2024-2025 Blues Trade Proposals Thread.

[Mike Liut]

Love the kid, but the time might be right to cash in our chips on Neighbors. We have plenty of middle 6 wingers coming through the system over the next couple years. I think If we could pivot Neighbors into more of a need, like a top D prospect and possibly more picks, im here for it. This team desperately needs more high end talent.

Neighbors & Faksa
For
Nemec & 2nd

I’d do it, but i think we’d have to add another decent piece like a Pekarcik level prospect

 

[StLewis11]

Is Schenn impossible to move for any asset at all, because of his contract?

 

[Blanick]

Is Schenn impossible to move for any asset at all, because of his contract?

We can't move Schenn right now. We are incredibly thin at center and he is centering our only effective line. Hopefully next year we have the depth to drop him to 3C.

 

[Xerloris]

Ya sure, do neighbors and Bolduc for this Nemec guy. Can't be worse than what we have now.

 

[Reality Czech]

Is Schenn impossible to move for any asset at all, because of his contract?

Why would we do that? Just for the sake of it?

Despite being the whipping boy during his slow start, he's actually been pretty damn good lately.

 

[jjniner]

Which is why you trade him because the illusion will soon be gone

 

[Reality Czech]

Which is why you trade him because the illusion will soon be gone

Or people can admit they were wrong to throw dirt on him at the beginning of the season. Lots of veterans are slow starters but he's still a useful player for us. He's been playing at a 50+ point pace since the beginning of November.

I'd need a pretty good reason to get rid of our team leader and 2nd best center.

 

[StlBigFly]

Quiet deadline maybe?

I personally think one of the least likely outcomes of the next 4 months is a Kyrou or Thomas trade, but since their trade protection is nothing during that time, ya never know

I’m going to guess the Blues will try to resign Faksa?

We have a lot of European prospects and Faksa seems to be a positive contributor. If there isn’t some mutual interest I think he’s super likely to be rented out.

For Suter: Does anybody know how performance bonuses are split when a trade occurs? I’m assuming they go into a pool that is split based on days of season with each team.

If the above about performance bonuses is the case, I’d guess Suter is the most likely to be rented out, but I’d imagine we have to retain, and I’d guess there has to be some contender with serious injury issues to pursue him. I’d personally guess that renting him is unlikely but then again, I’m not sure what everybodies injury situations are.

Everybody else on the Blues has term.

I think we’re going to have a super quiet deadline.

The closer the deadline, and especially the end of 4 nations, the less likely anybody with term is traded. While of course anything can happen; if we go through most years, the giant majority of near deadline deals are pending ufas. We’re kinda in the window right now where other stuff happens.

 

[SirPaste]

I agree I think it will most likely be pretty quiet for us at the deadline. I am hoping we can get something for Faksa, Suter, maybe Leddy if he is able to return and get some games in before then but not likely. Don't think we will get much but might as well throw them out there and get what we can. While it remains possible a big shake up trade happens but those are usually done in the offseason not at the deadline so not really expecting anything earth shattering.

 

[A Real Barn Burner]

Which is why you trade him because the illusion will soon be gone

If Steen had value as a winger on the fourth line then Schenn has more value as a center. As weak as our center depth is last thing we need to do is trade anyone in that position unless you think someone will give up a young center for Schenn???

 

[joe galiba]

Quiet deadline maybe?

I personally think one of the least likely outcomes of the next 4 months is a Kyrou or Thomas trade, but since their trade protection is nothing during that time, ya never know

I’m going to guess the Blues will try to resign Faksa?

We have a lot of European prospects and Faksa seems to be a positive contributor. If there isn’t some mutual interest I think he’s super likely to be rented out.

For Suter: Does anybody know how performance bonuses are split when a trade occurs? I’m assuming they go into a pool that is split based on days of season with each team.

If the above about performance bonuses is the case, I’d guess Suter is the most likely to be rented out, but I’d imagine we have to retain, and I’d guess there has to be some contender with serious injury issues to pursue him. I’d personally guess that renting him is unlikely but then again, I’m not sure what everybodies injury situations are.

Everybody else on the Blues has term.

I think we’re going to have a super quiet deadline.

The closer the deadline, and especially the end of 4 nations, the less likely anybody with term is traded. While of course anything can happen; if we go through most years, the giant majority of near deadline deals are pending ufas. We’re kinda in the window right now where other stuff happens.

