Blues Trade Proposals 2021-2022 Part 1

[PocketNines]

The writer of a sad sack piece declaring the Blues unable to afford Chychrun clearly has followed this thread and its arguments and wrote a long piece to explain why a proposal of Perunovich + Hofer + 1st + Scandella cap dump (which would be robbery by the Blues) is simply unaffordable.

Here is the exceptionally poor argument presented:

1. The Blues need defensive defenseman (everyone agrees)
2. Chychrun is an offense only defenseman (this part is especially shallow and weak and is based on nothing more than vague impression of a player he rarely if ever has focused on)
3. Scott Perunovich is "built in the mold of a Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes" and is thus too valuable to give up in a situation where defensive defenseman is the clear need (this is delusional).

In the end here's the bold finish: "If Doug Armstrong truly believes that Chychrun is the missing piece that could bring St. Louis another Stanley Cup this season, then a trade might make sense. Failing that, sacrificing these pipeline centerpieces might be a rash mistake."

In other words, "I really have no idea if this is right or not, I'll have to find out what I think when I see what Doug Armstrong does."

What's awesome about this is no matter what happens, Steve was right! It might be anywhere from "a rash mistake" to "the missing piece to a Cup this year."

I guess the upside is the Blues secretly have Cale Makar right now. What a stroke of luck!

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

The writer of a sad sack piece declaring the Blues unable to afford Chychrun clearly has followed this thread and its arguments and wrote a long piece to explain why a proposal of Perunovich + Hofer + 1st + Scandella cap dump (which would be robbery by the Blues) is simply unaffordable.

Here is the exceptionally poor argument presented:

1. The Blues need defensive defenseman (everyone agrees)
2. Chychrun is an offense only defenseman (this part is especially shallow and weak and is based on nothing more than vague impression of a player he rarely if ever has focused on)
3. Scott Perunovich is "built in the mold of a Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes" and is thus too valuable to give up in a situation where defensive defenseman is the clear need (this is delusional).

In the end here's the bold finish: "If Doug Armstrong truly believes that Chychrun is the missing piece that could bring St. Louis another Stanley Cup this season, then a trade might make sense. Failing that, sacrificing these pipeline centerpieces might be a rash mistake."

In other words, "I really have no idea if this is right or not, I'll have to find out what I think when I see what Doug Armstrong does."

What's awesome about this is no matter what happens, Steve was right! It might be anywhere from "a rash mistake" to "the missing piece to a Cup this year."

I guess the upside is the Blues secretly have Cale Makar right now. What a stroke of luck!

That website is trash. Bunch of fans writing with less expertise than many in this forum.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Hockey Writers is basically a training ground for college kids, but specific to hockey. Similar to Bleacher Report, which I know a bunch of people back in my college days would write articles on.

 

[PocketNines]

Bleacher Report is a clickfarm advertising business that uses sportswriting as its means to mine the clicks. I sat down with their founders at the start of 2011 in their SF offices and the business was making their clicks become top SEO finds. Leveraging the desire of college boys to become sportswriters generate free content to drive clicks. If Hockeywriters is the same then it's not training the writers for anything. It's just a clicks business and if certain people become better writers it's no skin off their nose but it's irrelevant to the business model. Which is clicks.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Bleacher Report is a clickfarm advertising business that uses sportswriting as its means to mine the clicks. I sat down with their founders at the start of 2011 in their SF offices and the business was making their clicks become top SEO finds. Leveraging the desire of college boys to become sportswriters generate free content to drive clicks. If Hockeywriters is the same then it's not training the writers for anything. It's just a clicks business and if certain people become better writers it's no skin off their nose but it's irrelevant to the business model. Which is clicks.

I looked up that guys Linkedin, and he's basically like a poster here. Has a regular job, so not even the college kid type that is majoring in journalism and is looking to start his career.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

I looked up that guys Linkedin, and he's basically like a poster here. Has a regular job, so not even the college kid type that is majoring in journalism and is looking to start his career.

