Last Minute Blues Podcast | Who Can Outperform Expectations?

Last Minute Blues Podcast | Who Can Outperform Expectations?

This is the Last Minute Blues Podcast with Donny Alex, Jeremy and Jeff Burton. It is the Last Minute Blues Podcast. Donny Fandango joined by Alex Ferrario from 101 ESPN. Jeremy Rutherford from the athletic gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen. The podcast brought to you by Blue Note Roofing, roofing, siding and gutters. Your St. Louis roofing experts. Visit
BlueNoteRoofingSTL.com for a free inspection. So last week I remembered to shout out Jeff. I remembered our sponsor twice, but then only broke once when we need to break. Oh my God. What is this amateur hour? Oh, that’s what it is, buddy. That’s completely what it is. It is amateur hour. If you’re put me in charge of it, that’s what that’s what you got. This is what you get with Donny Fandango. Work class, we didn’t get to break. And I was like, I didn’t get a water break in here. What’s going on here? Guys, Mike Ryder came into the studio afterwards and I was I was like, man, I felt like the podcast was good. We got everything taken care of. Bing, bang, boom. And he came in and was like, hey, I only saw one break. And I was, God dang it, man. I can’t just remember everything. You got all the responsibility. If I screwed up again, I’m making a checklist for the next for the next. But you know what? I’m not going to do this if you need it. Donny, we need a break. We need a break. Very good. Very good. Well, guys, it’s obviously it is the eve of the the 2025, 2026. It’s here. It is finally here. I have legitimately been pining for this ever since two days after Game 7 of the Winnipeg series, like I felt like the longest summer of all time, including like the finals, like respect to those Panthers. They deserve to win. But like just as that series was going on, I was just like, God, I just want this to be over because I knew summer. Bing, bang, boom. Yeah. And we’re here, man. We’re here. So almost ready. That’s Jayar’s got a big smile on his face because he knows that the season is finally here. I’m ready to go. It’s just like that’s those six preseason games. And I guess I shouldn’t complain too much because the last couple of years, they’ve had eight, they’ve had seven, six is pretty nice. And there were no back to backs except the first two. But once you play like three of them, it’s like, can we just move on with it? And that’s from guys that are like broadcasting and writing it or watching it. Imagine what the players are feeling towards like, can we just be done with this? For next year to me is going to be so nice where you’ve got a couple of games where it looks like an NHL roster, couple of games where you get some of those prospects in and you get to see what they look like. And then we just get on with it. Now, 84 games versus 82. That one will be interesting to see. Yeah, we just got to get the season started in September and get that cup awarded before June. Yeah, the problem is it’ll start it in September and we’ll still award it late June and be like, oh, I don’t know what happened. But the reason that that is going to be the case is well, wait, no, because that’ll be next year, not this year. I was thinking with Olympic play. But they’re still going to have that break for the for the worlds. Right. Is that next year or is it the four days? Yeah, it’s going to flip every couple of years. So they’re still going to have that in season break. I don’t know if it’s going to be as long as the Olympics where it’s like three and a half weeks, but they’re still going to have that break. That’s not what it used to be with the All-Star break. And I’m sorry that I that I’m asking this right now. And I know it’s you should be. Is the is the can we just can we just kill the All-Star game as we know it? Like, can we just not do that anymore? Having been to about six of them. Yeah, I totally been to one and I saw the one that was in St. Louis. And I’m like, I’m good. This was fun. I love hockey so much and I could just give a crap less. And I appreciate what they tried to do making in three on three and the tweaks and all those sorts of things. But like I’m out on it. And then also, too, I am just deathly afraid that one of our guys or a great player in the league is going to get hurt in that particular exhibition. And it’s just nothing that I would have to be a muscle twitch or something because it’s not going to be a hit. And that’s true. That’s very true. Very true. Those those All-Star games need to turn into like prospect tournaments or something like that, you know, like they need to just bring the guys in the AHL and let them do a showcase for fans. I just those All-Star games like the the skills competition is probably the more entertaining part of it. Right. Even the skills competition has kind of gotten watered down, to say the least. So I would much rather see the minor league guys that are All-Stars go out there and perform than watch the the NHL guys that don’t even really want to be doing it. Yeah. Yeah. So it is going to be interesting, though, this NHL season and schedule because of that Olympic break break. You’re going to definitely have spans in this season where there is going to be a lot of hockey played in a short period of time. You know, one of the things that we have talked about and I’ve got some great. We’ve got some great emails that I want to get to here in a second. But one of the things that we’ve talked about on the podcast, I know that I’ve heard folks talking about it in the last couple of days. But it is absolutely crucial and critical for this Blues team to come out firing. There is I’m not I’m probably not I don’t think I’m wrong here, guys. But like you can’t afford to put yourself in any kind of hole in the Western Conference. And they should be too dang good to be doing that in the first damn place. But they really do need to come out of the gate swinging. Right. They really do. And I’m going to preface it by saying something that we all three like you could say that about every team and every sport in every city. You got off to get to a good start. But no, no, you’re right. And I want to just preface it by saying that. But follow it up with this. It is important for this team, like you’re saying, for multitude of reasons. You got to piggyback off the success that you had at the end of last year. You got to show that progression is still going up. And now you’re not going to take a step back. You know, Jim
