2022-2023 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread

[Majorityof1]

Kapanen isn't as bad as his reputation would suggest. It's just hard to know what to do with him in a lineup.

He has got great speed, but he's a bit timid, so he will maddingly never drive wide to the net and push back defenders even when he has a step on someone, and just pull up at the hash marks to wait for help. He has a pretty good shot, but doesn't play well without the puck, so only really gets chances when he creates them himself. Doesn't really have much awareness to be on either the PP or the PK, despite being used on both in the past.

He has tools and isn't particularly lazy, but just doesn't fit well with others. I wouldn't be surprised if a change of scenery did a lot of good for him, as Sullivan clearly had lost confidence in him and he wasn't getting many quality minutes with capable players (played mostly with McGinn and Carter's lifeless body).

Not sure of STL's cap situation, but if they have flexibility, then i don't think he's a bad guy to take a flyer on, even with an extra year.

Our two young guys both have $5.35 M raises kicking in, so depsite moving 2 high paid players, our cap situation still sucks. Kapanen + Thomas raise + Kyrou raise +$1M = Tarasenko + ROR salaries. So we use up all but a million that losing O'Rei and Tarasenko saved us. And that means Kapanen is replacing Tarasenko and we have $1M to replace ROR. Lovely.

As for Kapanen, you say he's not bad then give all the reasons he is bad. I don't care what your skill set is if you are unable or unwilling to use it.

And every once in a while, you get a waiver claim that just works, like Florida with Forsling.

And I am all for that, when its a league minimum contract like Forsling was. It's different when its a $3M+ contract with an extra year of term.

 

[Moose and Squirrel]

here's a thought (prolly a bad one but..) PIT is interested in Barby, but doesn't have the cap.
STL claims KK, which basically clears cap for PIT to trade for Barby

 

[tfriede2]

Stop gap until the Snuggler arrives.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Our two young guys both have $5.35 M raises kicking in, so depsite moving 2 high paid players, our cap situation still sucks. Kapanen + Thomas raise + Kyrou raise +$1M = Tarasenko + ROR salaries. So we use up all but a million that losing O'Rei and Tarasenko saved us. And that means Kapanen is replacing Tarasenko and we have $1M to replace ROR. Lovely.

As for Kapanen, you say he's not bad then give all the reasons he is bad. I don't care what your skill set is if you are unable or unwilling to use it.



And I am all for that, when its a league minimum contract like Forsling was. It's different when its a $3M+ contract with an extra year of term.

Sure, I'd agree that Tolvanen would've been the better claim when he was available at 1.45M, but I'd also argue that cap space for next season is basically irrelevant. We don't have a ton of space, but we don't need a ton of space. I think Army will be interested in moves for long-term players that will have higher cap space, but it's also not likely that we acquire someone like that this summer, where we will need a ton of cap space. We'd be very lucky to even be a bubble playoff team next year, so I don't really care how we spend our cap for short-term players.

 

[Gumbercules]

As for Kapanen, you say he's not bad then give all the reasons he is bad. I don't care what your skill set is if you are unable or unwilling to use it.

Kapanen isn't as bad as his reputation would suggest. It's just hard to know what to do with him in a lineup.

He has got great speed, but he's a bit timid, so he will maddingly never drive wide to the net and push back defenders even when he has a step on someone, and just pull up at the hash marks to wait for help. He has a pretty good shot, but doesn't play well without the puck, so only really gets chances when he creates them himself. Doesn't really have much awareness to be on either the PP or the PK, despite being used on both in the past.

He has tools and isn't particularly lazy, but just doesn't fit well with others. I wouldn't be surprised if a change of scenery did a lot of good for him, as Sullivan clearly had lost confidence in him and he wasn't getting many quality minutes with capable players (played mostly with McGinn and Carter's lifeless body).

Not sure of STL's cap situation, but if they have flexibility, then i don't think he's a bad guy to take a flyer on, even with an extra year.

 

[Majorityof1]

Sure, I'd agree that Tolvanen would've been the better claim when he was available at 1.45M, but I'd also argue that cap space for next season is basically irrelevant. We don't have a ton of space, but we don't need a ton of space. I think Army will be interested in moves for long-term players that will have higher cap space, but it's also not likely that we acquire someone like that this summer, where we will need a ton of cap space. We'd be very lucky to even be a bubble playoff team next year, so I don't really care how we spend our cap for short-term players.

Cap space if always valuable, even if you are bad. We could sell cap space for picks. What if a guy who fits our rebuild with term kicks loose and we don't have the cap space to do anything? I don't think Meier is the guy, but if he was, this makes it harder to get him and re-sign him. We are just giving away our cap space for nothing and bailing Pittsburgh out with this deal. If we are going to be bad next year anyway, then why get a guy with whose contract is up next year? I guess we could reabilitate him and flip him. thats the best case scenario. But it would have been better to make Pittsburgh pay us to take him.

 

[jura]

The Finn 4 Ranksu

 

[Mike Liut]

I thought he was pretty good with the Leafs. He seemed fast and fairly physical when I watched him. Granted, I didn’t see a ton of him since he played out East. If he comes here and has a good year playing top 6, maybe he’s a player we flip next year? For a 2nd maybe?

