Goal tending is paramount for any play off team. Even when guys like Crawford or Niemi won, they managed to have solid work during the playoffs.

As for samo samo Blues routine, it's an easy and safe position to take so you can keep cut and pasting to your hearts content. But you're missing what's really happening.

Rookies Fabbri, Edmunson and Parayko all appear unaware of your "no show" concerns for the upcoming playoffs. Upshall and Brodziak are 4th line upgrades and then of course the whiner is gone and a guy who actually wants to play has taken his spot more than quite nicely.

This team has its first 3 lines set, and they are all clicking. You can rake all you want on Backes, there's still no Blue on the ice who beats his effort each and every night.

And just so you are for sure aware, Elliott is playing elite level goal tending, his best of his career but equal to anyone in the league right now as well.

And these are the guys who did not make the big move over the summer OR the deadline. This is the team most wrote off because we did not get the marquee guys like every one said we had to.

We'll see what happens. No predictions but what I am seeing is a LOT of movement towards play off preparation. We are going to face a tough opponent no doubt, I'm just saying this team is very different from teams of the recent past.