Montgomery is there from day one. They had a great camp. You know, show what the results of that are with a start in October. And November, you know, you don’t want to put yourself in a position to have to win 12 in a row down the stretch to climb back into the hunt. Also, you know, you don’t want to be a situation in January where it’s like, OK, things aren’t going well. Do we want to bring up Dvorsky and Stenberg and put them in a situation where it’s probably not the best for them to be around? No, you got to get off to this good start. You got to show that things are trending in the right direction. Put Doug Armstrong in a spot where he’s looking to add to the roster, you know, and ride the momentum that you had last year. So while it is imperative for, you know, every team to get off to a good start, I think you could put a pretty long list together why it’s important for those blues to well, especially to look at the last three years. I went back and looked at this, the record overall in the last three years up to Thanksgiving because Joey always says it. He’s like, you don’t make the playoffs by Thanksgiving, but you could be out of the playoff race by Thanksgiving. The Blues were one game above 500 in their last three years going into Thanksgiving break, which to me, look at what they’ve had to do the last three years. One of those, they were picking top 10. The other one barely missed the playoffs, but you had to go on that unprecedented run at the end of the season with Drew Bannister. And then last year you had to put together a 12 game win streak. Like you can’t be a 500 team at Thanksgiving. You’ve got to be five, six, seven, eight games above 500 to put yourself in a decent position. The other factor into this too is look around the NHL. How many bad teams are there? Like how many teams do you look at and you say they’re going to be bottom dwellers? Chicago, maybe San Jose, but man, even San Jose, because I think that too. And then I look at their roster and I’m like, you’ve got two first or you got one first overall pick, another second overall pick. You’ve got a couple of guys that have scored 40 goals in the NHL. You’ve got a really good goaltender in that Oscar of. I don’t know if they’re going to be a playoff team, but they’re not going to be a team that only wins 20, 30 games and then they’re out of it. So what I’m saying is like there’s no like in the NFL, if you start off slow, there’s still a chance for you to get into the playoffs because those bottom dwellers baseball, it’s 162 games. But there’s at least four teams that are going to lose close to 100 games. Man, hockey, I just feel like there’s maybe one or two teams that you look at and you’re like, yeah, they’re going to be bad overall. I think a lot of these teams have success. And then a third thing to add on to it, the Olympics, you mentioned it. If you don’t start off hot, you’re not going to be given the grace of breaks after the Olympics for guys, guys are going to have to play through it. And that’s a lot of hockey. If you’re thinking of Bennington or Perreco or Thomas, if he makes Team Canada. So you got to start off hot by November, be in a really good position. So that gives yourself a little grace at the end. It doesn’t seem as though that the Blues that there was that there was not a lot of roster churn here this offseason. There’s a couple of things going on there. A few players in, a few players out. But by and large, same guys that finished the year last year. I feel as though that like you said, J.R., you’ve got to prove that what was going on in the last month of the season is real. And that’s who you are. You you you you still have that to prove, right? Yeah, I know. Yeah, I don’t know that they look at it that way because, you know, it’s a new season. There are a couple of new faces, even though there was wasn’t a lot of turnover. And a lot of times when we talk to players, whether they’re, you know, giving us the player speak, are they true? I don’t know what they say, you know, to each other behind the scenes. But they’ll look at it like, hey, we’ve got a reset here. Last year means nothing. You know, Brainshen was saying that last year. But in reality, we know what’s going on here. And we know that you can’t show that you’re a playoff team, that you took the Winnipeg Jets to the brink should have beat them, should have played Dallas in the second round. Who knows? Maybe beat Dallas. And then all of a sudden, you’re 10 points out of the playoff race by November. So, you know, I think what the players are focused on is the here and now. I think that they know that they have to have a good start. But to answer your question, I don’t know that they’re sitting there saying, we got to prove it. I think that’s us saying that. The continuity of the team, though, you would think would help them come out of the gate. