By LOU KORAC
Now it's official: Mike Hoffman will make his Blues debut tonight.
Now it's official: Mike Hoffman will make his Blues debut tonight.
Two days after he was originally supposed to.
The newly-signed forward finally was able to complete his working visa paperwork and will make his debut against the Colorado Avalanche (8 p.m.; FS-MW, ESPN 101.1-FM).
Hoffman, who signed a one-year, $4 million contract on Monday after originally signing a professional tryout contract Dec. 27, was forced to miss Wednesday's 4-1 season-opening win over the Avalanche because his visa wasn't completed on time.
Hoffman, who had 59 points (29 goals, 30 assists) for the Florida Panthers last season, will replace Sammy Blais after Blais was hit with a two-game suspension
Thursday for a hit to the head of Colorado defenseman Devon Toews.
"This year is going to be filled with a lot of uncertainty as far as you just never know if a guy's going to have to leave the lineup for whatever reason," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "That was the case obviously where we didn't expect it, but guys stepped up, filled a job. Sunny had no clue that he was going to be playing with those guys, didn't play with them at all in camp and those guys had a great game together.
"Having (Hoffman) back in the lineup adds another element, another goal scorer and we're looking forward to having him."
"It was a bit of a surprise last game for everybody, including him," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Hoffman. "Disappointing. He obviously wanted to play his first game as a Blue. He'll get his first opportunity tonight."
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As for Blais, who didn't factor in the scoring but was a net-front presence when Kyle Clifford scored to make it 3-1 in the third period Wednesday, it's unfortunate timing for him but likely would have been made a healthy scratch with Hoffman's return.
"It's a tough play for Sammy," Berube said. "I see both sides of it. Sammy's a physical player. That's the way he has to play. I think that he's going shoulder to shoulder, but the guy kind of put his head in there a little bit and he caught it. He didn't elbow him, his arms were down."
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Remember when Jordan Binnington and Kyle Clifford bumped heads? That moment on Oct. 24, 2019 (yes, the same night Vladimir Tarasenko injured his shoulder) when Binnington and Clifford, then a member of the Los Angeles Kings, went face-to-face, only to be interceded by Oskar Sundqvist and Ivan Barbashev, and then Clifford calling Binnington a "mute" after wards.
Funny how the wheel comes back around and now, all are teammates, and all are on the same side now and can do nothing but laugh about it.
"That was a funny moment definitely," Barbashev said. "There was not a chance I would fight this guy to be honest."
"Yeah, there's been a couple cracks about it, but all good," Clifford said. "Everybody's friends now and we're all on the same side and we're moving in the right direction."
That direction includes playing on the same line with Barbashev and Sundqvist to make up what some would dub the fourth line, but on the Blues, it's just as important a line as any of the others.
They may not get the same amount of ice time but will obviously be relied upon to do just as good a job as the top-minute forwards.
Clifford replaces the retired Alexander Steen and with more reps, will incorporate himself into the fabric of how the line wants to play. Being a veteran player will make that adjustment easier.
"Me and Barbs have played together a lot (we want to be) getting Clifford in and trying to help him out as much as possible with our system and how we want to play," Sundqvist said. "It's been easy. He's a really good guy, really good player, a really good skater, strong on pucks. I feel like the last two days of camp was our line's best days and really started to connect with each other. I'm not worried about Clifford. I think he's going to do great here. Good to start off with a goal."
"It's great. He's the guy with the experience," Barbashev said of Clifford. "He's been in the league for a long time and it was actually great to see him score in the first game as a Blue. He's just a hard-working guy, competes hard and just makes simple plays.
"Just looking back for last couple years, our fourth line, we try to bring some physicality, just playing simple. He's the right guy for us. He's a good teammate."
Berube has liked the line all through camp and won't hesitate using it when needed.
"I thought they were good all camp," Berube said. "I think as it went along, a little more chemistry. You've got a new player on there. Obviously with Steen there or a year and bit, Clifford's a new player and just about getting used to each other where each guy's going to be going, little chemistry stuff. It looks to me like they've got pretty good chemistry right now."
