a second season. So find it wherever you get podcasts. It provides you with a daily look into the St. Louis Blues in a quick hit fashion. More on the Let’s Go Blues Minute coming up. It’s Wednesday, October 1st, and we’re coming to you live tonight. We preview the much anticipated 202526 season for the St. Louis Blues. We look at Dom Dumbass’s predictions, and we’ll let you know or let you in on a little secret. They’re going to be wrong. All that and more on this alcohol infused episode of Let’s Go Blues Radio. I am, of course, joined by Kurt and Bill. It’s been a long summer. I haven’t seen you guys since the AMA show. Welcome to season 15. Thank you. Uh it’s really great to be here. I bet. Um Dom’s wrong. What? That’s Do do we even have to talk about that? Cuz he’s he’s always wrong, you know. So, we had uh uh Jeremy Rutherford on the closer of season 14. And he did tell me because for those of you who listen, he talked about how he tells him every year like, “Dude, what are you doing?” Like, I gotta defend you every year with this stuff and stop it, you know? And uh he told me off air, and I think it’s okay that I say this. Dom apparently loves the criticism. Apparently, he just eats it up. So, I’m sure he is loving the Blues fans coming after him. But do you know why he probably eats it up? Because he thinks he’s right. Well, yeah, clicks and money. Yeah, I mean, it’s views, but um I’m sure he feels him and his model are correct. I mean, but even though even though he often comes back and says, “Yeah, well, you know, we had to revise the model because of this and that last year because it didn’t really I mean, okay, whatever.” Yeah. I I think, you know, we it’s it’s an annual talking point for us, right? So, we we enjoy it, too. We enjoy that he has to go back and you know and I think every good data scientist does that right they tweak their model but you know he’s so boisterous about it he’s got to be public about the changes he makes so we’ll we’ll dig on that and uh yeah so I uh I I also think you know that we we can stick with this long enough to figure out exactly what his biases are in his model and hint Hint, it’s Colorado. Yep. Uh, we got a couple comments coming in. I’m showing them showing them on screen right now. So, if you are listening to the podcast, you’re missing out because I’m not going to read them. So, boohoo. We were going to put we were going to put those on screen this year, weren’t we? We should uh we should look into doing that. Yeah. I mean, we could probably start it. Let’s pay them. Well, we got them all the ads. It’s our Patreon. Yeah. Well, unfortunate, but hey. Yeah, we This is a new option that we have. So, we get to actually show the comments coming in live. I’m a little nervous to do that with some people like Matt Harris in the chat, but uh we’ll make it happen eventually. Yeah, you’re right. We need to rework that with the ads. So, we’ll do that some point this season. Um so, we got a couple announcements at the stop start of the show. First of all, let’s talk about what or who Jeff is wearing. I was going to ask about this. Oh, yeah. I mean, I know. I know. It’s It’s the terrible. So, for those of you on the podcast, it’s you, if you’ve been to a Blues game, you’ve seen them in the store. It’s one of those jackets that the suit jacket, the sports blazer. It’s a clown. It’s the clown ones. It’s the It’s the blue ret. It’s a blue uh clown jerseys. But I will say as a stupid jacket to just wear because I’m an eccentric idiot, I love it. But as a hockey jersey, no. Yeah. Yeah. It’s this is possibly the only form in which those that design should be worn at this point in I agree 100%. So I am I am all classed out for uh for today’s episode. Yeah. And the uh the red butterfly collar of that sweet uh all all that’s an all black all black hockey right. Yeah, that’s that’s sweet. I was excited. He even gave me the Ponder 94 up here, which is awesome. Yeah, he sends these to me with every jersey order I make. So like these little I call them bowling cures as they look. You You have the collar sticking outside the jacket. You’re that guy, huh? Where’s your gold chain? Well, it’s because this is red. I had to get the red popping. Okay. All right. Get some visine, Jeff. Maybe I will get some visine. Get the red out. Yeah. There you go. Uh I like this. Joe Schmo. Uh the blazer of atrocity. Uh hell yeah. I I’ll take that. Uh Justin Scott, I love it, Jeeoff. I love suit jackets. Yeah, good man. Uh we all like to look classy sometimes. Speaking of Let me know when you get there. Yeah, one day. One day I’ll get there. Um, uh, speaking of Justin Scott, our first announcement, the Bluenote fan report welcomed a new member this summer. So, for those of you who know, that is our friend Guy Bening, uh, the Hawaii Blues fan, which I don’t think does he still live in Hawaii? I’ve been seeing him at Blues games more and more. So, I wonder if he moved back. You he can’t call himself the Hawaii Blues fan anymore if he’s not from He is the St. Louis Blues fan, I guess, now cuz he was he was not born there, right? Was he born He wasn’t born there. No, no, no, no, no. He was so he just lived there. Yeah. Well, he he moved there, I think, after he was done in the military. Yeah. Some military, whatever the branch was. So, um, but anyway, so our friend Justin Scott is his new co-host. So, um, if you’re interested, if you’ve listened to Guy’s show before, you know, it’s passionate, fan driven, good stuff. Um, give it a listen as our friend Justin Scott has joined the show. They do YouTube, Facebook streams, wherever you get podcasts, and they also like us are the only other Blues podcast that do live streams. So, uh, very exciting. Oh, Justin says he does still live in Hawaii. Okay. So, why would you I was going to say I saw him at a I saw him at a Blues game maybe last year and I know he just went to the game I think yesterday with just What’s going on? All right. What? What just happened? I have no idea. Okay, that was Oh, that’s not right. What? Stop it. All right, you do it. You do it. Okay. Um, we’re having some technological differences here on the show. Sorry, everybody. All of a sudden, you were gone. I’m like, “Oh, I’ll just take over, I guess.” Did we yank Austin’s producer credentials or is he is he in the background [ __ ] with us? No, I would I if he was, I would I would boot him. I don’t know what happened there, but anyway, Blue Node fan report guy and Justin, congrats, Justin. Welcome to the podcast community. Um, yeah. Yeah, don’t pee in the pool. Don’t pee in the pool. Yeah, we That’s the one rule we have here. Uh, yeah, Brian Roberts first show chaos. Yeah, I don’t know what that was. That was weird as hell. That’s never happened before. Um, I think it was you left and I think it was too, but I have no idea what happened. Uh, apparently he tries uh uh Guy tries to travel once a year. So, okay. I’m sure he tries to take in multiple games when he does that. I was in Hawaii. Amen. I went to Hawaii this last summer. Did you see Guy? No, we were on Kawaii. Did you see a sign that said home of the Hawaii Blues fan? No. Actually, when we flew over the Big Island to get to Kawaii, uh, we saw it was out the left side of the window. Uh, you know, we we did we did see um a little like a halo over in a portion of he lives on the big island, right? I think I think so. Yeah. Um, so I think that’s where Guy was. You know, that’s from Guy. Little halo. Guy gets a halo. Could have been like a, you know, you know, a gas a gas plume or something. Or that’s that’s possible. So stupid. Um, all right. Uh, let’s move on from that. Um, uh, we I want to give a quick shout out to a new listener of the show. Rose, the manager of the Kirkwood Massage Lux is a new listener of the show. So, I spoke with her. I go to her location all the time. It’s an excellent uh they got some excellent massuses there. My favorite uh is there and she is just does an incredible job. So, um Yes. Uhhuh. You look like you’re getting ready to say something. No. Well, I was I was gonna say when do they become a sponsor of the show? They did not. No, friend. When? When will they? When will they? So, yeah. So, I you know, maybe we can pit them against the Edwardsville location, which I frequent. We can we can have a little uh little street hockey competition between There you go. Little street hockey with the massage lux therapist. That’s That would be incredible. I would love that. So anyway, Rose, thanks for listening. Uh, much appreciated. And of course, thank you everyone for listening. 15 seasons. This is unbelievable. Uh, I can’t believe we’re still doing this. It’s the Robbie Fabry year. It is. It’s the Craig Jany year. Craig Janney year. Yep. Peter Sena. Uh, [Music] uh, oh, Peter. That was in Lion King. Um, also make sure Okay, I have to do Mark Reeds. It’s before all of your time. Oh, Mark Reeds. Yeah, that uh he did a album with um Metallica, right? I think so. Yeah. Was that Lou Reed? No, that was definitely Lou Reed. No, he did Eastbound and Down. Okay, we’re getting we’re already off track and we’re 12 minutes into the show. All right, check out the summer shows as well. For those of you who may be tuning in for the first time this season, we did have shows all summer. Uh we did take the month of June pretty much off, but um we were uh we were back and we had some fun shows. We unveiled our new logo. We uh did an AMA with the three of us and uh I had some awesome guests like uh Jeremy Rutherford was on last week as I said. Um, we had uh our friend Steven Ground came on, hockey documentarians. I said it right this time, fellas. And uh, congratulations. Thank you. And, uh, we also had some old friends of the show come on. A lot of fun. Always some good interviews uh, during that time. So, make sure you go back and check those out. Last announcement, I promise the Let’s Go Blues Minute. Uh, we are back. We will be back next week and we have a new sponsor uh Midstates hockey. So for those of you who played high school hockey in the area, you may have um know you may have played for Midstates. Uh many high schools in the area point to me. Yeah, me and you did 100%. Yep. Uh what I forgot what was your high school? CBC. That’s what I thought. Yeah. I I for some reason I’m like did he go there all four years? And and I’m dumb. He went six. He got his doctorate. CBC didn’t quite have the six-year plan. No, I I went there for four years, played hockey for three. Um, so nice. Okay. Okay. So, three. Okay. Cool. Yeah. So, same for me. I I played uh three years for Midstates. So, they are uh coming on as our sponsor this year. We want to thank uh Puck Doku for sponsoring last year. And unfortunately, Bill, we’re not going to be talking about our scores anymore. Um, which we, you know, we can just do it on this show for fun. Why not? Yeah. I’m I’m out of practice, but I am too. I I actually I I’m was working on um my my goalending history um knowledge uh so I could come back stronger than ever. Um so, we’ll have to do it at some point. Yep. 100%. Um, sorry. Since we are on TV now, I need to start noting whenever we have curse words, and we have one right now on the screen. So, um, what is it? What do you What do you have against uh June Cleaver? She was a lovely woman. Clever. Nice. She’s a lovely woman. Uh, and then uh yeah, and Matt Harris says, “That Ratherford episode was legit, man. Good time.” Yeah, always good time with Jeremy. Uh, such a down to earth fun guy. Um, we’ll have to have him on during the season at some point. So anyway, uh the new sponsor we wanted to mention real quick because it’s actually starting this Friday. So, uh for anyone in the area, especially if you’re in the Edwardsville area, Bert Bur and Kill Bur and Kill. Bert and Kill. That’s that’s that sounds like the name of a good podcast right there. Straight. That’ll be our side pickle ballishing podcast. There you go. The Burton Hill episode. So, the St. Louis Blues apparent I didn’t know they did this. Apparently every year they sponsor the uh Edwardsville Tigers versus Midstates and it’s hockey fights cancer nights and it’s uh games from October to January all at the RP Lumber Center there in Edwardsville right there at the Edwardsville High School uh campus. Um and uh yeah, they the opening weekend is this weekend. So Friday, October 10th, it kicks off with Edwardsville and Oakville, which is my team, my local team. uh 7:45 p.m. They’re calling it the Clash of the Cats. October 11th is uh Collinsville and Parkway Central. They play at 5:15 on Saturday. This is the only Saturday game as they’ve got a ton of games. I believe it’s 10 uh games they will play for uh from October to January for Hockey Night Fights Cancer. All proceeds obviously go to local charities. Uh all games are at the RP Lumber Center and all games will be on Friday nights. Uh, if you have want more information, make sure you check out tigershfc.com. That is tigers with an s and then hockey fightscancerhfc.com. So, if you want to go to one of