2023-2024 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread

[Snubbed4Vezina]

We are 1 game away from a top 10 pick now and the schedule starts getting brutal.

Splash mountain, here we come.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Vrana cleared

 

[Mike Liut]

I’d look to trade Parayko and Buchnevich while their stock is high. We aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Same with Saad and Leddy.

 

[joe galiba]

I’d look to trade Parayko and Buchnevich while their stock is high. We aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Same with Saad and Leddy.

and we would be soon able to play our home games at Centene, as it would have enough seating

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

I'd keep both Parayko and Buch (for now). We're not going to get many opportunities to add another offensive player the caliber of Buchnevich so if we can ink him long-term, we need to do it.

Saad's fine at his contract. Only way I move him is with an overpay.

Leddy can go. Krug and Faulk can go. Kyrou can go in the right deal. Schenn I got back and forth on. Kyrou would have to be an pro-level move, not a futures deal. But you also can't just dump half the roster.

 

[Mike Liut]

and we would be soon able to play our home games at Centene, as it would have enough seating

I get it, but to have long term success, you might have to suck for a few years. Otherwise we’ll be a bubble team forever. We could build a beast by trading Parayko and Buchnevich. Adding that haul of top picks / prospects to Thomas, Kyrou, Neighbors, Snuggs, Dvorsky, Bolduc, Stenberg and we’d be set for the next decade

 

[joe galiba]

I get it, but to have long term success, you might have to suck for a few years. Otherwise we’ll be a bubble team forever. We could build a beast by trading Parayko and Buchnevich. Adding that haul of top picks / prospects to Thomas, Kyrou, Neighbors, Snuggs, Dvorsky, Bolduc, Stenberg and we’d be set for the next decade

unless it doesn't work, which it hasn't for other franchises
I cannot see a scenario where the ownership goes scorched earth on the roster and gives up the revenue (the bird in the hand) for the HOPE that a complete teardown would work and somehow they would make up that revenue down the road (two in the bush)

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

I get it, but to have long term success, you might have to suck for a few years. Otherwise we’ll be a bubble team forever. We could build a beast by trading Parayko and Buchnevich. Adding that haul of top picks / prospects to Thomas, Kyrou, Neighbors, Snuggs, Dvorsky, Bolduc, Stenberg and we’d be set for the next decade

I don't necessarily buy that we'll be a bubble team given that our cupboard is already stocked since we began retooling a year early than expected. Our prospect pool is strong and we have another three picks in the first two rounds of next summer's draft, two of which look to be very high.

 

[Brian39]

My tiers of how I view current roster players (excluding guys who will be RFA when their current deal expires):

Essentially Untouchable: Thomas.

He is already playing up to his AAV and is performing well as a 24 year old 1C. Elite 5 on 5 production, elite at the faceoff dot, effectively killing penalties, and is one of just a handful of guys not getting caved in. His age, contract, and performance is exactly what you want to build a new core around.

Almost Untouchable: Kyrou and Binner.

Binner will slide down this list over the next 18 months or so, but right now he is just too important. He is insulating Hofer from getting his development ruined, he is a fan favorite, and he is competitive as hell. Kyrou has been making genuine strides with his play off the puck and is still generating tons of chances. Too early to give up on him unless the return is too good to pass up. I'm only trading either of these guys for the exact thing I want, not the best package I can get.

I'll Listen, But You Have To Really Blow Me Away: Parayko and Buch.

I want to keep both and think both can be good contributors down the line whether it is a retool or rebuild. I think both have several years left at/near their current levels and I'd be more than happy to have both as part of a declining leadership group to insulate the next wave. I'm not looking to move either, so you really, really have to build a compelling futures package. Unlike the tier above, a package with a high value could sway me instead of me needing the exact right piece I'm seeking. But it needs to be a damn good package. Obviously Buch may ave to slide to another tier if an extension becomes unlikely or impossible.

I'm Open, But Am Perfectly Fine If They Are Still Here In October Of 2025: Faulk and Schenn.

Realistically, the window to trade these guys hasn't opened yet. Feel free to pitch me though. If a market exists, I'll put the for sale sign up.

Patiently Selling: Leddy, Saad, and Hayes.

I'm not moving these guys just to move them. Their contracts may limit their value, but I'd rather just keep them than give them away. Retention might be required to make it work and that might mean waiting a while. All in all, you can have them for a reasonable return.

Oh My God, We're Having A Fire (Sale): Krug, Kap, Scandella, Vrana, Blais, and Sunny.

