This guy really hates Lehtera

This new group of individuals talking Blues hockey is a step back.

They seem to have an intrinsic need to complain, and do so with very little hockey knowledge.

Obviously Lehtera is playing poorly, and did so for chunks of last year also. But he put up 9pts/20g last playoffs, about what is expected for a 4mil/yr NHL journeyman who will go to the front of the net, can play reasonable defense and 15-18 minutes a game against top opposition. Yet here we go with the circle jerk about how he isn't flashy in transition.

Unfortunately, there is a salary cap and a bunch of other GMs. Top line centers are hard to acquire and expensive when available. No team gets to field a perfect top 6, top 4 D, and goalie.

As such, the continued raging about Lehtera is about the same as screaming about how wet water is. He's never going to be great. He's going to have periods of struggle. It's the price of admission. You don't get 23 Tarasenkos on a team. Can't afford that. Cant draft that.

And this comes on the heels of a bunch of similar opinions from this group of commentators.

This same group expects Yakupov to play 20min/game.

Gonna break this down for you: another GM gave you Yakupov for a chance in 12 months to select a guy who will take 2+ years to develop to then have roughly 31% chance at any sort of NHL action.

Yakupov was selected for the team because he was the most affordable and least risk for RW depth. As the transaction shows, he isn't good. Nobody would trade somebody who is good and cheap for virtually nothing. It's like you've just bought a new car for $800 and can't believe that it isn't a Ferrari.

The same group couldn't have an opinion last year without trashing Magnus Paaravi. Never mind that the team experienced waves of injuries and that Paaravi is a depth player, the fact that none of those clowns could ever point out a bad play was enough for me to understand what they are about. He did his job absurdly well, and add on that he was as cheap as possible with no long term commitment, he was quite literally what the team needed and exceeded expectations.

So, Buffa, Lippo, and your crew of tool bags; want a 1C? That's gonna cost you Parayko. Right side of the D gonna be fun when 22 goes to FA in 2017 eh? Then you could bitch about letting in 6 goals a night.

Want a high quality guy to come in when injuries occur? Fine, but then the salary cap will prevent you from giving Fabbri a bridge deal. I think I'll take a 1 year or 2 year guy like Paaravi now, and Fabbri later.

I'm over the moronic and never ending complaining. It's embarrassing that a 50-year hockey town has this bullshit representing us. You want to talk about bad contracts google Andrew Ladd. Makes Lehtera look like Gretzky.

The GNR and VEB too have devolved into such shitshows, they've fallen so far. They used to be so much better, so much more intelligent, able to talk shit about the team and have it make sense instead of it being a circle jerk from a few people who have watched a few games.

The team has won how many games in a row, have only lost 1 game at home, and instead of discussing the tremendous diversity in scoring, great goaltending, how line combination changes give different dynamics to the opposition, etc., you're looking for the guy who is down so you can kick him.

F off. Go spend a few weeks on cap friendly if you want to talk about contracts, because you don't understand the business landscape of the NHL right now. Go spend a few weeks following the whole league, not just reading #stlblues, because you don't understand hockey.

/r/stlouisblues Thread Link - stlouisgametime.com