those games, which I recommend you do and I think I will probably go. I don’t think I’ll make Friday, but would love to go to a game. So, if you guys are available Friday nights anytime in the next couple months, could be fun to check out one of those games. So, uh, definitely check that out and support some local charities, uh, for Hockey Fights Cancer. I assume it I assume it costs to get in. Do you know what it cost? Yeah, I’m not sure what the door is. It might be 10 10 or 15. Um, but I know it’s not much. So, um, and I think they’ve got like, again, I’m I’m I just learned about this tonight as Midstate signed on this evening at like 8:00. So, uh, I’m just learning myself, but I think they’ve got like raffles and other things going on, too, to help raise some money. So, we uh did the tour did the tour of the RP Lumber Center in Wville. And if you’re watching on Intrigue TV, you have seen that a few times because that’s a good bumper. It’s like eight minutes old shows. Nice. Nice. Free advertising for Lumber. That’s right. Well, folks, beers of the episode. Let’s get into it. Official beers of episode number 529. You can follow each of us on the Untapped app. Uh I am J. Ponder 94. for Curts at C price froze again. Oh, or is it me? The uh my favorite is back. You fro you froze. You were gone for about five minutes. What’s happening? You know what? I am going to turn this hockey game off. Maybe that’ll help. I don’t know what is going on tonight. Well, your inner tubes are clogged, I guess. So, uh so I have the fallen pumpkin beer. It is back. uh Urban Chestnut re-released it and I thought it was interesting when I saw it come out. I don’t know if you guys have seen it or picked any up. They don’t have any It’s literally the old label. They don’t have Urban Chestnut anywhere on there. So, I was wondering. So, Amy and I were at the Belleville um car show last weekend or two weekends ago and they had Oalon beer there. I was like, I thought they went out of business. Ofallen Brewery closed and there was Oalon beer there and uh I think it was the pumpkin beer on tap and I was like, “Huh, what is that about?” So they’re just using the old labels with the Oalon name on it. That’s weird. Yeah, it’s the exact I mean it’s it’s same the same top everything like the same exact thing. Maybe it’s just this beer left over. No, Chestnut took it on and they’re they said that they’re going to brew it with recipe and stuff like that. So Okay. So they’re given family just leave it. They may have they may have been able to acquire excess labels and such. Yeah, that could be very possible. Okay. Yeah, cuz they shut down I think I think it was last summer. So they might have already printed a bunch of labels and they were just like, “Hey, if you’re going to re-release our beer, take all these labels, please.” Yeah. You think they Urban Chestnut’s name is not anywhere on it? Anywhere? No. Not like website. There’s nothing on the bottom that’s like, you know, urban chestnut. Nothing. I’ve I’ve studied this bottle a few times. The fact there’s not a even a cap for urban chestnut. You think they could just put their cap on it? That’s weird. It makes me think I don’t know. I have questions. I have questions. I have so many questions. Uh, all right. Well, let’s go ahead and get to Let’s see. Who do I have next? It’s uh Bill or sorry, Kurt, you are next. Uh tonight I am sporting um shock top is gone again. Later later buddy I do not know what at commercial I might reset. So you guys might need to run with the beginning of uh after commercial. I am rocking the shock top twister pretzel wheat. I am a big fan of pretzel beers and uh this the sweet spot this time of year for pretzel beers. So, I have that. Got this for my birthday from some some of my good friends, uh, pickle ball friends. So, they got the got me a six-pack. So, I am drinking it tonight and it’s quite good. I like it. Yeah. You You guys like pretzel beer? Oh, yeah. Very good. Yeah. I I have never met a pretzel beer I didn’t like. I never met I didn’t like I like the I do like I think it was I think Fallon Brewery had a good pretzel beer. And I don’t know if it’s going to be out this year, but um yeah, I don’t think so. I think the only one that they’re re-releasing are the pumpkin. It’s because that was their biggest seller. Okay, that’s all. Uh Bill, I uh am taking a pause on beer for a few weeks, so I just have my trusty hydrogen dioxide in the blue tumbler. Nice. Is it flavored or just just standard old? It is. It is not Collinsville tap because that’ll kill me. It’s it’s it’s a filtered Mville tap. Okay. I’m a I I I drink a ton of water, but I’m a I’m a flavored water guy. I’ll buy those uh flavor the the flavor little things you squirt or whatever. Mio there’s a bunch of There’s Mio. There’s a couple other brands and then Shnooks has their own brand which is cheaper which I buy because they taste the same. But uh yeah, I love those things. Yeah, my son is we try to get him to drink more water and he is awful about it. So uh we’ve started buying those too and he does drink those pretty well. So that does help. Do you buy the Mio brand or you buy like the Shnooks brand or whatever? Whatever’s there. Um you know, I haven’t bought the Shnooks brand yet. I might have to try those. Hey, they have a ton of them and different flavors and they’re cheaper. So look at those. Bill, you got a question in the chat here. Justin Scott, did you just say you don’t like pretzels? Oh god, no. That was the opposite. I I said I love beer and pretzels. Yes, me too. Me. Oh, yeah. Beer. Pretzels. Tough to beat. Beer, pretzels, beer, peanuts. Yeah. Schneider. The Snider’s nuggets. Yes. Oh, with with like October Fest beer. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So good. So good. That’s why I’m not like I I’ve got a vacation coming up at the end of October and I don’t want to be carrying a ton of weight with me um for this thing. So, uh otherwise I would be drinking October Fest and probably pounding a bag of Sners. That that that’s you know if Yeah. If I ever had to put up a dating profile that would probably be it somewhere drinking beer and pounded pretzels. Pounded pretzels. pretzels of beer. There you go. Brian Roberts, uh, flavor my water with hops barley. There you go. Very nice. Nice. Um, let’s go ahead and take a break because I want to reset my router because I’m getting pissed off. So, let’s uh let’s do that. Um, so uh there’s a chance I will not be here when you guys get back. So, Kurt, I’ll let you uh take point if that happens. But when we get back, we will talk about Cam Fowler’s new contract extension and uh we’ll also talk about what the roster currently looks like. We’ll break down uh Dom Leumb Boykin, his stuff, and then any other things to do with a season preview. I was going to call him a name, but uh I don’t want to do it because of uh Intrigue TV. Go ahead. What is it? Stupid Intrigue TV. Saying uh Dom the dumb [ __ ] That’ll work. I mean, you saw what I called him in the outline, right? Look at you marking down. So, yeah, that’s what I’m doing every time. Yep. Uh, anyway, we will be right back, folks. Don’t go anywhere. Enjoy this commercial break. these messages. We’ll be right back. Every hockey team needs that clutch player who knows when to pass, when to shoot, and when to take charge. In real estate, that superstar is Mike Burggoyne of Real Brokerage Realy. Whether you’re buying your first home or selling your current one, Mike skates circles around the competition with his knowledge, hustle, and downto-earth approach. And here’s the real zone ability. If you’re a first responder, veteran, doctor, nurse, teacher, or even just a loyal Let’s Go Blues Radio listener, you’ll score special rates when you work with Mike. Got questions? Fire them at him. He’ll answer quicker than Bill Day’s glove hand. Obstacles in your way? He’ll plow through them harder than I would in a goalmouth scramble. And when it comes time to close, he’ll put it in the back of the net faster than a Kirk Price shot from the slot. So don’t just settle for an ordinary realtor. Get the MVP on your side. Visit strikewithmike.com or email him at mike strikewithmike.com today. Mike Burggoyne, the real estate teammate you can always count on. The battle for the top spot in the league is on the line. Many warriors have entered the concrete jungle, but when the smoke clears, only one will remain. They all want it, but only one shall have it. Hide your children. Lock your doors. Those with weak stomachs should almost certainly look away. This is big boy pickle ball. You have been warned. [Music] already know that you love hockey and you obviously already love the Let’s Go Blues Radio podcast, But what about filling the gap between weekly Let’s Go Blues radio episodes. That’s where the LGB Minute comes in. Hosted by Jeff Ponder, the LGB Minute is an entertaining, down and dirty 5minut St. Louis Blues podcast released multiple times a week to keep you informed of all things St. Louis Blues. So, make sure to subscribe to the LGB Minute anywhere you listen to podcasts. Like right now, do it now. Just click subscribe. It’s easy. Please now. And now back to Let’s Go Blues Radio, the running St. Louis Blues podcast with Price Ponder and Day. All right, we’re back. We are Wh Let me change the uh template here because uh we’re ads. Yeah. And he said he was going to reboot his router. I’m like, “Where your computer?” Right. How could the router impact that? Like what’s going on? I don’t know. You never know, right? But I’m like, do the it just right over my head. I’m like, I’m gonna reboot my router. Like, okay. Um, maybe it’s this connection. Maybe that’s why. I don’t know. Um, so there was uh we got some comments here in the chat. Where’s the chat? There it is. Um, Matt Harris, pretzel pounder 26 was my grinder username through college. Nice beauty. And that’s true story. So, and oh, uh, Ponder is back. Am I gonna let him in? No. H, there you go. There he is. How’d that router reboot go for you? Uh, fantastic. I think it worked, so we’ll see. All right. Yeah. Well, we were just uh talking about Matt Harris and his his nickname throughout college was pretzel pounder 26. His his he he he he let us in on that tidbit. So, uh and then uh Brandon Toma in the chat says, “Anyone holding off on fall beer with the warm temperatures? I can’t get into it yet.” I was there, but then when we had our false fall, uh, which was what about three weeks ago, I started getting into October Fest and I’m like, it’s gonna get hot again. But at this point, I’m invested. So, Yep. October Fest and pumpkin beer all the all the time now for me. Yeah. Just just crank up the AC, drink it inside. Mhm. Yep. Exactly. Yeah. I I did still buy some summer candy for when I have to do my last uh lawnmowing job, but uh that might have been last week. I think I’m done. I you know for me a summer shandi is just I it’s good year round. I don’t know. I like it. Yep. It’s although Yeah. And but pumpkin beer, pretzel beer, you know, the the darker, heavier stuff, uh that’s a rough go for me in the summer when it’s hot. So Yep. It it depends, right? It’s depends. If you’re inside, it’s air conditioned. It’s cold, it’s chilly. Exactly. Right. A good dessert beer. If you’re outside in the park at the end of 92 degrees, you can drink a stout. Yeah. No, no, no, nope. But no, I I have I have a ton of candy left and you know, I have I have a very good mix in my beer fridge once I decide to go open it up again. Uh you guys get to Cam Fowler yet? Nope. Uh not. All right. Well, let’s get into it. Cam Fowler agreed to a three-year 18.3 million contract extension. That is 6.1 million AAV. his current contract, he is making 6.5 million, so he does take a little bit of a pay cut, which is perfect because he’s getting older. Uh he appeared in 51 regular season games with the Blues last season, posted uh 36 points, including nine goals and eight penalty minutes. As a blue, he ranked 10th among all NHL defenseman in points and fourth in even strength points last season. Uh it was 28 even strength points. Uh also played in all seven Blues postseason games. set a franchise record for points in a single series by a defenseman with two goals and eight assists. Had an excellent playoff. Uh, personally, I love this signing. I think it was it I I was telling my brother last night as as we were at the game. Um, if this would have been one more year, four years, I think I would have been like three years I think is perfect. I think at that point you can assess does he have anything left in the tank after this and if you want to sign him after that for a season maybe you can talk him down to two or three million but I think this was a perfect contract signing thoughts. Um, it’s I there was some talk early in the the offseason from fans who wanted to resign him, but there was a big contingent that was like, “Don’t do it now. Wait until a third of the way through the season or whatever to make sure he’s still the guy he was last year and it wasn’t just a new team bump.” Um, so I’m and I haven’t heard a lot of negative feedback about this contract. I like it. Um, it’s three years. It’s not It’s not going to kill you. Um, and I looked up how old is he? He’s 31 How old is he? Fowler. Uh, it’s not on hockey reference. 