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Pretty strong. Yeah. Especially in the top six. I mean, that’s the biggest thing to wear in years past. It’s always been in your best players, aren’t your best players, the first two months of the season, right? A couple of years ago, Josh Levo was playing on the top line for the Blues. I do remember that. I mean, like they know, disrespect to Josh Levo. I think he’s tearing it up over in Europe these days. Good for him. But like that, your top players were never your top players. Every last couple of seasons, it was Thomas injury or Butch Navic was injured or Kyrie wasn’t performing well or Shin wasn’t performing well. Now, man, there’s no there’s no area for excuses because all six of those top guys played together in the middle of that 12 game stretch. You know, like you saw Snuggler would fit like a glove with Thomas and Butch Navic, Shannon, Kyrie and Holloway. So those are the guys that carry you in the early portions of the season. The middle portion of the season, Act two, if you want to look at it that way. That’s where those depth pieces really step up. So I I do think there’s going to be a sense of recognition from the players to the league of like, hey, last year wasn’t just a 12 game win streak. We are a good team that’s starting to make noise. It’s a matter of, though, can you carry over that chemistry that you had last year and does it still fit like it did last year? All right. So here’s what we’re going to do. I want to talk about the Western Conference. I want to also talk about maybe a Blues player that that we each think might might surprise. Might surprise might exceed expectations. I want to talk about that. And, you know, just as we kind of get things ready. But we have gotten some really great emails over the course of the last couple of days. So let’s take a break here in the last minute blues podcast. I got it early. We’re going to come back with more of your listener email. See, I’m going to learn how to do this by the time by the time that this is over. I’m going to be good. All right, we’re back last minute blues podcast and we’ve got some listener emails here You can always email the podcast at lmbp at 105 seven the point comm that’s lmbp I want to five seven the point comm Jared messages in this is exactly his wording Can any Joe Schmoe go watch the blues practice or is that reserved for media insiders? Thanks. Love the podcast. Keep it going I just appreciate his use of Joe Schmoe Alex and I go so yeah I’m legitimately a Joe Schmoe. So yes, anybody can go but they but they do have some practices That are close like day of skates are probably closed to the public but then they do have open skates at centene, right? Yeah, the only I mean correct me if I’m wrong here. J. Are the skates at Enterprise Center? You can’t go close right. Those are closed. So anytime they skate at centene, which is typically non game days Those are always available to the public Yeah, like you said game days are usually at Enterprise Center But they have had some game day morning skates at centene, which those are open So I guess the the rhyme or reason to this is at centene open Yeah, Joe Schmoe’s you can go and the enterprise know because they’re not gonna chase you and your kids around Mark emails in hey guys Love the show can one of you guys please talk to the DJ at the arena and ask him to bring back blur song to Is the victory song it was so much fun after a win to hearing the whole barn sing whoo-hoo Okay, that’s all let’s go blues. That’s from mark B. What do they play now as the like game? It’s research. I’m pretty sure it’s the urge. Oh, is it they play that one again? I’m pretty sure it makes sense. So here so let me throw this one at you. Let me blow your mind Sure, okay, if you say country roads, I’m ending this podcast right now. Oh, no, no, no, I walk out on myself Okay, good. Yeah, I’m glad somebody else’s what you know, I heard that during a baseball playoff game the other day Can we please stop with this crap? Please? Okay, but and I even forgot what I was gonna say Oh, sorry guys because of West Virginia You’re gonna blow our mind Yeah, you play the urge song the goal song bing-bang-boom because it’s like a minute 20 seconds And then you play blur song to give both of them both of them I’m gonna get all of them together and I’m not even exaggerating are three minutes and 20 seconds That gives everybody the chance to scream During the urge song and then to woohoo their asses off as they’re walking out the door Hey, that would give you some time for two more beers For a period party afterwards, it’s the perfect place to go. No to me I I love all the small things by link 182 we established that last podcast But now it’s so overused by everybody in the NHL that it just ruins it to play at hockey games Wow see I I it there are very few things that like ruin it for me the country road thing Oh, I just do not understand and then also and this is back a few years ago I’m gonna talk and code a bit, but I was when I was on Twitter still I Voiced my displeasure with Country Road and not understanding it and there was a senior media member of st. Louis that Completely jumped my ish about it about like well People forget that fans are fans and I’m like, okay dude But like I’m a fan and I’m not a media guy when I’m going to a blues I think the senior media person you’re speaking of jumped me as well and I backed up my statement Tell me why that is an exciting song to sing in the third period of a one goal hockey game And his response was was the faint well the fans love it and I said cool play anything for those fans And they will love that song because that’s just st. Louis. They love to sing along, right? I’m just jealous that you guys are you know if you go to the game as a fan You’re still in the seats, you know drinking your beer at the end of the game I’m getting in a freight elevator With a but ten other people that look like me and we are headed down to listen to players say well You need to play a full 60 I mean guys like I don’t I don’t know the best way to say this But like I very much appreciate your position during the games I get what you’re doing you are working but when I’m sitting next to you and you’re working I definitely feel like I’m in the wrong place because a I’m sitting on my hands I can’t holler and so like I just would much prefer to sit and watch the game and I’m thankful that that’s kind of my role here because like It’s no fun up there. I do your armstrong looks so I mean Couple years ago. We brought him up I had him in the booth with me because he was doing postgame and I think it was a playoff game He was against Minnesota if I remember this correctly poor honey looked like he was he looked like Bobby Plager He was pacing the back in a broadcast booth. I remember I remember it was a playoff game because Like something happened like from the jump and I don’t remember what it was I don’t remember if it was a goal or if