I'd extend Blais or Sunny at league minimum if they want to go that route and the best offer on the table is a 4th or worse. Otherwise, any pending UFAs will be gone to the highest bidder by the deadline. Sooner if someone wants to make a good offer now (like when Army set the rental market last year). Krug has term and is probably not a deadline deal. But I'd be aggressively shopping him so that I can threaten waivers if he declines to waive the NTC.

 

[Mike Liut]

My tiers of how I view current roster players (excluding guys who will be RFA when their current deal expires):

Essentially Untouchable: Thomas.

He is already playing up to his AAV and is performing well as a 24 year old 1C. Elite 5 on 5 production, elite at the faceoff dot, effectively killing penalties, and is one of just a handful of guys not getting caved in. His age, contract, and performance is exactly what you want to build a new core around.

Almost Untouchable: Kyrou and Binner.

Binner will slide down this list over the next 18 months or so, but right now he is just too important. He is insulating Hofer from getting his development ruined, he is a fan favorite, and he is competitive as hell. Kyrou has been making genuine strides with his play off the puck and is still generating tons of chances. Too early to give up on him unless the return is too good to pass up. I'm only trading either of these guys for the exact thing I want, not the best package I can get.

I'll Listen, But You Have To Really Blow Me Away: Parayko and Buch.

I want to keep both and think both can be good contributors down the line whether it is a retool or rebuild. I think both have several years left at/near their current levels and I'd be more than happy to have both as part of a declining leadership group to insulate the next wave. I'm not looking to move either, so you really, really have to build a compelling futures package. Unlike the tier above, a package with a high value could sway me instead of me needing the exact right piece I'm seeking. But it needs to be a damn good package. Obviously Buch may ave to slide to another tier if an extension becomes unlikely or impossible.

I'm Open, But Am Perfectly Fine If They Are Still Here In October Of 2025: Faulk and Schenn.

Realistically, the window to trade these guys hasn't opened yet. Feel free to pitch me though. If a market exists, I'll put the for sale sign up.

Patiently Selling: Leddy, Saad, and Hayes.

I'm not moving these guys just to move them. Their contracts may limit their value, but I'd rather just keep them than give them away. Retention might be required to make it work and that might mean waiting a while. All in all, you can have them for a reasonable return.

Oh My God, We're Having A Fire (Sale): Krug, Kap, Scandella, Vrana, Blais, and Sunny.

I'd extend Blais or Sunny at league minimum if they want to go that route and the best offer on the table is a 4th or worse. Otherwise, any pending UFAs will be gone to the highest bidder by the deadline. Sooner if someone wants to make a good offer now (like when Army set the rental market last year). Krug has term and is probably not a deadline deal. But I'd be aggressively shopping him so that I can threaten waivers if he declines to waive the NTC.

if you cant work out an extension with Buch by the TDL, id move him. I think the return would be much better with the extra year on his contract to another team.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

 

[Brian39]

if you cant work out an extension with Buch by the TDL, id move him. I think the return would be much better with the extra year on his contract to another team.

Depends who else we want to retain on at the deadline. I also think that more teams might be interested in (or more able to fit) him into their lineup over the summer. I also think it is worth considering whether his answer is "I'm not signing" or "I'm not committing yet" by the deadline.

 

[Mike Liut]

Depends who else we want to retain on at the deadline. I also think that more teams might be interested in (or more able to fit) him into their lineup over the summer. I also think it is worth considering whether his answer is "I'm not signing" or "I'm not committing yet" by the deadline.

That’s fair

 

[mk80]

My tiers of how I view current roster players (excluding guys who will be RFA when their current deal expires):

Essentially Untouchable: Thomas.

He is already playing up to his AAV and is performing well as a 24 year old 1C. Elite 5 on 5 production, elite at the faceoff dot, effectively killing penalties, and is one of just a handful of guys not getting caved in. His age, contract, and performance is exactly what you want to build a new core around.

Almost Untouchable: Kyrou and Binner.

Binner will slide down this list over the next 18 months or so, but right now he is just too important. He is insulating Hofer from getting his development ruined, he is a fan favorite, and he is competitive as hell. Kyrou has been making genuine strides with his play off the puck and is still generating tons of chances. Too early to give up on him unless the return is too good to pass up. I'm only trading either of these guys for the exact thing I want, not the best package I can get.

I'll Listen, But You Have To Really Blow Me Away: Parayko and Buch.

