2021 Blues Regular Season multi-purpose thread

[ChicagoBlues]

What we are seeing these last couple games in the defensive “depth” is why, despite the clear and tempting logic, sending Scandella back for cap relief in a trade for Lindholm or Giordano is not something Armstrong wants to do. Unless he then adds a separate defenseman like Chairot for the bottom pairing.

ZACKLY!!!

 

[Brian39]

who am i to argue with a lawyer? i just repeat what i've been lead to believe from...somewhere. it all gets a little murky, so i won't try to blame my source-data

Sorry, I didn't mean for my post to come off as adversarial and especially not toward you. I'm (probably unfairly) frustrated that it is now being widely reported that we "can't" fit his bonuses under the cap without any follow up or explanation. I get the sense that Army was intentionally vague/misleading in his statement to get public opinion on our side after our petition for cap relief was denied.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Yes, of course. And, Schenn notwithstanding, losing a single defenseman, like Krug, largely precipitated each of those problems. I'm afraid our defense has been a little exposed.

Compel me.

Yes, Krug return will address much of this. And adding someone to replace Walkkola will too. But you said moving puck wasn’t problem and that was where I disagreed.

 

[PocketNines]

In the first three series in 2019 the Blues just cooked down the defensive depth of their opponents and cruised late in the series. The team has to be built for the postseason and long matchups with strong forechecking teams.

They are getting in. Once they are in, they have to be able to not get caved in because they don’t have enough defense to withstand the barrage.

I’d add that Dallas has built their current defense in reaction to what happened to them in 2019. They have lots of big bodies back there. They are thinking ahead to the postseason with what they have.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Yes, Krug return will address much of this. And adding someone to replace Walkkola will too. But you said moving puck wasn’t problem and that was where I disagreed.

Ohhhhh! Yeah, I see now. What I meant is that the non-development of Walkkola is why we can't move the puck as well as when Krug is playing. Thanks for making me clarify.

My entire argument as of last night's game is that the Blues need bottom-pairing help right now and will have to trade a player who is currently on the roster. A forward for a bottom-pairing guy. Barbie? Sunny? Gotta give to get.

It is the non-development of Walkkola that has caused this mess.

Army has to be his best Machiavelli right now.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

If my math is right, we are gonna need to go with short roster to activate Sunny. Dealing someone who makes $ is really gonna be necessary as season goes forward (unless we have another ltir).

 

[Stealth JD]

If my math is right, we are gonna need to go with short roster to activate Sunny. Dealing someone who makes $ is really gonna be necessary as season goes forward (unless we have another ltir).

Can we deal a 2nd in '23 for Arizona to take half of Scandella's contract? Like, trade him there for FC...then have them trade him back at 50% retention for a 2nd? no way to prove it was cap circumvention, and not simply a case of buyer's remorse. The NHL's salary cap loop-holes are already kind of a joke. Why not lean into it?

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Can we deal a 2nd in '23 for Arizona to take half of Scandella's contract? Like, trade him there for FC...then have them trade him back at 50% retention for a 2nd? no way to prove it was cap circumvention, and not simply a case of buyer's remorse. The NHL's salary cap loop-holes are already kind of a joke. Why not lean into it?

I don’t think you can do that.

 

[Brian39]

If my math is right, we are gonna need to go with short roster to activate Sunny. Dealing someone who makes $ is really gonna be necessary as season goes forward (unless we have another ltir).

Who do you have on the roster?

F: ROR, Tarasenko, Schenn, Buch, Saad, Perron, Kyrou, Thomas, Sunny, Barby, Bozak, Kostin, Neal, Clifford
D: Parayko, Faulk, Krug, Scandella, Bortz, Walman, Mikkola
G: Binner, Husso

That's a 23 man roster that comes in at $81.482M against the cap. With the current COVID list, that leaves us with only 5 D who can play right now. When Mikkola or Krug are eligible, then we'll have 6. 12 of those forwards can currently play and Sunny would make 13. I think we will wait to activate Sunny once Mikkola or Krug can play again. That or we can "send down" Kostin and keep up Rosen until one of Mikkola/Krug is ready.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Who do you have on the roster?

F: ROR, Tarasenko, Schenn, Buch, Saad, Perron, Kyrou, Thomas, Sunny, Barby, Bozak, Kostin, Neal, Clifford
D: Parayko, Faulk, Krug, Scandella, Bortz, Walman, Mikkola
G: Binner, Husso

That's a 23 man roster that comes in at $81.482M against the cap. With the current COVID list, that leaves us with only 5 D who can play right now. When Mikkola or Krug are eligible, then we'll have 6. 12 of those forwards can currently play and Sunny would make 13. I think we will wait to activate Sunny once Mikkola or Krug can play again. That or we can "send down" Kostin and keep up Rosen until one of Mikkola/Krug is ready.

Math is hard. I may have miscounted.

 

[execwrite1]

Looks like Husso starts Thursday against Nashville. Guess that means he'll also get one of the weekend games.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Looks like Husso starts Thursday against Nashville. Guess that means he'll also get one of the weekend games.

Where did you hear that? I thought Husso couldn't even skate with team until Thursday?

 

[Xerloris]

Where did you hear that? I thought Husso couldn't even skate with team until Thursday?

