2024-2025 Blues Multi-Purpose Thread.

[STL fan in MN]

Had a dream the Blues traded for Noah Dobson. That would've been neat.

Ole’ Lou is probably getting pretty senile these days but I’d assume the Islanders have someone in place to stop such things unfortunately. :/

 

[Lord Helix]

(except the team's yearly whipping boy...f*** that guy)

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

(except the team's yearly whipping boy...f*** that guy)

"Nothing in the rulebook that says you can't play drunk."

"Well actually there is."

That's my guilty pleasure movie.

 

[STLegend]

Big years for Neighbours & Hofer coming up, they are RFA after this season. Do you think Army tries to lock them both up long term? We haven't seen a bridge deal in a while.

Neighbours is UFA in 29 and Hofer in 28. If Neighbours takes another step forward I'd think he would favor a bridge in case he continues to progress, then he can demand a higher salary on an 8yr deal. Hofer will likely be bridged as Binnington is signed through 27, gives him plenty of time to prove he can be the next starter.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Big years for Neighbours & Hofer coming up, they are RFA after this season. Do you think Army tries to lock them both up long term? We haven't seen a bridge deal in a while.

Neighbours is UFA in 29 and Hofer in 28. If Neighbours takes another step forward I'd think he would favor a bridge in case he continues to progress, then he can demand a higher salary on an 8yr deal. Hofer will likely be bridged as Binnington is signed through 27, gives him plenty of time to prove he can be the next starter.

Would not surprise me to see a Neighbours long term deal as early as this offseason

 

[Brian39]

Big years for Neighbours & Hofer coming up, they are RFA after this season. Do you think Army tries to lock them both up long term? We haven't seen a bridge deal in a while.

Neighbours is UFA in 29 and Hofer in 28. If Neighbours takes another step forward I'd think he would favor a bridge in case he continues to progress, then he can demand a higher salary on an 8yr deal. Hofer will likely be bridged as Binnington is signed through 27, gives him plenty of time to prove he can be the next starter.

I'd be shocked if we lock up Hofer long term on his next contract. He's not signing a long term deal if he's getting a backup or tandem usage. I honestly can't think of a scenario where his play would dictate an AAV that makes sense for both parties on a long-term deal.

I could see Neighbours getting a long term deal, but my guess is that it winds up being a bridge.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Hofer hits UFA status in 2028. If all goes well, I more or less expect Hofer to get bridge type deals until around that point, and we transition from Binnington being the highest paid goalie to Hofer being the highest paid goalie.

For Neighbours, he's not getting a deal this summer, I think both sides see the value is seeing what happens this season. Blues don't want to lock in a long-term deal if he doesn't sustain success, and if Neighbours does produce like last season and even take another step forward, he'll earn more years and money.

I think personality wise, Neighbours would easily fit a long-term deal, I think the valid concern is figuring out what his ceiling is. If he hits 50+ points this year, I think a long-term deal is on the table. If he gets 25ish goals and 40ish points, I'd expect a bridge because both sides would still be pretty uncertain of what that ceiling ultimately is.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I'm kind of interested in who people think are decent comps for Neighbours. Think it's tough right now because of just 1 year of quality production. Farabee or Crouse?

 

[Xerloris]

Big years for Neighbours & Hofer coming up, they are RFA after this season. Do you think Army tries to lock them both up long term? We haven't seen a bridge deal in a while.

Neighbours is UFA in 29 and Hofer in 28. If Neighbours takes another step forward I'd think he would favor a bridge in case he continues to progress, then he can demand a higher salary on an 8yr deal. Hofer will likely be bridged as Binnington is signed through 27, gives him plenty of time to prove he can be the next starter.

Armstrong likes his bridge deals.

 

[joe galiba]

Neighbors has had one good year, Hofer has had one good year (Husso anyone?), Kessel has half of a good year
maybe we should see them repeat it before we switch from pencil to ink

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Neighbors has had one good year, Hofer has had one good year (Husso anyone?), Kessel has half of a good year
maybe we should see them repeat it before we switch from pencil to ink

Love Gomer, but he needs to repeat and improve his vision and playmaking. It’s not up to snuff.

 

[Spear]

Love Gomer, but he needs to repeat and improve his vision and playmaking. It’s not up to snuff.

At first I was thinking "Gomer" ?????? Then I was like: "Shazam!", "Golly"!

 

[ezcreepin]

Big years for Neighbours & Hofer coming up, they are RFA after this season. Do you think Army tries to lock them both up long term? We haven't seen a bridge deal in a while.

