The Blues make MULTIPLE Moves... It's OFFICIAL

The St. Louis Blues have made multiple moves and it is official as the final round of cuts have finally arrived. They've made some, quite frankly, pretty shocking moves, including cutting some fan favorites. This team looks completely different than what we all envisioned in the summer, in preseason, leading up to the final days ahead of this next regular season. We're going to break down what this new Blues team looks like, some surprises that have made the team, and much more in this episode of Blues Digest. But guys, before we jump into all of that, a quick reminder to hit that subscribe button. We've noticed that about 60% of you guys who watch these videos are not subscribed to the channel, so if you want to stay up to date with everything that's happening with the Blues as the season is just days away from starting, make sure to hit that subscribe button. But Mark, I'm going to throw it right over to you. The Blues have made some cuts and things that are looking a little bit different than we originally imagined this team to be looking like, but some fan favorites have been cut, some guys have been placed through waivers. They have made a lot of moves there. I mean, looking at the first round of it, we've seen some guys sent down to the AHL, and of course, a lot of these guys, listen, we're going to get into the waivers, because there's some very surprising and shocking names being placed on that, but looking at the first round that we got was, of course, guys sent down. We've seen Kasukamaki, we've seen Adam Jurczyk, Otto Stenberg, and multiple other guys, which, of course, you want to build an AHL team that, we can see, ought to build up into a championship caliber, a lot of these guys heading down. But I did want to touch on, first, the guys that made the team, because there's two names that, of course, have picked up traction over the past couple of days. We've actually seen one of them, where Jim Montgomery spoke highly about the speed, wanting to hit a home run, and a home run is exactly what he hit. In the last game, as we can see coming through from Lou, saying, don't want to alter the tea leaves, and things could change, but the 23-man roster, including Romanov, who's going to be sent down at some point, were on the ice, which means that Zach Dean and Dylan joined this group at two players, joining the organization and making the Open Night roster. Now, of course, looking at this, we have one player making the team, not going to touch too much, of course, to spend time in the NHL, but Zach Dean is an incredible story to see join this team, who has battled through injuries, and someone that was looking at cracking into the lineup, especially when you're looking at the quotes that just came out yesterday from Jim Montgomery, speaking about the opportunity for the kid to hit a home run, and talking about how there's so much opportunity to see him really make a push. He loves the attitude, the way he plays. Darius, what is your thoughts on the emergence of Zach Dean and making it into this lineup? Because, honestly, I can't see a world with him not running with this opportunity and never going back to the AHL. It is a great story, isn't it? Last season, he entered the player assistant program, and he comes out of that in January, goes back down to the AHL, continues a pretty decent season. Of course, he's dealt with injuries, like you said. He's never played a full season, but he's earned himself a spot here in the lineup over a guy like Jack Finley, who's going down, which is pretty interesting, because he's going to have to play a role for this team now as that 4C. We're going to definitely get into that more. The season is just right around the corner as well, and we could see a lot more movement. With another season here, that means we are all one year older, Mark. One of the strangest things about getting older is that your energy, your recovery, your focus, your stamina are not quite what they used to be. It's a gradual decline that is so subtle, you don't really notice until it is too late. That's exactly where Mars Men comes into play. Mars Men is made with eight clinically-dosed ingredients, including vitamin D, boron, zinc, and a few others to naturally support testosterone, stamina, energy, focus, and my personal favorite, recovery. 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When you check out, they're going to ask you where you came from, where you found the product. Let them know that Darius and Mark sent you from Blues Digest. Thank you once again to Mars Men for sponsoring this video. They've been supporters and partnering with the channel for a long time, so really appreciate their support. Go check them out. Click the link in the description. Again, Mark, I'll throw it back over to you. It's something that I understand Jack Finley's role from last season. As a force, he can penalty kill big body, but this is a guy in Zach Dean who does bring some speed. They're going to rely on him to play a role if he doesn't. If things fall apart, he did fight for the spot and earn it. There could be some other movement there. Then on top of it, they've sent, through waivers, we'll get to that in a second too, a couple guys who are fan favorites down. There is still a lot of fighting to be done, but in terms of where we're going to see this team in just a couple days' time and the final look before the season starts, it's a little bit different than I thought it would be. I have to be honest. As you can see, a lot of the guys that were sent down, not including the guys that are placed on waivers, the big thing with Dylan and Dean were both guys would have had to clear waivers to go down to Springfield, so it gives them a slight edge on making the roster as you don't want to lose assets for nothing. But Darius, there are a couple of assets that are now looking at potentially leaving the organization and a lot that genuinely hurt. As we see, the Blues have placed Sunquist, Nathan Walker, and Finley on waivers. Now, of course, with Sunquist signing the new contract, Nathan Walker and Finley coming over from Tampa last year, a couple of huge fan favorites within this organization and genuinely, I'm hoping all three guys claim, which sounds selfish because you want those guys in a position to play in the NHL, but losing these guys, including Nathan Walker, the Aussie heart and soul of this team, that was a major momentum shift when we got into the playoffs the last time looking at the numbers that he brought to this organization since joining. Of course, not the flashiest guy, but he plays like he's 6'10 tall when he's on that ice. Someone that fans adored and Sunquist, someone that's been with this organization. Darius, listen, I like Jack Finley. I like the big boy that joined this organization, but I think out of all of them, these are the two that hurt the most, and I don't know if you have thoughts on it, but I genuinely hope that these guys end up clearing waivers and eventually get back into this team. Yeah, I think they're fan favorites, right? If you think of Sunquist, the fact that he resigned, everyone was really happy about that. And then, obviously, even Jack Finley, I think that the story with his dad being a Blue and all that and being claimed off waivers, I thought that was a good story. And then, obviously, Nathan Walker. I mean, we did videos every single day throughout the season last year, and even in the dark days, people were like, you know, Nathan Walker and what he brings to the lineup and that type of stuff. We saw the comments, right? So, it is tough, right? You talk about, you know, selfishly, you want them to clear waivers so they can stay in the organization, but obviously, it would be better for them to, you know, play in the NHL every day. But the fact of the matter is, this league is changing very, very quickly. Guys are getting more money. The way that lineups are made are changing. You want guys that bring speed and skill still on your fourth line. Things are changing very, very quickly. And it's not that those guys don't bring those things, but you need more of that consistently. And I think that, you know, if they do clear waivers, which an advantage they have is a lot of teams are still playing games this weekend, so I imagine most of them will clear waivers, they're still in the organization. So, if there are injuries, guys can come in and still battle for spots and be the next man up and stuff like that. But it's pretty interesting. Another interesting thing, I think, about the way that the roster is set is they're only carrying one extra defenseman, Natalia Rosen. They did that last year with Matthew Kessel, too, and then two extra forwards. So, it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out, but keeping some guys around that I didn't necessarily expect and the lineup has officially taken shape here. This is what the team is going to look like, barring a couple more, obviously, cuts that are coming like Romanov that were torn back down in 2018. And I think a big thing is, too, Tucker dealing with his knee injury. This is going to be an exciting team, a very deep team. Probably one of the deepest teams we've seen in quite some time. And, fans, let us know your thoughts down in the comments. On not only the two young bucks getting into this lineup with Dean, but also what is your thoughts on the waivers with Nathan Walker, Sunquist, and Finley. Let us know your thoughts down in the comments. Are you excited for this season? Who scores the opening goal? Let us know all your thoughts down there. I've been your host, Mark, with my co-host, Darius, and take care, boys and friends.