Blues Trade Proposals Part XXXV

[wannabebluesplayer]

Goaltending needs to get fixed, but it should not be Armstrong's top priority this off-season. Addressing the forwards as many have already said needs to be his big priority. I'm all for trading Jake Allen if you can pull it off, but you need a solid plan in place if you are going to trade him. Either Hutton needs to be re-signed and Husso needs to be your call up, or you need to get a guy like Antti Raanta. Goaltending would have been ignored if the Blues would have kept scoring like they did at the beginning of the season or here recently, but that wasn't a sustainable model.

As many here have said, if you can acquire another legitimate top 6 center to go along with Schenn and a top 6 RW to play behind Tarasenko, than it would do wonders for this team that would have a greater impact on the goaltending then getting a Price, Quick, or other elite level goaltender. Ken Dryden couldn't win a cup with this set of forwards.

Priority list needs to look something like this, shed the dead weight up front, get top 6 C, then top 6 rw, then look into goalie situation. If it's Husso and Allen next year in a 1A 1B with a forward group that includes maybe Tavares, Thomas, and Kyrou instead of Stastny, Berglund, and Sobotka, would anyone be really that upset and say they aren't a cup contender?

 

[carter333167]

Hutton has a .720 QS% with 25 games started. Allen has a .447 QS% with 47 games started. In terms of goals against, remove Hutton's starts and the team's goals against ranking plummets. Allen's save percentage is .905. Allen has been one of the worst starters in the league in terms of virtually every meaningful statistic.

If Allen had played even average statistically this year, we would be comfortably in the playoffs.

Do we really want to bank another year of our core's prime on Allen? Again, the goaltender is the most important player on the ice every night, so I'm not buying that we ignore this issue. It is probably the most important issue to address if we feel that Allen might throw up another horrible season.

 

[Stealth JD]

Armstrong's got quite the mess on his hands...most of it his own doing. But if he can get out from Sobotka, Berglund and Allen's contracts without losing too many other assets in the process (which I think he can), he'll basically have a clean slate and a heck of a lot of payroll flexibility to rebuild this roster. With the depth the Blues have, they really are in an ideal situation.

They could very reasonably add two top-6 forwards, besides Fabbri, and still have depth throughout the organization. If they can't land Tavares, they could still go in any number of directions and be competitive near the cap or well below it. Love to see something like:

Sobotka & a 3rd for a 2nd. Berglund & 4th for a 2nd. Gunnarsson & a 6th for a pair of 3rds. Allen plus all those picks from Bergy/Gunnar/Sobotka to whomever for a kick in Army's nuts and an ice-pack. That would perhaps teach him a lesson about signing guys too soon and perhaps stop that **** from happening anymore.

 

[Reality Czech]

We shouldn't be wasting years trying to fix one thing at a time. We need to have a plan for both things. Since Jake isn't the answer we should be looking elsewhere while we look for help at forward.

"The answer?" You say that as if there is only one correct answer. And you seem to know what it is. Jake has played well in the past when the team was playing well. Two years ago Rinne and Bobrovsky had very similar numbers to Allen's '17-18 because the Jackets and Preds weren't so great that year. Bishop, Schneider, Fleury and Hellebuyck all had save % of .910 or lower last year. Price has even worse stats than Jake this year. The team matters so much in terms of goalie performance.

If you want to trade Jake now, then you won't get good value for him. And if you get a new goalie without making significant changes to the team, it won't matter much. I am all for keeping an open mind about goaltending, but improving the top 6/top 9 should be our top priority.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

I'd go see if Arizona would take a chance on Allen, they'd end up with a tandem situation with Kuemper which Allen has had more success with. Especially if Raanta shows little interest in resigning with them.

 

[MissouriMook]

I'd go see if Arizona would take a chance on Allen, they'd end up with a tandem situation with Kuemper which Allen has had more success with. Especially if Raanta shows little interest in resigning with them.

As soon as their respective seasons have all ended, Jake Allen for Nick Merkley and the rights (thru 6/30/18) to Antti Raanta.

 

[David Dennison]

We shouldn't be wasting years trying to fix one thing at a time. We need to have a plan for both things. Since Jake isn't the answer we should be looking elsewhere while we look for help at forward.

Its not about fixing one thing at a time, it is about what amount of our finite cap/prospects/picks do we dedicate to a position where very few players are elite and most goalies in the league fall into the 1A/1B range? Its like trading for Halak and getting the same production from Brian Elliott. Or paying Allen and Hutton playing as good as or better? It just seems like everyone around here is biting hard on 3 months of bad hockey while he was playing behind the worst team he had ever had to versus the previous 3 1/4 seasons of good hockey behind better teams. Inconsistency has been an issue, but he has also carried this team for stretches. So long as they upgrade forward with 1 or 2 players, I am completely fine returning Allen-Hutton (or comparable UFA)-Husso.

Like I said earlier I have no problem switching things up in net, but who is available, clearly better than Allen, and not on some outrageous deal? Some have said Raanta, is there really much else available via trade or free agency? Is Raanta the clearly-better bet (durability-wise, and will he get paid more/for longer), and does he even make it to free agency?

