The hard work all year puts the Blues in a position where their playoff lives are secure, allowing them to take their time with McDonald coming back. Not sweating it out like the 7 teams fighting for the 7/8 spots.
Sounds like our next GDT should be brought to you by Schlafly Beer.
Per Strick:
Quote:
Schlafly On Board…
As Tom Stillman inches closer to closing on his purchase to buy Blues we will reveal some of the investors who have generously assisted in helping him get this done.
One of these individuals is Tom Schlafly, President of St. Louis Brewery inc. which brews Schlafly beer and is now the largest American-Owned brewery in St. Louis.
Tom Schlafly has built a reputation as real civic leader and a huge St. Louis supporter. Welcome to the hockey family Tom!
The club is calling McDonald's injury a shoulder contusion. #stlblues
Did a little research:
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What is a shoulder contusion?
A person with a shoulder contusion has a bruise near the shoulder joint. A contusion is a swollen collection of blood that forms when blood vessels are broken, due to an injury. The color of a bruise represents blood that leaked into the tissue beneath the skin. Mild injuries cause contusions in the tissues just beneath the skin; however, severe injuries can cause contusions in muscles or bone. The most common causes of shoulder contusions are falls and sports injuries.
Overall great news. Just sounds like a really bad bruise that will take some time to heal. I'm certainly no professional, but I wouldn't expect more than maybe a couple weeks.
I am a little superstitious when it comes to hockey. I know it's ridiculous but I do it anyway. This year it's been working. LA needs a big win against Detroit? Point out LA is gutless and has no hope of winning. I made Berglund score a goal earlier this year just by saying he was invisible two minutes earlier. Easton remembers. The thing about the reverse psychology thing is you can't acknowledge that it's reverse psychology or it undermines it completely. You also know it's limited. You can't go back to the reverse psychology well over and over. When I was saying Ward was going to shut them out, I wasn't using reverse psychology, I really thought that because he was dialed in.
Anyway, I figured there was about 70% chance of McDonald being done for the year and 30% that he'd be back. Blues dodged a huge bullet that he'll be back for the playoffs. However, I believe most if not all of my reverse psychology trickery is now used up. All in all, I feel ok with this is if it means McDonald can come back.
Quote:
McDonald "is going to kind of be week to week, so we're going to evaluate it before we go on the road trip (next week) and see how it is," Hitchcock said. "It's legit. So, I'd say we're looking at week-to-week and let's go from there. We know we're going to get him back for the playoffs. We're very confident of that, so that's good news.
Schwartz reportedly is set to play on a line with Berglund and Langenbrunner. I think Hitch liked what he saw from the Ports-Sobo-Stewy line so imagine the rest of the lines will remain the same.
I can live with Stewart being an effective 3rd liner who is always a joker-type threat when he gets around the net with the puck on his stick this post-season. Long-term, that's not enough for what he'll cost, but it could be enough this post-season.
I can live with Stewart being an effective 3rd liner who is always a joker-type threat when he gets around the net with the puck on his stick this post-season. Long-term, that's not enough for what he'll cost, but it could be enough this post-season.
Yeah, you can't pay him what he'll cost if he's not on the top two lines. He needs to be on a team that plays wide open. Toronto, Ottawa come to mind.
Yeah, you can't pay him what he'll cost if he's not on the top two lines. He needs to be on a team that plays wide open. Toronto, Ottawa come to mind.
Yeah I think Stewys fate is going to come down to what happens with Tarasenko. If Tank decides to come over and play I see Stewart being shipped out at the draft.
Yeah I think Stewys fate is going to come down to what happens with Tarasenko. If Tank decides to come over and play I see Stewart being shipped out at the draft.
They could well sign him to an Oshie contract and trade him next season the instant he scores on a mini-hot streak. They won't sell him for the lowest bid. They probably have an idea about what organizational aspect they want to bolster and if someone can give them that at the draft and Tarasenko's signed, boom, done. But if Tarasenko hasn't signed or the price isn't right, they wait. It's not like his value can go much lower.