31, I believe. See, that’s not 31 is is a I think a three-year contract for a 31-y old that played the way he did last year and has the career that he’s had is 33. Okay. A little older than we thought. That’s a little different. Yeah. I’ll walk that one back a little bit. I’ll walk it back a little bit. Um, yeah. I mean, you had to sign him though. I mean, you could What are you going to do? You going to not sign the guy and just let him play out this year and then have a weird uh off seasonason where you’re trying to sign him before he becomes a free agent or sign during the season. Um, I guess there’s something to said for waiting to see how he plays this season. I get it. Um, I get I get the sentiment there, but you know, I I how often that doesn’t happen too often. A guy in a contract year is is is playing his last his final season without a contract. Um then there’s questions about during the season. I’m sure he doesn’t want to have that hanging over and I’m sure the team doesn’t want to mess with it during the season. So, and if they sign him anyway, it’s probably going to be three years maybe. So, you know, I guess get it done now. It’s not a it’s not a crazy amount either. So, I’m I’m fine with it. I like it. I mean, if it and if he plays almost as good as it did last year or up to that, I mean, my god, he was fantastic last season, right? So, I I love it. Um, you know, he he was such a great fit with this team and everybody took to him right away. The chemistry with, you know, with the group was immediately apparent. So, that that is huge. But it’s, you know, finally a an older defenseman that didn’t get, you know, the six year, six and a half per, right? So it breaks that string, but it it and it also kind of, you know, is is the the bright line point where we can say we’re over that era, right? Nick Ley is gone. Marco Scandela is gone. Tory Krug unfortunately will not play in the NHL ever again, right? all of those guys that got the six and a half, right? We have we have Faulk, we have Pareo, right? And now we have Fowler locked up until he’s 36. You know, probably a little past his prime, 37. Very effective. Very effective. Like you said, his playoff last year was, you know, that Blues record, right? So, uh, that’s crazy. I couldn’t be happy happier that that he’s Yeah. You know, And Krug uh has two more years left on his contract um this year next. And he is 34 right now. So he would be 36 when his contract is technically up. So yeah. I mean so you said 37, Jeff. He’s going to be the contract. He’ll be 37. Yeah. Kicks in. His new contract kicks in next year after. Right. Right. Yeah. It’ll be 37. Correct. So yeah, I mean, you know, he’ll be older than Faulk and Krug when their contracts are up, when his is up. Um, so yeah, I mean, we’ll see, right? I mean, his style lends well to playing a little bit older than other defenseman, too. He’s not a bruiser. He’s not a guy that’s going in and, you know, fighting and getting big hits. And he’s a guy that, yeah, he’s he’ll play physical, but he’s a skater. Um, as long as he keeps up his regimen off the rink, I think he not saying he’s still going to be a topline guy at the end of this contract, but I think he’ll still be a serviceable player like Orion Sudter was at 40. I think he’ll still be a solid guy to have out there on your third pairing. The He had four points with Anaheim last season in 17 games and then came to St. Louis and had 36 points in 51 games played. So, he I mean, it was like a night and day team uh kind of uh going from Anaheim to St. was better team. Um so and you know he’s his point production uh 2122 he had 42 points 22 23 48 points 23 24 39 points 24 25 uh total he had 40. So I mean you know I he’s he hasn’t dropped off. He’s not like on the decline at all really. So yeah that that’s you can’t you can’t complain about it. I’m sure people some people might, but Oh, might. Come on. Everyone’s gonna complain about everything at all times. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, I appreciate the passion, but some people aren’t happy if they’re Yeah. Unless they’re complaining. Yep. Uh well, guys, let’s talk about the current roster. So, right now, um I’ll just I’m not going to list the whole roster here, but uh we still have a couple more cuts to make. So, the Blues currently have 17 forwards, 10 defenseman, and uh three goalies. They still have Colton Ellis up and they have so that’s a total roster number of 30. They have to get down to 23. Um although I did notice that on this list, I guess cuz he’s on a PTO, uh Milan Luchich is not listed. Uh so Milan Luchich will uh that makes it 31, I guess, if they decide to sign him. Uh so they uh anyway so they have to get down to 23 some notable names that are still with the team right now. Uh we got Alex Centi Casamaki Otto Stenberg. Uh and then of course Dalor D’Vorski Alexi Torpeno. Actually guys that’s not that surprising. Um and then we’ve got Theo Linstein, Leo Lof, Tyler Tucker, Matthew Kessle, Logan Mayu, and Hunter Skinner. Um and then of course as I said Colton Ellis. Um so the Blues do have to get down to 23. I think a lot of those names you’re going to see. Um not really any surprises to see them get sent down. I will say at the game last night now I’ve only been to training camp uh a couple times and I’ve only been to one preseason game and I’ve I have watched some on TV, but I will say last night uh they paired Matthew Kessle and Theo Linstein together. They looked awful. Um my brother was like they guarantee we’ll wake up tomorrow and those two have been sent down to Springfield and I’m like yeah they did not look good. I mean the I think it was the third goal that the the Stars scored with no coverage at all. I mean they both were trying to play the puck and it was just a disaster out there all night for those two. So that that’s a bad bad news for them. But, um, a lot of the names that I think are going to be interesting to watch are Leo Lof, Hunter Skinner has been a favorite of the the Blues, uh, uh, coaching staff. And then, of course, guys like Daibore, D’Vorski, Alex Sant Santi, Kasamaki are all names that stand out that might be getting a longer look because, uh, you know, that they they’ve looked good in the preseason. Yeah, I I watched uh a few of the games and last night I I caught uh second and third period and I there was one one sequence in particular where it was Skinner and Lof paired together and it they looked pretty lost. Like Lof Lof looked lost like I don’t know what Buck is. Um and that sounds like a kids book. Right. Lof looks lost. Yeah, I’m I’m the king of alliteration. What can I say? Uh he and and I think it it may have been on um the goal that pinbolt uh in Yeah, there were two Yeah. two goals went off skates. Yeah. So, it they they didn’t look good together. And then um if you look at the hockey stat cards, which I was surprised to see they’re pumping out, uh product already. Um those two were the worst skaters on the ice. So, um not not surprising. Yeah, it met the eye test. But yeah, it’s uh it’s interesting. You know, you your comment about Theo Linstein. I think I think he’s had some, you know, like gotten some positive praise uh in in a couple of the the games and, you know, some of the writeups that I I saw early in camp, but I don’t expect he’ll be here um when when the season starts and he might make a cameo in a segment later. I think yeah I I think some guys um that aren’t going to be on this roster um come the start of the season um are guys that we know eventually are going to be on this team right there I mean D’vorski um I guess Linstein um but uh I I think are you guys I’m kind of done with Kessle I are you guys I the boat I think that that ship has sailed um I I think the the I thought really the uh Mayu trade was the last nail in his coffin. Yeah, possibly. I I I would love to see them say we are going to send you down to Springfield for half the season and after that like no matter what like I don’t care if our entire blue line is diminished. We will call up everyone in front of you. you need to get more seasoning and then halfway through the year, all-star break time, I guess Olympic break time. Um, we will start considering calling you up if you’re playing well. I’d like to see something like that, but I even think at this point, man, he’s start Well, it’s not only that he’s fallen, it’s that other guys have stepped up in that role and it’s just at this point, Matthew Kessle, as good as you were two years ago, I think you’ve worked your way out of the lineup. Yeah, he’s stagnated for sure. Yeah, I agree. I I think the the as far as it’s the Blue Stars game last night, um Holloway and Kyru looking pretty good. Looking pretty good. So, he is suitor on that line, too. Looks very good. And and I think people are talking the chatter is that that may be the line to start the season. Yeah, we’ll see. Yeah, we’ll see. But I I I I mean, so based on how Holloway and Kyu played last year, which is kind of exciting. Um, lot of speed on that line. Um, a lot of talent. So, uh, that’s going to be fun to, I think, watch. I think they’re going to shoehorn those on the same line as long as they can to see just to see what they can do. Uh, so that’s going to be and see if they can continue the success from last season. So, that’s that’s going to be a nice line, a nice weapon, a lot of speed. uh something that I mean, you know, a couple years ago, three years ago, stuff this team doesn’t I mean, we weren’t a really fast team, right? We’re kind of lacking in speed in a lot of areas, but um I think uh that line’s going to be fun to watch as far as like it was last year. Um y to that speed element. Well, I think it’s nice too because if you know, you start the season because they said they asked Montgomery, why are you you know, playing Sudtor in that line if you know that what you have with Shen in that line? And he said, listen, we know what we have with Shen on the line. That’s why we’re playing Sudtor. We want to see what he looks like on that line. So, I kind of like that what they’re doing in preseason. I agree. Yeah. And also, I mean, would anybody It would be a nice situation to have if Shen were to get bumped to the third line because of the top two lines just working well. So, you know, would you wouldn’t need him on the top two lines. Shen on the third line with the top two lines clicking. That’s a fantastic scenario for this forward. Yep. And and you got to think that maybe you throw Jake Neighbors on that line, maybe even a Matthew Joseph. That is a line that is going to cause a lot of fear for opposing defenseman. It’s almost like a a textbook third line, right? Yeah. Yeah. I would love that. Yeah. A modern textbook third line. Yeah. Yes. Right. So Harry, [Laughter] no. No Sutter Brothers, right? and Bob Bassid and Rod Wilson. That That was uh They were fun though. We had We had like a bottom 12 back then. They were fun. Yep. They were fun. They were fun, but it was totally a bottom 12. Yeah, but it but it was different era, too. I mean, they would No, they were they were fighters, too. So, that was that was great. 100%. Uh but but no uh Pew Sudter last night the um on Holloway’s second goal like center lane drive to you know that I I thought that was impressive right he they set up play Kyu got the pass to to Holloway and Sudtor drove the middle and pushed the defenseman both off off of uh the net and yeah great shot by Holloway. So I that they looked they looked like they had chemistry throughout the game but I thought you know that they got rewarded there and wow love to see it. Y it do you think the Blues saved anybody at all with Pew Sudter taking on number 22? I know it’s New Jerseys and everything, but like did they save Pennies because they still have the template somewhere? They I mean they probably still had a bunch of the the the uh the name plates, right? Like a bunch of those. And yeah, I mean I I would sure they probably did. We’re like, “Hey, sweet. That’s pretty nice. You don’t get to choose. You’re 22.” For the for the throwbacks, they probably some old Craig Conroy jerseys in the closet somewhere and they could just replace the name plate throwbacks. And we are all about the old Blues tonight. Hey, so before we move on and we were talking about that line two goals last night, Kyroo assists and and Sudter playing very well between them. The empty net goal that was scored was hilarious. Uh I I messaged you guys. Have you watched it? Yeah, I saw I saw it. I totally went to go back and watch it. Oh, Bill, you’re going to watch it. You’re going to watch it right now. Oh, we’re gonna watch you. There we go. There we go. Hold up. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What? There we go. Oh, yeah. Get rid of the Actually, hang on. Hang on. There might be an issue here. Hang on. Uh oh. Hang on. Uh oh. It’s like that guy that like plays guitar, you know, that’s like like plays like one and comes. Hang on. Let me start over. Hang on. Hang on. Oh, hang on, guys. It’s our first show, guys. Be be patient. All right. Uh, share a tab or screen. Oh, I can’t share the audio. Okay. Wait. Here we go. Yeah, you don’t need audio. Yes, we do. Why? Trust me. Why does it keep doing that? You’re here. We go. Yeah. So, for those that didn’t see it, Dylan Holloway, he he blew off he blew off four tires. I think he had a like a raccoon in his pants or something cuz my word I have never seen such bad skating in Yeah, right. Phantom audio feedback now. And got an echo. It’s It’s audio editing. That’s That’s he miss. He was tripped. That’s exactly what it was. Uh no, it that was Oh my word. That was brutal. Um it was brutal. I I But it was funny because I was behind the net and people around me were like, “Oh god, Holloway, what are you doing?” I’m laughing my just going. I’m like almost falling out of my seat. I’m laughing so hard because I’m like, if that were regular season, I’d be with you guys. It’s preeason. I don’t care. And it was just so funny seeing him stumble. He gets up. He’s back skating. He falls again and then he just whips it right at Robertson who’s like, “Um, thanks.” A blind backhand pass right into his skates. And Robertson’s like, “Okay, I’ll take it.” Yeah. But he’s score all goal ever score. What was a huge problem with this team last season? Six on five. Six on five. Yeah. Right. And and we’ve given up three three of those already in the preseason. So that’s something that, you know, you probably should work on. Now, I know they did say that during training camp when you’ve got a bunch of the uh guys there that aren’t going to be on this team, they don’t practice six on fives. They don’t practice a ton of power play. There’s no point to, right? Because they they just want to see they want to get a look at a lot of these guys um in their camp, but they don’t want to they don’t want to be doing specialty drills and things. So once this once practices get down to final 23man roster, then you’re going to see uh them practicing six on fives, more power play stuff, stuff like that. Yep. Yeah. And that’s and that’s makes I mean total sense. It’s like, you know, you want to focus on just seeing what talent you have. Once you dwindle it down, you’ve got time in between uh preeason and regular season. And I think that’s where you kind of say, “Okay, guys, time to start doing some of these more teambased drills, looking at stuff that we had issues with last season, and let’s see if we can improve on them.” All right, let’s get into it, guys. So, uh, Dom Leaf Fuckboy Buchkin uh released his I am. Don’t worry. Calm down. You think I would miss that? Um, so he released his projections for the s well for the whole league and he has the blues again just like he does every year since he was probably a baby sucking on his mama’s boobies when he was like seven years old. The word is teit. Oh, te sucking on his mommy’s teeth when he was seven years old. Um, he has the blues finishing with 90 points. I have a nipple. Greg, can you milk me? He has him at 18th in the league. Uh chance of making the playoffs at 49% and a 2.4% of winning the Stanley Cup. Uh which I will agree on that last number, but uh playoffs, eh, that’s no way. Um some of the specialty things he called out is he said there’s only 60 games from Jim Montgomery. I’ll read his full quote here real quick. Yeah, only. That’s nut. Yeah, he said that. And so he says, “As great as a Blues looked under Montgomery, the stretch of the 23-24 Banister Blues lingers in many players’ underlying output. It suggests that some caution should be warranted after just 60 games under a new coach, no matter how good those 60 games look. The lack of a track record from some of the team’s breakout stars also doesn’t help. The task essentially is to prove last year was no fluke. there. The Blues have an 11% chance of matching last year’s Montgomery pace. I just love how matterof fact he is. They only have an they have an 11 I’m telling you, they have an 11% chance of matching the pace last year. You don’t know that. Say per my model it. What what bugs me about it is that he he was like basing a lot of this on it’s only 60 games. It’s 60 games. That’s a lot. The season’s 84 games. It’s like that’s that’s most of the season. It wasn’t like it was 22 games. It was 60 games is a lot. That’s Let’s also consider Montgomery’s track record with getting the best out of his players, especially in the regular season with other teams. Yeah. It’s not like it’s not like he’s a new coach where he played the team played well under a new brand new coach 60 games. I could understand. Well, okay. you know, new coach, never coached before. The team got a bump, you know, in the season. I get it. Uh, but Montgomery’s got a good track record, uh, being a really good coach and 60 games is a lot. I that that I think his whole it’s a house of cards built on the 60 games not being very many. And to me, that’s a that’s a lot. It’s not like you can’t I don’t know. How many do you want? 70. That’s almost the entire season. It’s like Right. So, coach effect, right? Um, you know, we don’t have the entire uh list of where all the teams slot in, but if you want to talk coaching effect, how are the stars in the top 10 with a brand new coach, right? Yeah. Right. A brand new coach that’s coached Dallas before, right? And was not very successful, right? You just got rid of a guy who got you to the conference finals three years in a row. And you, you know, of course, things like Jamie Ben being out for four to six weeks to start the season aren’t going to be included in the model because, you know, it’s fresh. Um, but if you if you’re going to talk coaching effect on teams, you’ve got to be consistent, right? And and I guess how much of that like how does that play into his model for the rest of the teams, right? Does does he have some quotient for it or is it just uh I’m gonna talk [ __ ] about the blues? I think I think this is just a pro this is just an inherent problem with with basing your entire ideology on a computer model. The computer spits out what it spits out and then you got to justify it. So, and then he justifies it with what he says. So, it’s like I don’t know. I I it we’ve had our run-ins with advanced stats ruling people’s lives and how we think it’s ridiculous. Um you know advanced stat there’s a there’s a time and a place for advanced stats. They’re fun but you know to I I think Adam’s model is a computer model based on stats. Advanced stats it’s it’s all it is uh and projections. So I mean it’s a grain of salt stuff. We’ve seen his stuff completely flop before. Um, sometimes he gets some things right. I pretty much every year with the Blues, right, for some reason and a number of like certain teams his model sucks. It it doesn’t work. Um, so I mean the the Blues beat out his model last year again. So, and this year he’s his model has them going have had them going down. 96 points. So, yeah. and and you know the points that he’s making um you know the the coaching the coaching thing and then talking down on Pareco right again go back to you know my comment earlier in the show right his model is like Colorado is his ideal team right you’ve got Nathan McKinnon and Kale Mar and there there aren’t teams that you Many most of the teams in the league aren’t going to have two superstars like that. Right. They’re an out they’re an outlier, right? As far as that goes. Yeah. Right. They they’re an outlier, but I think they’re the basis for his model. Right. Right. If you don’t have that, then you’re you’re coming up short. Yeah. I mean, I what I don’t get is study on the bias of his model. This is literally every year we have this conversation and and yes, we go by we talk about Dom mostly just because that it’s the athletic and that that the best riders in in hockey at least in the uh the states in Canada I think are working for the the athletic and but yeah I I just look at it I’m like dude every single year except maybe one the year the Blues fell apart and they traded away everybody. Every year you’ve been wrong, you know? And it’s just at what point do you say my model ain’t working. I need to start looking into this and change things. But he rolls out the same stuff every single year. And it’s just, dude, you were wrong last year. You were wrong the year before. You were wrong the year before. Like, and I’m not saying he’s going to get this dead right every time, but it’s clear there are certain teams for whatever reason his model just does not work for. yet he’s not going to change it because it’s like, well, I predicted Dallas was going to be in the top five and look at me. I got that right. It’s like, yeah, you got one out of 32 teams. Congratulations. The and the the Robert Thomas thing about him not being an elite player. That’s uh let’s do you want to read that quote? Go ahead. Okay. So, yeah. And this the entire thing is his, right? So, except for Yeah, it’s all him here. Yeah. Up front. So, Robert Thomas is not elite. This is Dom up front. Let that question land squarely on Robert Thomas’ shoulders. Is he a franchise player? Without question, Thomas is the closest thing the Blues have, but he’s not quite there. His projected value falls just shy of average number one forward. Average number one forward. And panelist number one forward. Yeah. Uh oh. And panelists from this year’s Player Tears Project were hesitant to deem him franchiseworthy. To be clear, Thomas is not a weakness, but his presence as the the guy could be a roadblock to contention until he proves more. Uh Thomas is uh one of the games best passers. He might be the game’s pass best passer. Top three maybe. Top five. I’d say top three. Okay. Uh so saying one of the games best passers, let’s give a little more credit. He’s not like top 20. He’s he’s top three. Um which that alone makes him an elite player anyway. And is gifted in transition leading him to score at a 95 point pace last season. uh thanks mainly to his scoring a scorching 40 points in 26 games. It’s like he gives a caveat there. It’s like 95 point pace. It’s because of his 40 points in 26 games. Okay. Because he’s an elite player who could go at an extended heater player. That’s what elite players do. Yep. Um so and if that’s Thomas’s new normal, there are no further questions. He throws that in there. And then he says, “Considering his ability to drive play during that stretch though, we have our reservations.” Considering his ability to drive play during that stretch, though we have our Okay, reservations. It was good, just not elite. Even for one of hockeyy’s strongest playmakers, a 15.6 percentage uh percent on ice shooting percentage is an unreable binge. I So, okay. He doesn’t think that. I mean, we’ve seen Thomas game in and game out. He has a snipe of a shot, right? Um I don’t think a 15% shooting percentage is out of the question for him. No. No. It’s it’s teams respecting the pass, right? And him having pinpoint accuracy on that wrist shot. Yeah. And and so I guess I guess 15.6% would make him elite in Dom’s mind, but he’s like, “Ah, he can’t repeat that.” So, you know, and and maybe he’s going to maybe Thomas is ends up being a tick below elite. I don’t think he is. I think he’s he’s top three passer in the game, give or take. Um he’s got a snipe. His vision on the ice is like we’ve seen the plays he makes. Um so good. So good. Um right, any team would kill. If if anything, I think he carried the team pretty heavily after the four nations and when we got to the playoffs. there was fatigue, right? He he kind of hit a lull right before the playoffs and you know, it took him a little bit to get going. Um, but also losing losing some depth with Hollow in the playoffs kind of hurt 100%. I mean, that was that was that was a big deal. We have Holloway would win that series easy. I mean, not easy, but we win that series. Um, so I’ll go ahead and say so he mentioned it last week on our show. Jeremy Rutherford did uh post a um a story. Let’s see what he called it. what Dom got wrong in his projection for the Blues in 202526. Um I I’ll read his opening line he had here. I have to say I knew this was coming because Dom warned me he has a reputation for hating on the Blues and in St. Louis I often hear his name more than Bret Holes. That’s why I asked the question, why are you doing this to me, brother? Because just when it seems to quiet down, another article comes out. So, I thought that was a perfect open because yes, as his colleague, he has to have his back to a certain extent, but it’s like, dude, you’re killing me. Uh, so another thing that another thing that Dom brought up was Thomas basically not being good defensively. He said, if you look at the numbers, basically he is not a good defensive