Transcript of St. Louis Blues 2024-25 NHL Season Preview | The Steve Dangle Podcast

Jesse, we've got Doug Armstrong on the phone. Do you want to tell him what you just said about his team?

I think Doug Armstrong made really good moves this offseason.

I think-That's not what he said.

I think Jesse said the St. Louis Blues put the mid and Midwest. I didn't say that. I think that's what he said. Pretty sure that's what he said.

I didn't say that.

Oh, my goodness. Guys, the St. Louis Blues are a team that objectively have a ton of I meant to say talent. And then I was going to follow that up with- That's what a challenge is. I was going to follow that up with Butta Challenge in this division. Water challenge. I can't speak. I'm okay. What is- I'm okay. Don't worry. It's just water. It's just water. It's vodka. They were, objectively, the most interesting team in August this year. Oh, 100 %. Double RFA offer sheets, which were both successful, by the way. So Dylan Holloway and Phil Broberg have been added to this roster include also Ryan Suter, Matthew Joseph, Alex Texier, and some players that you expect to take a step forward. Neighbors, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrie. What a line. Radic Fasca is now a St. Louis Blues. How dare you. Refax, excuse me.

Noted Alan Walsh client.

Where do you want to start with the Blues? Is it goal-tending? Because that's where I'd like to go.

Yeah, let's do that. What What I was going to say with regard to the offer sheets is when they happened, I was like, This is really interesting. And then I did research on the blues, and I was like, This was really necessary.

Right. So 57 games last Last year, some goal tender who makes six million bucks named Jordan Binnington had his best season since 2019, 2020, where he posted a 913 save percentage.

Pretty concerning that he was that good, and they still didn't make it. You know what I mean? Are you counting on that happening again?

The team itself had the fourth best save percentage in the league. Because Hoffer was good, too. Yeah, fourth best save percentage in the entire league.

But how about their goal Goals scored, Jesse?

Goals scored? Not great. They were 24th in goals four, 24th in PP. They couldn't really put the buck in the back of the net. No.

We can't score even when we're at an advantage, too. No. Here's the question, what What did they go and they do to address that?

Philip Broberg.

And Dylan Holland.

Oh, no. They lost Tori Krug, who's a very capable power play quarterback. Oh, Jesus.

Casperry Cappinen is on the roster. Shut up.

Go as fast as you can.

Stop, double-back.

Matthew Joseph. They get Matthew Joseph?

Yeah, they did.

They did get Matthew Joseph. They're one of those teams, and this is actually very Doug Armstrong, where you look at them and you go, I see no apparent weakness up front. But then you start going, All right, but push comes to shove. Who are you counting on? I'm counting on Kyru. I'm counting on Thomas.

The neighbors had 27 goals last year. Yeah.

One of the more interesting things, and I think you nailed it with how he's constructed the team, and you're like, There's no real weaknesses because they had six guys on the team score over 20 goals. Yes. That's good. That's fucking balanced as shit. You can't get more balanced than that. But one guy over 30.

That's tough.

To be successful, you need that high-end talent, and they're really lacking that.

A guy like Kyru, I feel like is that, but not yet. But again, it's weird because this is his seventh NHL season.

What was his stat line last year?

31, 36, 67 in 81 games.

He's better than that, and he's paid better than that. Same with Thomas. Thomas, don't both those guys make 8 and up? Yes. You need more than that.

So that's what it's got to come down to is Doug Armstrong is probably looking at this team and going, okay, goaltending seems to be back on track. Banner had a good year. Need the backup. Who's the backup for that? Joel Hofer. Okay. So we need him to be okay.

Yeah, he was great last year. They were two-thirds of Canada's goaltending at the World Championship. Yes. Great.

You need guys like Kyru, Thomas, Nabors. Who else we want to put on this one? You need Braden Chen to be Braden Chen. Yes.

He's starting to get up there.

Yeah, he's 33 now. What do you need from a guy who's at the peak of his career, like Bucznevich? There isn't the There isn't the guy in the prime of his career who is an absolute stud yet. They're not prime. Kyru is getting there. He's 26, but 28, 29, 30, prime of your career, absolute stud. Those guys need to take a step They're starting the season with a different coach than they started last year with.

That's going to be a big factor for them. Just with the way he's been behaving, we've talked about GMs going for someone, and then they don't get them. And I find it so strange that a GM will go for a star, and they don't get them. And then they just go, All right. No, you obviously needed that player or a player like them. So if you swung out on that guy, you're going to probably try to go out and get another guy, right? Doug Armstrong struck and missed on Timo Meyer, right? So this is a guy who, and He did the double offer sheets. I think this is a guy who is not totally satisfied with his team. He tried to do that huge Tori Krug deal last year with the flyers.

