Blues 2025-2026 Trade Proposal Thread

[Xanadude]

I don't know if going down the Pettersson road is the road that's best for the Blues without another 2nd lienr on the team save buch

Slight pushback. McMichael would have been tied for 4th on the team in points 2 years ago and 5th last year by a point. CMM and Buch are, IMO, perfectly fine 2nd line wingers.

I won't rehash a long post I put on here a while ago, but we are really barren organizationally behind Thomas at C (unless you consider CMM a center, and I don't). Dvorsky didn't look out of place but also didn't blow the roof off the place; If he has a sophomore slump, man are we weak down the middle.

Trading for the current Pettersson gets us a player with good fancy stats, who plays in all situations and would be, to use this metric again, tied for second in points for us last year. That's if he doesn't rebound, which I think he will. Competent management, good coach, quiet town, easy media, steady linemates (barring the injury bug): I could very, very easily see a much better EP40.

My initial idea, which I still want, is a lowball offer centering around #29 overall and no retention. Not sure how much I love seeing #16, #15 or even #11 get brought up at all, but I don't see where else we can get anyone even resembling a 2C if you squint without weakening the team on the ice to an extent that defies the whole 'this team can't afford to and isn't built to tank' thing.

 

[Brian39]

I don’t see how we trade Parayko for a futures type return. McMichael trade indicates management doesn’t want to take a step back. Our blue line will be horrendous without him. I get plenty of draft capital now but the minutes he eats will be very difficult to replace.

Swapping Kyrou for McMichael on the NHL roster is a step back. They got slower and the already bad scoring depth got worse. Their ability to drive possession got worse.

I very much disagree that moving Kyrou for a worse player and futures makes it less likely that we would move Parayko.

 

[Brian39]

I see more upside then you. Close to PPG in his prime while anchoring a top line. If Thomas is in his prime currently then I see Bjorck being better, close in point production, but better all over then Thomas. Quite frankly whatever it is that Thomas ends up doing with Snuggy and Holloway I think Bjorck would be even more productive in the same spot.

What you are describing is significantly short of 'near Crosby level.'

I don't see him as a guy who becomes better than Thomas all over. I think his only path to doing so would require a post-draft growth spurt and even then he would need to hit his absolute ceiling. But even if we assume he gets to that, he still wouldn't even be in the same area code as Crosby.

 

[Mike Liut]

If we move Parayko now, we are drafting 8-10 next year, which is fine by me. One more tank year before we start our ascend.

 

[ExJbeck]

What you are describing is significantly short of 'near Crosby level.'

I don't see him as a guy who becomes better than Thomas all over. I think his only path to doing so would require a post-draft growth spurt and even then he would need to hit his absolute ceiling. But even if we assume he gets to that, he still wouldn't even be in the same area code as Crosby.

We probably see Thomas and Bjorck both a bit differently.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Slight pushback. McMichael would have been tied for 4th on the team in points 2 years ago and 5th last year by a point. CMM and Buch are, IMO, perfectly fine 2nd line wingers.

I won't rehash a long post I put on here a while ago, but we are really barren organizationally behind Thomas at C (unless you consider CMM a center, and I don't). Dvorsky didn't look out of place but also didn't blow the roof off the place; If he has a sophomore slump, man are we weak down the middle.

Trading for the current Pettersson gets us a player with good fancy stats, who plays in all situations and would be, to use this metric again, tied for second in points for us last year. That's if he doesn't rebound, which I think he will. Competent management, good coach, quiet town, easy media, steady linemates (barring the injury bug): I could very, very easily see a much better EP40.

My initial idea, which I still want, is a lowball offer centering around #29 overall and no retention. Not sure how much I love seeing #16, #15 or even #11 get brought up at all, but I don't see where else we can get anyone even resembling a 2C if you squint without weakening the team on the ice to an extent that defies the whole 'this team can't afford to and isn't built to tank' thing.

If that's your line of thinking I think we're aligned there.

However, the prices of the last 3 or 4 trades have been pointing a different direction (granted much different players).

 

[greybush314]

I wonder what it'd take to get Hronek included in an EP deal?

 

[Brian39]

We probably see Thomas and Bjorck both a bit differently.

Which I get.

But can we at least agree that "scores less than Thomas but is better at the rest" isn't even remotely close to Sidney freaking Crosby? Sid is a consensus top 10 all time player. He's played 21 seasons and never finished below a point per game. 2 Harts, 2 Rockets, 2 Art Ross, 3 Pearson/Lindsey, 2 Smythe, and 3 Cups. Consensus best player of his generation.