I don't know where he heard it from but every player this season that has come back from Covid has taken a few games to get going again. I highly doubt we're going to toss Husso into the fire on day one of coming back.

 

[BlueMed]

Thomas is a guy the Blues have treasured for several years. He was excluded from the O'Reilly trade talks, apparently.

He has moments of brilliance, but he has his faults. He rarely shoots and wants to be another Adam Oates, it seems. He is error prone in the defensive zone. He has improved on faceoffs though.

Will the Blues faith in him be rewarded?

He just turned 22 like 4 months ago...

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Thomas is a guy the Blues have treasured for several years. He was excluded from the O'Reilly trade talks, apparently.

He has moments of brilliance, but he has his faults. He rarely shoots and wants to be another Adam Oates, it seems. He is error prone in the defensive zone. He has improved on faceoffs though.

Will the Blues faith in him be rewarded?

He hasn't scored many points this year, but he looks much better. Better on D, better on faceoffs, better at valuing puck, better at looking for his shot. Points will come.

 

[Celtic Note]

8 points by Thomas in 11 games isn’t enough?
That’s a 59 point pace over 82 games. It’s not exactly a bad number, no?

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

My only gripe with Thomas is his lack of shooting. He's barely over a shot per game, I think he'd be a much more dangerous player if he shoots more often. Other than that, he's been stellar especially in his expanded role thus far this season, he's just under 19min/game, he was under 14min/game in his first 3 seasons.

 

[Frenzy31]

My only gripe with Thomas is his lack of shooting. He's barely over a shot per game, I think he'd be a much more dangerous player if he shoots more often. Other than that, he's been stellar especially in his expanded role thus far this season, he's just under 19min/game, he was under 14min/game in his first 3 seasons.

A bit of that is due to Injury and covid.

 

[Renard]

Speaking generally, this is absolutely not true.

We carried a $719k rollover bonus into 2020/21 based on bonuses were mostly from ELC guys. We had 4 players hit bonuses (presumably Bouw, Thomas, Dunn and Kyrou). Bouw was the only non-ELC player with bonuses and the only bonus he hit was a $125k games played bonus. We absolutely wouldn't have been cap-compliant if you factored in all of Thomas, Kyrou, and Dunn's bonuses that year.

Here is an article noting that Pettersson and Hughes hit bonuses on their ELCs that were rolled over.

Capfriendly's bonus FAQ makes no mention of a difference between ELC or 35+ bonuses. Their really isn't a way to read that and conclude that ELC bonuses aren't eligible for rollover.

It is absolutely not true that the full contract amount with bonuses have to fit under the cap on ELCs. Rookies can absolutely have their bonuses rollover exactly how 35+ contracts do.

There might be an LTIR rule/restriction that requires a bonus-laden player added to the roster using LTIR relief to fully fit and not be eligible for rollover. I have never heard of such a rule, but LTIR is stupidly complex and it wouldn't surprise me. But it is not an issue that ELC bonuses are calculated different from 35+. This is either an LTIR quirk or Army is using the word "can't" when he really means that having Perunovich hit his bonuses would completely screw us down the line.

The Post Dispatch quotes Armstrong this morning as saying that Perunovich is going to be promoted and its going to be this year, not waiting till next. So, are we going to clear cap space for him?

We aren't getting much value for Tarasenko. He looked awful against Winnipeg the other night.

 

[PocketNines]

The Blues aren’t going to dump Tarasenko for whatever they can get when he is over PPG despite one person saying he was awful in one game, and certainly not so they can bring up a rookie they like.

 

[bleedblue1223]

It's almost a guarantee that someone will end up on LTIR at some point, resulting in Perunovich getting called up.

 

[PocketNines]

Binnington has the best save percentage among division starters. Third best in the West behind Reimer (5 starts) and Markstrom.

Perron, Kyrou, Tarasenko, Buchnevich, Saad. When was the last time the Blues had this much talent on the wings simultaneously?

 

[execwrite1]

I don't know where he heard it from but every player this season that has come back from Covid has taken a few games to get going again. I highly doubt we're going to toss Husso into the fire on day one of coming back.

My mistake - saw Husso on the Blues website a couple days ago in the lineup. It's Binnington.

 

[Vektor]

In the first three series in 2019 the Blues just cooked down the defensive depth of their opponents and cruised late in the series. The team has to be built for the postseason and long matchups with strong forechecking teams.

They are getting in. Once they are in, they have to be able to not get caved in because they don’t have enough defense to withstand the barrage.

I’d add that Dallas has built their current defense in reaction to what happened to them in 2019. They have lots of big bodies back there. They are thinking ahead to the postseason with what they have.

Dallas is going to have to make it into the post season first.

 

[Renard]

The Blues aren’t going to dump Tarasenko for whatever they can get when he is over PPG despite one person saying he was awful in one game, and certainly not so they can bring up a rookie they like.

You must think I have a high opinion of myself. Armstrong knows ten times more than I do, and sure won't make a major move based on my comment.

But this is the place for people to express opinions and I expressed mine. If the Blues were losing games and expected Krug to be out long term, Armstrong might be forced to make a move. Our defense looks weak, and
Tarasenko is making a lot of money that could well be used elsewhere.