Yeah, God bless the kid, but maybe he should stop regurgitating HFBlues.

I loved the part where he started a paragraph with "Make no mistake:". Reminds me of when Strickland sucked and would lead with "Look,..." to pimp his authority.

Maybe he's not a real person at all and is an AI bot manipulating us to make him better. That's the business model.

 

[MissouriMook]

Interested in what others think about Chara as a TDL addition. His days of playing 25-30 minutes a night of shutdown hockey are long gone, but if he can give you 18-20 minutes alongside Parayko and Mikkola can move up from the 3rd pairing to play a few shifts on the top pairing it might work. Not sure if Chara would be open to the move since his last two contracts have been based on an insistence of staying in the East, but maybe he would see this as a last opportunity to win another Cup.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Interested in what others think about Chara as a TDL addition. His days of playing 25-30 minutes a night of shutdown hockey are long gone, but if he can give you 18-20 minutes alongside Parayko and Mikkola can move up from the 3rd pairing to play a few shifts on the top pairing it might work. Not sure if Chara would be open to the move since his last two contracts have been based on an insistence of staying in the East, but maybe he would see this as a last opportunity to win another Cup.

I'd rather have Chairot than Chara. Plus chara doesn't want to leave the east.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Interested in what others think about Chara as a TDL addition. His days of playing 25-30 minutes a night of shutdown hockey are long gone, but if he can give you 18-20 minutes alongside Parayko and Mikkola can move up from the 3rd pairing to play a few shifts on the top pairing it might work. Not sure if Chara would be open to the move since his last two contracts have been based on an insistence of staying in the East, but maybe he would see this as a last opportunity to win another Cup.

Does he have anything left? Doubt he is the answer.

 

[rumrokh]

I'd rather have Chairot than Chara. Plus chara doesn't want to leave the east.

At the reported cost of Chiarot, I would not. Not that I want Chara, but it's probably not a 1-to-1 comparison.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

At the reported cost of Chiarot, I would not. Not that I want Chara, but it's probably not a 1-to-1 comparison.

The point I was making is I don't want Chairot at all, and if rather have him than Chara. Absolutely zero interest in Chara.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

The point I was making is I don't want Chairot at all, and if rather have him than Chara. Absolutely zero interest in Chara.

yeah, neither looks like what we are needing.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Chara couldn’t skate when the Blues played them in the cup final. He also struggled to move the puck. I don’t love this line of thinking, but we’re better off with Mikkola.

 

[Brian39]

Chara is absolutely not capable of handling middle-pair duties at this point in his career. It is debatable whether he is a replacement level bottom pair D man. He is being more sheltered this year than he has been the last 3 years and he is still a possession black hole. He's at a 47/53 O zone start rate at even strength but his possession numbers are all below 45% and his rel possesion numbers are all -5 or worse. He has an expected +/- of -5.2, only 2 points, and he has committed 8 giveaways for every takeaway he has. He has been getting 3rd pairing deployment in New York, with occasional #4 usage as injuries dictate. He could possibly be a lateral replacement for Bortz (I'd argue otherwise) and he would be a large downgrade from Scandella. I don't think there is any scenario where he improves the lineup by replacing any of Scandella, Mikkola, or Bortz.

I'm not interested in him as anything more than a 7th D man.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I've mentioned him before, but someone that I'd really be curious if Columbus makes him available, is Gavrikov. He has 1 more year on his contract and then is a UFA, plays big minutes in a similar role that we'd want him in with Parayko. They are basically out of the playoffs, but maybe they don't want to trade him because of that additional year and maybe he'll want to stay there, but he's near the top of my list for ideal targets.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Id be happy with any of these Gavrikov, Provorov, Chychrun, Lindholm.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

I've mentioned him before, but someone that I'd really be curious if Columbus makes him available, is Gavrikov. He has 1 more year on his contract and then is a UFA, plays big minutes in a similar role that we'd want him in with Parayko. They are basically out of the playoffs, but maybe they don't want to trade him because of that additional year and maybe he'll want to stay there, but he's near the top of my list for ideal targets.