player, which I think we can all agree is completely incorrect. Uh, so yeah, and I and I think that’s the problem. real quick. Advanced stats. I think if you’re going to be an advanced stats guy that that that where you let advanced stats mold your opinion, which is what Dom does with this model, uh I honestly think advanced stats where it gets the things wrong the most, defensive schematics. Yep. I agree. Defense and goalending 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. Um, so, uh, he says, “Regarding,” and, this is coming from Jeremy Rutherford, “Regarding Dom’s analysis of Thomas, whom he also has a lot of respect for, I agree that Thomas is the closest thing the Blues have to a franchise player, and he’s also close to being that type of player in the league. However, where I differ from Dom is that regardless of what the advanced analytics say, he’s a strong defensive player, and opposing coaches view him as an extremely difficult matchup against top lines.” Yeah, I the Blues played the Thomas line against the top lines towards the end of last season when they were doing their 11ame winning streak and it worked clearly. I mean, Thomas was scoring and shutting down the other uh helping shut down the other defensive or other offensive line. So, clearly your analysis of saying Thomas is not good defensively is just flat out incorrect. Take your note, take your nose out of the notebook, take a look at who he played against, which you can look up online, too, and say, “Oh, he played against guys like McDavid every night, and he still put up as many points as he did.” Yeah. I I I mean, and it goes back to, you know, the the we’ve seen this a lot, uh, defenseman um advanced stats on defenseman and defensive play. It’s just it’s spotty. It’s hit or miss. It’s like you you you watch a game and you see the the breakdown advanced stats and analytics and talking about and like wow that that doesn’t really jive with what I saw. Um you know I mean obviously there can be you know hiccups in games and stuff but don’t really uh uh oh I just saw my nipple nipple expert under my name. That’s I like that. I was asked by Matt Harris to throw that in. I I am by the way. I I am I’m well verssed in uh uh the nippleology, but uh yeah, I mean, you know, we and we can beat this dead horse and we we will continue to do so uh this season uh when advanced stats are brought up because we we like them. I like them. You guys like them. But, you know, I I’ll tell you what, with with the Let’s Go Blues Minute, which by the way, you can subscribe to uh wherever you get podcasts, uh available four times, three to four times a week. Um shameless plug. Uh I did start adding in a lot more analytics cuz I mean I I’ve always followed it and I know it and I understand it, but I’m like I kind of want to include this more just so I make myself look at them more. And it is really interesting, especially the what’s the the hockey cards? Um yeah, hockey stack cards. Hockey stackcards.com. I love that site. And I go there I literally go there after every game just to look and see if the number and again for me it’s matching the analytics with the eye test. Did I see the same thing that the analytics are showing? Right. And a lot of times you wonder why. A lot of times the answer is yes. I’m like oh okay. Yeah. like you mentioned last night um uh Linstein and and Kessle having a rough game that was clear if you watch the game and the analytics showed the exact same thing. So, a lot of times, yeah, they match up. Other times they differ. And I’m not saying that I test is always 100% right. We all have biases. But to to say that analytics is right 100% of the time because math doesn’t lie is just not correct. That is not how hockey works. And and yeah, exactly. The math doesn’t lie. It’s like this is this is sports. We’re playing a game on the ice. Um math. Okay. I mean, you know, I I mean, you know, the A’s did pretty well with Moneyball, but, you know, they didn’t they didn’t win a World Series with it, so I mean, you know, it has its flaws. Uh, did you want to read the question you put up there, Brian? I Yeah, I mean, yeah. I don’t know if it’s the time and place for it, but why not? Um, why you guys Brian Roberts in the chat says, “Why why you guys think lot I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna clean this up. Why do you guys think a lot of national media aren’t high on us? uh see lots of uh fifth, sixth place in the division. Uh are we too close to the sun or are they not seeing it? Um I I you know I think it goes back to us not having that number one defenseman that that elite number one defenseman. um mostly uh and I think uh probably that elite we don’t have the Mar and the McDavid the uh uh superstar player like his name McKinnon McKinnon and uh yeah I we don’t have those we don’t have that best player in the league on as a forward and the best player in the league on defense um few teams do um but I think that’s probably it. Um, for some reason, I know some people probably still have questions about Bennington. Um, you know, I I don’t know. I think but if you if you if you listen to like u a hockey show um and uh and they talk about the Blues, they’ll talk about like like the hockey guy who he broke down the Blues was like a week or two ago. Um and uh uh Steve, what’s his name? Dangle. Um his show, they talked about the Blues the other day. And so they talk about the Blues like, well, yeah, they might be of fifth or sixth place team. But then when they actually get into the roster and they break it down, look at the lines. They all kinds of positive things to say about the team. You know, they’re they’re pretty good with depth at forward. Um depth, the defense should be pretty good. Um and the goalending was Bennington, you know, he he can be really good. So it’s like they’re very complimentary about the entire team, but it’s like ah but you know, we’re in a tough division, too, right? I mean, we got Winnipeg, got Dallas, got Colorado, and then some people have us finishing behind Minnesota, which, you know, we can get into our our projections later, but uh so that it’s a tough division. So, if they got us finishing fifth in the division, that’s it’s a tough division. That’s that’s part of it, too. Most of it, probably. It there are so many so many, you know, shiny, flashy pieces in the central division. And you know when uh Dallas Lyn and Ranton at the deadline last year it’s like holy [ __ ] like this him shifting in the course of two months from Colorado to Dallas, you know, like that that was a seismic shift in the balance of power with the the you know two of the top three teams. Um, and let me say he it was fun to see the chip on his shoulder and it was fun to see him just like take it personal and just take it to the abs. That that was that was fantastic. Probably my favorite storyline of the playoffs last year. Yeah, that was that was great. Um, so uh yeah. Who I’m dropping [ __ ] over here. Uh uh oh. Um anyway, gonna freeze again. We’re gonna lose you. And he’s got to write it down. Did I freeze? Did you yank a cord? No. For a second. Um, all right. So, anyway, uh, yeah. So, uh, Justin Scott says, “The Central division is the hardest division in hockey. I think we see two wild cards come from the Central.” I think that’s been the case with the except obviously that’s what people are saying. COVID year was a little different. Um, but outside of that, um, I think it’s only happened once that the wild card has, uh, gotten a split from the Pacific and the Central. Uh, it’s typically the Central that sends, uh, five teams. So, um, thank you, Matt Harris. I am writing it down. Um, uh, yeah. So, I I don’t know. There’s a lot more that uh, Dom had to say. I I almost want to tell you not to subscribe to The Athletic because you don’t need to read it, but uh please do because our friend Jeremy Rutherford is the man. And uh his response to Dom, if I don’t know if you guys read that one, it was really well done. Like you could tell he he was ready for this. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, you can subscribe to The Athletic just to have the pleasure of responding or commenting after one of Dom’s articles. That’s true. Give your two cents. Uh, you guys want to mention anything else? Anything else from Dom? He’ll love it. No. No. The horse the horse the horse died 15 minutes ago. Yep. Yeah. I mean, Praco is what he is, right? I mean, he had a really good year last year. Love Praco. So, I mean, I I’m not He is He is he a quote number one defenseman? Null. But I But very good. He completes very He’s your next tier. If you look at like number one defenseman in the NHL like Bonafide Kale Mar uh Eric Vlad, Victor Hedmond. Yeah, he’s he’s on the next Yeah. And and um and that’s fine. Um I think he’s paid accordingly, too. His salary is what, six? Six and a half. So I mean he’s not Yeah. He’s not making 10 million, you know, like like some of those guys are. 12 million. So, I mean, I think his his salary is really good for for his production level. I think he’s I think he’s outperforming his salary. Yeah. Um and and you know, the the the two guys uh One Cup podcast that they they’re they’re big on um if you don’t have a an elite number one defenseman, a legit number one defenseman, um you’re not going to go anywhere. Yep. Um, which you know, I mean, I I guess if you have one of those players, you’re obviously gonna be better, but um, you know, it all comes down to depth, too, on defense. If you’re if you’ve got a few number twos, I mean, does that make up for not having a number one? I don’t know. Maybe. Depends. But what do the analytics say? Yeah. Right. Let’s let’s go look at some advanc to tell me what to think. You know, in a year or two, we very well could have our clear number one defenseman in Philip Rubert, right? So, maybe maybe uh Joe Schmo did ask earlier, where the hell can I subscribe to that LGBI minute podcast? I don’t know if that was You said it wrong. What? Where the hell where the hell can I subscribe to that LGBT podcast? Um, I don’t know if this was uh facitious because I’ve mentioned it twice on the show already, but wherever you get podcasts, uh, if you go to, uh, you know, if you’re on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, whatever, we are on there. I Let’s Go Blues.com. Let’s blues.com. That’s right. You can just check that out every morning. And, uh, we’ve got a little thing on the Let’s Go Blues Minute page that will literally update the minute Apple podcast update that’ll uh, play the latest episode for you. Um, and also it, um, uh, oh, so with it being on YouTube music, uh, you can actually find it on YouTube now, too. It’s not a video. You’ll you’ll you can just go to youtube.com, type in, uh, let’s go Blues Minute, it’ll pop up, and you can just, you know, it’s just a static image that’ll show, but it it gives you the audio. So, that’s also an option for you. Yep. All right, let’s talk about our projections. Um, I think a fun way to do this, guys, I don’t know if you wrote this down or if you’re want to go off the fly. I’m good with either. Um, I think we should go 8 to one uh with um with who we think will where teams will finish. Um, and we’ll go one by one. So, uh, we’ll start. Why don’t we go with Bill uh, who is finishing eighth in the Central? Uh, for sure the Blackhawks. I think we can all agree on that. Yep. Agreed. Uh, okay. I mean, is there any question? Is there any question? I mean, Blackhawks, Blackhawks, ace. So, we all agree on that one. Uh, what about number seven? Again, we’ll we’ll go with the same order. Bill, I I think it’s really hard for Nashville to be as bad as they were last year. Um, and Utah is everybody’s darlings. I feel like somebody’s going to fall pretty hard this year, but I don’t think I can push somebody all the way down to seven. I’ll stick with Nashville. They’ve got a lot to prove this year. I’m going to say Nashville, too. And I think it sucks because um while you know Nashville and Chicago big rivals right for the Blues um it sucks that they suck and or they you know last year Nashville I guess if we’re picking them seven they’re going to kind of suck. So it it it’s nice when they’re good and the Blues are good and you get and the games mean something even though they play three or four times a year which sucks but um yeah I mean come on Chicago Nashville get better. I’ve I’ve got Utah. Um I just don’t believe I think last year they made a very nice run, but I think a lot of that was the bump of hey, we’re a decent team and we just moved to a new city that is excited to have us. Um I think a lot of that wears off this year. We got some more Utah news. Hopefully we’ll get to later uh that Bill shared with me before the show. Um but uh for me I think it’s got to be Utah. That’s uh that’s my pick. How about number six? Yeah. So, I I think I think I will stick with Utah here. They could have fallen to seven. Like, I’m not sold on uh Carol Vamela as an NHL number one. Um he’s he’s