Tried to get Timo Meyer the year before?

Yes. He's clearly not satisfied with team. So this is a team that I think even more so than Utah, which we said last video, could completely blow up everyone's predictions because it'll make some massive trade.

Right. Now, given what they look like right now, a guy like Ryan Suter is an interesting one because-That decore stuff. That decore is tough.

Yeah, I don't like any lineup that's slotting in Ryan Suter in 2024.

It's not.

You don't think he's going to play?

Can you read the Daily Face off, what they have?

Adam was just doing it.

Oh, Daily Face Off has- You started with Suter. Letty, Pareco, Broberg, Falk, Poronovich, and Suter.

Mid.

Yeah. I love Pareco and Falk. Like, oh, a little pretty right side there. It's up to. But then- Broberg needs to...

I think best case scenario, he plays his salary.

Yeah.

That would blow people away.

Because to get somebody an offer sheet, you got to offer them a little bit more than what their probably market value is.

Do you guys know that Stan Bowman says Broberg got overpaid?

It's crazy. That's the whole idea of it. I feel like it was a good deal because they needed somebody there in their lineup, but he's got to now perform at that ability.

What does that team look like without Broberg.

Yeah, they needed him more than we thought.

They needed him.

The thing with this team is you're looking at it. I'm looking at the defense last year. Nick Letty had 28 points. Not bad. 32 years old. Sure. They're a versatile group. Tori Krug not being there really hurts. Had almost 40 points last year. Justin Falk had 30. I think they really, really need Broberg, and he's going to get the opportunity, really take a step forward.

You're Powerplay has got to be better, and basically every scorer on your team needs to improve.

It's a lot. You know what? The more we talk about it, the more I feel like there's something happening.

They're not where the... Doug Armstrong wants to be a contender, right? So what he has right now isn't that Stanley Cup of Contender, isn't I'm going to go for on a deep playoff run. That's not the current roster construction of the Blues. And I think you would probably agree with that. So there's shifts to be made here.

My pet theory is he's going to take a big swing at Marner.

There you go. There's something. I've thought that for months.

I think the Blues are going to go for him.

If you take this exact lineup, you plug in a star like Marner, the whole idea of it changes. Yes.

They've been losing guys, bleeding guys over the last few years, and just not replacing them. It catches up with you eventually. They want to rebuild on the fly. I think there's two very obvious things. Doug Armstrong doesn't like his current team, and Doug Armstrong doesn't like losing. That usually leads to a warm phone.

There you go. I like it. All right, fine. So, gentlemen, the St. Louis Blues. Last year, just going on their points here, and I'm just going to pull up the the NHL stats, the St. Louis Blues had 92 points, a lot more than you thought they might have. They were very competitive. They were very competitive team. 43 wins. Not bad. The points from Bet MGM have them at 87 and a half. So a slight regression, mostly likely due to Tori Krug.

Did we mention Tori Krug? He's going to miss the entire season.

He's missing the whole season. I don't know if we ever actually said it.

Did we say that?

We did say Tori Krug won't be here.

The defense is a little more thin because an entire human won't be there. With 40 points.

Yeah.

And he's a very good defenseman.

87.5 are the betting odds. Are you over or are you under on the St. Louis Blues? I'm going to tell you something, I am under.

To borrow a line from Fantano, I'm going to be a light over.

A light over. So like 88, 89, somewhere in there? I'm a light over. I'm a light under. I think they're an 86, 87 point team.

I got them the Central has four Monsters and then the second tier. I think the Blues are probably the best team in that second tier, so I have them fifth.

Okay, Jesse Blake.

What is the over under again? One number.

87 and a half.

87 and a half. I have them in sixth. I'm just trying to map out the points. They could probably sneak over, but I guess the safe is under in sixth in the division.

Over sixth in the division and over 87.5 is pretty hard.

It'd be tight, but the Minnesota Wild in sixth last year had 87 points. Which is under. Which is, yes, under.

Shut up.

But it'd be right in that neighborhood is what I'm trying to say. The wires had 87 in sixth. So you all say under sixth. Okay.

And just Steve.

Under 5.

Okay. And I say under 6. Under 5.

No, did I say over? I think no. Over five.

There you go. Over five. I say under. Under and sixth place. That is your St. Louis Blue season preview. And by the way, as soon as that trade happens, whenever it happens, because you know it's going to happen, you can't hold us to this anymore.

Does anyone wear 16 in St. Louis?