2020-2021 St. Louis Blues: Well, ****.

[Spear]

Some interesting discussion with Bill Armstrong on this podcast with Custance. A little Blues talk in there, obviously.

‎The Full 60 with Craig Custance: Bill Armstrong - If you want to be in the desert, you have to bleed for it. on Apple Podcasts

Thanks for the heads-up on this one. Bill is always an interesting interview.

 

[Celtic Note]

Some interesting discussion with Bill Armstrong on this podcast with Custance. A little Blues talk in there, obviously.

‎The Full 60 with Craig Custance: Bill Armstrong - If you want to be in the desert, you have to bleed for it. on Apple Podcasts

Wow. Great listen. He is so forthcoming. Sort of makes me wish he was out GM.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Wow. Great listen. He is so forthcoming. Sort of makes me wish he was out GM.

Anything interesting about Blues? I’m just not a pod person.

 

[Celtic Note]

Anything interesting about Blues? I’m just not a pod person.

There were some nuggets.
He spoke about draft philosophy.

Spoke about how he thinks teams have to encounter diversity to get to the next level.

Spoke about scouts and had a brief segment about Keith and how good of a scout he is.

Told how Army bings in a lot of minds and wants everyone to both speak freely and be prepared when they speak.

 

[Itsnotatrap]

Anything interesting about Blues? I’m just not a pod person.

This one is pretty good. You might want to make an exception. He gives a little story on scouting Parayko. Really good discussion on what it takes to be good at scouting, and how he sees it as a ten year process. He thinks Walt is shaping up to be a great scout, and says how he has a way of pumping the tires of his guys and chipping away at the competition (other scouts favorites).

I’m impressed with the body of his work, but I became more impressed with him after listening to this.

 

[Spektre]

Wonder if the Blues have kicked the tires on Chara

 

[Prosaic]

Everyone here seems to lean towards Dunn being expendable, but he’s also the only defenseman in the organization that has shown the ability to play drive 5 on 5 offense and support strong defensive metrics.

With the Dermott extension, that’s a pretty good comparable for him in terms of contract value.

 

[MissouriMook]

Everyone here seems to lean towards Dunn being expendable, but he’s also the only defenseman in the organization that has shown the ability to play drive 5 on 5 offense and support strong defensive metrics.

With the Dermott extension, that’s a pretty good comparable for him in terms of contract value.

I feel like Dunn and his agent are probably setting their sights much, much higher. I would guess the expectations exceed the 2 x $1.5M bridge deals Army has given out recently. It seems like he would already be signed if he were willing to sign for less than $1M.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

With the Dermott extension, that’s a pretty good comparable for him in terms of contract value.

Dermott has to take less to fit into the Leafs cap structure, because that have zero flexibility. It does raise the question: what is a comparable contract for Dunn?

Perhaps the best recent comparable is Jacob Trouba, who was 22 and coming off his ELC and got 2 years, $6 million from Winnipeg going into the 2016-17 season. Trouba was also playing more minutes - 6 minutes more per game - and had produced less on offense, but he only had Byfuglien and a then-good Myers ahead of him; it clearly dropped off after that. After that, the next best without having to go back 7+ years is Nathan Beaulieu, who got 2 years, $4.8 million from Buffalo for about the same ice time and less offense - all with Montreal. Otherwise, you have to go back 10 years to Matt Niskanen (2 years, $3 million from Dallas) and again, Niskanen was logging more ice time with less offense - but Niskanen was on a clearly inferior defense still leaning on Sergei Zubov and Philippe Boucher.

If you're Dunn, you can probably make the argument that because of the quality of defense on the team he's not having to log comparable ice time but he could if needed. I would guess his fair market price is 2 years, $4 million. Maybe a little more. Yes, that's even with a flat cap and all that.

I feel like Dunn and his agent are probably setting their sights much, much higher. I would guess the expectations exceed the 2 x $1.5M bridge deals Army has given out recently. It seems like he would already be signed if he were willing to sign for less than $1M.

Of course he would be, and IMO he'd be nuts to sign for that. I think he sits without a contract until right on the doorstep of training camp opening, whenever that is.

 

[Ranksu]

Should we put out poll what players we should protect for the expansion draft?

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

Should we put out poll what players we should protect for the expansion draft?

Let’s wait until the offseason is over. That way we know who’s actually gonna be on the team for the year.

 

[ezcreepin]

Dermott has to take less to fit into the Leafs cap structure, because that have zero flexibility. It does raise the question: what is a comparable contract for Dunn?

Perhaps the best recent comparable is Jacob Trouba, who was 22 and coming off his ELC and got 2 years, $6 million from Winnipeg going into the 2016-17 season. Trouba was also playing more minutes - 6 minutes more per game - and had produced less on offense, but he only had Byfuglien and a then-good Myers ahead of him; it clearly dropped off after that. After that, the next best without having to go back 7+ years is Nathan Beaulieu, who got 2 years, $4.8 million from Buffalo for about the same ice time and less offense - all with Montreal. Otherwise, you have to go back 10 years to Matt Niskanen (2 years, $3 million from Dallas) and again, Niskanen was logging more ice time with less offense - but Niskanen was on a clearly inferior defense still leaning on Sergei Zubov and Philippe Boucher.