I want to keep both and think both can be good contributors down the line whether it is a retool or rebuild. I think both have several years left at/near their current levels and I'd be more than happy to have both as part of a declining leadership group to insulate the next wave. I'm not looking to move either, so you really, really have to build a compelling futures package. Unlike the tier above, a package with a high value could sway me instead of me needing the exact right piece I'm seeking. But it needs to be a damn good package. Obviously Buch may ave to slide to another tier if an extension becomes unlikely or impossible.

I'm Open, But Am Perfectly Fine If They Are Still Here In October Of 2025: Faulk and Schenn.

Realistically, the window to trade these guys hasn't opened yet. Feel free to pitch me though. If a market exists, I'll put the for sale sign up.

Patiently Selling: Leddy, Saad, and Hayes.

I'm not moving these guys just to move them. Their contracts may limit their value, but I'd rather just keep them than give them away. Retention might be required to make it work and that might mean waiting a while. All in all, you can have them for a reasonable return.

Oh My God, We're Having A Fire (Sale): Krug, Kap, Scandella, Vrana, Blais, and Sunny.

I'd extend Blais or Sunny at league minimum if they want to go that route and the best offer on the table is a 4th or worse. Otherwise, any pending UFAs will be gone to the highest bidder by the deadline. Sooner if someone wants to make a good offer now (like when Army set the rental market last year). Krug has term and is probably not a deadline deal. But I'd be aggressively shopping him so that I can threaten waivers if he declines to waive the NTC.

I'd be surprised to get much, if anything, for Vrana at this point now that he's cleared waivers. Maybe he can be attached to another trade if Armstrong can convince some sucker of a GM to take him. But I doubt someone will come calling.


Edit: Separate topic but I haven't seen it mentioned yet with all the Berube news...

 

[Mike Liut]

If the Blues don’t hire Bannister as their full time coach (unlikely imo), does he go back to Springfield? Or is he SOL?

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

If the Blues don’t hire Bannister as their full time coach (unlikely imo), does he go back to Springfield? Or is he SOL?

i expect him to go back. they didn't hire replacement for daniel tkachuk who moves up to interim HC in Springfield, so still space to slide him back there.

 

[mk80]

If the Blues don’t hire Bannister as their full time coach (unlikely imo), does he go back to Springfield? Or is he SOL?

I wouldn't be surprised either way to see him move on entirely, or go back to Springfield. Maybe he sticks around as an assistant coach as I suspect there to be more changes to the coaching staff over the summer.

As far as subsequent moves at the moment, Daniel Tkaczuk has been given the interim tag in SPF

Springfield Thunderbirds | Blues Name Drew Bannister Interim Head…

Louis Blues President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced Tuesday night that the team has relieved Craig Berube of his…

www.springfieldthunderbirds.com

 

[ToastedRavioli]

Realistically what can we even get for most of these players? This year our expiring UFAs are Kapanen, Vrana, Scandella, Blais, and Sundqvist. None of those are gonna fetch much. Scandella might actually have the most value right now at 50% retained. We would probably be better off re-signing Blais and Sundqvist at league minimum than the paltry value you would get for them. Barring a massive change, Vrana is worthless on the market. Overall you're maybe looking at a third each for Kapanen and Scandella both at 50%.

The two players that we can trade that don't fit our timeline that may actually get value is Saad and Hayes. I wouldn't be in a rush to trade either, as they provide enough value for their contracts, but I could see both getting decent value especially if we were willing to retain for multiple years. Hayes at 1.75M for multiple years would be very valuable for a contending team.

Overall, those four players are really it. Unless you want to trade a core piece like Buchnevich, Parayko, Kyrou, or Binnington, we are not going to add much more draft capital or prospects. I would listen on all of those but I doubt you would get fair value for any of them. Buchnevich makes the most since to trade with him becoming a UFA in a season and a half, but that's tough because he's a player that actually puts in consistent effort, which the culture of this team desperately needs.

 

[DataMan357]

Fire Doug Armstrong! Bring back Berube and make him Coach and GM...!! Fire that worthless MF.

 

[BrokenFace]

if you cant work out an extension with Buch by the TDL, id move him. I think the return would be much better with the extra year on his contract to another team.

Buch can't be extended until the Summer. I wanted to keep him around while young guys cycled in during the next few years, but now I think we should get as much as we can for him this TDL.

Fire Doug Armstrong! Bring back Berube and make him Coach and GM...!! Fire that worthless MF.

The large font has me convinced.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Looking at this from a total roster perspective (this exercise needs to be done for our prospects as well):

Essentially Untouchable: Thomas.

Agreed. I might take away "essentially" but he kind of needs to start taking it up a notch or he gets ... more touchable, even if it's still "has to blow me away with an offer" touchable.

