News Article: Kyrou signs 8 year extension

[Xerloris]

Kyrou signs 8-year extension with Blues | St. Louis Blues

New contract keeps Blues forward in St. Louis through the 2030-31 season

www.nhl.com

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[Memento]

I'm quite happy with this deal. ROR next, maybe?

 

[cmcalum]

I'm quite happy with this deal. ROR next, maybe?

If ROR wants more money than he is making now, and I’ll bet he does, not sure we will see him in a Blues uniform next year.

 

[TheDizee]

hope he can improve defensively b/c thats alot of money to pay for a pure offensive player.

 

[TruBlu]

I'm guessing DA's mindset here is that he's locking up the two guys that ARE the next core group for long term to build around. This could turn into a really smart move as long as they continue to produce like they are currently. There's always risk but, let's face it, ROR is on the downhill slope of his career and Tarasenko is probably gone next season. Something has to be done to keep us competitive or this will probably be the last season we see the playoffs for a few years. We simply have too many holes to fill at this point once those two are gone. We're weak on the left side on D, We'd be down our top center and two best offensive wingers with the loss of Perron and Tarasenko, and let's not act like Binny doesn't have a ton to prove at this point.

 

[BlueOil]

hope he can improve defensively b/c thats alot of money to pay for a pure offensive player.

does he even play defense? ken laments

 

[Brian39]

Obviously I want every non-defensively elite Blue to get better defensively. But I don't need Kyrou to improve defensively for me to be happy with him at this deal.

He was 32nd in the league in even strength points last year and was a +10. I can 100% live with those results at 5 on 5 if he can take the next step in PP production when he gets his shot on the 1st PP unit. He had 19 PP points from the 2nd unit last year. Get that up to 25+ from the top unit and we're talking about a 90+ point pace over 82 games.

I'd take a 90+ point player at $8.125M even if the D doesn't get any better. His defensive instincts aren't good, but he at least uses his speed to strip pucks fairly effectively. For me, this deal is worth it in year 1 if he either improves defensively or finds the scoresheet enough on the top PP unit to keep it among the league's best.

 

[stl76]

Glad we gave Kyrou his own thread. Thomas got one, so contractually we are obligated to give Kyrou the same

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Glad we gave Kyrou his own thread. Thomas got one, so contractually we are obligated to give Kyrou the same

I have to get a Thomas jersey now too tho. You know. Keeping it all balanced.

 

[Mike Liut]

I like it. It’s going to be a steal in yrs 4-8

 

[BlueMed]

Blues fans wanting better defense out of Kyrou need to ask themselves how good Patrick Kane is at defense. I hope he continues to work on that part of his game, but enough of the double standards.

 

[Dr Robot]

It was about a mil more than I expected for both Kyrou and Thomas but I guess with cap growth in a few years it should be fine. I'm still hesitant to give both them such huge contracts after just one year but nothing ventured nothing gained. I have to expect ROR to take some kind of paycut next year, the math is going to be difficult for him.

 

[finnishflash13]

If ROR wants more money than he is making now, and I’ll bet he does, not sure we will see him in a Blues uniform next year.

ROR current contract is for $7.5m/year. He is 31. I do not see him getting more than his current contract. The Blues could likely keep the AAV down with longer term, which would not seem like a bad thing considering how well he is able to stay healthy.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Blues fans wanting better defense out of Kyrou need to ask themselves how good Patrick Kane is at defense. I hope he continues to work on that part of his game, but enough of the double standards.

I mostly agree, the difference here is that Kane scores at near ppg in the playoffs, and has been ppg or better in all, but 4 seasons. It reminds me of this quote, even those it's soccer. There is a point where offensive production for a winger can make whatever lack of defense they have meaningless, especially when that team has the ability to shelter them. If Kyrou hits that point consistently in the regular season and playoffs, he'd silence all of his critics here.

 

[TheDizee]

comparing kane and kyrou is laughable lmao

when kyrou wins a hart, art ross, conn smythe and a few cups you can come tag me again. until then, LOL!