Neighbours is UFA in 29 and Hofer in 28. If Neighbours takes another step forward I'd think he would favor a bridge in case he continues to progress, then he can demand a higher salary on an 8yr deal. Hofer will likely be bridged as Binnington is signed through 27, gives him plenty of time to prove he can be the next starter.

Goalies don't usually get locked up unless they are the heir apparent, play incredibly well, or they are inked long term to under 1 mil. I expect Hofer to be bridge-dealed for like 2 years, maybe around the 1.5 to 2 mil range, but if Neighbours has another season of 25+ goals and scores 45-50 points, I could see Armstrong getting him inked quickly. We saw Thomas and Kyrou sign early deals for less than market value, and I would imagine Armstrong wants to do the same with a lot of these younger guys. It's hard to say what would be fair value for Neighbours.

Purely stat watching, is Neighbours better than Batherson, Tuch, Garland, or Bunting? The stats would say no, but he's closest to Garland. Is he better than Lehkonen, Marchenko, Iafallo, or Crouse? He's not better than Lehkonen, but he's better than Iafallo. He's the closest in style to Crouse and Marchenko, as well as points. Neighbours is younger than both, so there's still potential to be reached. I think if he has another season like he did last year, something close to 4.5 mil for 5 years would be reasonable in money for the Blues and term for Neighbours. This is just my opinion and I have no experience negotiating contracts so I could be way off.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

I hadn't notice this before, but one of the part-owners of the Blues transferred his stake to someone else.

 

[Celtic Note]

I hadn't notice this before, but one of the part-owners of the Blues transferred his stake to someone else.

Who were the parties involved?

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Who were the parties involved?

David Steward transferred his stake to Michael Riney.

Loading…

www.ksdk.com

 

[ChicagoBlues]

David Steward transferred his stake to Michael Riney.

Loading…

www.ksdk.com

What he said.

 

[Mike Liut]

Anybody want to take a stab at the opening night lines?

 

[Beauterham]

Anybody want to take a stab at the opening night lines?

Bolduc - Thomas - Neighbours
Schenn - Buchnevich - Kyrou
Saad - Faksa - Joseph
Texier - Dvorsky - Toropchenko

Leddy - Parayko
Suter - Faulk
Perunovich - Kessel

Binnington
Hofer

Schenn could start 3C and push Faksa to 4C (pushing Dvorsky to Springfield). In this case Saad is 2LW, Texier 3LW and a spot will open on 4LW for either Walker or Kapanen

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Neighbours on the top line with Bolduc and Thomas sounds great. Jake would become even more of a rebound Cookie Monster.

That 3rd line looks fast, faster and fastest!

Only four remaining Cup-winning Blues.

 

[TK 421]

We have a 40 year old dude playing defense on the 2nd pairing, the other guy alternated between blowing goats and being injured while blowing goats. I will have that top 10 pick, these two will ensure it and nothing will stop us this time. Except Binny and Hofer, they totally did stop it last time like a really unhelpful Scooby-Doo gang.

 

[Mike Liut]

Bolduc - Thomas - Neighbours
Schenn - Buchnevich - Kyrou
Saad - Faksa - Joseph
Texier - Dvorsky - Toropchenko

Leddy - Parayko
Suter - Faulk
Perunovich - Kessel

Binnington
Hofer

Schenn could start 3C and push Faksa to 4C (pushing Dvorsky to Springfield). In this case Saad is 2LW, Texier 3LW and a spot will open on 4LW for either Walker or Kapanen

Any chance the other Joseph starts on D?

 

[BlueDream]

Neighbours on the top line with Bolduc and Thomas sounds great. Jake would become even more of a rebound Cookie Monster.

That 3rd line looks fast, faster and fastest!

Only four remaining Cup-winning Blues.

5, Sundqvist too.

Will be interesting to see if he’s ready for the start of the season but even if he’s not, I doubt he’ll miss too much time.

 

[Quaz]

Any chance the other Joseph starts on D?

I would like to see POJ over Suter. Maybe they will run lines similar to the game against the Canes that was on NHL Network yesterday. They had the following top 6:

Bolduc - Thomas - Schenn
Saad - Buch- Kyrou
Texier- Dvorsky - Neighbours
Toro - Faksa - Joseph

 

[simon IC]

I don't like Perunovich paired with Kessel. I'm not sure Kessel is experienced enough to shelter Perunovich.