it was a big hit But like I just remember I was sitting next to both of you guys and it happened I was like It was so like difficult to not just be able to friggin scream I wonder what it is that desensitizes us obviously it’s doing your job for 20 Thousands of chairs that we’ve done but literally Jimmy Snuggard could bend down to a knee Whip his stick back and hit the jumbotron Turn around and whip a hundred and twenty mile an hour slap shot and I wouldn’t play a chair like like Yeah, what’d you say? Where’s the pain? I still have that though only during the playoffs like regular season I don’t know if I get as pumped up as I usually would as a fan Yeah playoffs it’s still as hard for me to like not get into it that much man I mean that thing still I mean it just gives me chills All right, so this this is really honestly this email that I got from Daniel I think proves to me that I’m not doing the job that I need to do as one of the co-hosts of the last minute So you didn’t bring up Jess again, did you know Daniel just the way in which that this question is phrased It’s something that I should have been asking you guys a while And I know we’ve kind of briefly discussed this a bit, but I think Daniel hits it right on the head Hey, Donnie or whoever reads these I had a question I’d like to ask on the podcast if possible my question is why is there so much talk about letting Dvorsky play top-line minutes? In the ahl and having to let him developed Having to let him develop slash not stun his growth But Thomas was not Thomas was brought in and out of training camp the year We won the cup he played third-line minutes average time on ice was about 13 minutes a game played on the third-line wing So why can’t we do the same with Dvorsky? Why is it so bad? He gets that opportunity But it’s fine. Why is it so bad? He gets that opportunity But it’s fine for Thomas because I’d rather much rather have Dvorsky on the line with neighbors in Shin first Joseph or Texas C-A sorry for the long question, but thank you for considering it keep up the great work And I’ll continue tuning in once a week to listen. Thank you. That’s from Daniel Daniel And I know we’ve talked about this before to a certain extent But I really do feel like as we’re sitting here and like debating Dvorsky Joseph Loo cheats like okay I’m not trying to crap on those guys and that was like not really a great thing to do But but seriously when you have a guy like that that supposedly has these skills What why so I’m just glad that I get to be whoever answers the question Yeah, I feel like it’s a pretty simple answer and and and Alex probably knows it too is Robert Thomas could not go to the American High League He either had to stay in St. Louis or go back to junior. I’ve done everything in junior could not prove Four years won a championship was one of the top scores in juniors hockey and he’s with the st. Louis Blues So if you’re the Blues, it’s like, okay Do we try to you know put him in that third line and let him see if he can take off with it We can’t send him to the American High Leagues or do we send him back to junior let him tear it up prove nothing and So on and so forth with divorce He came over as a European and rules are a little bit different and he can go to the American Hockey League So I mean it’s it’s a great level of hockey I think I saw a percentage somebody tweeted this couple days ago of the 700 some odd players in the NHL this year Oh, I saw 84 percent of them have spent time in the American Hockey League Yeah, you know, it’s a small percentage that can just jump straight right to the NHL Robert Thomas was able to do that But in part because he could not go to the American they might have sent them to the American Hockey League You know had they had that option. Yeah, and that I mean that he nailed it to me the other part of it too is Robert Thomas had done four years of juniors hockey like he was used to this style of hockey It’s not like the rink was smaller. He was used to that style No, he wasn’t used to the competitiveness of pro hockey Which is why you saw that first season Thomas would spend seven or eight games up in the press box and sitting with Steve Ott and then go back in to play a Few games to Foresky spent almost his first portion of his career playing pro hockey over in Europe smaller rink Different style even Stenberg addressed that saying like there wasn’t a whole lot of physicality when we played over in Sweden versus where we’re at now Divorsky then goes to juniors does really well You want to let him get a little bit of a taste of North American hockey, but I just the blues Want and see him to be a top six centerman for this team and as much as we said Robert Thomas makes a lot of sense Why does he play on the wing and not divorce key because of what Jr mentioned, but they were slow playing that one with him I think they’re slow playing it with the divorce key as well But what’s better for his development as a tenth overall pick? Putting him on a third line and letting them play eight nine minutes at the NHL and then going up to the box for a couple Of games coming back down or going down to the American Hockey League and playing 20 minutes a night for the Springfield Thunderbirds Power play penalty kill six on five at the end of hockey games That’s where I would want that player and I also think Doug Armstrong made a really good point talking about this Put yourself in divorce key shoes Let’s say you start the season in the American Hockey League and get called up 20 games in where’s your mindset at? Cool. I dominated it now. I get a chance to prove it now Put yourself in the same shoes of that young kid and where you play eight games at the AHL They just say you know what you’re not getting the ice time. We need you to go down Divorce keys not thinking logically of oh, well, they just they didn’t get to see they saw me and they like me I’m gonna go down and work harder. No you go spend the next month in the American Hockey League saying I stink I’m never gonna play in the NHL. I got to go down and never gonna get that’s what you don’t want to do to that