Blues 2024 Off-Season Trade Proposals Thread

[vorky]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771875892474337

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771796972401105

 

[ArenaRat]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771875892474337

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771796972401105

До свидания

 

[stl76]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771875892474337

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771796972401105

Bitten was not a very important player in the Blues organization but this is good to know. Thank you for sharing this info.

 

[Brian39]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771875892474337

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771796972401105

Makes a ton of sense. He had no chance of a 1 way offer anywhere and very likely had no chance to get a 2 way deal where he'd be inside an NHL team's top 15 forward group. Realistically, he had very little chance of getting even a cup of coffee anywhere in the NHL in the next couple years and he'd have needed to take a modest AHL-salary 2 way deal just to get that chance.

He's been on 2 way deals his entire career and his pre-tax/agent/expenses earnings are less than $1M and his window to keep earning good money to play hockey is closing. Giving up on the NHL dream to maximize career earnings in Europe is the correct financial decision.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

До свидания

I saw markings like that on the side of a UFO.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Farewell Bitsy. Good dude I was able to do a charity thing with once in Iowa. Just not NHL caliber unfortunately.

I personally wouldn’t have touched Russia with a 10 ft pole and would instead have aimed for a SHL or Swiss A team but to each their own.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Farewell Bitsy. Good dude I was able to do a charity thing with once in Iowa. Just not NHL caliber unfortunately.

I personally wouldn’t have touched Russia with a 10 ft poll and would instead have aimed for a SHL or Swiss A team but to each their own.

I would've gone for location. Germany, Switzerland or Austria would do. If he is going for money, then the K is prolly best. Otherwise, Russia is on my bucket list. Czechia and Slovakia also are on my list. Got kicked out twice in one day, but that was a long time ago.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I would've gone for location. Germany, Switzerland or Austria would do. If he is going for money, then the K is prolly best. Otherwise, Russia is on my bucket list. Czechia and Slovakia also are on my list. Got kicked out twice in one day, but that was a long time ago.

Idk. The Swedish and Swiss leagues pay pretty well. And hopefully he’s not being paid in rubles! I certainly wouldn’t want to take on that sort of currency risk.

But yeah, lots of places are at least decent. I know a guy that was barely NCAA caliber and he was still able to make a living for a handful of years playing in the Australian and English leagues. Think maybe he played in the 2nd or 3rd tier German league too? He probably just barely scraped by financially and then he had to get a big boy job eventually but even if you don’t get rich doing it, living a good chunk of your 20s in cool places is still a really great experience.

 

[vorky]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771875892474337

https://x.com/i/web/status/1820771796972401105

He signed a one-year contract with Spartak. Source.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

If we do get both Broberg and Holloway from the Oilers, could you guys see Army packaging up some players for an upgrade to the top 6? Whether that’s a 2C or RHS W?

We’d have a lot of middle to bottom 6 guys, and they’re basically all LHS, so maybe we could use some of that depth in an Army style hockey trade.

Something like Saad+Perunovich+? There’s guys like Laine and Zegras who are apparently available, but maybe it’d be someone who hasn’t been discussed?

With Krug likely being out for the entire year we still have plenty of cap if these go through.

 

[BlueDream]

If we do get both Broberg and Holloway from the Oilers, could you guys see Army packaging up some players for an upgrade to the top 6? Whether that’s a 2C or RHS W?

We’d have a lot of middle to bottom 6 guys, and they’re basically all LHS, so maybe we could use some of that depth in an Army style hockey trade.

Something like Saad+Perunovich+? There’s guys like Laine and Zegras who are apparently available, but maybe it’d be someone who hasn’t been discussed?

With Krug likely being out for the entire year we still have plenty of cap if these go through.

My opinion is probably not because I think we want to keep those spots somewhat open for Bolduc, Dvorsky and Snuggerud to grow into, and all three of them could be top 9 players in 2025. I mean if an upgrade is out there for a decent price then I’m not opposed to it, but at this point Army has made enough moves and we kinda have to see what we have first.

