After the contracts he handed out, I think he has shown to be all in. However, we have not looked good in over a year. We have seen Doug pull out of the all in lane in the past with expiring FAs in bad years. The question I have is: “will he be willing to go beyond that?”
I am not sure how Stillman will feel, but the lose of revenue from the pandemic hurts. Compounding that with a rebuild may be a non starter. But, as the Blues become more mediocre, revenue will drop anyway. So, my question to him would be: “do you want to get back to making money now at the expense of making it later or bite the bullet and retool/rebuild so you can make more later?” If you can stick it out for a few years, you may be able to make more money in the long run if you bottom our quickly. The slow fall down hill will cause more fans to bail and for longer because frustration will become greater. If you are open and honest about the need to retool/rebuild and market the excitement of seeing all the change and possibilities with young stars, maybe you can keep enough fans engaged to weather the down time we’ll financially.
The last rebuild lost a lot of fans, but I think people were pissed about the ownership situation and their decision to dismantle a competitive team for no reason other that selling. If Stillman came out and said we want to go get another Cup and this is the best way to do it, then I would imagine the disengagement by fans would be less severe (though still painful).
Ya, and I mean I agree with pretty much everything you're saying, but I think there needs to be an honest discussion of whether Armstrong is the right guy to lead that change. To that point, whether Berube is still the right coach for this roster and depending on the teams direction, going forward.
I don't think either are in any danger of losing their job. I do have questions, but I do wonder if taking the re-tool route is what Armstrong will do given the roster outlook.
Tarasenko, O'Reilly, Schenn, Faulk, Krug, Binnington, Parayko, Schwartz, Perron, Hoffman, Scandella makes up all players with a decent chunk of salary currently. The youngest currently is Binnington who turns 28 this summer. Schwartz and Hoffman are expiring. I agree if the EV contract holds accurate that 3 x 4.7 is a good value deal. I personally wouldn't keep Hoffman going forward.
Perron is 32 and will be 33 going into next season on the last year of his contract. I know he's very popular but if the Blues are re-tooling I think selling high on a guy who will be 34 to start his next contract is a wise move.
Scandella is a just weird one. In my opinion, he's ideally on your bottom pair and making 1.5-2M. So unloading him would be a decent chunk.
I'd leave Schenn, Tarasenko and Krug exposed. I doubt Seattle takes Schenn or Krug just based on age/term and the fact there's an argument to be made that they're not even worth their current cap hit. Tarasenko maybe they select but there's also a good chance they don't.
I don't know if Tarasenko has any trade value. Or if he'd be considered a cap dump at this stage.
Parayko I think you wait on and see. His 2019-20 and 2021 campaigns were disappointing but if he ever finds his game from before then, he is very good. Whether or not you think he will, and, if he does, does beg the question of whether it's worth it to keep him going into his 30's. Based on his play style and how he succeeds, I'd wager he doesn't age very well.
I'd love for Schenn and Krug to be moved. Neither will age well in my opinion and those contracts are just not adding value.
I think Faulk would fair much better if he didn't have to play 25 a night. As it stands, I think the Blues can hold onto him, even though he's oddly gone from the most hated player to the most loved and I think his contract won't bode to add much value going forward.
O'Reilly should stay and hopefully they agree on an extension. I think his game will last well into his mid 30's.
Binnington I don't have much problem with staying either. I think he's good, although I just don't believe giving any goalie term is smart. I'm expecting he'll be better next season, cause I don't think what we got over the 56 games this year was worth 6M, but I do believe he's capable of better.
The problem here is, if Armstrong says lets take a step back to re-tool, then you basically have to completely rebuild because of the age of a lot of these guys. You also have to assess whether you think Thomas and Kyrou can be the leaders of the forward group going into the future. Personally, I think both are best suited as supplements to your teams best forwards, not the "go to" guys of the team. The Blues also need to actually play Vince Dunn in a legit top end role and see what he does. If they willingly tried that with Krug then you can't convince me Dunn isn't worth at least a look.
We may very well see Armstrong make a big splash to try and push the team into contention status because of how many guys are locked in going into their 30's. I don't know what big names are out there except Reinhart and Eichel.
