Blues/Wild Playoff series discussion

[BlueDream]

How do we feel about bringing Bozak back next season in a 4th line role?

I thought he’s played great for what he’s been asked to do this series.

Absolutely not. He is close to washed up. Go with younger players.

 

[joe galiba]

I'd only bring Bozak back for around league minimum, and I wouldn't even both with bonuses to bring it higher. I think he's been better in the playoffs than the regular season, but I don't think he's that much better than another generic NHL level 4th line center.

I wonder how long he was playing while hurt, as his skating looks wwwaaaayyyyy better since he came back

 

[Brian39]

I'd only bring Bozak back for around league minimum, and I wouldn't even both with bonuses to bring it higher. I think he's been better in the playoffs than the regular season, but I don't think he's that much better than another generic NHL level 4th line center.

I don't agree that he hasn't been much better than a generic 4th line center if that only includes guys that you can get as a UFA for around league minimum. 4th line center is a position/role that often gets $1-2M. Most UFA centers signing around league minimum are NHL/AHL tweeners that are a notch below what I think of when I think "NHL level 4th line center." I think Bozak's play has still been that of a guy who would cost a notch above league minimum on the open market.

I'd be willing to do another $750k base plus bonuses deal to bring him back, but I wouldn't want the bonuses to be as lucrative as this season's (which were $750k for 10 games played, $250k for 41 games played and another $250k in playoff incentives). I'd like to see a $750k base, $250k for 10 games played, and maybe another $250k or so in other bonuses. I'm not sure that we could find a better replacement for him at $1M on the open market and that contract would be structured better than whatever comparable replacement we would likely find in the UFA market.

Ideally, I want him to be a 12th/13th forward most the season. Cap him at 40-50 games played to keep him fresh and then have him as an option to anchor the 4th line in the playoffs. I'd pay $250k-$500k worth of bonuses beyond league minimum to have him in that role. Especially since we already have all of Walker, Toropchenko and Brown under contract next year at $750k to round out the bottom of the forward group. Even $1.25M on Bozak means we'd be paying $3.5M for forwards 10-13. Extend Joshua and you've got forwards 10-14 at less than $4.5M with a good mix of skillsets and positional flexibility. I like that value when you consider that league minimum for your bottom 5 forwards is $3.75M.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I don't agree that he hasn't been much better than a generic 4th line center if that only includes guys that you can get as a UFA for around league minimum. 4th line center is a position/role that often gets $1-2M. Most UFA centers signing around league minimum are NHL/AHL tweeners that are a notch below what I think of when I think "NHL level 4th line center." I think Bozak's play has still been that of a guy who would cost a notch above league minimum on the open market.

I'd be willing to do another $750k base plus bonuses deal to bring him back, but I wouldn't want the bonuses to be as lucrative as this season's (which were $750k for 10 games played, $250k for 41 games played and another $250k in playoff incentives). I'd like to see a $750k base, $250k for 10 games played, and maybe another $250k or so in other bonuses. I'm not sure that we could find a better replacement for him at $1M on the open market and that contract would be structured better than whatever comparable replacement we would likely find in the UFA market.

Ideally, I want him to be a 12th/13th forward most the season. Cap him at 40-50 games played to keep him fresh and then have him as an option to anchor the 4th line in the playoffs. I'd pay $250k-$500k worth of bonuses beyond league minimum to have him in that role. Especially since we already have all of Walker, Toropchenko and Brown under contract next year at $750k to round out the bottom of the forward group. Even $1.25M on Bozak means we'd be paying $3.5M for forwards 10-13. Extend Joshua and you've got forwards 10-14 at less than $4.5M with a good mix of skillsets and positional flexibility.

I can see how my descriptions don't really matchup. I'd rather pay a bit the market rate for a younger NHL level 4th line center than pay the same rate for Bozak who has a chance to further decline over a full season. I'd be fine bringing Bozak back with the conditions that you sort of lay out where we limit his time/games and he's not an every night player.

One thing I think our 4th line needs is some sort of more permanent upgrade. Toropchenko is someone I hope becomes that, but I don't want to bank on that next season. I like Walker, but he's more of a spare as well. I know some are a fan of Brown, but I'm not. And we might not have the cap available for resources going to the 4th, but we'll have to see how stuff plays out.

 

[The Note]

I'm hesitant to relate things back to 2019 but a part of me wonders if this game 6 might mirror game 6 against the Jets in R1. Of course last night's loss for the Wild wasn't as stunning as the last gasp winner against the Jets, but it did seem like that was a "best shot" type of game from the Wild. They got 2 goals from Kaprizov (who is basically the only forward doing anything of note for them), they were running around hitting everything in sight and carrying a lead late into the second at home in a pivotal game 5. Then when the wheels fell off, they really fell off. If the Blues score early tomorrow I think there is a decent chance things snowball. Of course, I could be completely misreading this situation and the Wild come out with gusto and force a game 7. But that 3rd period would not have filled me with confidence of such an occurrence if I were a Wild fan.

