2024-2025 Blues Trade Proposals Thread.

[Mike Liut]

I hope Leddy plays great so we can trade his ass

 

[StlBigFly]

Just irritates me kinda

The postgame last night

And the coach interview

Are all like

“Well, the blues hung in there but then McDavid did McDavid things and there’s nothing that can really be done about it”.

Yes there is something that can be done about it. We could, instead of filling the team 2/3 of the way so it’s sort of competitive.

We could draft a talent in the top 5 - just like the LA Kings did during their brief rebuild.

Sure would be nice, since a lot of hockey is decided by the 5 best versus the 5 best, for us to maybe actually get somebody who is competitive in that environment versus just getting caved in. As it turns out, they literally all come from the exact same place: the draft: they aren’t traded and they aren’t free agents. They’re prospects then franchise players.

Through expansion and the pandemic, the talent pool is dry - this makes the pinnacle talent appear even better than they are through dilution. The league is no longer a place you can just mid your way to victory. The top end is able to have an extremely outsized impact on results.

Doug and the blues owners are making a Very expensive mistake right now pushing this team away from pinnacle talent. It’s going to make the next 10 years miserable - constantly caved in whenever elite talent decides that’s what they want to do. Constantly forced to put dudes over the boards in critical scenarios when they don’t have the talent level of their opposition.

Trade Kyrou or Thomas or Parayko and rebuild in a manner that gives us a chance. OR trade for a winger/2C and actually field a full team. Stop doing neither. Stop putting playoff expectations, win streak expectations, on a team that you didn’t fully build. You’re missing a top 6 skater.

Get us draft selections that define generations. Stop being so mid, gaslighting that there’s nothing that can be done about things like McDavid. Imma be legit questioning my ability to stick with this team if they draft 15th or 16th again. It’s too much failed management. Team struggling to sell tickets due to persistent losses at home including weekend shutouts but at the same time make sure we’re competitive enough that we don’t get the actual fix for the situation, but of course not competitive enough that we have a full depth chart. All the pain of a rebuild without any of the reward.

I don’t want to watch 10 years of mid hockey.

 

[ds774622]

Get us draft selections that define generations. Stop being so mid, gaslighting that there’s nothing that can be done about things like McDavid. Imma be legit questioning my ability to stick with this team if they draft 15th or 16th again. It’s too much failed management. Team struggling to sell tickets due to persistent losses at home including weekend shutouts but at the same time make sure we’re competitive enough that we don’t get the actual fix for the situation, but of course not competitive enough that we have a full depth chart. All the pain of a rebuild without any of the reward.

I'm sure our ownership group would be thrilled to bottom out and lose tens of millions of dollars by being a bottom feeder during a rebuild. We're not Chicago, we're not the Rangers who lucked into two top picks, our (their) pockets aren't deep; this is the reality of a team valued 23rd on the most recent rankings. Yes I'd love a top 5 pick but I don't think it's that cut and dry from a financial perspective.

 

[Brian39]

Just irritates me kinda

The postgame last night

And the coach interview

Are all like

“Well, the blues hung in there but then McDavid did McDavid things and there’s nothing that can really be done about it”.

...

Get us draft selections that define generations. Stop being so mid, gaslighting that there’s nothing that can be done about things like McDavid. Imma be legit questioning my ability to stick with this team if they draft 15th or 16th again. It’s too much failed management. Team struggling to sell tickets due to persistent losses at home including weekend shutouts but at the same time make sure we’re competitive enough that we don’t get the actual fix for the situation. All the pain of a rebuild without any of the reward.

McDavid had two 4 point efforts in the Final against Florida (plus another 2 point night). Florida beat Edmonton in 7.

He had a 3 point effort against Vegas in 2023 along with three other 2 point nights. Vegas beat Edmonton in 6.

He had two 3 point efforts against Colorado in 2022. Colorado won in 4.

