2024-2025 Blues Trade Proposals Thread.

[StlBigFly]

Buch currently has a 12 team no trade clause. It’s never going to happen, but I wish Army would get the list of teams, and see what the options are. Is the franchise better off with Buch over the next 6+ years, or the recovered assets from the return?

I think it’s always an option but you’d really maybe need to find some amazing mutually beneficial deal to benefit.

With the cap at a high end of 100 mil in 2 seasons, Buchnevich and any other term player really see their cap % drop fast. I think a large number of term contracts signed the last 2 years will look absolutely amazing compared to deals signed 2 years from now.

Our roster with guys like Bolduc, Snuggerud, Dvorsky, Kaskimaki, then later Stenberg, stancl <—— this is a lot of young people and we’ll need to have the 200ft responsible guy to throw out there and take the challenging shifts or be the opposite wing to a defensively challenged young scorer. If we don’t have him cause we traded him we’d need to get one of him in return probably. If the guy we get in return signs his deal later than Buch has signed his we’d probably have to get real lucky to get an outperformance.

We are going to have years of forwards on entry level deals while the cap is rising. I don’t think we will ever be limited by buchnevich’s cap hit.

 

[Xerloris]

Buch currently has a 12 team no trade clause. It’s never going to happen, but I wish Army would get the list of teams, and see what the options are. Is the franchise better off with Buch over the next 6+ years, or the recovered assets from the return?

my health outlook is much better without Buch

 

[bleedblue1223]

Buchnevich since not playing center is playing at a 61.5 point pace and a +9. I still don't really like the decision we made with keeping him, and glad we kept the term as short as we could, but it'll still age poorly. That being said, playing C clearly had a negative impact on him, so I'm dismissing some of his poor play. We need him to be able to get back to what he was the first 2 seasons here. It's not going to be good if the decline is already starting, and what we got last season is the best we are getting moving forward.

 

[StlBigFly]

I think Steen’s final deal is a good Buchnevich comparable situation.

Steens deal was signed in 2016 at 5.75aav and took him to his 36 y/o season. I feel if dollars were adjusted for years then It’s pretty much the same deal with Buch - Buch signed his a year earlier so team bought a more expensive year so aav slightly higher plus inflation - and I’d guess he has the same role. Steen did not have any offensive resurgence after that deal and I don’t know that Buch will either. Steen was reliably steen and I think Buchnevich is the quality of guy where he will reliably be Buch.

I doubt Buch is ever a liability. I think us fans will probably be geeking out over Dvorsky or whoever scoring and we won’t care that Buch is like .6-.75ppg. It’ll be easy to hit a losing streak and say 8 mil player not producing!, but it won’t be his role to do that really - we’d want the young guys taking the risk and getting a lot of opportunity. I mean, he should contribute and if he isn’t that’s a thing - and it’s totally fair to look at a game like the recent Sabres and have a real complaint - but our team won’t hinge on it. Like I don’t say “the Sabres won because of Buch; instead: sure would have been nice to get a little more in a game like that. And there’s a real chance his playstyle really helps some combination of our future and he lights it up again.

For some contracts it maybe isn’t about the performance for the dollars, it’s about there only being a dozen total humans possible to fill the role and the price is set by comparable contracts, so you either sign up for it - the good and the bad - or you don’t. Since we’re pending about 6 forward elc contracts we get to avoid the cap pain entirely - which is the biggest part of “the bad”. The good is that he and his agent won’t be blowing up Doug’s phone when he’s moved down the depth chart. He got his bag.

Bonus side note:

There’s a small chance that the cap rises really fast. Inflation hits player salaries long after inflation hits the general population due to the cba. If the outcome occurs that 3-4 years from now the cap is surging up aggressively - every term deal will be a little jackpot. A team can have too many for sure, but now is not the time to be afraid of having the right amount.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Pittsburgh put Pool Party on waivers today… not much room for him here right now but I’m intrigued

 

[Brian39]

I think Steen’s final deal is a good Buchnevich comparable situation.

Steens deal was signed in 2016 at 5.75aav and took him to his 36 y/o season. I feel if dollars were adjusted for years then It’s pretty much the same deal with Buch - Buch signed his a year earlier so team bought a more expensive year so aav slightly higher plus inflation - and I’d guess he has the same role. Steen did not have any offensive resurgence after that deal and I don’t know that Buch will either. Steen was reliably steen and I think Buchnevich is the quality of guy where he will reliably be Buch.

I doubt Buch is ever a liability. I think us fans will probably be geeking out over Dvorsky or whoever scoring and we won’t care that Buch is like .6-.75ppg. It’ll be easy to hit a losing streak and say 8 mil player not producing!, but it won’t be his role to do that really - we’d want the young guys taking the risk and getting a lot of opportunity. I mean, he should contribute and if he isn’t that’s a thing - and it’s totally fair to look at a game like the recent Sabres and have a real complaint - but our team won’t hinge on it. Like I don’t say “the Sabres won because of Buch; instead: sure would have been nice to get a little more in a game like that. And there’s a real chance his playstyle really helps some combination of our future and he lights it up again.