 

[Xerloris]

I can see how my descriptions don't really matchup. I'd rather pay a bit the market rate for a younger NHL level 4th line center than pay the same rate for Bozak who has a chance to further decline over a full season. I'd be fine bringing Bozak back with the conditions that you sort of lay out where we limit his time/games and he's not an every night player.

One thing I think our 4th line needs is some sort of more permanent upgrade. Toropchenko is someone I hope becomes that, but I don't want to bank on that next season. I like Walker, but he's more of a spare as well. I know some are a fan of Brown, but I'm not. And we might not have the cap available for resources going to the 4th, but we'll have to see how stuff plays out.

Bozak has been great this series. He's more than earned his pay and as much as I like Topo and Walker I would never want them out there in the final minutes of a game during the playoffs.

 

[TheDizee]

#1 offseason prio is to resign Husso but only at the right price. If he is seeking #1 money or even a #1 job somewhere else, package him into a trade and move him and then let Chuckie Sideburn get a shot at making the team
#2 resign perron. he will likely take hometown discount.
#3 resign leddy
#4 sign RFA perunovich & mikkola

money going to be tight this year so would not expect much change. but if Husso wants out or is moved, they have the money to do another move.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Bozak has been great this series. He's more than earned his pay and as much as I like Topo and Walker I would never want them out there in the final minutes of a game during the playoffs.

I don't disagree, but when talking about extensions, we can't just ignore the regular season where Bozak was terrible, he wasn't even the faceoff ace that he typically is. If we get this Bozak for 50+ games, I'd absolutely pay for that, but for an extension, I'm factoring in both playoffs and regular season, and with that I'm not paying over $1M, and that's including any bonuses.

We already have a cap penalty of $1M for next season as it is due to Bozak's bonuses. I think we can find another faceoff ace for a similar price that is younger, so the risk of further decline is lessened.

 

[Louie the Blue]

I don't disagree, but when talking about extensions, we can't just ignore the regular season where Bozak was terrible, he wasn't even the faceoff ace that he typically is. If we get this Bozak for 50+ games, I'd absolutely pay for that, but for an extension, I'm factoring in both playoffs and regular season, and with that I'm not paying over $1M, and that's including any bonuses.

We already have a cap penalty of $1M for next season as it is due to Bozak's bonuses. I think we can find another faceoff ace for a similar price that is younger, so the risk of further decline is lessened.

I'm not attached to letting Bozak leave, but just figured if he could be had for cheap I wouldn't be opposed.

Not sure if Joshua can handle 4C responsibilities. I like him, but wonder if he's better at wing.

Joshua/Walker/Toropchenko would be a nice 4th line as well instead, or have Bozak center that.

#1 offseason prio is to resign Husso but only at the right price. If he is seeking #1 money or even a #1 job somewhere else, package him into a trade and move him and then let Chuckie Sideburn get a shot at making the team
#2 resign perron. he will likely take hometown discount.
#3 resign leddy
#4 sign RFA perunovich & mikkola

money going to be tight this year so would not expect much change. but if Husso wants out or is moved, they have the money to do another move.

Throw in keeping Rosen up there as priority #5.

 

[TheDizee]

ah yes rosen also. yes money gonna be really tight. no way to keep everyone without moving someone out. i think husso is going to get #1 money from a team on the market so i think the blues would be wise to move him in a trade before you lose him for nothing.

 

[The Note]

Wild fans seem to really hate Schenn. Have I missed something, or is it literally just because he is about the only forward who consistently throws his weight around these days? The hate seems disproportionate to anything I've seen him do.

 

[TK 421]

Wild fans seem to really hate Schenn. Have I missed something, or is it literally just because he is about the only forward who consistently throws his weight around these days? The hate seems disproportionate to anything I've seen him do.

Schenn's hurt feelings per 60 is really impressive.

 

[Brian39]

We already have a cap penalty of $1M for next season as it is due to Bozak's bonuses.

I don't know that this is true, but I haven't been able to get a concrete answer as to how earned bonuses are calculated against LTIR.

Capfriendly has a 1M overage for next season at the moment, but that is almost certainly an estimate because it shouldn't be a round number. Worst case scenario we had about $22k in cap space that should soak up some of his bonuses, so it wouldn't be $1M even. I think Capfriendly knows that Bozak hit $1M in bonuses and is using that as a placeholder until there is an official announcement of our end of year calculation.