I think we trade Suter and Faska to a contenders at the trade deadline and maybe check back with them in the offseason if we still have a need

 

[TheOrganist]

With Saad and Faksa off the books this summer, Leddy, Fowler, Joseph, Texier the year after, Faulk a definite buyout candidate the summer of 2026, and plenty of space to absorb Broberg and Holloway’s raises, I expect we’ll be pretty aggressive in the next 6 months going after a center in some form.

 

[bleedblue1223]

RD or C makes sense. Brandt Clarke is another option that plausibly could be available.

 

[Mike Liut]

Would you move Faksa at the TDL for a 3rd?

 

[SirPaste]

RD or C makes sense. Brandt Clarke is another option that plausibly could be available.

Despite Weekes's tweet I have a very hard time believing Clarke is even remotely available. But if so I would be going very hard at trying to acquire him.

 

[Brian39]

With Saad and Faksa off the books this summer, Leddy, Fowler, Joseph, Texier the year after, Faulk a definite buyout candidate the summer of 2026, and plenty of space to absorb Broberg and Holloway’s raises, I expect we’ll be pretty aggressive in the next 6 months going after a center in some form.

As of now (or tomorrow when his contract is terminated), we have $84.76M of cap commitments to 19 NHL players for 2025/26. Those numbers include Krug and Leddy. The cap is going to be at least $92.4M, with rumors that the NHL and PA are working together to go a few million higher than that to avoid a massive cap jump for 2026/27.

One of the $4M+ D men won't be on the roster for 2025/26. My gut tells me that Krug is LTIRetired, but even if he attempts a comeback there just simply isn't the roster room for all of Broberg, Fowler, Leddy, Krug, and Tucker. "Worst case" scenario, Krug and Leddy both make comebacks but are shells of their former selves and can't be traded. We could buy out Leddy to free up $2M in space. Or there could be a long, uncomfortable talk with Krug about how a comeback effort could result in him having to spend 2 years in the AHL to get the $12.5M we'd still owe him. One way or another, I think we can comfortably shave at least $2M off the cap commitments currently showing for our D next year.

All in all, I'm comfortable that we have $10M+ in space for next year.

Hofer is due a raise, but it won't be as large as the one he would have gotten if he'd repeated last year's play. Tucker should get a raise, but assuming he plays enough games for us to keep RFA rights, it shouldn't be a large one. And then you have to extend/replace Suter and Faksa. We don't have anything internally that will severely impact the cap. I'm comfortable penciling Snuggy onto the NHL roster on an ELC next year. If he's not here, then I assume he has been traded. Maybe 1 or 2 other rookies are here. There are cheap options for the bottom half of the lineup.

And then we have about $25M coming off the books after 2025/26. Some pricier things to extend/replace, but also more confidence that some of the well-regarded prospects will be truly ready to take over bottom half of the lineup roles as cheap depth.

We really are in a great position to aggressively pursue people.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Despite Weekes's tweet I have a very hard time believing Clarke is even remotely available. But if so I would be going very hard at trying to acquire him.

His usage seems to be that they don't trust him, minutes have tanked the last couple months.

 

[Brian39]

Despite Weekes's tweet I have a very hard time believing Clarke is even remotely available. But if so I would be going very hard at trying to acquire him.

I could see it. He was averaging 19:10 a night for the first 21 games of the season and is down to 15:18 a night since. And it appears that he will be the healthy scratch to put Doughty back in the lineup tonight.

I don't see a spot in the lineup for Clarke. Doughty and Anderson are clearly ahead of him on the depth chart. And Spence passed him on the depth chart this year. Spence is the one who has slowly taken the minutes/roles they were giving to Clarke earlier in the season.

So what is the development plan? Are they going to send him back to the AHL? Run 7 D a bunch of nights so he isn't spending long stretches in the press box?Spence and Anderson are 23 and 25. Doughty is 35, but he's under contract for 2 more years. Realistically, what is the timeline for integrating him into the NHL lineup? Next year? The year after? After Doughty retires?

Reasonable or not, they are in win now mode. I could absolutely see them using him as a trade piece to make the team better in the short term.

 

[BlueDream]

Middle 6 center and a RHD upgrade on Faulk are our top 2 priorities this offseason. Whether it gets done or not is another question but that’s hopefully what Army will be shopping for. I think our young players can try their shot at filling any of the other holes.

The 3rd thing on my list would be replacing Ott with a new assistant coach. Just feel like his voice has probably run its course on the bench since he’s been here for a while, and he doesn’t seem to positively impact either of our special teams units.