Kid that’s why Doug Armstrong always uses the phrase Organizations can ruin a prospect just as much as a prospect can ruin an organization So much rather put the guy where his feet are and his mind is Mindset wise of I am focused on killing it in the AHL 20 games into the season Let’s say he is the top scorer in the American Hockey League in Texie and Joseph Luci, none of them’s worked on the third line and readers The athletic will know that in the bold predictions. I said that divorce key will play 30 games on the right wing there You know, so we yeah, I mean, it’s just the development side of yeah Yeah, I I understand that and obviously the not being able to send down thing I’m not being able to send Thomas down being the the huge Difference here and it does make sense as far as the player development thing the more that you Explain it the more that the fan in me goes. Okay, this just makes too much sense We know you want to see the guy but you got we got to do what’s best for the guy and again though But that does kind of put the blues in like a pretty alright situation because if they are playing well Maybe Joseph isn’t doing great. Maybe then I mean there’s moves here to me made. It’s not as though that they’re hamstrung You know what? I’m saying? There seems like there’s some ways you can go and one more thing on the Robert Thomas When would you say in your opinions Robert Thomas became a star in the National Hockey League like a star? Number one Center like two years ago. Yeah, I would think shortly after O’Reilly left I was a the year after O’Reilly left I do remember people saying like oh man I don’t just don’t know if Robert Thomas has it and I mean think about that it was what four years into his pro career already where he won a Stanley Cup and Some of it was because they used him on the wing He just didn’t get that center experience so you had to learn it at the NHL level now You’ve got divorce key learning it at the pro level in the American Hockey League where you ask any player that plays down there They say it’s pure chaos like there’s no structure So you have to figure out how to dominate a league where there’s no structure and go up to a league where it’s all structure It’s a lot slower of a game Bulldog said that to us a couple of years ago where it’s like man the a HL When you get to the NHL the game slows down and it opens up more space So go be the number one guy in a place where that’s pure chaos And then when you get back to the NHL, then it’s gonna be a lot slower to you while we’re here Just because we’re here in its top of mind Tell me besides divorce key Another player or two that God forbid an injury pops up that we’ll see him here I would assume on the defensive end hunter Skinner would be one of those guys I think he’s gonna be a guy gets called up you got seven that you’re gonna start the season with with Matthew Castle being The seventh guy and our Skinner was sent through waivers and cleared and so he’s in Springfield and then I asked Doug Armstrong this question yesterday, he had a media avail and You know, he mentioned guys like divorce key Otto Stenberg. Yeah, he did make a pretty good point though You guys there’s another guy kaskamaki to keep an eye on in the next couple years and he said listen Stenberg and kaskamaki Kaskamaki, I’m not taking anything away from them. This is Doug talking He said they played great. They deserve every compliment they got but they’re in support roles on the wing they’re not driving the line and I think what what he’s saying here is that he was trying to Kind of open everybody’s eyes to the fact that okay divorce key didn’t get a lot of hey, he’s looking great He should be here type talk. That’s because he’s he’s a center position. He’s You know responsible for driving play driving the last tough to do, you know 20 years old, you know Especially when you’re doing it with some ahl guys with you at the NHL level to NHL games so the bottom line is the expectation of what they want from divorce keys up here and the expectation for Stenberg and kaskamaki on the wing is over here and You know, it’s gonna take longer for divorce key to get there to develop that that’s why we all this talk about could he come up? And get his feet wet on the wing. So Going back to your original question Stenberg kaskamaki. Those are guys that you could see called up if they need Yeah, like I mean Stenberg the reason I think so many people were high on him after the preseason was he looked great But he was also playing with guys like Robert Thomas He was playing on lines with Dylan Holloway and Braden Shannon pew suitor Torres divorce key there was a couple of games where divorce key was playing with carbon Oh and pakarchi core he was playing on a Line with Nick Buks dad on the wink like he wasn’t playing with the same caliber of players and that goes to Armstrong’s point Divor ski is supposed to be driving the offense also divorce key as a center man You’ve got so many more responsibilities than just the offensive zone Whereas if you’re stenberg or your kaskamaki not saying that they don’t have responsibilities But you’re not the number one guy that’s focused on when the puck goes in the offensive zone and you’re not the one that’s got To be thinking crap. I got to get back and play defense when the puck goes the other way That’s kind of like this podcast the responsive for you. Yeah to know when to break You got to drive this thing and we’re just the support people So if you read the newspaper or you go on TV and you see everybody praising us It’s because we’re maximizing our support. Yeah, you’re the Braden Shannon this group or just the wingers. You’re the driver Donny Dude, I love you guys That’s so nice. I think it’s I don’t even think it’s true, but I really just I just really love the heck out of it So so one thing before we break and I want to talk about the Western Conference and I want to talk about some of these Crazy contracts that not crazy contracts But we’ve seen some big stars get signed here over the course of the last couple of days And I want to talk about that before we’re done But before