If you're Dunn, you can probably make the argument that because of the quality of defense on the team he's not having to log comparable ice time but he could if needed. I would guess his fair market price is 2 years, $4 million. Maybe a little more. Yes, that's even with a flat cap and all that.


Of course he would be, and IMO he'd be nuts to sign for that. I think he sits without a contract until right on the doorstep of training camp opening, whenever that is.

Yea I think I might agree with that. However, if I'm Army, I would be thinking, "Ok well anyone can play 22-25 min a night, but what is the quality of those minutes?" I'm not convinced those minutes are worth more than 2 mil, but his offense may help raise the price. With that being said though, he didn't improve considerably as a powerplay specialist (which is a quality he was said to have) and took quite a big step back offensively as a whole. He has good corsi numbers, but he's starting nearly 60% of the time in the offensive zone. My guess would be what you're proposing, something like 2x2, but I think it will more likely end up a 1 year. Unless he's pretty content with being in St. Louis, I think he wants a prove it contract so he can cash in. There doesn't seem to be a better time for him to prove what he's worth after the Blues lost Petro. But that's just me.

 

[Mike Liut]

Parayko slotting into the #1 role.
The addition of Krug
The emergence of a more comfortable Faulk
Thomas is another year older and more experienced
Kyrou is ready to emerge
Sanford is looking like a 25g scorer


This team is a serious cup contender. Just need Binny to be great again, which he can

 

[Zizzle]

Parayko slotting into the #1 role.
The addition of Krug
The emergence of a more comfortable Faulk
Thomas is another year older and more experienced
Kyrou is ready to emerge
Sanford is looking like a 25g scorer


This team is a serious cup contender. Just need Binny to be great again, which he can

It is doubtful that Sanford has 25 goals in him? I could see 20ish but it depends who he plays with! And his minutes.
Same would apply to Thomas. 15-20 goals I think.
Hopefully Faulk Emerges as a PP threat he should be very capable of 35 to 40 points.
Kyrou the verdict is still out. I would like to see him get 10ish goals. Hopefully he gets ample minutes and not 4th line minutes.
Binny was decent during the regular season at 30-13-7 and a 2.56 GAA .91 save %. but that can be improved.

 

[Mike Liut]

It is doubtful that Sanford has 25 goals in him? I could see 20ish but it depends who he plays with! And his minutes.
Same would apply to Thomas. 15-20 goals I think.
Hopefully Faulk Emerges as a PP threat he should be very capable of 35 to 40 points.
Kyrou the verdict is still out. I would like to see him get 10ish goals. Hopefully he gets ample minutes and not 4th line minutes.
Binny was decent during the regular season at 30-13-7 and a 2.56 GAA .91 save %. but that can be improved.

I do see Sanford with 25g for sure. But true, it depends on his line mates, ice time and PP time. He definitely has the skill to score 25g.

 

[DeuceNine]

All these players wanting college scholarships because they got an A on a group project in high school.

Seriously, players should be paid based on individual merit, not because they were on a Cup roster.

 

[Prosaic]

 

[MissouriMook]

I think we'll see something similar for the NHL. I expect a starting date much later than the January 1 date being proposed, and I think we end up with a 48-60 game schedule with an attempt at a traditional playoffs format starting around May 15 so they can award the Cup before the Summer Olympics start. I wouldn't be surprised to see games played in front of 0-4,000 fans in the building for the regular season, with the hopes that the playoff games will be allowed to have 50%-100% building capacity.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I’m expecting a 60ish game season, with a 20 team playoff.

I’m assuming it’s probably going to be mainly divisional play, with the top 3 in each division advancing, and the 4/5 seeds playing a wildcard game/short series.

 

[The Note]

All these players wanting college scholarships because they got an A on a group project in high school.

Seriously, players should be paid based on individual merit, not because they were on a Cup roster.

Is this in regards to a particular contract or just a general sentiment? While I agree, teams/GMs are always going to overpay people who had a good playoffs/won a Cup that they otherwise shouldn't have. Paying players based on an outlier playoffs or simply being on a Cup team isn't a good idea but it will continue to happen.

 

[Ranksu]

If in Finland we've major problem with teams to handle this covid-19, so good luck with NA ground make it that way its safe for everybody. Teams will be quarantined and games will be postponed.

 

[SaintLouHaintBlue]

So, I have a morning doctor's appointment (in a different town I used to live in) but I decide to stop and get breakfast at a place I used to be a regular at.

I sit at the bar, order coffee/breakfast.. and you'll never believe what song starts playing over the sound system.

It's Gloria.

Today is going to be a good day

 

[jura]

we went!

 

[Blueline2757]

The article has already been posted on the Athletic and it's a good read IMO. With that said I hope Colt does well. Army is upping Colts value by some of the comments and he's gonna get paid and Blues will let him walk just like they did with Pietrangelo. I'm already calling it.

 

[Chojin]

I do wonder how Parayko is going to handle the hardest assignments. If he can do it 90% as well as Petro, I'll consider that a win. I do worry about our second pair though; Faulk can't handle Parayko's old assignments, that's for damned sure.