Blues Discussion Thread 2018-2019

[BlueDream]

With as much as this roster struggles with scoring goals, i don't know that I'd be in such a hurry to trade off Berglund, if I'm the Blues. He's a fine 3rd line winger, and has proven an ability to score in this league. That's more than most of the guys on this roster can say.

Yep. And as streaky as he can be, he DOES step up sometimes and carry the team a bit offensively. When he's hot, he's good. Over the last couple weeks of the season he was one of our best players.

You never see a streak of games where you say "damn, we're winning because Sobotka is on fire."

The choice has become clear. We need Berglund's 20 goals that he can provide. His playmaking skills obviously we all hope would be better, but that's why you put a guy like Thomas or heck even Fabbri on that line. Could be good.

BTW, as much as I love Reaves, we have 3 good 4th liner types in Brodziak, Jaskin, and Soshnikov, and Barbashev could fit in that mix as a guy who also can jump to line 3.

Agreed. The Reaves ship has sailed. Because even Thorburn really didn't look too bad on the 4th line. We have a nice collection of bottom 6 and depth guys, really. That part of the roster, aside from shipping out Sobotka, doesn't need to be touched much.

Just need to add a legit top 6 center. A RW would be gravy but it's not as urgent.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

It's not coincidence that Berglund's play slowly picks up as he recovers from his surgery. He gains confidence that it's not hurting him, and he plays more physically and assertively which is what we've been seeing at the end of the season.

Agreed with most here, spend your time finding a top 6 center, are there anymore Brayden Schenn's in the league? Joking aside, even if Tavares doesn't happen, there's still many options out there. Duchene, ROR, RNH, Reinhart. I'm not too worried, to be honest.

 

[Halak Ness Monster]

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that:
1: Schenn would get 70 points all while playing center
2: Pietrangelo would get 15 goals and 54 points
3: Tarasenko would score 33 goals
4: Schwartz would put up 59 points in only 62 games
5: Hutton would post a .931 save percentage

...I'd have been feeling great about our chances to not just make the playoffs but be a high seed.

The complete lack of 2nd line forwards and Jake Allen really sank this team.

The Blues have to do something to get rid of all the money they have tied up into 3rd line players. Sobotka, Steen, Berglund...just too much cash tied up in these guys that aren't high enough impact.

It'll be nice to have a more mature stable of prospects to choose from to help fill out the middle six next season. However, you're still talking about some really young kids.

 

[Halak Ness Monster]

It's not coincidence that Berglund's play slowly picks up as he recovers from his surgery. He gains confidence that it's not hurting him, and he plays more physically and assertively which is what we've been seeing at the end of the season.

Berglund really is a nice 3rd line goal scoring option. For a team that struggles to score, you can't ignore his 17 goals in 57 games a year after scoring 23 goals.

Sobotka is quite clearly the guy the Blues have to find a way get rid of from their top 9. 3.5 mil cap hit for 11 goals? Not good. He's a decent player with value but a terrible fit on this team right now.

Move Sobotka and put Thomas into that 3rd line center spot and we will be headed in the right direction.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

People don’t seem to realize that this season went about the same as the last season Berglund had shoulder surgery. Took him awhile to get going, but once he did, he looked totally serviceable as a 3rd line goal scoring option. IF he stays healthy, his contract isn’t that bad. We need all the goal scoring we can get, and he finds a way to do that.

I will still never understand bringing Sobotka back. Hopefully we can say goodbye again for real this time.

 

[Dbrownss]

Who knows...maybe we get lucky and get that UFA prize...Tavares. Berglund could be his Anders Lee.

 

[carter333167]

If you had told me at the beginning of the year that:
1: Schenn would get 70 points all while playing center
2: Pietrangelo would get 15 goals and 54 points
3: Tarasenko would score 33 goals
4: Schwartz would put up 59 points in only 62 games
5: Hutton would post a .931 save percentage

...I'd have been feeling great about our chances to not just make the playoffs but be a high seed.