we break again, I want to talk about Players that we think could maybe exceed expectations Our own expectations in this particular season. I’m hearing bold predictions. Yeah, what about you? I mean Jer’s got ten of them. I guess so. I guess that’s what this would be. Am I stealing your idea? No, but we want to focus on the players. Yeah, what? Yeah, pick one player that you have to pick one player now Let me tell you mine you guys ready for this Tyler Tucker. I’m about to make the entire I’m about to piss off st. Louis Let me tell you what you preface that the perfect way Jordan Cairo. Oh, let me tell you something One of the things in which do we have talked we do literally Just talked about it with divorce key and something that we talk about Very frequently on this podcast when it comes to younger players and in any sport is the maturation of that person and that player And it’s always amazing. It’s never the same way. It’s never the same time Everybody’s at their own speed, but I think that this is the year that st. Louis Embraces Jordan Cairo and and I feel like this is going to be the year that the maturation and the skill Come together for the player that we have really been hoping latency. We’ve seen great things out of Jordan Cairo I don’t want to take that for granted All right But I think that we are going to see a more consistent a better Jordan Cairo the best version of that guy That we have ever seen you think he scores 40 goals. I think he does Absolutely. Yeah after that I think 50 Let’s not get crazy. You’re gonna chase down bread holes. No, but you know what I’m saying But you know, like I really feel like with this kid the last year or so man He has had his bumps and bruises deservedly. So things that he brought on himself But I think that you learn from those experiences and then this young man has Yeah, I could see that especially the maturation that we’ve seen defensively and I’m saying his responsibility Yeah, you’re gonna need him to understand how important the puck is, you know six on five You know some areas of the game where you know, you we’ve seen him still have some hiccups, but I think you’re right Donny I think that he’s at a point in his career and people are gonna say yeah He should have been at that point a couple years ago But like you said it takes a different amount of time for different players and and I think he’s there I think everything you said could come to fruition So I’ll piggyback off of that because my guy is his line mate still in Holloway. I To the same point that you just made with Jordan Cairo I think what Dylan Holloway did last year He’s gonna take that next step and burst onto the scene in terms of people around the NHL view it as like Oh, wow, the Blues got another star on their hands I think Dylan Holloway has 90 point potential on that second line, which to me I You look around the NHL. There’s not a lot of teams that have 90 point players that are playing second line minutes I think Dylan Holloway is that he’s already been labeled As the hardest worker on the team by Doug Armstrong and he said that before training camp even began I think with Cairo speed and the chemistry that they built together I think you could be looking at Dylan Holloway bursting onto the scene I’ve made the comp before on BK and Ferrari oh and I’ll stick to this I think Holloway can be a Kyle Conner esque player for this Blues team So Donny says I’m gonna make everybody in st. Louis mad Alex goes with a guy who everybody You’re welcome st. Louis you’re welcome Look and there’s varying play to your roles Yeah, there’s when you do a type of drill like this There’s like various ways you could look at it right like who’s gonna have a surprise season you could say hey Mayu’s gonna surprise people He’s gonna grab a top four role. You could you know Jimmy Snuggler is gonna win the Calder. He’s gonna surprise the league You know, I think we’re going with guys who are fairly well established We just think they’re gonna have a good year and I’m gonna kind of says J.R. Is wasting a crap takes by both of you You two took a coward’s way You see how he painted that perfect picture like look I think what you guys said is great and this is why but let me tell You why you didn’t answer my question. My my wife always says okay quit setting it up Like my work wise so this is a situation no I’m gonna go with an established guy, too I’m just gonna go with a guy who doesn’t typically score 35 Goals, you know Dylan Holloway Jordan Kuyver. So I’m gonna go with Pavel Butch Nevec and I say that for this reason He’s had a couple down years, right especially Offensively and in part I think it’s because you know They tried to make him a center and he’s not a center and you know, they I understand why they wanted to make it work They didn’t have a lot of depth there and the team as Doug Armstrong said the winning percentage was good when he played in the middle But he obviously feels more comfortable on the wing. Now you got him on a line with Thomas and Snuggard We like what Thomas is doing. We think that Snuggard’s got a ton of potential and I think Butch Nevec is gonna help that line Look, you can’t look two years ago and say he can repeat that but he scored 30 goals two years ago three years ago now When Jim Montgomery was an assistant coach on this team, you know, he’s got a good relationship with Jim Montgomery So I think money is gonna get the best out of Butch Nevec and also that new contract kicks in here I’d six-year deal Look, he’s a good guy. He’s a professional. He understands what’s asked of him and You know, he’s a guy who I don’t know him know him But when you’re in the locker room, you talked to him you can tell that he wants to up hold his end of the bargain Yeah, and I think that we’re gonna see that this year Contract one of us went out on a limb a little bit two of us did not Literally, we all went with top six forwards. Can I give you one more though? Now we want to do multiple You brought this up because like I It’s not even a player it’s an area of the team watch out for this defense. I Looked at this the other day Do you know