decent goalie, but as as your everyday number one, I don’t like it. Um they you know, they just dealt, you know, Connor Ingram was in the the player assistance program. Um, and surprisingly he’s joining the Edmonton Oilers. Um, which I I thought that was kind of a an odd move with as popular as Calvin Pickard is there. Um, but I don’t see them um I don’t see them being like a a top four like a a wild card team again this year. So, I’ll stick them at six. I mean, they have to go at six for me because I’ve got Chicago and Nashville 87 and then I’ve got um Minnesota and St. Louis are above them. It’s Utah. That’s where Utah slots in for me. They’re not going to they’re not going to uh pass up the Blues or Minnesota. Um and they’re I don’t I don’t think they’re going to they could. I mean, I agree with you, John. They they could Who knows? But and I I’m not the kind of guy that likes doing predictions and things. I hate it. But um yeah, I this this is where Utah slides. I think this this is a sweet spot for Utah. This is I they could very well finish 12 13 points behind the fifth place team and then finish 12 13 points ahead of the seventh place team. I there’s a I think that’s where they’re going to go. Um this is probably more of a shock that people are going to hear. Uh I’m saying it’s going to be Minnesota at number six. I do not Okay, so you just like blew up. I am not a believer in Minnesota at all. I just don’t see their roster being something. I think they they again had a nice run last year and the year before, but I just outside of Capriov and and a couple other names. Um they just do not pull my skirt up. So, you’ve got Nashville jumping up a bit. Maybe I do. Uh but yeah, right now I I got I’m just not high on Minnesota. I this is probably the the craziest pick we’ll have in this, but for me, I’ve just not been a believer of this Minnesota regime. I think they need to make a couple more tweaks to the roster before they can really be taken seriously. Well, that bodess well for the Blues then with Minnesota if Minnesota does fall off. Uh Bill number five, um I’m gonna go Winnipeg Jets here. I I think I think there’s gonna And you thought your Minnesota pick was I So, I think that the Jets are gonna So, they exercised the can’t get out of the first round demon last year and you know, barely. Barely. One second. One second. Because, [ __ ] you, Pavle Buch damage. I’m still angry at you. Write it down. Yeah, right. I know, right? Write it down, Jeff. Shut up. Damn it, Steve. Uh, yeah. I I just so I I wonder if the you know like this bringing in Jonathan Taves after his you know sbatical uh it feels weird. Um Nick Es real quick I do do not get why they signed Taves to such a big deal. It’s a one-year contract. What he get like three million with a bunch of incentives. Dude hasn’t played in two years and he wasn’t good the last time he played. What’s their cap space? They just have it below maybe. But that shocked me. Yeah, it was crazy. It didn’t it didn’t make sense for for a team that may have to add to uh to do things in the playoffs. Um you know, especially at you know, like Nikolai Elers at this point is a much much better player. So, you know, like that swinging them out is not good. They have uh 4 million in cast space right now. Yeah. So, I guess they got the little bit of money to spend, but it’s like, man, at the deadline, I’d want as much as possible, and I just do not think Jonathan Taves is going to get you over the hump, right? And and so, you know, I also think that the it’s Hella Buck’s going to be come down slightly this year. he’s not going to be as, you know, as huge a difference maker as he was last year. Um, I just I I see them sliding the most out of everybody in So, do they make the playoffs? We as as a wild card team, I think. So, we I think we talked about this a little bit last year. Um, so Hella with with how prominent his struggles are in the playoffs, it’s like it’s every year. He’s not a playoff goal. Apparently never will. He’s always, you know, he’s the Vzna guy right now, right? So for sure. But I mean, if you’re if you’re their G if you’re the GM, would you ever consider I mean, does he have a no trade clause? He probably does. Would you ever consider trading him? I mean, because it’s going to be a huge question if they make the playoffs this year, which they should, right? They will. I again it’s gonna be the same damn thing that you know they’re they’re good but Hella in the playoffs you can’t trust him. You can’t win. I mean he found his game after game three against the Blues. He found his game at in Winnipeg. He was terrible here. Terrible here and he was terrible inh Dallas, right? Yeah. He his bad in his road performance were performances were not good. Yeah. No. So I I mean, yeah, I don’t know. He did he did play well in game seven when he when he had to in Winnipeg. Kurt, who do you got number five? I have Minnesota. Okay. Did they make the playoffs? Yep. I don’t know. Yes. I’ll say yes. I’ll say that. I’ll say the Central gets five. Um three wild card three the top three and then the two wild ball. All right. Uh, my number five is the Nashville Predators. Um, and I’m going to go boldly and say I think they make the playoffs. Um, I think last year was an aberition. I I don’t think they’re as good as people were giving them credit for after the Stamos and Marcheso signings, but I think they’re better. I think they’re better than the than the credit they were uh they’re better than what they did last year. I just think they got off to such an awful start and they just never found their footing. Um I think it was actually smart by Barry Trotz to just kind of say, “Let’s give it another go. See what this team can do together.” Yes, they’re a year older, but I just think this team is better than what we saw last year. So, I’m going to say I think I think Nashville finishes a tick above Minnesota. I think it’s in this 82nd game of the season decides who goes to the playoffs between those two teams. So, that is my pick. The Nashville Predators. All right. Number four, Bill. Uh, this where the Blues will slot. I I So, I Yeah, I I don’t I don’t see him jumping like into the the race for a lock playoff spot, right? We we’re definitely going to be a wild card fighting team for the 150th year in a row. How many uh points above Dom’s what? 90.3 projection. I I I think 95 to 98. Okay. So, pretty much I put them right at where they were last year, too. I’m with you. Yeah. So, you know, I No, I I I agree. Yeah. St. those uh four I um I would like to say um they would you know improve on 96 points from last season but I they didn’t really add I mean they subtracted uh kind of Book moving away and then uh what they got in return might not pan out to be a plus for us in the trade department for a year or two yet at least. So, um, yeah, I I’m 90 I’ll say 98 points. I’ve got uh Winnipeg at number four. So, um I’ve got them finishing a little bit lower than they did last year, but um I do still think they’ll be a solid playoff team. Uh Bill, number three, h top three out of the wild card. Unfortunately, this is where I think the Wild B will slot in. Um they they also they could be a big blowup team this year. Just they they blew their wad on Caprioft. Gave him a lot a lot of money. Um you know I I’m not Gustiffson had a great year last year but I think at this point he’s still you know he’s still kind of the unproven guy. Um and with Flurry gone um who who do they bring in for a backup? I didn’t even see um Bruce Racine. He’s he’s given up the goalie school and go back to the NHL. He’s giving up that money pit. That money that honey pot Yeah. I just I I just Oh, that’s right. Yesper Walstead, the goalie of the future for them. Oh, of course. Right off right on the tip of my tongue. Um, I do think that their D is going to be a lot better uh with the inclusion of Zeke Buouham. Um, you know, he’s he was uh just probably the best player in NCAA last year. Um, you know, got to see him at the the Frozen Four and it wasn’t the greatest showing. Uh, but leading up to that in the tournament, he was by far like the most dynamic player on the ice. So, their back end uh with um oh god, blanking on um the the rookie from not two years ago, uh uh Brock Faber. Yes, Brock Faber and Ze Buham. They’re going to be long-term, you know, very difficult guys to play against Buum, by the way. Love that name. Yes. I hope he stays in the NHL forever. Yeah. And he’s got a brother uh in either Detroit or Toronto or somewhere. But yeah, that’s uh unfortunately, I hate to say it, that’s where I put them. Okay. What about you, Kurt? Number three. Uh Winnipeg. Okay. Winnipeg number three. I’ve got uh the St. Louis Blues at number three. Um I think again that’ll be a close battle with Winnipeg. I actually think St. Louis, Winnipeg, Nashville, and Minnesota will all be battling pretty much late in the season all year for for playoff positioning. And I just have the Blues finishing strong with a Jordan Bennington performance that we all love to see late in season. So, um yeah, I do think the Blues will uh will take third. I’m probably a little too bullish on them, but I just think with the the other mixing and matching that we’ve seen with the rest of the Central division, I could just see them kind of pulling ahead a little bit. How many points? I’m gonna say 96. So, the same as last year? I think they had 95 last year, right? They had 96. Okay. Well, yeah, I got him the same number. 96. Uh, Bill number two. Um, it’s going to be Colorado. Okay. So, um, I I wanted to put them put them lower. Um, you know, again, most of my my uh analysis starts with goalending. Um, and you know, out of the remaining teams, Aer is the better of the goalies. And I think Dallas has uh as good of depth as as Colorado. Um, but yeah, I I uh I think the they’re going to they’ll I don’t think the Stars will pull away. I think it’ll be a a tight race, the top two, but yeah, Justin Scott, that’s a excellent point. The ABS do tend to start poor and they come on after what, 15 games or so? Yes. Yep. All right. What’s your number two, uh, Mr. Nipple Expert? Uh, I got uh the Colorado Nipples, a new expansion team. Yes. Um, yeah, just because I mean uh uh I think uh well, I’ve got uh Dallas winning the winning the division. So, number two, I have uh Dallas finishing number two. I do have Colorado winning the division. I know. Um, I know Justin Scott says, uh, the you got to remember the, uh, well, no, he said, “Don’t put Colorado at one. They do exactly what Florida does. They literally don’t care about winning the division.” I agree, but I just think again there’s just so much um going to be so much competition in this division that I just think somehow Colorado does pull it out uh there. Uh, so I’m going to say Dallas at number two. So, that means Bill and Kurt, you guys both have uh Dallas, Dallas number one, and I have Colorado number one. Um Dallas, I’m a little I’m a little scared with Dallas. Uh Pete Dbor, not a fan of his, but he does get the job done in the regular season. Regular season. Yeah. For me, it’s like, is Glenn Gulson going to be able to do the same or better than what Dbor was getting out of him? So, for them, I think it’s a matter of, and obviously a lot of teams will say this, Winnipeg included, for them it’s a matter of what can they do in the postseason. Um, but at the same time, you got to make it that far. And if Gulletson falters and this team just looks lost and confused, could be an interesting season in Dallas. All right. Uh, Matt Harris says, “Jeff, we are weirdly aligned this season on standings.” LOL. That’s because you have a great hockey mind, sir. That’s exactly why. Uh well, let’s see. Uh real we can we got a couple more minutes here. We’ll go uh actually, you know what? Let’s go ahead and jump ahead. Bill, um surprisingly, this is a week that we did not have any official games, but we do have a save of the week from Bill Day. Bill, take it away. All right. No, you’re not the save of the week. Why is that happening? Get out of there. Thank you. I don’t get it. This has never happened before. It’s always all about you. Jeez. It’s annoying. Hey, I’m the summer host. All right. I’m still falling off my pedestal. [Laughter] All right. So, we don’t have a save of the week because, you know, we have a save of the preseason because we didn’t do anything last week. We didn’t have a show last week and preseason’s just about over. So, we have a save of the week. Oh, yeah. And it comes from the first preseason game, Blues versus Stars. Um, and for those of you watching along, you’ve already seen it several times, so don’t don’t watch it just yet. You got to listen to me talk for a minute. So this this goes back to the uh gosh it five times six now. U so we’re not going to talk about the Jordan Bennington save that happened early in the first period where he absolutely robbed Sam Steel of a great setup by Maverick Bourc. Um we’re not talking about that. We’re fast forwarding to the