The complete lack of 2nd line forwards and Jake Allen really sank this team.

The Blues have to do something to get rid of all the money they have tied up into 3rd line players. Sobotka, Steen, Berglund...just too much cash tied up in these guys that aren't high enough impact.

It'll be nice to have a more mature stable of prospects to choose from to help fill out the middle six next season. However, you're still talking about some really young kids.

^^^This nails it.

1. Allen's horrible year (among consideration as the worst starter in the league)...ameliorated somewhat by Carter's league leading stats.
2. Lack of a skilled second line (first line was great when healthy).
3. Horrible power play.
4. Yeo's inability to inspire a break from the slump.

If Fabs gets healthy, Thomas and Kyrou graduate to the NHL (and possibly re-sign Stas---much less Tavares), our second line scoring skill level increases dramatically. Addressing issues 2 and 3 with the introduction/return of several skilled players could quite easily turn us back into a top 10 scoring team...the difference between rank 22 and 10, for example, isn't overly dramatic.

As for Allen, the power play (again, more skill will help) and Yeo, we need to address those issues.

I think we really need to see what we have in Husso. Also might consider using a high pick on a goalie but this year's crop doesn't appear phenomenal.

Regarding Yeo, the mid-season swoons seem positively endemic with his teams....can it really be a coincidence at this point?

 

[carter333167]

Another issue, albeit a bit premature at this point.

We gave up ALOT to get Schenn. He's signed for two more years.

When should Armstrong consider discussing an extension (now, next summer, etc.)? Do we think Schenn would even discuss an extension now or next summer and, if so, what would he want?

 

[tfriede2]

Another issue, albeit a bit premature at this point.

We gave up ALOT to get Schenn. He's signed for two more years.

When should Armstrong consider discussing an extension (now, next summer, etc.)? Do we think Schenn would even discuss an extension now or next summer and, if so, what would he want?

I'm pretty sure that a team can't sign a player to an extension until they are in the final year of their deal? As for discussing it, sure (if allowed), then they should at least discuss Schenn's desire to stay in St. Louis, but I don't think Schenn would say "no, I'm planning on testing UFA" even if that was his desire.

 

[542365]

The PP was the big culprit. That absolutely must be fixed for next season. We're comfortably in the playoffs with an average PP. Part of that is coaching(maybe don't have 5 left handed shots on the top unit???) and part of that is personnel. Both aspects need to be addressed.

 

[Dbrownss]

The PP was the big culprit. That absolutely must be fixed for next season. We're comfortably in the playoffs with an average PP. Part of that is coaching(maybe don't have 5 left handed shots on the top unit???) and part of that is personnel. Both aspects need to be addressed.

Normally I'd agree but we do have Pietrangelo and Parayko who can shoot from the left side...but are rarely deployed there. There is a serious deployment/structure issue. Personnel is 2nd on my list

 

[carter333167]

Normally I'd agree but we do have Pietrangelo and Parayko who can shoot from the left side...but are rarely deployed there. There is a serious deployment/structure issue. Personnel is 2nd on my list

It would help us next year if, during this offseason, Paryko finds a quicker one timer (a skill which he should be able to improve) and also works on a more regular commitment to skating the puck up the ice instead of just passing it from deep in our own zone. Need him to be more aggressive and use his natural tools.

 

[Brian39]

If you were Tavares, would YOU now choose to sign with St. Louis, seeing that they failed to make the playoffs, and are saddled with several relatively ineffective players on poor to inconvenient contracts, and the few skilled replacements that WILL be playing a fair amount next season will make rookie mistakes, and likely take much of the season (or maybe 2) to adjust to The NHL? And the contract problems run across the board (Allen in goal, Bouwmeester and Gunnarsson on defence, and Sobotka and Berglund at forward). So, Tavares' own salary might, in combination with The Blues' inefficient contracts, might strap The Blues from getting the additional help they'll need to surround him with the help to make the team a true contender. The goaltending uncertainty/implosion is enough, on its own, to discourage a UFA who wants to win now.