the last time the Blues as an organization had three or more defensemen with 40 or more points in a season in? One season three defensemen with 40 plus points. Well, it would have had to have been like a McKenna’s days, right? Yeah, I’m gonna go late 90s. They’ve never had it never had it They have never had three defensemen with 40 or more points I went back and looked that they’ve had two guys with 50 or more points But that third guy has always been around like 20 or 30. I said this when they acquired Mayu and I said like I think this might be the best six that the Blues as an organization has ever had and it still sounds Like a odd take to say when you have multiple Hall of Famers on one defensive unit But look at those teams and look at their five six like look at this five six It’s Logan Mayu that they believe is a top four defenseman It’s Tyler Tucker who when he was out of the playoffs last year was like, oh, they can’t lose this guy I think between Broberg Fowler Pareco to me that skies that I would guarantee 40 or more points and then it’s a wild card does fall create more on the Power play this may you get chances? So that’s an area that I would say watch out for this season like they might do something that franchise has never done before That’s pulled is that pulled eight. He picked two things like Increase the chance but use my men in black flasher never happened. Wait, I’m gonna do three more down. He just Please tell more. All right, we’re gonna finish up more of the last bit of blues podcast coming your way next All right, so gentlemen, as we get ready for the season to begin tomorrow night, I want to talk about this Western Conference. Obviously, we feel as though the Blues are going to be very good. Can you guys kind of talk about who we should be looking at as the cream of the crop right now in the West? Maybe do you see anybody that made the playoffs last year falling off? Do you see a team like Calgary pushing through to make it into the playoffs this year? How do you look at the Western Conference and what the Blues are going to be fighting? Yeah, I still like the top teams that we talked about last year with Dallas. They have a new coach and I think that was the right move. It didn’t seem like they were going to push forward with Pete DeBoer, your guy. Man, boy, did Sourpuss screw that up for himself or what? You saw that happening, didn’t you, Donny? Dude, but I mean, legitimately, you’re tearing down your franchise gold tender in the gosh-dang finals. Like, what? It’s just, where is that guy going to go next? I can’t wait to find out. Well, no, so Jamie Ben’s going to be out for a little while, right? But I think that they still have the pieces there. Like, you just look at their lineup and you look at the top three lines with the Fords and I think they’re going to be good. And I think Hunter’s, he’s going to build from that, that learning experience last year from the playoffs. You know, Pete DeBoer’s comments and now he’s got the new coach that’s supporting him. So I think Dallas is going to be there. You know, I like Colorado. I like any team that Nathan MacKinnon’s on. Yeah, understandable. Yeah, and Winnipeg, you know, lost a piece or two and you know, you still worry about the goaltending when you get to the playoffs there. So, you know, I look at Colorado and then out west in the Pacific, Alex, who are we like? Vegas is probably the number one team with Marner, although I’m not as bought into Vegas. Can I ask this question real quick about Vegas? One of the things that I’ve heard quite a bit is people questioning the depth on their defense with the loss of Petro for the year. And then was it Nicholas Haig that they moved on to Nashville as well? So that’s my biggest concern about that team. I think defensively they’re not as strong. Marner is great. You got another 100 point player. You’re going to score a ton. You’re going to score a ton, but you better plan to win hockey games 5’4″, 6’5″ because your best defenseman, Noah Hanifin and Shay Theodore, who are very good. But now your depth is McNabb and White Cloud. And then I don’t think they have a whole lot beyond that. And your goaltending. Now, I know there was rumors of potentially Carter Hart signing there. I don’t know if that’s happening, but they lost Aiden Hill for a significant amount of time last year. You don’t really have the depth on goalie. So Vegas is viewed. I think they were the second best favorite in the Western Conference behind Edmonton to win the cup. I don’t buy it. I think they’re going to be a top three team in the Pacific, but I don’t buy that they’re going to be as dominant as people are making them out to be. And then you’ve got Edmonton, who’s probably going to be the number one team. Yeah, you got to like Edmonton, especially when Connor McDavid takes six bucks to come back. Seriously. Go spend this elsewhere, guys. Go spend the body. Good luck trying to find a goalie with that amount of money because that’s not happening in the NHL anymore. Somewhere else. And then I like what LA has been doing to a point, you know, in the past couple of years. That’s one I’m skeptical on. Yeah. I just feel like some of those players that they drafted a few years ago, you know, I think that they’re ready to come up and play better. You know, Alex already said earlier in the show that he likes San Jose to win the Pacific. That’s true. I did. Watch out. Not just the Pacific, the cup when you got Evander, Kane and Ryan Reeves on one team together, right? But they’re not on the same team, are they? No, Kane’s on Vancouver. Vancouver. He’s on San Jose. They’ll see each other a lot. No. So here’s, remember this, ladies and gentlemen, because I’m going to predict the standings for you right now. I think Dallas, Colorado and St. Louis are your top three in the Central. Okay. I think Winnipeg dips. I think Winnipeg is still in the playoffs, but they’re a wildcard team. I think Minnesota is a wildcard team. So you get five Central division teams in the playoffs. And then I think you’ve got Edmonton, Vegas, and I think Anaheim gets in as that third team. Anaheim.