 

[stlbluz]

It was about a mil more than I expected for both Kyrou and Thomas but I guess with cap growth in a few years it should be fine. I'm still hesitant to give both them such huge contracts after just one year but nothing ventured nothing gained. I have to expect ROR to take some kind of paycut next year, the math is going to be difficult for him.

If he will his work ethic alone would be a boon for the 2 recently signed kids. Tank's all but gone but I would like to think RoR will be around for a couple/few more years.

 

[STLegend]

Blues fans wanting better defense out of Kyrou need to ask themselves how good Patrick Kane is at defense. I hope he continues to work on that part of his game, but enough of the double standards.

Yikes, you're really comparing Kyrou to Kane?


What I find interesting about the contract is that there's no trade protection in year 1 and 2, a bit of insurance if Kyrou struggles to become more well-rounded or continue to improve offensively.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Yikes, you're really comparing Kyrou to Kane?


What I find interesting about the contract is that there's no trade protection in year 1 and 2, a bit of insurance if Kyrou struggles to become more well-rounded or continue to improve offensively.

You can only include trade protection during UFA years, so he isn't eligible during first 2 years.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Yikes, you're really comparing Kyrou to Kane?


What I find interesting about the contract is that there's no trade protection in year 1 and 2, a bit of insurance if Kyrou struggles to become more well-rounded or continue to improve offensively.

RFA years=no trade protection.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

The deal - which features the same term and financials of the contract Robert Thomas signed in July - is worth $65 million ($8.125 AAV) and will begin with the 2023-24 season, keeping Kyrou in St. Louis through 2030-31.



That's a lot of coin.

And we couldn't figure out something for DP57????

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

The deal - which features the same term and financials of the contract Robert Thomas signed in July - is worth $65 million ($8.125 AAV) and will begin with the 2023-24 season, keeping Kyrou in St. Louis through 2030-31.



That's a lot of coin.

And we couldn't figure out something for DP57????

Life is about choices. We chose Kyrou and Thomas for their primes over tail end of Perron.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

The deal - which features the same term and financials of the contract Robert Thomas signed in July - is worth $65 million ($8.125 AAV) and will begin with the 2023-24 season, keeping Kyrou in St. Louis through 2030-31.



That's a lot of coin.

And we couldn't figure out something for DP57????

I think you're getting the gist of it. Kyrou will probably take Perron's PP role and his place on ROR's wing. Perron was very productive on the PP, but that was about it last season. Making an unemotional assessment is the only way to be a GM.

Perron WAS offered an extension. He didn't take it, and got an offer he liked better. Good for him, and I will be interested in Detroit having a good season with all the Blues' connections there. (I think that's some subtle shrewd GMing to bring in several players from a winning organization who recently won a Cup, even support players.)

 

[Reality Czech]

The deal - which features the same term and financials of the contract Robert Thomas signed in July - is worth $65 million ($8.125 AAV) and will begin with the 2023-24 season, keeping Kyrou in St. Louis through 2030-31.



That's a lot of coin.

And we couldn't figure out something for DP57????

Your Perron obsession is getting into Dizee territory at this point. Everything that can be said already has been, and there are interviews out there with Army and Perron to get both sides of the story. Obviously Thomas and Kyrou are much higher priorities for the Blues going forward, as they should be. Kyrou needs and deserves a bigger role on the team, and with Perron around we would have had a really good winger stuck on the 3rd line.

 

[Brian39]

I think it is silly to completely dismiss comparisons to Kane. I don't think anyone would suggest that Kyrou is currently as good as Kane is (or was when he was 24). That's why Kane is paid noticeably more than Kyrou. The skill/production gap between the two is pretty similar to the gap in the contracts they have earned.