Also, Thomas and Kyrou have legitimate Top 6 skill in several different areas. They are excellent bets to become regular Top 6ers in The NHL. Kostin is not as sure, but, still a decent bet to succeed. Thompson is a longer shot, but better shot than Sanford. Foley is right up there with Thompson.

I'm a few days behind in this topic, but I wanted to address this question a tad.

If Tavares is going to base a 7 year decision about the next season and nothing else, then we don't have a chance. With Tavares and 1-2 smaller moves I think we are long-shot contenders next season with the potential to be legit contenders if a couple things go right. There are better options if Tavares is just looking at 'win-now.' We're a playoff team with him next year, but that's as much as we could guarantee.

With that said, if he has asked his agent to put together long term prospectus reports for all the teams competing for him then we are among the front runners. J-Bo/Gunnar come off the books after next season and our blue line will likely not regress when that happens due to the emergence of Dunn and the hopeful emergence of Walman and/or Schmaltz. I think one of Bergie/Sobotka will be moved this summer and the other should be moveable the summer after if we hit a cap crunch. Our cap structure is in great shape beyond 2019, even with a couple bad contracts. We have a very good prospect group and appear extremely well positioned to plug cost controlled assets into the lineup for the next 3-5 years.

Like basically every team, I think the odds of him ending up here are low. However, if he is looking beyond just next season I think we have as good of a chance as anyone. I'd absolutely sign in St. Louis over San Jose and Vegas if I were signing a 7 year deal. I think Vegas is punching way above their weight class and will regress and San Jose may or may not be in a full blown rebuild by 2020. Pavelski is a 35 year old UFA next summer, Burns turns 35 before the season ends in 2020 (and will still have 5 more years left at $8 mil per), Couture is a UFA after next season, Thornton is gone if they sign Tavares and I have to think it will take a raise to extend Kane (and you can put me in the group that thinks Kane will regress a bit once he has a new deal). Their prospect pool might be the worst in hockey and they've traded 3 of their next 6 picks in the rounds 1-3. I'd be incredibly hesitant to sign a 7 year deal there unless I'm comfortable with requesting a trade or being asked to waive my NTC by year 4 of the deal and accepting it as an inevitability that I'm part of a rebuild or moved at some point during the contract.

 

[Itsnotatrap]

We’ll have the assets to make a move on draft day if we can find a willing partner, and Tavares would see that by decision day if we leveraged prospect depth that way. If we know Tavares has interest, we can go a long way towards neutralizing any worry about how this year went with some certainty on who he’ll be playing with.

The goaltending thing in particular, that may be a bit stickier. We suppress shots a lot better though. This is not a direct parallel to what he’s been living.

 

[Brian39]

I'm not saying no to Tavares or Hoffman because they're a lefty shot.

I'm saying no to Hoffman for a variety of reasons, one of which is that he is a left hand shot. If we can get Hoffman for the Jets 1st and an unimportant prospect, then I'm fine with it. But that is almost certainly not going to happen. If we are including an important prospect, then I'm tired of trying to fill a square hole with a square peg. Hoffman hasn't ever consistently played C or RW in the NHL. He's a LW, which would mean figuring out something to do with a top 9 LW depth chart of Schwartz, Steen, Hoffman, Fabbri (not to mention Bergie or Sobotka who are both better at LW than RW). I'll be livid if we break up Schwartz/Schenn, Steen has consistently proven that he is a better LW than C and Fabbri doesn't need to be adjusting to a new position after an 18+ month absence from hockey. So we would likely be giving up a 1st and top prospect to try a guy out at a new position and who doesn't solve our issue of too many left hand shots. I think Hoffman is worth the 1st and good prospect price for some team, I just don't think it's the Blues.