I think LA falls off a little bit. Coach Q fair? I don’t know if it’s the Coach Q more so than it’s just they reloaded that roster. Like you bring in Chris Crider, you bring in Jacob Truba last year. You’ve got now Strome, who was the guy that they got from New York a couple of years ago as well, another forward. They’re deep. They’ve got some really good draft picks in Leo Carlson and McTavish. Zegreus is off the team right now. They’ve got a goaltending. They don’t have to deal with the controversy anymore of Gibson. They would be my dark horse team that I think gets in. And I think LA dips off a little bit. But five teams from the Central, that’s my boldest prediction there. I think you’re going to see Minnesota, Winnipeg, St. Louis, Colorado, and Dallas all in the playoffs this year. I just got a text from John Kelly said, tell Alex he’s wrong. Yeah, sorry, JK. Sorry, JK. But you’re on ESPN, so we’ll see you still in the playoffs. I mean, it just this West is going to be something else. I didn’t even mention Utah and Calgary. Utah was coming right there last year. So like you’re realistically talking about 10 or 11 teams fighting for eight spots in the playoffs. And again, stressing, you got to come out of the gate strong, man. You cannot afford to get behind any of these guys. All right, so over the course of the last week, we saw Kaprizov get signed. Then McDavid gets signed. I guess Kyle Connor got a deal earlier today. It’s kind of crazy to me how once Kaprizov signed, how it seemingly all kind of fell into place. Or I guess was it more McDavid? Was it McDavid? And then it’s all kind of falling into place from there. I think Kaprizov was in just an entity of his own because the wild knew they had to keep him and they were going to pay him whatever he wanted. I think teams are waiting to see McDavid sign. And when McDavid signed for 12 and a half, I don’t know this to be a fact. I just wonder if players are like, well, damn, if McDavid is not taking more than 12 and a half to stay with the team to try and build a cup. I can go out there and ask for 14 mil. And if you’re Kyle Connor, like you’re an incredible player probably could have got more on the market. But instead you’re like, look, $12 million is what I’m worth. But it also gives you guys opportunities to build some. That’s the part that I’m most curious about. If other stars around the league see the McDavid move and are like, if I want to win, I got to take less so my team can remain competitive. But isn’t this also McDavid saying to the Edmonton Oilers management, all right, homies, we got two years on this bad boy. And at the end of the day, I mean, I would think two. He’s got this one.
But you got three years to make this happen. And if it’s not, don’t you maybe he’s going somewhere else to try to win if they haven’t. Yeah. Yeah. And when we saw the 12 and a half, we know that that’s the type of guy is in terms of, hey, I just want to win. But I think it was also done kind of what you’re saying is that, hey, listen, I’m going to take the less money and try to I want to be here and I want to win here. But I’m only going to take two years plus the year three. And we got to get it done now. So I think he’s going to come out looking good either way because he took the 12 and a half million. So let’s say they don’t do it in the next three years. Are people going to begrudge kind of McDavid for leaving? No, I think it’s every opportunity to work. I think this makes it easier for people to understand McDavid leave. If you look at that and you say you just basically told the Edmonton Oilers, you’ve got 12 million dollars over the next two years to play with. Make me a contender. And I also say going back to Caprice off, first of all, does this say anything about the two players? And I am not saying that it does with Caprice off, but you have one guy who says, no, 16 million won’t work. Yeah. And then he settles a week, two weeks later for 17 and you get another guy. So I’ll take 12. I do say, though, that, you know, there’s not guys around the league who can just make the extra money that McDavid can make by just. Well, that’s true. And you’re up in Canada. So you’re bringing in the we don’t know that side of it. But still, though, if you’re Caprice off, you’re making, I would imagine, money endorsements in Minnesota. Like Minnesota is a very large hockey market and you’re the star of that place. I thought the same thing. And again, to each is his own, like good for him to go out there and get your money. But man, I just there’s just two different styles of it. You either want the most money possible and then, you know, hopefully I’m the reason why we want to stay in the cup. But I want to get paid or you’re like Conor McDavid, who have watched Sidney Crosby take less, have watched Ovechkin take less than the market, you know, probably grew up watching Steve Izerman and Joe Sackik take less so that they can win cups. I saw somebody on Twitter bring this up the year that Paul Correa and team of Solani went to Colorado. They signed for one million dollar each so that they could go win a cup. Now, it can’t work. Those teams didn’t win cups. But I just if I’m if I’m Caprice off, it’s like 17 million dollars is great. But man, are you going to be able to build a contender around me because there’s no more of these top five picks that you’re going to be bringing in. This is it. We’re competitive now. How good are you at drafting and developing? How many of these guys can you keep around? Because when all these players start to age, where am I going to be at? Because now I’m here. You can’t really go spend a lot of money. I don’t know what those teams look like. And to tie this into the blues, it just makes these contracts for Thomas and Kyrie. Oh, God. A steal talking about half of what Caprice off makes and the caps going to go up to one hundred thirteen million. And these guys are making eight million for the next. It’s like five years after this year. And you’re starting to see sorry, Don. You’re also starting to see a blueprint of what the next contracts could look like depending on if Holloway and Broberg continue to take that next step. Right on. Man, man. Well, guys, friggin hockey. Did we take the second? I was going to say we got the two breaks. We got the two break. You did mention Jeff. I mentioned the sponsor from the beginning. We mentioned Jeff throughout. So I think we’re covered in that regard. Whoever answers the emails, answered them. Whoever answers the email. I feel as though we’ve checked all the boxes. I think this was one hundred and ten percent, Donny. It is the last bit of blues podcast for our dude, Jeremy Rutherford from the athletic. Alex Ferrari from one on one ESPN handling your blues pre and post game and our dude, Jeff Burton, who we miss a ton. Remember, you can send us emails, LMBP at one five seven point dot com. It is the last minute blues podcast. I’m Donny Fandango. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. And as always, let’s go blues.

WE FINALLY MADE IT BLUES FANS! The guys talk about the anticipation for the Blues season, with expectations fluid for the Blues around the league. They also have the combinations that make the most sense for the Blues, they pick the player they believe will exceed expectations, how the Conference will lay out & the NHL handing out extensions.

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