 

[Dbrownss]

Jake has at least stopped sliding way out of position....and the short side goals havn't been the same style that have plagued him previously. Not trying to excuse them either. I dont know what they will do with the goalies....

 

[Blueston]

Jake has at least stopped sliding way out of position....and the short side goals havn't been the same style that have plagued him previously. Not trying to excuse them either. I dont know what they will do with the goalies....

Maybe he can stop lunging towards shooter next.

 

[Captain Creampuff]

Jake has at least stopped sliding way out of position....and the short side goals havn't been the same style that have plagued him previously. Not trying to excuse them either. I dont know what they will do with the goalies....

I'll have to disagree.

Also a little off-topic question. Which Canadian management team would you take between Edmonton, Ottawa, or Montreal?

 

[Dbrownss]

I'll have to disagree.

Also a little off-topic question. Which Canadian management team would you take between Edmonton, Ottawa, or Montreal?

disagree with what? He has been better in his positioning and while short side goals are rarely acceptable, they havn't been the type where he's not in position and gets beat from distance

 

[Thallis]

disagree with what? He has been better in his positioning and while short side goals are rarely acceptable, they havn't been the type where he's not in position and gets beat from distance

Both are a symptom of the same fundamental issue, overactivity in net and not trusting your defensemen. The big reason it happens is because Jake expects the pass and is thinking about where he has to be to defend the one timer. Doing so causes him to lose focus on the options the actual puck carrier has, and he assumes that he doesn't have the shot to take, so space is given on the post to try and deal with what seems to be the more dangerous player from his position. When he was sliding everywhere it was more of the same, but he was cheating on the positioning part post pass instead of before the pass.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

I'll have to disagree.

Also a little off-topic question. Which Canadian management team would you take between Edmonton, Ottawa, or Montreal?

Easily Ottawa

 

[Thallis]

Easily Ottawa

Don't forget, Melnyk is about half of that management team.

 

[stl76]

Don't forget, Melnyk is about half of that management team.

Exactly. This is an actual picture of the senators' organizational flow chart:

...yikes.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Exactly. This is an actual picture of the senators' organizational flow chart:

...yikes.

Needs more Spartacat.

 

[Mike Liut]

Id love to put a package together for Gallagher. I’m just too stingy with parting with top prospects. Maybe Thompson + 2018 1st + Blais?

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Id love to put a package together for Gallagher. I’m just too stingy with parting with top prospects. Maybe Thompson + 2018 1st + Blais?

If we miss out on Tavares i would rather use those pieces to aquire a Center of some kind. Preferably a RHS if possible.

 

[Mike Liut]

If we miss out on Tavares i would rather use those pieces to aquire a Center of some kind. Preferably a RHS if possible.

No complaints. I just like gallagher a lot

 

[Dbrownss]

Id love to put a package together for Gallagher. I’m just too stingy with parting with top prospects. Maybe Thompson + 2018 1st + Blais?

Would you accept that for Gallagher? They have no reason to move him

 

[Mike Liut]

Would you accept that for Gallagher? They have no reason to move him

Fine, we’ll throw in Sobotka

 

[Stealth JD]

If we miss out on Tavares i would rather use those pieces to aquire a Center of some kind. Preferably a RHS if possible.

If we miss on Tavares, I'd go ROR, Matt Duchene, RNH, Sam Reinhart in that order. Heck, even if the Blues land Tavares, I'd hope they still pursue another center to take the pressure off of Thomas, and give themselves another option for nights they need Schenn on wing:

Fabbri-Tavares-Tarasenko
Schwartz-Duchene-Schenn
Steen-Thomas-Tage/Kyrou
Barbashev-Brodziak-Soshnikov

That still leaves a metric f***-ton of talent in the pipeline and as depth, even considering the assets spent to acquire a guy like Duchene and dump contracts like Berglund & Sobotka.

 

[Mike Liut]

If we miss on Tavares, I'd go ROR, Matt Duchene, RNH, Sam Reinhart in that order. Heck, even if the Blues land Tavares, I'd hope they still pursue another center to take the pressure off of Thomas, and give themselves another option for nights they need Schenn on wing:

Fabbri-Tavares-Tarasenko
Schwartz-Duchene-Schenn
Steen-Thomas-Tage/Kyrou
Barbashev-Brodziak-Soshnikov

That still leaves a metric ****-ton of talent in the pipeline and as depth, even considering the assets spent to acquire a guy like Duchene and dump contracts like Berglund & Sobotka.

Well yeah. But....

 

[Stealth JD]

Well yeah. But....

all of those teams are terrible and will be looking to rebuild to a certain degree. They'd be foolish not to listen to reasonable to aggressive offers from a team loaded with young, cheap talent. That is a match made in heaven for a cheap team like Ottawa or a team with zero depth like Edmonton.

 

[Mike Liut]

all of those teams are terrible and will be looking to rebuild to a certain degree. They'd be foolish not to listen to reasonable to aggressive offers from a team loaded with young, cheap talent. That is a match made in heaven for a cheap team like Ottawa or a team with zero depth like Edmonton.

I’m down