I think it’s more likely that we would try to recoup some of the picks we lost in return for Saad and Perunovich. I definitely see this being Saad’s last season here, he’ll get moved by next Summer.

 

[Xerloris]

If we do get both Broberg and Holloway from the Oilers, could you guys see Army packaging up some players for an upgrade to the top 6? Whether that’s a 2C or RHS W?

We’d have a lot of middle to bottom 6 guys, and they’re basically all LHS, so maybe we could use some of that depth in an Army style hockey trade.

Something like Saad+Perunovich+? There’s guys like Laine and Zegras who are apparently available, but maybe it’d be someone who hasn’t been discussed?

With Krug likely being out for the entire year we still have plenty of cap if these go through.

I don't think packaging players like Saad and Perunovich is a good idea. Saad is on a good deal and is still valuable to us.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

If we end up with both, i think a smart follow up move could be: Dean + 2025 1st (top 8 protected) for McGroarty. Would add another high end guy hitting our roster within the next two years. All these moves would escalate the re-tool ahead a couple years and could really get us back in contention sooner than later.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

If we end up with both, i think a smart follow up move could be: Dean + 2025 1st (top 8 protected) for McGroarty. Would add another high end guy hitting our roster within the next two years. All these moves would escalate the re-tool ahead a couple years and could really get us back in contention sooner than later.

Value aside, dealing Dean who is one of our few c prospects and adding another winger likely only makes sense if we think Holloway (or Tex) is actually a center, even though both look far more comfortable on the wing at this point based on what I've seen.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Look how much we were able to re-work our bottom 6 in one offseason. Im much less worried about building a perfect team of all paper prospects, and more about getting the most high end talent in our pool. McGroarty would be a phenomenal add for a team that currently lacks enough talent to truly compete. A Bozak type player can always be added in the future to play 3c, seemed to work well for our cup team.

 

[Celtic Note]

Look how much we were able to re-work our bottom 6 in one offseason. Im much less worried about building a perfect team of all paper prospects, and more about getting the most high end talent in our pool. McGroarty would be a phenomenal add for a team that currently lacks enough talent to truly compete. A Bozak type player can always be added in the future to play 3c, seemed to work well for our cup team.

The bottom 6 was always going to be the low hanging fruit part of the equation. I think a lot of what we did this off-season is improve our talent depth and chose an identity. I also think it’s going to come at the expense of or at least make it much more difficult to solve our more difficult problems.

We still lack enough top tier talent. Many of our prospects and players are good, but do not project to that next tier, with the exception of possibly Thomas. Maybe a prospect breaks through their ceiling and we are good to go. I am hoping, but not at all banking on that.

Is McGroarty a guy that can reach that next tier? I am not terribly convinced.

I would rather we not keep using assets for middle 6 / bottom 4 players. If McGroarty projects as a potential 1st line winger then great. If not, I am not sure it makes sense to keep that player as a target.

 

[bleedblue1223]

McGroarty is a pretty safe top 6 forward prospect IMO. I wouldn't dwell on him though, no chance they trade him within the division.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

McGroarty is a pretty safe top 6 forward prospect IMO. I wouldn't dwell on him though, no chance they trade him within the division.

We have kyrou and buchy locked up long term and snuggy, Bolduc, and stenberg in pipeline. He doesn’t feel need that I would want to pay up for. I’d be fine with basically straight swap if we prefer him to one of those, but that’s about it. We don’t need any more 2nd line winger prospects at cost of high value assets.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

The bottom 6 was always going to be the low hanging fruit part of the equation. I think a lot of what we did this off-season is improve our talent depth and chose an identity. I also think it’s going to come at the expense of or at least make it much more difficult to solve our more difficult problems.