Kane is on an 8 year deal worth $10.5M per year. That deal has a full NMC in every season and $44M of the $84M is paid in signing bonuses. It was worth 15.22% of the cap when he signed it. His previous deal was a 5 year deal that was signed 2 months into the final season of his ELC. It was worth $6.3M per year, had a NMC on the single UFA year it purchased and was 11.09% of the cap. This deal was signed before Chicago won any of their Cups. Kane had a 72 point rookie season and a 70 point sophomore season under his belt and was a minus player both years. He was exactly a point per game player in the 26 games leading up to the extension in the 2009/10 season and was a positive for the first time in his career (+7). He had produced very well in his single playoff appearance (14 points in 16 games), but was a putrid -9.

I'd absolutely take 2009 Kane over 2022 Kyrou, but they are more comparable than the 2015 Kane that earned $84M as a pending UFA. Kyrou is older than 2009 Kane, took much longer to be an NHL impact player, doesn't have the draft pedigree and will almost certainly never reach the heights that Kane reached (and was expected to reach).

But this contract is reflective of that. It is worth 9.85% of the cap rather than being 11.09% of the cap like Kane's. It is also 3 years longer than Kane's deal and purchases 6 UFA years instead of 1. Kyrou isn't the player that Kane was when he signed his bridge deal and he has less upside. But that is baked into this contract. If you compare season by season, the contractual gap gets even larger. This contract purchases Kyrou's 25-32 seasons. Kane's $6.3M deal that was worth 11% of the cap covered his age 25 and 26 seasons and then all of Kane's 27-32 seasons were covered by his $10.5M deal that was worth 15% of the cap. So 75% of the years we just bought from Kyrou were on that monster deal that isn't remotely comparable to Kyrou's.

Again, Kyrou isn't nearly the player that Kane is. That wasn't the point being made. The point is that they are pretty damn similar stylistically and they play fairly similar roles. They are both highly skilled wingers whose job is to produce offensively in heavily sheltered minutes and let the rest of the line worry about defense. Kane is better than Kyrou and the contracts given to the two players reflect that.

Calling Kyrou Kane-light is a pretty accurate description of the totality of his game and he just got a Kane-light contract.

I'd have liked to have gotten Kyrou for either a little less AAV or a little less term. However, I don't think this is a bad contract and a team should absolutely be able to build a successful roster around a winger who gives you point per game production and limited-to-hardly-any defensive contribution at $8.125M. That is largely who Tarasenko has been for his entire career here (although he's skewed towards more goals and fewer total points) and his $7.5M was a larger piece of the cap pie over the life of his deal than Kyrou's $8.125M will be). Tarasenko makes 15-25 hustle plays a year to get back on D and will occasionally throw his body around. But he turns the puck over every bit as much as Kyrou and he isn't as good at stripping pucks off people. He has also faced tons of criticism over his time here about perceived lack of effort. We're moving on from Tarasenko to Kyrou as the team's top offensive RW who gets sheltered usage. You can get along just fine paying that guy $8.125M.

Edit: None of this means that I don't want Kyrou to improve defensively or that I don't want the coaching staff to get on him about defensive play. Every good coach should do that. Even when both sides understand that the player is paid to produce, it is the coach's job to try and extract more. If Berube can get more defense out of Kyrou without harming the production, then we are looking at a $10M value player. If he does that and Kyrou takes another step offensively, then we are talking about a true superstar and this deal will be one of the best in the league. That is what we all want. But I don't think it is what needs to happen for this contract to work out.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I get the point behind the Kane comp, the basic point is, for offensive wingers, there is a tipping point where the offensive production becomes so good, that you no longer care about their defensive deficiencies.

I would say Kyrou right now flirts with that line. Tarasenko throughout his career flirted with that line, but when Tarasenko was really on, he did some really good things defensively. I remember one of the goals in game 7 of the Finals, he made a great play in the defensive end that eventually led to the goal, think it was the 3rd one. There's also been times where Tarasenko doesn't engage defensively, and if he isn't scoring, he just becomes a liability.

Kyrou right now flirts with that line. If he hits that next level or becomes ppg in the playoffs, then he's probably closer to the Kane end where we won't care about his defense.