 

[Mike Liut]

Middle 6 center and a RHD upgrade on Faulk are our top 2 priorities this offseason. Whether it gets done or not is another question but that’s hopefully what Army will be shopping for. I think our young players can try their shot at filling any of the other holes.

The 3rd thing on my list would be replacing Ott with a new assistant coach. Just feel like his voice has probably run its course on the bench since he’s been here for a while, and he doesn’t seem to positively impact either of our special teams units.

That would be a good start. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are active this off-season.

 

[TheOrganist]

As of now (or tomorrow when his contract is terminated), we have $84.76M of cap commitments to 19 NHL players for 2025/26. Those numbers include Krug and Leddy. The cap is going to be at least $92.4M, with rumors that the NHL and PA are working together to go a few million higher than that to avoid a massive cap jump for 2026/27.

One of the $4M+ D men won't be on the roster for 2025/26. My gut tells me that Krug is LTIRetired, but even if he attempts a comeback there just simply isn't the roster room for all of Broberg, Fowler, Leddy, Krug, and Tucker. "Worst case" scenario, Krug and Leddy both make comebacks but are shells of their former selves and can't be traded. We could buy out Leddy to free up $2M in space. Or there could be a long, uncomfortable talk with Krug about how a comeback effort could result in him having to spend 2 years in the AHL to get the $12.5M we'd still owe him. One way or another, I think we can comfortably shave at least $2M off the cap commitments currently showing for our D next year.

All in all, I'm comfortable that we have $10M+ in space for next year.

Hofer is due a raise, but it won't be as large as the one he would have gotten if he'd repeated last year's play. Tucker should get a raise, but assuming he plays enough games for us to keep RFA rights, it shouldn't be a large one. And then you have to extend/replace Suter and Faksa. We don't have anything internally that will severely impact the cap. I'm comfortable penciling Snuggy onto the NHL roster on an ELC next year. If he's not here, then I assume he has been traded. Maybe 1 or 2 other rookies are here. There are cheap options for the bottom half of the lineup.

And then we have about $25M coming off the books after 2025/26. Some pricier things to extend/replace, but also more confidence that some of the well-regarded prospects will be truly ready to take over bottom half of the lineup roles as cheap depth.

We really are in a great position to aggressively pursue people.

Agree though I will be operating under the assumption that Krug will never play another game as a Blue and will be LTIRetired so really we’re looking at $15 mil+ of cap space with that assumption in addition to Friedman speculating the cap will be in the $95 mil range. They will have plenty of options. At the very least I expect a Matt Duchesne, short term, high AAV signing to assist in easing Dvo’s transition to the show next yr.

 

[Mike Liut]

Agree though I will be operating under the assumption that Krug will never play another game as a Blue and will be LTIRetired so really we’re looking at $15 mil+ of cap space with that assumption in addition to Friedman speculating the cap will be in the $95 mil range. They will have plenty of options. At the very least I expect a Matt Duchesne, short term, high AAV signing to assist in easing Dvo’s transition to the show next yr.

Are the Blues in the financial position to spend 95M without making the playoffs these past 3 years? And probably 4 after next year.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Are the Blues in the financial position to spend 95M without making the playoffs these past 3 years? And probably 4 after next year.

I think that the Blues would be fully funded no matter what.

 

[A Real Barn Burner]

Are the Blues in the financial position to spend 95M without making the playoffs these past 3 years? And probably 4 after next year.

I second this, truly worry that a skyrocketing cap will negatively affect small and mid market teams like the Blues. We have been a cap team throughout the tenure of this ownership group but can they continue that? We needed playoff money in the past to turn a profit is that still true? Moving forward will we need to be a playoff team just to break even? What level does the cap have to get to before we are in trouble?

If the NHL goes the way of MLB with the big teams spending 200 million and the mid market teams spending half that, I will be less thrilled with hockey as I doubt a small cap team can compete. I know there is a lot of parity in the league right now but I don’t think any non cap team has ever been a contender or actually won the cup in the salary cap era? Correct me if I am wrong.

The other big thing is if the Blues have to charge Tronto or Vancouver prices for tickets….I don’t look forward to that and question if the St. Louis market can support those price points now or in the future.

 

[TheOrganist]

Are the Blues in the financial position to spend 95M without making the playoffs these past 3 years? And probably 4 after next year.

Tom Stillman’s group paid $180 million in 2012 and Forbes just valued the Blues at $1.5 billion. They also estimated a positive operating income last year of $9 mil. All the Blues need to do is break even every yr considering the incredible appreciation of their investment. I think we’ll be fine.