We also ended the regular season with multiple guys on LTIR and about $2.5M in our performance bonus LTIR relief pool. I genuinely don't know whether that pool can be used to absorb achieved bonuses. It seems like it should, but I can't find anything explaining it.

We ended the year with a bit of unused cap space and a decent amount of unused LTIR relief. Not all of Bozak's bonuses will hit next year's cap as an overage, but I don't know how close to $1M it will be. I also don't know whether Perunovich hit any of his bonuses. I doubt it.

 

[Allens Five Hole]

Wild fans seem to really hate Schenn. Have I missed something, or is it literally just because he is about the only forward who consistently throws his weight around these days? The hate seems disproportionate to anything I've seen him do.

I think it's mainly to do with the hit early on in Game 1 on Dumba(?) in front of the net which was totally clean but resulted in Greenway taking a stupid penalty that resulted in the first goal of that blowout. Since then, they've just hyper-focused on everything he's done claiming any hit is borderline dirty (hint: its not).

 

[bleedblue1223]

I don't know that this is true, but I haven't been able to get a concrete answer as to how earned bonuses are calculated against LTIR.

Capfriendly has a 1M overage for next season at the moment, but that is almost certainly an estimate because it shouldn't be a round number. Worst case scenario we had about $22k in cap space that should soak up some of his bonuses, so it wouldn't be $1M even. I think Capfriendly knows that Bozak hit $1M in bonuses and is using that as a placeholder until there is an official announcement of our end of year calculation.

We also ended the regular season with multiple guys on LTIR and about $2.5M in our performance bonus LTIR relief pool. I genuinely don't know whether that pool can be used to absorb achieved bonuses. It seems like it should, but I can't find anything explaining it.

We ended the year with a bit of unused cap space and a decent amount of unused LTIR relief. Not all of Bozak's bonuses will hit next year's cap as an overage, but I don't know how close to $1M it will be. I also don't know whether Perunovich hit any of his bonuses. I doubt it.

Yeah, I don't think that's what the final overage penalty will be, best to wait for NHL to make the official announcement, but safe to assume we won't be able to spend to the cap next season.

 

[JoshFromMO]

Will Talbot make an appearance Thursday or do they ride Flower into the sunset I wonder.

 

[The Note]

Will Talbot make an appearance Thursday or do they ride Flower into the sunset I wonder.

They're kind of in a weird spot now. Idt Fleury has been especially poor this series, but I didn't think he looked great last night -- he seemed to be looking over his shoulder for the puck pretty often and has been coughing up rebounds. I don't think he has been so excellent that a switch is off the table. However, you would then be asking Talbot to come in, cold, on the road in a do or die game 6. That's a tough spot for anyone to come in and then you factor in the fact that the Blues have lit Talbot up, I think they almost have to stick with MAF at this point.

 

[PocketNines]

How can the Blues afford these players when for the next 10 years they have Binnington's buyout on the books?

 

[fishsandwichpatrol]

I think we're in great shape to comfortably close them out at home. Get the job done.

 

[Reality Czech]

Wild fans seem to really hate Schenn. Have I missed something, or is it literally just because he is about the only forward who consistently throws his weight around these days? The hate seems disproportionate to anything I've seen him do.

That means he's doing his job and doing it well.

 

[joe galiba]

Wild fans seem to really hate Schenn. Have I missed something, or is it literally just because he is about the only forward who consistently throws his weight around these days? The hate seems disproportionate to anything I've seen him do.

I get the same reaction from my wife and kids over my Dad jokes

 

[mk80]

Wild fans seem to really hate Schenn. Have I missed something, or is it literally just because he is about the only forward who consistently throws his weight around these days? The hate seems disproportionate to anything I've seen him do.

Schenn is one of those players we would probably hate too if he played against us, but he is also one of those guys you love when he is on your team.

 

[PocketNines]

The Wild's beat writer Russo went after Schenn on Twitter for pushing Kaprizov high in his numbers. It's all quite weak for a state that's supposed to be a big boy hockey state

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

The Wild's beat writer Russo went after Schenn on Twitter for pushing Kaprizov high in his numbers. It's all quite weak for a state that's supposed to be a big boy hockey state

Russo is a great writer, but when the game is actually on, he’s such a crybaby.

Also loved that people immediately posted the dirty hit on Leddy in return.

 

[mk80]

The Wild's beat writer Russo went after Schenn on Twitter for pushing Kaprizov high in his numbers. It's all quite weak for a state that's supposed to be a big boy hockey state

Russo is a great writer, but when the game is actually on, he’s such a crybaby.

Also loved that people immediately posted the dirty hit on Leddy in return.

Just wait, if we win the series we’re then dealing with Adrian Dater.

At least Russo is a good writer for his content.