McDavid is going to have games/moments where he is just unstoppable. That is just the reality of playing against the best player in the world (who is already nearing the conversation as a top 5 player of all time). There is no gaslighting going on by acknowledging it. I don't think anyone in the Blues organization believes that we are a contender right now and no one in the organization has tried to sell the fanbase on that notion. But it isn't gaslighting to acknowledge that guys like McDavid are going to take over games sometimes. And I especially don't expect a coach to wax poetic about a long-term organizational philosophy when discussing how a mid-to-bottom of the pack team lost to a top 5 team with a megastar.

 

[StlBigFly]

I'm sure our ownership group would be thrilled to bottom out and lose tens of millions of dollars by being a bottom feeder during a rebuild. We're not Chicago, we're not the Rangers who lucked into two top picks, our (their) pockets aren't deep; this is the reality of a team valued 23rd on the most recent rankings. Yes I'd love a top 5 pick but I don't think it's that cut and dry from a financial perspective.

I’m guessing the mandate was rebuild while maintaining as competitive a posture as possible? That seems like a safe guess at the basic initial strategy.

I’m okay with that.

But right now the results are crushing.

It’s low scoring, low shot, constantly outmatched in some manner. Too many games are over by the 10 minute mark of the 1st period. Too many times the opposition does exactly what we think they’re going to do because we’re so outmatched. And yet we will draft and spend like a playoff team. For what? It has to be really hard to sell this brand of hockey. I chat with my pops once a week and he always has some blues commentary. I cannot tell you how many times this season he’s said -“I turned it off after the (insert early goal).” Obviously small sample size here but I’d imagine there’s quite a bit of casual fans acting like this.

It sucks that the results aren’t good. We all wanted great results. It seems like a smart and viable way to go about things. But then there are results. Doing nothing about it is wild to me. We’re going to be good enough to draft like A playoff team while experiencing the season of a bottom feeder. Accepting the obvious pending outcome is absolutely wild to me. If you’re going to take all the pain for the being bad part for fs sake get the reward because the reward is the medicine for the problem.

But you’re probably right. I’m spending money that isn’t mine in my rant. I just needed to rant my bad. I’ll stop. Just frustrating.

 

[PocketNines]

I remember when Armstrong tried to sell us that we intended to have a rebuild "like the Kings" in the same breath as explaining why we wouldn't be getting a great draft pick because of our Kings-like rebuild like when the Kings had literally just picked 5, 2, then 8 three years in a row 2019-2021.

How is a guy like JR going to call him on something like that? JR doesn't have it in him

 

[Brian39]

But right now the results are crushing.

It’s low scoring, low shot, constantly outmatched in some manner. It has to be really hard to sell this brand of hockey.

It sucks that the results aren’t good. We all wanted great results. Doing nothing about it is wild to me.

I don't understand what results you want. You say that you want the team to suck and tank for a high draft pick, but at the same time you are one of the loudest voices complaining about how the team is playing through this stretch where...they suck and are plummeting down the standings. The last 2 and a half weeks where they have gone 2-5-1 while scoring 2 or fewer goals 7 times is exactly in line with being bad to obtain high end draft capital. Isn't this what you want?

 

[AyeBah]

I'm sure our ownership group would be thrilled to bottom out and lose tens of millions of dollars by being a bottom feeder during a rebuild. We're not Chicago, we're not the Rangers who lucked into two top picks, our (their) pockets aren't deep; this is the reality of a team valued 23rd on the most recent rankings. Yes I'd love a top 5 pick but I don't think it's that cut and dry from a financial perspective.

The thing is we're like 5 points out from a top 5 pick. We probably would have leonard two years ago if we didn't pointlessly add Vrana and Krapanen who went off and won us a few games. Just selling off a few pieces should get us into the top 5, we are a lot closer than it feels like to that pick range. No need to strip it down and sell 25, 55, and 18

 

[Mike Liut]

We have a lot of good young pieces in place and lots of cap room coming up too. If we hit on a few of our prospects, we could be a legit contender in 3 years. I’m very optimistic long term. We need to hit on this upcoming top 8 pick too.