Yep, Gavrikov would be a really great get for us.

 

[Brian39]

I'm hoping that Columbus is looking at reality and concluding that the playoffs aren't happening but that they are a bit too talented to ensure a top pick. They are 11 points back of the final playoff spot and the team they are chasing just added Rask at $1M. Hard to imagine them catching the Bruins and if they did their reward would be playing Tampa, Florida, Carolina or maaaybe Toronto/NYR. However, they are 9th worst in the NHL in points percentage and would likely benefit if they can shed some talent and finish 5th or 6th worst. Given the conditions on the 1st they own from Chicago, they have extra incentive to finish worse than the Hawks and slightly reduce their lottery chances. Their rebuild timeline is drastically different if the Hawks win the lottery and that pick gets pushed to 2023 (with no guarantee that the Hawks are still a basement team). Columbus could theoretically win the lottery, pick 1st overall and also get the 7th overall pick from Chicago. Or they could theoretically have the 8th overall pick, watch Chicago win the lottery and then have that pick deferred to 2023. They have incentive to tank out and give themselves the greatest chance at two excellent picks this year.

I think that they will keep Gavrikov to explore an extension because he would be a useful D to have coming out of a rebuild. And if that fails he should still get a nice return in the summer or mid-season next year. However, if they want to accelerate a rebuild by increasing lottery chances this year, maybe they explore ripping that team apart ASAP.

I'm still not sure that I'm willing to pay the cost that it will take to win a bidding war for Gavrikov, because I don't think it will be anything less than a 1st and Neighbours. I'm not convinced a 1.5 year solution is worth that. I'm closer to accepting that then I was a couple weeks ago, but for now I don't think I'd go beyond a 1st and Perunovich.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I think the tough part is not knowing how much less the Chychrun alternatives will cost. It's easy for me to say I'd prefer all the alternatives over Chychrun based on the cost of what I think they'd go for, but we really haven't heard what the ask would be for any of them.

 

[542365]

How much cap space will the Blues have at the deadline? Can they add anything of significance without shipping salary out? Are we just assuming we’d dump Marco in these trade scenarios?

 

[bleedblue1223]

How much cap space will the Blues have at the deadline? Can they add anything of significance without shipping salary out? Are we just assuming we’d dump Marco in these trade scenarios?

Assuming things stay healthy, we'll have to move some player of significant salary out. Scandella or Sunny are the most likely candidates.

 

[Brian39]

How much cap space will the Blues have at the deadline? Can they add anything of significance without shipping salary out? Are we just assuming we’d dump Marco in these trade scenarios?

We have essentially no cap space. Our current roster has a combined cap hit of $81.4M and the cap is $81.5M. We are essentially at the point where every dollar acquired needs to be matched with a dollar going the other way. There is a tiny amount of wiggle room to bring in an extra hundred thousand at the deadline, but that's it.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Basically for next season, and not really a trade, but figured it's the best spot. I wonder with the succes of Tarasenko, Barbashev, Buchnevich, and having Kostin, would that help us if we try to sign Kuzmenko, and would we even be interested. It has been reported that virtually every team has shown interest in him though.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

We have essentially no cap space. Our current roster has a combined cap hit of $81.4M and the cap is $81.5M. We are essentially at the point where every dollar acquired needs to be matched with a dollar going the other way. There is a tiny amount of wiggle room to bring in an extra hundred thousand at the deadline, but that's it.

Will the Black Aces be assigned to the taxi squad? I’m unclear on how the cap works for that after the deadline.

 

[Celtic Note]

We have essentially no cap space. Our current roster has a combined cap hit of $81.4M and the cap is $81.5M. We are essentially at the point where every dollar acquired needs to be matched with a dollar going the other way. There is a tiny amount of wiggle room to bring in an extra hundred thousand at the deadline, but that's it.

But as we have seen, using every dollar means we can usually only bring up barebones call ups. Some wiggle room is good to have, ideally more that what we currently have.