We still lack enough top tier talent. Many of our prospects and players are good, but do not project to that next tier, with the exception of possibly Thomas. Maybe a prospect breaks through their ceiling and we are good to go. I am hoping, but not at all banking on that.

Is McGroarty a guy that can reach that next tier? I am not terribly convinced.

I would rather we not keep using assets for middle 6 / bottom 4 players. If McGroarty projects as a potential 1st line winger then great. If not, I am not sure it makes sense to keep that player as a target.

I wouldn’t be mad with getting McGroarty at all, but this is why I mentioned acquiring a Laine/Zegras/unnamed available player.

We need more high end talent. We have a LOT of middle 6 to bottom 6 forwards. I’m not upset about that fact after seeing how bad our depth was last year, but would be nice to get another legit top line/top 6 talent in here.

 

[Celtic Note]

I wouldn’t be mad with getting McGroarty at all, but this is why I mentioned acquiring a Laine/Zegras/unnamed available player.

We need more high end talent. We have a LOT of middle 6 to bottom 6 forwards. I’m not upset about that fact after seeing how bad our depth was last year, but would be nice to get another legit top line/top 6 talent in here.

I wouldn’t consider Laine a top player, nor a player type we should be targeting for a myriad of reasons.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I wouldn’t consider Laine a top player, nor a player type we should be targeting for a myriad of reasons.

While last year was a personal nightmare for him, you do know he had a line of 111gp 48g-60a-108pt in his 2 previous seasons with Columbus right?

Not trying to create an argument or anything, but he was basically a PPG player on a team that had zero legit top 6 centers to feed him the puck. To say he’s not a top line player would be disingenuous. Also, if we did get him, Thomas would be the best playmaking center he’s played with in the NHL. We’ve also missed having a one timer option from the left circle since Perron left, and his shot smokes DP57’s.

I get that he has some warts, but he’s still only 26, and playing to get his rep back up. With only 2 years left, it could be another very shrewd, low cost acquisition by Army.

 

[Celtic Note]

While last year was a personal nightmare for him, you do know he had a line of 111gp 48g-60a-108pt in his 2 previous seasons with Columbus right?

Not trying to create an argument or anything, but he was basically a PPG player on a team that had zero legit top 6 centers to feed him the puck. To say he’s not a top line player would be disingenuous. Also, if we did get him, Thomas would be the best playmaking center he’s played with in the NHL. We’ve also missed having a one timer option from the left circle since Perron left, and his shot smokes DP57’s.

I get that he has some warts, but he’s still only 26, and playing to get his rep back up. With only 2 years left, it could be another very shrewd, low cost acquisition by Army.

Points aren’t everything and given that we already have a guy in Kyrou who is a one dimensional offensive player, I don’t think adding another is the right move. Plus we still need a #1D so I would rather not plug up cap until we land them and Laine costs $8.7M for the next two years and doesn’t play close to full seasons. Finally, who are we subtracting to get Laine?

 

[Celtic Note]

McGroarty is a pretty safe top 6 forward prospect IMO. I wouldn't dwell on him though, no chance they trade him within the division.

The question is do we need yet another top 6 winger or do we need something more and at a different position.

 

[Majorityof1]

The question is do we need yet another top 6 winger or do we need something more and at a different position.

Can't you need both? There is no top pair D out there. If we can improve on a Top 6 winger prospect, why not? If you bump out another top 6 winger, they can be trade chip for what you need. If you "win" the trade by giving less value than you receive, you have more value to trade.

 

[Celtic Note]

Can't you need both? There is no top pair D out there. If we can improve on a Top 6 winger prospect, why not? If you bump out another top 6 winger, they can be trade chip for what you need. If you "win" the trade by giving less value than you receive, you have more value to trade.

I think if we can swap out a winger for a winger, assuming we think McGroarty better than the guy we have, then great. If we can get him for pennies on the dollar, cool. What I don’t want to do is pay premium assets that we need for bigger issues to fill a need we don’t need to fill.