Clifford, who signed a two-year, $2 million contract as an unrestricted free agent and celebrated his 30th birthday Wednesday, understands his role and what's needed.
"The compete level and the intensity and the detail, it's got to get going right away and I thought we've done a pretty good job of that early, just come in ready to play and obviously being paired with Barby and Sunny, you know what you're going to get," Clifford said. "I think as a group we know what's expected of our line every night and the detail and pace we've got to play and just put a lot of pressure on the other teams.
"We want to be high-pace, real hard to play against, make it difficult on opposing teams. Obviously we want to play with the puck in the offensive zone and wear them down and provide a physical presence as well as provide a little bit of scoring as well.
"They've built a real identity as a pair over the last couple of years and obviously they were crucial in the Cup run. Those two are very familiar with each other, but I've played with guys like that before. You know they're going to play a north-south game and get to the net, play hard, retrieve pucks, so it's real easy to slide in there and feed off them."
Adding a Stanley Cup pedigree doesn't hurt either. Clifford was a just getting his feet went in the NHL when the Kings won the Cup in 2012 and was a vital member of the 2014 team that won it all.
"I think in this room, it's kind of that Tom Brady philosophy: what's your most important ring? It's the next one," Clifford said. "I get that sense from this group. That's why we're here. We're here to win and we're going to put the team first and roll with that mindset."
Speaking of Clifford, he can become the first player since Tarasenko (2012-13) to score in each of his first two games with the Blues.
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Even though they didn't get in the scoresheet Wednesday, the Blues' top line of Schenn, Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron was effective in its own right.
That meant seeing a lot of Nathan MacKinnon, Andre Burakovsky and Mikko Rantanen and shutting them down in 5-on-5 situations, and with Colorado smarting over its loss Wednesday, Gabriel Landeskog has been moved up and flipping spots with Burakovsky to try and infuse some offense on it.
That line had 15 shot attempts, including 11 on goal, but produced nothing 5-on-5.
"We played against those guys quite a bit the other night with obviously O'Reilly and he does the job and against the matchups, so if you're on his line, you're a part of it," Schenn said. "It does take five-man groups to shut them down. They possess a lot of speed and skill and then you add the three together, and they usually play with (Cale) Makar to add the fourth guy too. You've got to be on your toes, you've got to be aware. You've always got to be looking over your shoulder to see where they are. When they have the puck, those guys can process not only one play, they can process a few plays in their brains to see what's open, so you've just got to be ready defensively."
As for scoring, Schenn said that part of the game will come.
"We can get better," Schenn said. "We started a lot of our shifts with defensive face-offs. Obviously MacKinnon plays a lot of offensive zone draws and stuff like that. If we're going to have to play against this line the same way, we're going to have to find ways to generate a little bit more, but at the same time, you're focused on playing a solid two-way game, and I think if you look at the game the other night, we did our job shutting those guys down and the depth of the team takes over and you win a hockey game.
"We're going to get our points, we're going to get our chances and I think you've just got to be patient not to try too hard to try and go run-and-gun with one of the best lines in the league."
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Brayden Schenn-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron
Jaden Schwartz-Robert Thomas-Mike Hoffman
Zach Sanford-Tyler Bozak-Jordan Kyrou
Kyle Clifford-Ivan Barbashev-Oskar Sundqvist
Torey Krug-Colton Parayko
Marco Scandella-Justin Faulk
Vince Dunn-Robert Bortuzzo
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Ville Husso will be the backup.
Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder) is out. Carl Gunnarsson, Sammy Blais will miss the first of a two-game suspension, and Mackenzie MacEachern is a healthy scratch.
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The Avalanche's projected lineup:
Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen
Brandon Saad-Nazem Kadri-Andre Burakovsky
Valeri Nichushkin-J.T. Compher-Joonas Donskoi
Tyson Jost-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Matt Calvert
Devon Toews-Cale Makar
Ryan Graves-Samuel Girard
Ian Cole-Conor Timmins
Philipp Grubauer will start in goal; Pavel Francouz will be the backup.
Erik Johnson (COVID-19) is out.
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