third period of a tie hockey game where uh Colton Ellis is he’s gonna stand on his head and are we going to get a chance to do a Colton Ellis highlight this year? I hope not. I think that would be a bad sign. So, we’re going to give him one here. All right. So, breaking down the play’s defector and I got to restart this already. gotta say the whole video plane of setting it up. Hey, it’s my pre-season two. So, Radic Fox, a blues defector sets up the play here and Adam Ernie uh as Theo Linstein got caught pinching on at the end of a power play. So, the the pass comes up to Adam Ernie. He gets a twoon-one against Broberg uh with the eventual uh shot taker uh Rovian Justin Reovian who’s got a great chance of making that Dallas team with Jamie Ben sideline. Um I I think he finally did that thing he said he never going to do and he’s got a collapsed log now. Uh but so on this play, Ernie drives wide, cut, gets Broberg to commit to him, goes the wrong way, gets a pass across the slot, and Colton Ellis, he is positioned very well in, you know, reading the play. If Broberg forces him out there, the chances are, you know, it’s going to be a backhand shot on goal. but he reads it and he’s in a great position to push off the post when the pass comes across and he gets across, gets down into the butterfly very quickly and absolutely robs Reoviaak as he comes across right here. Look at that beauty of a save and he loses stick in the process, but it’s not going to bother him. He made a great save. He he took the Blues to overtime to a shootout before they wound up losing. Um it’s a preseason game, so you know, wins and losses don’t matter, but a great save. A great save is always a beautiful thing to watch. And Colton Ellis, what a great start. Yeah, I mean it was it was great pass by Adam Ernie, but yeah, notice notice Theo Lindstein is the guy that got caught there. Yep. So, not not looking NHL ready quite yet. Nope. Nope. And Adam Jacko does a great job on the back check to put pressure on Rakoviaak, but doesn’t quite get there. But he did need to because we got Yeah. Reovian is it? Yeah. Rovian. I keep saying Roviaak. Ah, I was the first first syllables in his name, but I [ __ ] up the last syllable. Yeah. So, um I also heard he’s um named after the recent um uh COVID variant. The Reovian variant. Reovian variant. Yeah. So, we’ll we’ll re-record that whole thing since I butchered his name the whole [ __ ] time. Yeah. Start over. Yep. Uh all right. Well, we uh will talk about what’s coming up for the Blues. Well, actually, I guess first of all, I’ll ask you guys, what are the storylines you’re watching? We already talked about the second line center with um you know uh uh what’s his face Braden Shen the captain of the team that’s the name that I’m forgetting and Pia Sudter um but everything else you know I mean obviously you’ve got Buchad stepping in Logan Mayu uh Hoer his play which I again thought he was pretty bad last night as well. Um what do you guys think? Uh you know two of those goals off skates but okay. Yeah, but his five hole was there to be taken all night. Yeah, off skates. Yeah, off skates. Not really his fault. I I’ll stick up for the goalie. Yeah. Um I I you know I I think Mayu is the is I missed a couple obvious like you said. Um but Sudtor coming in and and uh maybe getting a a spot between uh Holloway and Kyu. Uh but Mayu just because um everybody in the NHL thinks that uh Montreal got the better of the trade with Boot going the other way. So that’s interesting to me to see where he is to start the season and and how well he plays. Um this the team I’m sure is not putting any pressure on him to play well, but fans probably are like fans do because Buke was just came into his own last season and was impressive. Um should play well for Montreal, I’m assuming. Um, so yeah, I mean I I’m very curious to see um where he would slot in assuming he gets a spot. Um, and how well he plays and and because he he’s played like what two NHL games was it three Mayu? I think he’s played eight. Yeah, eight. Okay. Yeah, less than 10. So basically none. So yeah, I I am really curious to see him develop and uh to see how far he can go starting with hopefully this season. So yeah, um I mean he he had kind of a a big impact on that Chicago game getting in the fight that turned the momentum of that game the wrong way. Um but how is he to know, right? Um my storyline is going to be uh the goalending, right? Last year, Bennington had a down year. Um went from the, you know, best uh saves above average to one of the worst. He’s got to level out. He’s got to have at least an average here, but he also needs competition from Hover. And uh if if uh last night is any kind of uh preview uh we could be in for a rough year with goalending. Um but I you know it’s preseason. It’s it’s you can’t judge anything at this point. Um, so I I think I’m looking for a a a good year from Hoffer um to push closer to a 5050 setup um at, you know, as the season goes along. Um I I don’t think I don’t think we’ll have the same conversations we had two years ago, like why the hell are they starting Hoffer in this game and Bennington in that game? I think we’re going to get to a point where it’s, you know, whoever starts deserves it and we we can live with it, right? It’s not a uh a one and a two. Um I think we should be at a 1A and a 1B. Uh Bill, I’m going to wholeheartedly disagree with you on that. Uh, I think we will have those conversations because it’s it was never a, oh, well, you know, Hoffer played well three games ago, he deserves to come back in. Uh, it was a Bennington was lights out last game or or Hoffer was lights out last game yet were playing the other guy. Tell me how that makes sense. I You got to ride the hot hand a little bit and the Blues did not do that last season for the most part. They went with the goalie schedule, right? and and I I didn’t really care for that. We I don’t think we had other problems with that as as a whole. But do we get the Bennington from before the formations or after forations? I think after forations he was I think we get before before the Olympics and then we get after after the Olympics. I think it’s going to be the same. We’re doing this again. Well, you said they’re getting the same amount of points, so that makes sense, I guess. Yeah. Uh and then uh let’s see. We’ve got Cape Core 72. I’m watching Holloway and Mayu this year. I think Mayu could can be a Shea Weber if he can get his confidence. You can tell he secondguesses everything. Yeah, I will say that was I think one of the projections I saw when he was drafted was Sheay Weber would be his ultimate form basically. And if we can get a Sheay Weber out of a Bulldog trade, I mean that’d be incredible. But I’m my hopes aren’t that high for him. But, um, yeah, getting a little bit more of a physicality and a guy who can shoot the puck, never a bad thing, uh, to have on your blue line. Um, and then, uh, let’s see, let’s do next up for the Blues, we’ve got, uh, the Ottawa Senators Thursday, which by the way, what the hell is that, right? Uh, we whenever we have preseason, it’s always Central and Columbus because Columbus is the closest Eastern team, right? Where did Ottawa come from, right? They they would have get an early jump on uh getting used to travel or something. Does Yeah. I don’t think the Blues have ever played and I you might be might be wrong here. I don’t think the Blues have ever played the Senators in a preseason game. So weird. You gonna wager money on that? No, I copy. Have the Blues ever played the Senators in a preseason game? I want to say I don’t even know if you can you look even look that up. I I don’t know. the pres. Don’t get me started on the lack of preseason stats and stuff. The NHL has no standings. No, you can’t get hardly any information. It’s like it’s like I want like what what what year is this? I want like like just stats. Like give me like who is doing really well this postseason and you can’t find those anywhere. You know, 40 years ago, uh, in baseball, spring training, the the paper would have standings, spring grapefruit league, cactus league standings. You can see how the teams are doing just out of curiosity. Not that it means a whole lot, but it’s there. You want you’re curious about how the team is doing, other teams are doing in the play in the in the preseason. Nothing. You can’t find Jack squat. Look at our fact checker, Mr. Winning Unlimited, our friend of the show, Adam Gold. Blues played the Sens in preseason their first year in 1992. That makes sense because weren’t the Sens in the Central their first year, were they? They might have been. I think they were in the West in this first year, but I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t. Well, I guess 92. Was that They weren’t. That would have been Yeah, that would not have been Central, but Yeah, I think they were. I’ll look it up here in a minute. Um, okay. I think they’re in the same division as the Blues. Just put it like that. Saturday they play the Blackhawks in their final preseason game in Chicago at 6:00. And then of course I just realized that for some reason I thought the Minnesota game the uh the season opener was on Wednesday. Uh it is not. It is on Thursday. So we probably should have done this show next week. Yeah. I was we’re gonna have a a little uh dud of a show next week. Yeah. We’ll see what we do next. Well, we’ll have the final round talking about. We’ll do a half we’ll do a 45. Yeah, we’ll do we’ll do a show next week. Maybe we can uh maybe we’ll get a fun guest on or something. That could be fun. Um, so yeah, we 1992 the Ottawa Senators were in the Adams division with Boston, Quebec, Montreal, Buffalo. I’m wrong. What was What was Tampa in? Tampa was in North. That’s what it was. Okay. I knew one of those teams were in our division, weirdly. All right. Uh, so yeah, Minnesota next Thursday, so we will have another show before then, but like you said, we’ll have final roster. Maybe we’ll see some moves somewhere or something. We can talk more maybe about the NHL as a whole. Uh, Luch Lich. Yeah. Huh. I tell you what, well, we’re either going to talk about him being on the roster or in training or where he’s going and in in and at the game last night. He made an impact. I don’t care. I I don’t He I You know what? If he if he’s on this team, he’s he might play six games, all of a sudden. Oh, he’s a liability. Yeah, it’ll be a big I’m not. So, at this point, you know, like I’m kind of, you know, Rutherford did a piece on him today and so it’s like uh I guess we should get used to the idea that he’ll probably be here. Um, you know, as long as it’s, you know, a, you know, Texier that is the odd man out in that situation. Um, you know, I How long is he here? If he’s here, is he how many games? Oh, see, Bill, there’s there goes Bill. Uh, there he goes. I’m the only one who hasn’t gotten the There we go. Yep. Uh, for Yeah, for Luchich, I don’t know. I I could see him here till the trade deadline. Maybe Boston picks him up and he does a little last harrah with them and disappears. But why? I Yeah, Boston’s not going to be a playoff team this year. So, Exactly. And that’s why I’m saying I think they might be interested. Hey, we’ll just take him for the end of the season and give him a last harrah. Yeah. So, they don’t have to bring him back for training camp like Mark Andre Flurry. Right. Um Yeah. And I’ll say, um, Scumby, that’s a I think that’s a new live listener. Uh, Luchi should go back to doing insurance commercials. Yeah, I’ll say uh last night, you know, watching Luchi because, you know, I’ve seen him obviously play a ton, you know, even at Enterprise Center. Um, but never in a Blues jersey. So, I’m, you know, watching him skate last night. He, my brother and I were calling him Quasimoto. Um, he he does have a hunchback quality. He looks like a hunchback when he’s skating. Like he we just kept going Esmeralda. That’s racist. Is it? I don’t. It’s not It’s not nice. Well, I I think Kurt’s dead set against him because he’s wearing his number. That’s true. Yeah, that you I mean 12 Come on. 12 should be a little a little higher standard. Yeah. They uh then Luch and a Swan song of Don’t they know that somebody wore that in a roller hockey tournament and scored a huge shootout goal in a beer league tournament? I mean, come on, you can’t wear 12. It was It was It was It was a a shot that I have never ever done before and will never ever do again, probably. And it worked. It did. Uh James Mccardi, that’s a new live listener over on Facebook. He says, “I’m excited to see what happens tomorrow night. Holloway and Kyu.” And he gives the head exploding emojis. So, yes. Uh, let’s see what happens. Um, very excited for the season. I’ve said it all summer. It feels like, it’s so funny because, you know, the Blues the last two seasons have missed the playoffs and I just kind of roll through the summer and then like September comes and I’m like, “Okay, we’re close. We’re close.” It’s like when the