 

[oPlaiD]

This makes me think Armstrong doesn't like what he's seeing in the markets for guys like Meier and Chychrun and has given up any hope of making the playoffs next year. I know the forum was already at that point, but I think Armstrong really hoped he could use the extra first round picks to make the roster competitive sooner rather than later.

Even if Kapanen ends up being a positive player worth the cap, which is definitely possible, this indicates to me we're probably going to be drafting players with all those picks. Which was probably the likeliest outcome by far all along, but hey. It's fun to hope for scenarios where we suck for the least amount of time as possible.

 

[BlueDream]

here's a thought (prolly a bad one but..) PIT is interested in Barby, but doesn't have the cap.
STL claims KK, which basically clears cap for PIT to trade for Barby

Why wouldn’t they just include Kapanen in the trade for him then?

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Why wouldn’t they just include Kapanen in the trade for him then?

This has nothing to do with Barbie. Pens needed to create cap space for other moves (like activating Rita from ltir). Pens aren’t smart enough to deal for Barbie anyway.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Why wouldn’t they just include Kapanen in the trade for him then?

I don't think PIttsburgh trades with us, but I was wondering if there is a subtle cap consequence if he is acquired via trade vs acquired via waiver. Besides giving up waiver priority.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Since we are still gonna move out Barbie and possibly other forwards (Leivo?) I like the Kap move for atleast replacing some of these open roster spots with a NHL caliber player. And as someone else mentioned, he can help stop-gap our roster until some more of the kids are ready.

 

[Majorityof1]

Since we are still gonna move out Barbie and possibly other forwards (Leivo?) I like the Kap move for atleast replacing some of these open roster spots with a NHL caliber player. And as someone else mentioned, he can help stop-gap our roster until some more of the kids are ready.

Kapanen is more expensive than those guys. We could potentially bring back Barbashev for a little more than Kapanen is making. Or we could have gotten any number of guys as good or better than Kapanen for that price in free agency.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Kapanen is more expensive than those guys. We could potentially bring back Barbashev for a little more than Kapanen is making. Or we could have gotten any number of guys as good or better than Kapanen for that price in free agency.

I don't mind the Kapanen pick-up. It will be a fun experiment. We really don't have a major cap issue. More deals are coming.

 

[DatDude44]

here's a thought (prolly a bad one but..) PIT is interested in Barby, but doesn't have the cap.
STL claims KK, which basically clears cap for PIT to trade for Barby

Couldn’t they have just traded then? Makes me think Pitt has a deal with another in team incoming

 

[542365]

I don’t understand claiming Kapanen but not Tolvanen. Tolvanen at the very least is useful on the powerplay. Kapanen is pretty mediocre across the board and poor on both special teams. He’s also more expensive and has an extra year. Maybe our pro scouts think they have something in Kapenen. I don’t know.

 

[tfriede2]

I don’t understand claiming Kapanen but not Tolvanen. Tolvanen at the very least is useful on the powerplay. Kapanen is pretty mediocre across the board and poor on both special teams. He’s also more expensive and has an extra year. Maybe our pro scouts think they have something in Kapenen. I don’t know.

I don’t think Tolvanen was on waivers when we started selling yet. That’s my guess.

 

[Stealth JD]

The Blues are going to be selling again at next year's deadline so why not pick up someone you can maybe turn into a 2d or 3d with the right luck

Which is why I wasn’t against Vrana; albeit at a higher cap hit, but with a higher upside.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Dreger says Barbashev to Vegas for a prospect. This feels like we gave him away. Do they even have any good prospects?

 

[Majorityof1]

Dreger says Barbashev to Vegas for a prospect. This feels like we gave him away. Do they even have any good prospects?

Is he saying its a done deal? or is it his prediction based on things he's heard?

Edit: Never mind, he's saying its a done deal. "Trade: Vegas has acquired Ivan Barbashev from the Blues for a prospect."

 

[High n Wide]

Dreger says Barbashev to Vegas for a prospect. This feels like we gave him away. Do they even have any good prospects?

Feel the same way. With all the reports of the interest around him the idea that it’s a single prospect from a team with a pretty weak prospect pool is concerning.

I guess the recent trades (Nino, especially) coupled with a couple teams like Washington seemingly pulling out of the race for the Playoffs likely changed the market.

 

[Majorityof1]

Vegas' best prospect is probably Cormier, a smallish near-ready 20-yo offensive minded LHD. Maybe a Krug replacement?

Reading up on Vegas prospects, my guess is Zach Dean. He's described as hard working by several scouting reports. 6 ft 20year old play making C with good speed and stick handling who is currently in the Q.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Feel the same way. With all the reports of the interest around him the idea that it’s a single prospect from a team with a pretty weak prospect pool is concerning.

I guess the recent trades (Nino, especially) coupled with a couple teams like Washington seemingly pulling out of the race for the Playoffs likely changed the market.

If it’s not one of Brisson, Dorofoyev, or Cormier we got basically nothing.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Saw this on Twitter.