Almost Untouchable: Kyrou and Binner.

Drop Kyrou, add Buchnevich. I would move Buchnevich at next year's trade deadline when I'm pretty sure his NTC is no longer effective - and if there's a hot offer for him between now and then, I'd move him to maximize his value.

We've seen what this team would be without Binnington. He goes, it's full-on tank mode - but I might also just throw him in the below category if we're going full-on rebuild.

I'll Listen, But You Have To Really Blow Me Away: Parayko and Buch.

I don't know that anyone falls here for me, but I'd trade Parayko a lot sooner than others would. Maybe you've got it right and Buch is better suited here at the moment - but if we're going to rebuild, he's a huge trade chip that's not locked up beyond '25 and probably unlikely to want to stick around for rebuilding.

I'm Open, But Am Perfectly Fine If They Are Still Here In October Of 2025: Faulk and Schenn.

Put Kyrou here; I don't think he's have to blow me away untouchable at the moment and I'm willing to see if he can get the defensive side of the game enough to be more complete. Maybe put Parayko here, but for me "perfectly fine" is too strong of an endorsement for him. I don't like the idea of having Schenn here, but with that contract he's going to be a tough move unless we're dumping him; right now, we're not dumping him and if we decide we do want to dump him, it's going to be tough to do it with his NTC.

Also add: Toropchenko, Tucker, MV63 (though I'd still part with him because I think what we've seen isn't what we'll see long-term), Hofer (unless we think Zherenko is suddenly the answer - which, let's see Hofer play some more games behind a semi-motivated team instead of a lackluster one before falling in love again with the AHL guy like we've done in years past).

Patiently Selling: Leddy, Saad, and Hayes.

I guess it depends on how patient we're talking. Offseason? OK, maybe, depending on what other moves get made. Next trade deadline? That's probably ideal. This trade deadline? That's moving toward "fire sale" category. Someone's got to be here that has experience to mentor the kids as they step into the NHL, unless we're going to roll kids like it's 1978-79 and expect they'll figure it out while slogging in the basement of the league standings.

Add Krug here, because ... that contract, he's not getting moved easily, we might as well be as patient as we can. I don't see ownership agreeing to bury that contract (his salary for the 3 seasons is $8.5M, $6.5M and $6M respectively) and then pay a couple million more for his NHL replacement. Almost goes in the category up, though I'm not "perfectly fine" because it may be that difficult to move him.

I guess Alexandrov goes here? Not sure where to put him; I wouldn't lump him in with the fire sale squad, but I also don't know I'd say "yeah, if he's still here in 2 years, I'm cool with that" and I don't know that there's going to be a ton of interest and value in him if he got dangled on the market. Probably needs to play a lot more up and down the lineup and see if he fits somewhere, then reassess.

Oh My God, We're Having A Fire (Sale): Krug, Kap, Scandella, Vrana, Blais, and Sunny.

I agree with the idea of extending Blais or Sundqvist on the cheap, because they're not going to bring back high value and we don't otherwise have good internal candidates for the 4th line. (Yet?) I don't think either (along with Kapanen) gets more than a 5th unless they catch fire the next ~35 games - and again, someone has to play on those lower lines and I don't think we want Dvorsky, Snuggerud, Bolduc and Dean and whoever else down there.

Scandella has the most value of any of those guys, IMO. I think that's a 3rd, given his age (will be 34 at the TDL) and cap hit. Hope to hell he doesn't get hurt between now and the trade deadline.

Add: Perunovich - guy is 1-dimensional, has struggled even when heavily sheltered, not adding anything useful on offense. Should have been gone a while back. Salvage what you can at this point.

 

[TK 421]

Vrana cleared

It's time to put him with Kyrou and find out the answer to the question "How much dead weight can Rob Thom pull?" while simultaneously bleeding chances that can put us out to strong starts where we go down a few goals.

Got to to kill any new coach momentum before it can build steam and f*** us.

 

[Spektre]

It's time to put him with Kyrou and find out the answer to the question "How much dead weight can Rob Thom pull?" while simultaneously bleeding chances that can put us out to strong starts where we go down a few goals.

Got to to kill any new coach momentum before it can build steam and f*** us.

Army said during the press conference Vrana would be sent down

 

[TK 421]

Army said during the press conference Vrana would be sent down

Yeah I know, just giving helpful suggestions about how we could achieve suckcess.

 

[Mike Liut]

Yeah I know, just giving helpful suggestions about how we could achieve suckcess.

I hope we don’t catch fire for a few weeks before regaining the suckness