Blues actually make the playoffs and extend the season a little bit, the summer feels so much longer because you’re like, “Oh, there’s actually excitement around the team now.” So, yeah, this summer it just dragged on. So, I am excited that we are uh eight days away from the home opener. God, I Yeah, I still can’t believe it’s October 1st. Well, we mentioned it earlier. I’ll go ahead and say it for those that haven’t seen it. A report came out tonight uh in our NHL. We’ll quickly go through some around the NHL rapid fire tidbits. Uh brought to my attention actually when the show was getting ready to start, Bill was like, “Did you see the mammoth news?” Yeah. Apparently, uh well, Bill, you you know it better. I didn’t see this. Go ahead. Go ahead, Bill. Uh so so Winsky posted this 6:30 night tonight uh that a uh Mammoth Hockey LLC hockey bag company out of Portland, Oregon has uh uh sought a an injunction against the Utah Mammoth uh right before the season starts uh for copyright infringement. Well, they should have just went with a yeti. They’re going to get sued anyway. Yeah. Exactly. Right. And so so they said they said at the time when they move forward with the mammoth after the fan vote that oh the n nothing nothing else we’re going to choose has any kind of copyright issues right and they almost immediately started getting notices from this this company and the thing is if you read the article like the hockey club was the aggressor in litigation. They filed the first shot here and against the hockey bag. Yeah. And because they had been threatening litigation and you know they thought maybe they could bully him off or something and now right on the eve of the season starting this gets filed. This is funny. This is funny because so Yeti the the reason why they didn’t go with that was like the what they wanted. The reason why I didn’t go with that was because wow the Yeti cooler company would was going to be upset and they would sue them. They and Yeti coolers nothing to do with hockey, right? And but now the the company that’s suing them is a hockey bag manufacturer. So I right it’s and they used they used language that the so the the hockey club filed a patent on you uh Utah Yetis and it was turned down because um I I don’t have the article pulled up but like the the language that they used it could cause brand confusion. Basically, they used that same language when they filed this for the injunction. So beautiful. Unbelievable. Can you imagine if you know they’ve they’ve spent all this money on branding and they have to hide it and have to go back to last year’s jerseys on the eve of puck drop. Dude, imagine if you bought it yet. Oh my god. Hang on. Yeah, keep talking. Just just just you know what? to stay the Utah Hockey Club. Yeah. Yeah. I I that this is first of all I think I think this is this the whole protecting your brand thing when it’s there’s no like Yeti I have a pro this is a little different because they’re they’re both hockey company hockey related but the the so pissed off the Yeti cooler company and then the and then the the the team Yeti for the nothing to do they’re not in in competition with there’s no confusion there with anybody you gota Jeff Scott the uh showing the uh somebody Clayton Keller sweater mammoth. It is not for me. This is one of the giveaways for the Ponder Cup. So, I’m like, man, if they do have to ditch these jerseys, they should bring in like they should better bring in like $600 a collector’s item. Yeah, for sure. If that happens, I might have to keep it. But, you know what? They’ve probably sold a ton of jerseys, too. I They have for sure. This is I I understand companies want to protect their brand, but some of this stuff is ridiculous. But but you know, also the timing of it, it tells me they could totally be after a big payday, right? Yeah. Paid off. Yeah. Yeah, that’s true. Like, hey, you know, we’ll settle uh for so many millions of dollars. Yeah. Yeah. Huh. Right. Have you ever heard of that? No. That company before? No. Have you? Mammoth Lucky Bags. Have you heard of Mammoth? No, I have never heard of Mammoth either. Huh. I wonder it. It sounds like it’s uh a take on the um Oh, what are the standing up goalie bags called, Bill? U Yeah. Um I’ve drawn a blank. Too expensive for my blood. Yeah. Yeah. I uh God, I can’t believe I’m blanking on it, too. I should know it. Um but that’s what it sounds like to me at least. Somebody just posted that in goalie Reddit the other day. Uh not not so much. It’s Yeah, they’re just kind of your typical kind of leather bags. I’m looking them up here. Let me uh try to share my screen real quick. So yeah, this this is this is their product here. So yeah, it’s just kind of your generic hockey bag, but yeah, I mean if it’s that looks very close to the Warrior bag I have. Maybe should get involved in this. Yeah, we we we had a hockey bag before you. You’re you’re infringing. Yep. That’s about the logo though. I mean, that’s fine. Uh may maybe this will and I last year I didn’t like the Mammoth logo. I went on the show saying complaining about it because it looks like every other modern sports logo that you see like generic kind of a thing. There’s nothing. I don’t know. They could have done something a little different, but so maybe they’ll maybe they’ll maybe they’ll I’m sure they’ll keep the Mammoth name and they’ll settle, right? They’re going to pay off this company. Um well guys, I think we actually have Utah our comment of the show. I knew it. I’m surrounded by [ __ ] Uh it is the Utah legislature from Justin Scott. I will give you comment of the show on that, sir. Yeah. F the Utah L’s. Uh, all right. Uh, one last thing that I want to mention because it is huge news. We mentioned earlier briefly. I know Justin has been asking in the in the comments for us to talk about it real quick. Caro Capriovv max deal to stay in Minnesota eight years 136 million. That is 17 million season uh million a season keeps him in Minnesota through 2023 2024. Uh that is the highest AAV and the highest contract dollars ever signed in the NHL. Um the structure of it was odd. He gets like a million and then a bunch of bonuses. And I didn’t think you do that anymore. Apparently you can as long as uh I think it’s still I think it used to not go against the cap, but I think it does now. I think that’s the change. Okay. So yeah. Yeah. It’s uh I guess if anyone’s going to do it in the central, it makes sense that it’d be Carell Capri off, but I’m looking at this and I’m and I know everybody’s thinking the same thing. McDavis I’m looking at the Edmonton Oilers and I’m like, “Oh boy, nobody’s as upset about it as they are.” Yeah. And God, I I don’t know. I I I don’t uh I mean, it’s it’s too it’s being a fan of the Blues, right? And there’s no we can’t touch a contract like that, right? So it’s like there’s no I don’t know. I I whatever I I mean you got to fit him under the cap. So uh it’s And how long is it? Eight years max, right? Yeah, it’s the max eight years. This this is the last year you can sign eight years, too. Yeah. So, I mean I that’s good for the Blues I guess because that’s I mean just means less money for everyone else on Minnesota. But yep, whatever. I mean it’s hard to argue because he is a heck of a hockey player. He’s fantastic. But is he is he is he worth best money in the league now? the so when the Blues did this in the 90s uh signing players to bigger contracts and things and and they they pissed off the NHL and the league and stuff and you know how why aren’t people getting pissed off in Minnesota? I guess Edmonton is but let’s let’s let’s let them let’s let Judge Houston uh exact some revenge on them for signing players for Judge Houston even around anymore? Oh, he died. He died a long time ago. So, all right. Yeah. Yeah. I I think that, you know, it could wind up being that stunts Winnipeg’s ability to supplement around him. They’re going to wind up with a bunch of mediocre players when the cap goes flat again in two years. Would you rather have uh Thomas at his 8 million or Capri off at his? Thomas at 8 million. Yeah. me who I think that’s a solid number for him, especially since we got him locked up for so long. That number is going to Thomas. It’s a bargain for him now. Yep. Uh yeah. Well, we’ve got Joe Schmo with a good comment here. I’m actually glad the Blues aren’t built on a superstar forward. I’d rather have an army of good forwards like 2019. Yep, agree. And Joe asked if he played in 46 games last year. Yeah, he did have an injury, but I will say he is not typically injuryprone. He just had a bad injury, but uh we’ll see if that continues for Minnesota. Hopefully not. For the Blues, hopefully. All right. Well, guys, uh first of all, before we end the show, Bill, why don’t you stand up and take a twirl? You’re wearing something pretty beautiful there, too. Look at that. If you would like to order one of those sexy jerseys, make sure you reach out to me, [email protected] or any of my social media channels, and we will get you hooked up with a jersey. I have another order going out very soon. So, uh, we are definitely taking more orders right now. So, let me know if you are interested. But, for those for those on the podcast, that was a list radio jersey. Oh, good call. Yes, it was the white one. It was the one that was just released last year. So, um, yeah, we’ve, uh, we, yeah, it’s, uh, what is it? 40 45 for one jersey. If you’d want to package those two, uh, get a blue one as well, or even just get two white ones or two blue ones, uh, we have a little bit of a discount at $85 for two jerseys. So, um, vintage vintage Let’s Go Blues Radio logo, too. That is to go with the Vent to go with the Vintage style jersey from the early 90s. Maybe for our 600th show, I’ll release a yellow one with our new logo. Red one. Do a red one. No. No. All right, guys. I think that will do it. Anything to add before we close up the show? No, sir. No. All right. All right. Good to have you boys back. Happy to be welcoming you in season 15 of Let’s Go Blues Radio as we previewed the 2526 season. Looking forward to another show next week before we actually play a game. So, we will see. Thanks to our incredible sponsor, strikewithmike.com. That will wrap up episode one of season 15 of the original St. Louis Blues Hockey podcast, Let’s Go Blues Radio. Thanks for listening and thanks to those who participated in the YouTube and Facebook live chats during the live show. Make sure to follow us on socials, lgbradio, and like, follow, and subscribe to us on YouTube, Facebook, and yes, we are also on Twitch for Kirk Price and Bill Day and our awesome live audience that contributed so much this week. I am Jeff Ponder, and this was Let’s Go Blues Radio. Until next time, everyone. Let’s go Blues. Let’s go Blues. Oh my. Robert Thomas is elite. Yeah, suck it, Dom [Music] [Applause] [Music] TV talking. St. Louis Blues hockey moving fast, can’t catch the beat. Skates on fire. I some defeat catch the milk. [Music] [Music] [Music]

St. Louis Blues 2025-26 Season Preview | Lets Go Blues Radio Podcast (Se15, Ep. 01)

The St. Louis Blues are back! In this episode of Lets Go Blues Radio, we kick off our 15th season by breaking down the biggest storylines heading into the 2025-26 NHL season. From Cam Fowler’s new contract to the battle for the No. 2 center spot between Brayden Schenn and Pius Suter, we’ve got you covered. We’ll also preview the Central Division, highlight key players to watch, and get you ready for opening night at Enterprise Center.

#stlblues #nhl #hockeypodcasts

What we cover in this episode:

• Cam Fowler re-signs with St. Louis (3 more years)
• Who takes the No. 2 center role: Brayden Schenn or Pius Suter?
• How the Blues stack up in the Central Division
• Key 2025-26 storylines to watch
• Predictions and hot takes for the new season

Please check out our fantastic sponsors!
• Mike Burgoyne Real Estate Broker – Email Mike at Mike@strikewithmike.com or visit strikewithmike.com for all of your home buying and selling needs.

👉 Subscribe for weekly St. Louis Blues talk: https://www.youtube.com/@LetsGoBluesRadio

🎧 Audio version available wherever you get podcasts. Check out letsgoblues.com for more information.

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*About Lets Go Blues Radio*

Since 2011, Let’s Go Blues Radio has been the original St. Louis Blues hockey podcast — streaming live video on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch, plus audio on all major podcast platforms. Hosted by Curt Price, Bill Day, and Jeff Ponder, we bring you in-your-face, unfiltered Blues commentary that’s often imitated, never duplicated.

1 comment

  1. Lucic should not be a Blue. I don’t see him being a good fit for Monty’s system. He’s going to diminish the effectiveness of the 4th line if actually makes the team and plays. I think management believes he’ll have the same impact that Thorburn (good character and class)had during the cup run.

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