Confirmed with Link: Barbashev re-signs 2yr/ 2.25 AAV

[Falco Lombardi]

Not sure where the negativity and ambivalence is coming from about this deal. It covers only RFA years and guys who put up 25-30 points a year playing almost exclusively in a 4th line role don’t grow on trees. I would have preferred we kept it at or below $2M because of the other RFAs we still need to sign, not because he isn’t worth it.

It comes from analytical viewpoints like this that back up what the eye test told us last year:




He was really not good last year, specifically defensively. Now can that change? Of course it could, but coming off that, I would have expected that we could have kept the AAV down

 

[Celtic Note]

Seems overpaid after the way he played last year and the year before. But it’s not a big deal. I would have liked him at $2M.

 

[Stealth JD]

I get it. Barby won a Cup with STL. Yay, Barby. I understand the happiness for him returning. But unless Army has a plan to trade him Reaves-like, not only is he not worth $2M+ per year, he wasn’t worth an expansion protection spot (not that it mattered). Army doesn’t want to be financially hamstrung by giving his franchise player $9M/yr, but he then turns around and spends stupid money on a replaceable 4th liner. Give MacMac the job and save yourself $1.2M/year…and now suddenly you’ve found the money needed to keep an actual core piece.

Barbashev is a 100% replacement-level player. This contract is not worth celebrating.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Well damn, JD! Now Barby must die. Sorry.

 

[tfriede2]

I get it. Barby won a Cup with STL. Yay, Barby. I understand the happiness for him returning. But unless Army has a plan to trade him Reaves-like, not only is he not worth $2M+ per year, he wasn’t worth an expansion protection spot (not that it mattered). Army doesn’t want to be financially hamstrung by giving his franchise player $9M/yr, but he then turns around and spends stupid money on a replaceable 4th liner. Give MacMac the job and save yourself $1.2M/year…and now suddenly you’ve found the money needed to keep an actual core piece.

Barbashev is a 100% replacement-level player. This contract is not worth celebrating.

What core piece won’t the Blues be able to afford because of Barbashev’s contract? Come on, now.

 

[Stealth JD]

What core piece won’t the Blues be able to afford because of Barbashev’s contract? Come on, now.

Army’s self-imposed limit on player salaries costs him top-end talent; instead of squeezing the top of the roster, he should be squeezing the bottom. Barby is the bottom. Why is Army paying multi-millions on multiple years for replacement level players? That’s absurd.

 

[Mike Liut]

Barbs and Sunny are glue and sandpaper guys you need to win with, especially in the playoffs. I really want the 4th line to be

Joshua - Barbs - Sunny.

I think that line would wreak havoc. Joshua could really learn some things from those 2. I’d like to see Joshua be a physical, shut down player.

 

[CoMoBlues]

Army’s self-imposed limit on player salaries costs him top-end talent; instead of squeezing the top of the roster, he should be squeezing the bottom. Barby is the bottom. Why is Army paying multi-millions on multiple years for replacement level players? That’s absurd.

Just thinking out loud here, but maybe Army didn’t want the bottom of the roster turnover that Chicago had after their cup win.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Barbs and Sunny are glue and sandpaper guys you need to win with, especially in the playoffs. I really want the 4th line to be

Joshua - Barbs - Sunny.

I think that line would wreak havoc. Joshua could really learn some things from those 2. I’d like to see Joshua be a physical, shut down player.

Couple things here.

“Glue and sandpaper” is nice when those players are effective. Barbashev hasn’t been. There’s no metric that shows Barbashev has been a player you can win with the past two seasons, including the eye test.

And secondly, why do you want a guy who has been terrible on faceoffs for the entirety of his career in the middle? His career best year on the dot was 45.6 percent which is pretty bad.

On the flipside, Joshua actually did very well in the limited showing he got.

We should be replacing Barbashev with guys like Joshua, not paying
him.