The gap between Sid and anything close to Thomas is colossal.

 

[Spektre]

I wonder what it'd take to get Hronek included in an EP deal?

15, 16, & 29

 

[ExJbeck]

Which I get.

But can we at least agree that "scores less than Thomas but is better at the rest" isn't even remotely close to Sidney freaking Crosby? Sid is a consensus top 10 all time player. He's played 21 seasons and never finished below a point per game. 2 Harts, 2 Rockets, 2 Art Ross, 3 Pearson/Lindsey, 2 Smythe, and 3 Cups. Consensus best player of his generation.

The gap between Sid and anything close to Thomas is colossal.

I didn't say score less than Thomas.

 

[AyeBah]

Swapping Kyrou for McMichael on the NHL roster is a step back. They got slower and the already bad scoring depth got worse. Their ability to drive possession got worse.

I very much disagree that moving Kyrou for a worse player and futures makes it less likely that we would move Parayko.

Exactly. Team for next year got worse today

 

[Brian39]

I didn't say score less than Thomas.

You said close to ppg and close to Thomas in production.

Thomas has been ppg or better in 4 of the last 5 seasons. He is over ppg in that 5 year stretch as a whole. His peak season was a 95 point pace. Describing someone as close to ppg is describing them scoring less than Thomas.

But let's say you meant scoring slightly more than Thomas when you said close to him. Again, can we agree that we're still about 4 counties away from being in the ballpark of Sidney Crosby?

 

[AyeBah]

Sabres have a glaring hole at RD. I just feel like DA swings back to Parayko on BUF if offseason and improved POV on buffalo get him to waive and we trade up to 4

 

[PeoriaBlues309]

Holloway-Thomas-Snuggerud
McMichael-Pettersson-Buchnevich
I. Stenberg-Dvorsky-Neighbours
O. Stenberg-Dean/Finley-Toropchenko
Berggren, Walker

Or

Robertson/Knies-Thomas-Snuggerud
Holloway-Pettersson-Buchnevich
McMichael-Dvorsky-Neighbours


These are my dream offseason forward groups at this point. We have 4 firsts, and I don’t really care if we use 0 or 1 of them.

We need to get some more star talent on this roster to advance this retool while Thomas/Broberg/Holloway are still in their prime. Especially now that our usual 30-35g/70-75 pt sniper is no longer on the roster.

 

[Reality Czech]

Holloway-Thomas-Snuggerud
McMichael-Pettersson-Buchnevich
I. Stenberg-Dvorsky-Neighbours
O. Stenberg-Dean/Finley-Toropchenko
Berggren, Walker

Or

Robertson/Knies-Thomas-Snuggerud
Holloway-Pettersson-Buchnevich
McMichael-Dvorsky-Neighbours


These are my dream offseason forward groups at this point. We have 4 firsts, and I don’t really care if we use 0 or 1 of them.

We need to get some more star talent on this roster to advance this retool while Thomas/Broberg/Holloway are still in their prime. Especially now that our usual 30-35g/70-75 pt sniper is no longer on the roster.

In fairness, he wasn't on the roster last season either. He was replaced by a 46 point second liner.

 

[Louie the Blue]

Swapping Kyrou for McMichael on the NHL roster is a step back. They got slower and the already bad scoring depth got worse. Their ability to drive possession got worse.

I very much disagree that moving Kyrou for a worse player and futures makes it less likely that we would move Parayko.

What if I told you McMichael is Suter's replacement, in the near- or long-term future, and the final call on the roster improvement for next season is dependent on how the 4 1sts are used?

 

[PeoriaBlues309]

In fairness, he wasn't on the roster last season either. He was replaced by a 46 point second liner.

Oh 100%. I still think that this past season was just a one off though, and that he would’ve bounced back to his normal self if we had an actual competent 2C.

 

[Reality Czech]

Oh 100%. I still think that this past season was just a one off though, and that he would’ve bounced back to his normal self if we had an actual competent 2C.

It's quite possible. And while I'm labeled a "Kyrou hater" I was also kinda curious how he would rebound this year. If he finds another gear, this trade could make us look bad in the long term.

On the other hand, a player's value is closely tied to his role on the team. If the Blues were planning to give the prime wing opportunities to Holloway and Snuggerud, then Kyrou was effectively an expensive 2nd liner on this team as it is. Washington needs top line skill so they'll probably give him a lot more room to run with the ball.

The trade actually makes a lot of sense on both sides and the fact that you have such a range of opinions means that the value is pretty close to even.

 

[Ranksu]

Maybe Parayko could be potential trade piece to Buffalo. Kekäläinen and Army last dance.