For some contracts it maybe isn’t about the performance for the dollars, it’s about there only being a dozen total humans possible to fill the role and the price is set by comparable contracts, so you either sign up for it - the good and the bad - or you don’t. Since we’re pending about 6 forward elc contracts we get to avoid the cap pain entirely - which is the biggest part of “the bad”. The good is that he and his agent won’t be blowing up Doug’s phone when he’s moved down the depth chart. He got his bag.

Bonus side note:

There’s a small chance that the cap rises really fast. Inflation hits player salaries long after inflation hits the general population due to the cba. If the outcome occurs that 3-4 years from now the cap is surging up aggressively - every term deal will be a little jackpot. A team can have too many for sure, but now is not the time to be afraid of having the right amount.

It gets really similar if you compare the Buch contract to Steen's last 2 contracts. Frankly, the Buch contract is a bit more team-friendly than Steen's age 30+ contracts if you view them as comparable players.

Steen got $5.8M x 3 starting in his age 30 season. That was 8.41% of the cap that year. Buch's $8M will be 8.66% of the cap in year 1 of his deal which starts in his age 30 season. The cap percentage will be lower if the NHL and PA agree to increase the cap more than the CBA-mandated amount. Pretty damn similar to Steen's starting cap percentage.

Steen then got $5.75M x 4 starting in his age 33 season. That was 7.67% of the cap in year 1 of the deal. Buch's AAV will match that cap percentage when the cap hits $104.25M.

That is going to come pretty quickly. The league is projecting $6.6B in revenue this season, which would equate to a roughly $100M cap for 2025/26 if we weren't still using the COVID recovery formula. League revenue needs to hit $7B for the league to see a $104M cap once we are done with the COVID recovery formula (2025/26 is the final year of that). Barring a major change in the way the cap is calculated, we are loikely going to see a $104M+ salary cap by either 2026/26 or 2027/28.

Buch's cap percentage is going to be right in line or better than Steen's cap percentage and his deal ends when he is 1 year younger than Steen's.

 

[SirPaste]

Pittsburgh put Pool Party on waivers today… not much room for him here right now but I’m intrigued

Why? Other than where he was drafted what is intriguing about him? He has been in the league for about 8 years now and can't figure it out.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Why? Other than where he was drafted what is intriguing about him? He has been in the league for about 8 years now and can't figure it out.

He’s big, fast, cheap, and has good possession stats. The odds of him “breaking out” offensively are pretty low, but he could still be a solid bottom-6 guy. He’s only making like $800k. But like I said, we don’t really have the flexibility to take on a guy without sending someone else down/out. I’d rather have him than Tex though, that’s for sure.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Why? Other than where he was drafted what is intriguing about him? He has been in the league for about 8 years now and can't figure it out.

I mean, we’re riding a hot streak of Edmonton 1st round draft picks. But other than finding a way to swap him and Saad/Texier, I’m not really interested.

 

[Xerloris]

It gets really similar if you compare the Buch contract to Steen's last 2 contracts. Frankly, the Buch contract is a bit more team-friendly than Steen's age 30+ contracts if you view them as comparable players.

Steen got $5.8M x 3 starting in his age 30 season. That was 8.41% of the cap that year. Buch's $8M will be 8.66% of the cap in year 1 of his deal which starts in his age 30 season. The cap percentage will be lower if the NHL and PA agree to increase the cap more than the CBA-mandated amount. Pretty damn similar to Steen's starting cap percentage.

Steen then got $5.75M x 4 starting in his age 33 season. That was 7.67% of the cap in year 1 of the deal. Buch's AAV will match that cap percentage when the cap hits $104.25M.

That is going to come pretty quickly. The league is projecting $6.6B in revenue this season, which would equate to a roughly $100M cap for 2025/26 if we weren't still using the COVID recovery formula. League revenue needs to hit $7B for the league to see a $104M cap once we are done with the COVID recovery formula (2025/26 is the final year of that). Barring a major change in the way the cap is calculated, we are loikely going to see a $104M+ salary cap by either 2026/26 or 2027/28.

Buch's cap percentage is going to be right in line or better than Steen's cap percentage and his deal ends when he is 1 year younger than Steen's.

You're forgetting Steens intangibles such as not having such a pissy ass face all the time.

 

[SirPaste]

I mean, we’re riding a hot streak of Edmonton 1st round draft picks. But other than finding a way to swap him and Saad/Texier, I’m not really interested.

That’s true but still 2 for 4 if you count Yakupov and Pajaarvi

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

That’s true but still 2 for 4 if you count Yakupov and Pajaarvi

I’d consider Paajarvi a wash. He was a decent player, just not what his draft pedigree predicted. But for what the Blues’ acquisition cost was, acceptable.