 

[Celtic Note]

The last two years Barbie has not been been good. No amount of glue or sandpaper has overcome his poor defensive play.

 

[BlueDream]

I get it. Barby won a Cup with STL. Yay, Barby. I understand the happiness for him returning. But unless Army has a plan to trade him Reaves-like, not only is he not worth $2M+ per year, he wasn’t worth an expansion protection spot (not that it mattered). Army doesn’t want to be financially hamstrung by giving his franchise player $9M/yr, but he then turns around and spends stupid money on a replaceable 4th liner. Give MacMac the job and save yourself $1.2M/year…and now suddenly you’ve found the money needed to keep an actual core piece.

Barbashev is a 100% replacement-level player. This contract is not worth celebrating.

I don’t agree at all.

MacEachern might reach 15 points in a full season. Barbashev is good for probably 25-30 and is more fit for the PK. That’s absolutely worth an additional $1M per year. Because when injuries hit, Barbashev can move up and not look out of place. But if you had to move Mac into the top 6, you’d be in deep trouble.

Same goes for Dakota Joshua. I like him but he has shown to be nothing but an offensive black hole, similar to what DLR was. Saying Joshua and MacEachern are as good as Barbashev is pretty absurd.

 

[Stealth JD]

I don’t agree at all.

MacEachern might reach 15 points in a full season. Barbashev is good for probably 25-30 and is more fit for the PK. That’s absolutely worth an additional $1M per year. Because when injuries hit, Barbashev can move up and not look out of place. But if you had to move Mac into the top 6, you’d be in deep trouble.

Same goes for Dakota Joshua. I like him but he has shown to be nothing but an offensive black hole, similar to what DLR was. Saying Joshua and MacEachern are as good as Barbashev is pretty absurd.

it doesn't matter how many points Barby scores from the 4th line if he's getting caved in overall. he needs to do more than eat minutes ineffectively on get out-chanced/out-scored.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

Barbashev is a completely replaceable 4th line player that can NOT play up the lineup with any success. I know that we all watch the Blues' broadcast and Panger loves to pump the guy's tires......but he's not very skilled.

What can you spend an extra million of cap space on? How about Tyler Bozak. How about a guy like Kase? Bring in some outside competition for the 4th line, a guy with a ton more upside then Barbashev if he can stay healthy and put it together.

Sundquivst is a totally different story. He is worth the 2.75M. He was top 6 among forwards in overall minutes during our playoff run and was our top PKer after Steen and ROR minutes-wise. Both he and Barbashev shouldn't stay in the middle though, they both have horrific faceoff numbers. BBshev-Bozak-Sundqvist is a solid 4th line that gives us some jam, some skill, and at least two above average PKers along with one average PKer. All that should cost less then 5M though.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Barbashev eats babies.

 

[ToniJ1960]

Barbashev eats babies.

Have you seen him with bandaids on his fingers or something?

 

[BlueSeal]

Thank you Army!

 

[BlueSeal]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barbie is exactly the kind of guy we need. Plays his ass off and will get physical.

This all day

 

[Reality Czech]

Barbs and Sunny are glue and sandpaper guys you need to win with, especially in the playoffs. I really want the 4th line to be

Joshua - Barbs - Sunny.

I think that line would wreak havoc. Joshua could really learn some things from those 2. I’d like to see Joshua be a physical, shut down player.

I agree 100% about Barbie and Sunny. I am surprised that his advanced stats look so bad, but then again I bet most of the Blues had terrible stats for the first 1/3 of the season or so. My eye test showed me that he was starting to show more offensively when he briefly played with Perron/ROR and he got injured at a very inoppurtune time for him personally. I am willing to cut Barby some slack and hope that he can bounce back and provide more than he did last year as long as he can stay healthy, but if he doesn't it's only a 2-year commitment.