There are always players on the market that you don't hear about before the draft. No one predicted that we were targeting Schenn. If we're paying a 1st and good prospect price for RW help, we should be able to find someone who matches our team better than Hoffman.

 

[STLBloosiers]

I think James Neal would be a good fit here if you can't land JT. Guy is gritty, dirty, playoff performer and also can actually finish.

 

[bluesfanforlife1992]

My thoughts for next year. Looking at our FA just for our team.

RFA (Just listed the bigger ones didn't include Lindbohm or Binnington)
Jaskin 1 year 1.1 mill
Soshnikov 2 year 750k
Sundqvist 1 year 750k
Edmundson 6 year 24 mill
Schmaltz 1 year 900k
Fabbri 2 year 2.5mill total

UFA
Upshall- Walk
Brodziak- 2 years 2.25 total
Hutton- The big question............

Based on my signing up there, team looks like this. This is with no trades or FA signings.
Schwartz 5.35-Schenn 5.125-Tarasenko 7.5
Steen 5.75-Thomas .925-Berglund 3.85
Fabbri 1.25- Sobotka 3.5-Barbashev .742
Jaskin 1.1-Brodziak 1.125-Soshnikov .750
Thorburn .900 & Sundqvist .750

On our team, those 5 RFA would get QO and all I woudn't mind giving contracts. I could see Schmaltz and maybe Jaskin being use as an extra piece in a trade. UFA Upshall thanks for what you have done not back. Brodziak I want back. Perfect 4th line center and can move up if needed. Hutton is the real question. Do Blues go with Hutton/Husso and trade Allen or let Hutton walk and stick with Allen or do you get yourself a goalie in trade to fill in for year or two before Husso or someone else is ready to play? That is where the most interesting piece of this off-season is in my opinion.

Looking into FA market, Tavares is #1 player available center which is where we need the help at the most. We need a top end center. If Tavares doesn't sign with us, which I expected, the next need is top 9 right hand shot player. That would help the PP out IMO. Too many LH shots on the PP, but looking at the market, there isn't a lot of help unless you bid on RFA. UFA RH Perron, Bozak, Read, Ward, Stempniak, Hansen, Comeau, Vbrata, Vanek, and Ryan. None of those jump off the list at you besides Bozak and maybe Vanek. But RFA there are quite a few names available, but again don't ever see stuff like this happen. Stone, Lindholm, Strome, Armia, Shore, and a couple other names. Could you maybe throw player and pick to get rights? Maybe. Stone would be arm leg and 1st firstborn.

Looking at defense, a lot of it depends on the status of Bouwmeester and Gunnarsson and how they are progressing on their rehab. If they are both on progress to return at start of the season, I doubt much gets changed on defense. But I doubt both are ready, one of them or both won't be ready to start the season. I wouldn't mind signing a stay at home defenseman to play with Parayko. Parayko plays better with someone like Edmundson playing with him, but there isn't any left hand dman that come to mind that interest me. Maybe a John Moore or something like that.

Trade wise. I see us doing something along the end of what we did with Oshie a few years ago. I would make the trade toward a position of need either top end center or right hand winger. 1st/2nd line player for 3rd line player, prospect/s, and pick/s. Rough idea of this type of trade would be something like this Sobotka, Binnington or Schmaltz and one of the older prospect such as Jaskin Barbashev etc, and 3rd round pick for Tyler Toffoli. For my team I will use Toffoli on it.


In an ideal setting, we would make a splash in both FA and trade market. I will make a couple of different teams showing different things that could done.

#1 Tavares and a trade

Schwartz 5.35-Schenn 5.125- Toffoli 4.6
Fabbri-1.25-Tavares 12- Tarasenko 7.5
Steen 5.75-Thomas .925-Berglund 3.85
Barbashev .741- Brodziak 1.125- Soshnikov .750
Thorburn .900 & Sundqvist .750
Forwards 50.616 million

Pietragenlo 6.5-Edmundson 4
Parayko 5.5-Bouwmeester 5.4
Dunn .722-Bortuzzo 1.05
Butler .650
(Gunnar starts season on LTIR) Possible the same for Bouwmeester.
Defense 23.822 million
Allen 4.35
Husso .847

Goalie 5.197

This works if cap is at 80 million. Projects to 79.635. Easily can change goalies and other things. Hard to figure out what to trade to get Toffoli.