Yakupov was a small bust for us. What was it, a 3rd?

 

[ChicagoBlues]

I’d consider Paajarvi a wash. He was a decent player, just not what his draft pedigree predicted. But for what the Blues’ acquisition cost was, acceptable.

Yakupov was a small bust for us. What was it, a 3rd?

Pochiro and conditional 3rd

 

[SirPaste]

I’d consider Paajarvi a wash. He was a decent player, just not what his draft pedigree predicted. But for what the Blues’ acquisition cost was, acceptable.

Yakupov was a small bust for us. What was it, a 3rd?

Oh yea I was 100% on board with those pick ups, the costs were both fine. Just saying they didn't really work out, I guess you were right about Magnus he was ok but just meh. The other two this year are looking great so far.

 

[HighNote]

He got us this goal

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Man, Paajarvi has been in the KHL/SHL since 2019-20 and still hasn’t put up as many points in a season as he did when he was 18 and playing on a line with former Blue Daniel Corso in Timra. Way back in 2009-10. That’s crazy levels of draft busting.

 

[Mike Liut]

I hope the Blues don’t try to speed up the rebuild and package some of our young guys for nhl ready players just yet. The Cardinals do this and end up trading the wrong guys.

 

[Celtic Note]

I hope the Blues don’t try to speed up the rebuild and package some of our young guys for nhl ready players just yet. The Cardinals do this and end up trading the wrong guys.

In all fairness to the Blues, the Cardinals have been a mismanaged mess for a while.

 

[SirPaste]

I hope the Blues don’t try to speed up the rebuild and package some of our young guys for nhl ready players just yet. The Cardinals do this and end up trading the wrong guys.

While I mostly agree, it really depends on who they would be trading for, lets say EP for example is a 26 year old 100 pt 1C that I would absolutely trade some prospects for. But those type of players dont become available very often so generally I agree with your point. I would rather have a better idea of what we have before flipping prospects.

That said, the Blues seem to have done a much better job at recognizing guys they didn't love and flipping them early on, Rundblad and Bokk come to mind so I generally trust their scouting staff.

 

[bleedblue1223]

While I mostly agree, it really depends on who they would be trading for, lets say EP for example is a 26 year old 100 pt 1C that I would absolutely trade some prospects for. But those type of players dont become available very often so generally I agree with your point. I would rather have a better idea of what we have before flipping prospects.

That said, the Blues seem to have done a much better job at recognizing guys they didn't love and flipping them early on, Rundblad and Bokk come to mind so I generally trust their scouting staff.

Yeah, EP is someone that I'd expect Army/Steen to be involved on if Vancouver actually decides to do something stupid like that.

I'm expecting the Rangers to do the dumb thing and make a move for Miller though.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I hope the Blues don’t try to speed up the rebuild and package some of our young guys for nhl ready players just yet. The Cardinals do this and end up trading the wrong guys.

Armstrong is much smarter than those guys over at Busch so I'm not worried about that. If the Blues make a trade it's for now and the future.

 

[StlBigFly]

It’s kinda shocking how little the Cardinals got for tearing their team down. Like…I’m concerned about them. And baseball in general. The league isn’t even trying for parity. It feels like the cardinals are in financial distress; they haven’t invested in coaching, sold AAA and AA, now seem to be bent over the barrel trying to reduce payroll.

The Cardinals traded the World Series mvp, a World Series starter and will lose their now old mvp first baseman and gold glove 3rd baseman.

All for nothing basically.

Meanwhile Doug Armstrong owns the U20 scoring leaderboard for the second year in a row after one deadline of deals and his team never bottomed out.

 

[AyeBah]

While I mostly agree, it really depends on who they would be trading for, lets say EP for example is a 26 year old 100 pt 1C that I would absolutely trade some prospects for. But those type of players dont become available very often so generally I agree with your point. I would rather have a better idea of what we have before flipping prospects.

That said, the Blues seem to have done a much better job at recognizing guys they didn't love and flipping them early on, Rundblad and Bokk come to mind so I generally trust their scouting staff.

EP is pacing around 60 points his last 82 gp. Pass on that grenade of a contract. His disappearing act would drive fans nuts here. Sign Marner this summer and trade for a dman

 

[SirPaste]

EP is pacing around 60 points his last 82 gp. Pass on that grenade of a contract. His disappearing act would drive fans nuts here. Sign Marner this summer and trade for a dman

I like Marner but I wouldn't want to sign any winger to a 7/8 year deal for at least $14m which is what he is going to get. Highly unlikely he would choose to come here either.

 

[AyeBah]

I like Marner but I wouldn't want to sign any winger to a 7/8 year deal for at least $14m which is what he is going to get. Highly unlikely he would choose to come here either.

With the cap on pace to skyrocket the next 5 years the money will age well and we will have the cap space. We have lots of impact prospects coming but no true "stars" in my opinion