I will say that I respect Barbie a lot for modifying his game from the 2nd line center we originally hoped he would be into a sandpaper-type player who is almost the perfect 4th liner with the ability to play up the lineup as an injury fill-in.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

I agree 100% about Barbie and Sunny. I am surprised that his advanced stats look so bad, but then again I bet most of the Blues had terrible stats for the first 1/3 of the season or so. My eye test showed me that he was starting to show more offensively when he briefly played with Perron/ROR and he got injured at a very inoppurtune time for him personally. I am willing to cut Barby some slack and hope that he can bounce back and provide more than he did last year as long as he can stay healthy, but if he doesn't it's only a 2-year commitment.

I will say that I respect Barbie a lot for modifying his game from the 2nd line center we originally hoped he would be into a sandpaper-type player who is almost the perfect 4th liner with the ability to play up the lineup as an injury fill-in.

This is the Barbashev we know.

The 2019 Cup run was only his first full season in the NHL.

The two seasons prior combined, he played over 80 games as he adjusted his style to fit a need.

Replacement-level players don’t average 25-30 points per season and certainly don’t have what it takes to adjust their game to fit team need, a la Sammy Blais.

Besides, most of the team sucked these past two seasons.

 

[ItsOnlytheRiver]

His play in the d-zone, particularly with the puck, leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

His play in the d-zone, particularly with the puck, leaves a lot to be desired.

Definitely lacking in that category.

I have strongly tempered my expectations these last two seasons. Most people have never experienced something so existential as a global pandemic.

An encapsulated COVID bubble to be written off.

Let’s get past this pandemic and out of the existential cloud. Then I will start judging more harshly.

 

[Reality Czech]

This is the Barbashev we know.

The 2019 Cup run was only his first full season in the NHL.

The two seasons prior combined, he played over 80 games as he adjusted his style to fit a need.

Replacement-level players don’t average 25-30 points per season and certainly don’t have what it takes to adjust their game to fit team need, a la Sammy Blais.

Besides, most of the team sucked these past two seasons.

Having guys in the bottom 6 that can make an impact is key for contending teams, and I certainly feel he's above replacement level.

That being said, as the prior poster mentioned he is prone to making bad decisions in the D zone. I recall several ill-advised passes that just can't be made in the NHL, so that's one area he can improve on. I don't have a problem with his overall defensive play, he just needs to make the right decision in the moment to get the puck out safely.

 

[Ranksu]

Army’s self-imposed limit on player salaries costs him top-end talent; instead of squeezing the top of the roster, he should be squeezing the bottom. Barby is the bottom. Why is Army paying multi-millions on multiple years for replacement level players? That’s absurd.

What about paying multiple years for top2 money for Faulk top4 dmen and Faulk who is 3rd pair dmen who needs full sheltered ice time?

13mill.$. There is over 6mill.$ too much paid. That is where I'm buzzled why it isn't addressed.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Having guys in the bottom 6 that can make an impact is key for contending teams, and I certainly feel he's above replacement level.

That being said, as the prior poster mentioned he is prone to making bad decisions in the D zone. I recall several ill-advised passes that just can't be made in the NHL, so that's one area he can improve on. I don't have a problem with his overall defensive play, he just needs to make the right decision in the moment to get the puck out safely.

I appreciate this post as it helps me to micro-adjust my own attitudes about certain players.

For me, I will forever be partial to the Blues’ draft classes of 2009-2014.

A shit ton of players drafted in those years played in the AHL at the time that I paid very close attention to our prospects in Peoria and Chicago.

Barbashev is above replacement level, but I’ve also observed him through Blues-tinted glasses.

There probably are better players than he that are/were available, but the chemistry/familiarity factor should not be overlooked either.

I’m confident that he will bounce back.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I think Barbie would benefit from having Sunny back, and just a better fourth line in general. If my memory is correct, he was mainly playing with plugs once the injury bug hit.

It’s one of the reasons I want Bozak to come back, so we can have a similar 4th line to the Cup year when he played at his best.