#2 No Tavares (other FA) and trade

Schwartz 5.35-Schenn 5.125-Toffoli 4.6
Fabbri-1.25-Bozak 5.75 -Tarasenko 7.5
Steen 5.75-Thomas .925-Berglund 3.85
Barbashev .741-Brodziak 1.125-Soshnikov .750
Thorburn .900 & Sundqvist .750
Forwards 44.316

Pietrangel0 6.5- Edmundson 4
Parayko 5.5-Bouwmeester 5.4
Dunn .722- Bortuzzo 1.05
Butler .650
(Same thing with Gunnar, he starts on LTIR)
Defense 23.822

Allen 4.35
Husso .847
Goalie 5.197

Total 73.335 million. With this team, we could make a lot of different things happen with some of the cap space we have.

I just like these options a little better because it gives a little more for right hand shots. That should help on PP and other things. These were just a couple of ideas I had and I am playing around with on capfriendly armchair gm.

Don't get me wrong, we can change goalies, I just didn't know where to start with that especially looking at trades. I just didn't get looking into goalie too hard. I figured I would start at the forwards and defense and then look to goalies.

 

[David Dennison]

I think James Neal would be a good fit here if you can't land JT. Guy is gritty, dirty, playoff performer and also can actually finish.

Nah, he is going to cost far more than he will be worth over the length of his contract. We shouldnt settle for a 31+ year old power forward, that production can be gotten for a lot less and the contract would kill our chances of getting an impact player with a large contract (via UFA or trade). I understand we are working within a limited pool of available players, but there are much, much better ways to spend our finite $$$ available.

 

[bluesman11]

I'm going to make a prediction...that after the lottery The Blues will have one of the top three picks in this years draft. I know it seems unlikely, and it is statistically, but I think it will happen...see you all later.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I'm going to make a prediction...that after the lottery The Blues will have one of the top three picks in this years draft. I know it seems unlikely, and it is statistically, but I think it will happen...see you all later.

I’m not gonna get upset if we don’t, but I have an odd suspicion we get some much needed luck. Lord knows we deserve it.

 

[Lakas]

I'm going to make a prediction...that after the lottery The Blues will have one of the top three picks in this years draft. I know it seems unlikely, and it is statistically, but I think it will happen...see you all later.

I dont think I can stop myself from pissing my pants if that ever happens.

 

[ezcreepin]

I dont think I can stop myself from pissing my pants if that ever happens.

I made a bet that if we got a lottery pick, I'd have to shit my pants and post it. Obviously I wouldn't show it, but this is how dedicated I am to breaking this curse.

 

[Majorityof1]

I made a bet that if we got a lottery pick, I'd have to **** my pants and post it. Obviously I wouldn't show it, but this is how dedicated I am to breaking this curse.

You are starting to come off like that creepy guy who is constantly hinting that he is willing to do things NOBODY wants to see him do, if you just dare him.

C: Dare me to post a pic in dirty diapers and I totally will
Everybody Else: Ugghh, gross. We do NOT want to see that.
C: Yea, so gross, but I will....if you just dare me to
E: No, why would I dare you to do that?!?!?!
C: Or just ask, dare me or ask or even hint that maybe it would be fu.....
E: No, just no. Do not, under any circumstances do that or mention it again

 

[Captain Creampuff]

Feels pretty good finally having a 70 point center.

 

[Majorityof1]

Feels pretty good finally having a 70 point center.

Really? To me it feels like I'll be watching other teams play in May, just like usual. I'd much rather Schenn scored a few less and had a decent #2 down the stretch than one 70 point center.