They could well sign him to an Oshie contract and trade him next season the instant he scores on a mini-hot streak. They won't sell him for the lowest bid. They probably have an idea about what organizational aspect they want to bolster and if someone can give them that at the draft and Tarasenko's signed, boom, done. But if Tarasenko hasn't signed or the price isn't right, they wait. It's not like his value can go much lower.
I think even though he is having a bad season other teams will look into the the fact that history has shown him to be a consistent 25-30 goal scorer who is still very young.
I don't think NHL GMs are as fickle as the average HF poster and that his value hasn't taken as big of a hit as many people think. Also, lets say we sign Tarasenko and he performs well that means Stewart would drop to our 3rd line RW at best. From that position I can't see him putting up another 30 goal season.
Honestly I would just rather trade him now than wait three years to see if he bounces back into form and loses even more value. ( Brad Boyes..... anyone?)
I think even though he is having a bad season other teams will look into the the fact that history has shown him to be a consistent 25-30 goal scorer who is still very young.
I don't think NHL GMs are as fickle as the average HF poster and that his value hasn't taken as big of a hit as many people think. Also, lets say we sign Tarasenko and he performs well that means Stewart would drop to our 3rd line RW at best. From that position I can't see him putting up another 30 goal season.
Honestly I would just rather trade him now than wait three years to see if he bounces back into form and loses even more value. ( Brad Boyes..... anyone?)
History hasn't shown him to be a consistent 25-30 goal scorer. Kind of by definition.
It's not HF fans who are fickle. The coach keeps wanting to motivate him and give him positive reinforcement in the press (which worked for Halak when Hitch first came in and talked up his confidence). But even the coach can see he's just not strong on the puck, and the coach is the one who keeps promoting him and realizing it's not working and demoting him. Even when he has a solid shift you know that or maybe one other is all you're going to get from him that night. McDonald goes down and it's not like that means Stewart becomes a top-6 guy. They're choosing Sobotka over him, and Sobotka's extremely limited offensively. Let's not lay this on "HF fans" and make it seem like those of us who watch him are the issue. Other teams can see the same things Ken Hitchcock and Doug Armstrong see night after night.
How many millions do you pay for those 15 goals & zero chances created through physicality or hockey sense that this team's system relies on? Costs 3.25M to qualify him. Season's been a total disaster.
How many millions do you pay for those 15 goals & zero chances created through physicality or hockey sense that this team's system relies on? Costs 3.25M to qualify him. Season's been a total disaster.
That really seems to be the biggest issue with Stewart. When he plays physical and checks hard he gets quality scoring chances. Lots of them...It really pisses me off too to see his flashes of greatness...and know that he's just going to disappear the next shift or next game. If he likes this team and city he better start turning it on or the door will close on him. Who knows it may already have. And has anyone noticed how much time he spends in the neutral zone!? They call it the neutral zone for a reason...there's nothing going on there!
I could be down with that. Many solid brews there. The APA is very solid!
Agreed, I actually know a girl who works at the Schlafly Bottleworks brewery/restraunt in Maplewood...she usually hooks it up, and it seems like there's always a new brew on tap each time I go there. Makes you wonder what other local businesses are investing...strickland also tweeted earlier that there's more names to come.
I think that's what they should do.
Give him another season on a 1 year deal to either shape up, or ship him out.
I think he can be great, he may just be having an off season. Who knows, he could step up big in the playoffs and we'll all be back here praising the man.
I saw that during the game, but I guess Pang/Kelly missed it. I thought, "Wow, that's dangerous with that skate blade," but I didn't think he actually made contact.
It was a punk play, and clearly Skinner was frustrated. I thought all the hits vs him during the game were clean hockey plays, but they were definitely taking advantage of his lack of physicality.
I saw that during the game, but I guess Pang/Kelly missed it. I thought, "Wow, that's dangerous with that skate blade," but I didn't think he actually made contact.
It was a punk play, and clearly Skinner was frustrated. I thought all the hits vs him during the game were clean hockey plays, but they were definitely taking advantage of his lack of physicality.
Good eye, I'd be willing to bet the vast majority didn't see it all. I know I didn't...One thing I did notice looking at the replay was that luckily Nichol was making a kicking motion towards the puck with that same leg....which may have very well prevented serious injury. Also, good point about him being frustrated...that one double team hit on him looked awfully brutal.
