Confirmed with Link: Radek Faksa for future considerations

[Ranksu]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808206532913270976

Click to read more...

 

[Blueston]

Love this. He can likely be flipped with retention fir pick at deadline if we want too.

 

[izzy]

Actually think he can bounce back, needed a fresh start somewhere

 

[Blueston]

Actually think he can bounce back, needed a fresh start somewhere

He is apparently quite good defensively and is strong in faceoffs. Even if there isn’t more offense, he is nice add for us.

 

[ort]

Good to see us putting the future considerations we got for Kevin Hayes to good use so soon!

 

[LogosBlue]

Yesterday i really hated that Future Considerations guy. Today, i guess he's not so bad.

 

[stl76]

Not that long ago he was a very good 3C, I would even say he was elite defensively (selke caliber even).

Not sure how far he has fallen off, but I’m cautiously optimistic.

 

[TheDizee]

i'd rather have hayes.

 

[STLegend]

I think this calls for this oldie, such a slick play

 

[BluesAL]

We needed a 4C who could jump up to 3C in a pinch. Defensively sound, good on the dot and a veteran to play with some younger wingers. Army is finding pieces…

 

[HighNote]

St. Louis Blues legend, Future Considerations

 

[GoldenSeal]

i'd rather have hayes.

You make it sound like a disease.... lol

 

[ezcreepin]

I guess the question is, is it a fair deal if the trade was:

Kevin Hayes
Blues 2025 2nd round pick

for

Mathieu Joseph
Faksa
Ottawa 2025 3rd round pick

Obviously this isn't how the assets moved, but it's probably better to not think of the moves inside a vacuum and think of it on a wholistic scale. Personally, I'm not happy about trading a 2nd rounder when we likely aren't competing, but my guess is Army sees the team closer to the playoffs rather than not, he is getting constructive criticism about team makeup from Steen, and wanted stronger defensive players for the younger guys coming in and for Julien as well. Seems like the philosophy is changing, and so with all of those assumptions in my head, I think I'm ok with the way the assets moved.

 

[Mike Liut]

This guy sounds like Brodziak to me.

 

[kimzey59]

This guy sounds like Brodziak to me.

Except that Brodz never got any Selke votes.
Faksa has gotten votes 4 times, getting as high as 7th.

Faksa is more like a modern day Jay McClement.

 

[STL fan in MN]

This guy sounds like Brodziak to me.

Well, maybe if Brodziak was built like a LT-35.*

*an LT-35 is a Czech tank. Don’t ask me how I know this. Point being, Brodz was big but Faksa is huge and built like a tank. And a defensive stud. And pretty darn fast.

 

[BlueDream]

Yeah Brodziak is a decent comp, Faksa is just a better version of him.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

I guess the question is, is it a fair deal if the trade was:

Kevin Hayes
Blues 2025 2nd round pick

for

Mathieu Joseph
Faksa
Ottawa 2025 3rd round pick

Obviously this isn't how the assets moved, but it's probably better to not think of the moves inside a vacuum and think of it on a wholistic scale. Personally, I'm not happy about trading a 2nd rounder when we likely aren't competing, but my guess is Army sees the team closer to the playoffs rather than not, he is getting constructive criticism about team makeup from Steen, and wanted stronger defensive players for the younger guys coming in and for Julien as well. Seems like the philosophy is changing, and so with all of those assumptions in my head, I think I'm ok with the way the assets moved.

The part of this I like most is that Army realized our need to add more size and speed to the bottom 6. I don't dislike Hayes as much as some but there's no doubt he slowed down the game. Texier, Joseph,, and Faksa all add that speed element we've been missing. Kapanen was likely brought back for the same reason.

Now we can get back to a more aggressive forechecking game, better defensive play from our offense to assist the D, and grinding down our opponents over 60 minutes. In the last two seasons it's been far too easy for our opponents to fetch the puck first and transition out of the defensive zone. If we can start winning those battles more it's going to go a long way to helping us maintain o-zone possession and taking some of the pressure off of our underwhelming defensive unit and lighten the load on our goaltenders. Not only that but it was a glaring deficiency in road games when the other team could dictate matchups and use their speed v. our bottom 6. Speed also posed an issue with the long change in the second period where we allowed 15% more shots against v. our opponents last season.

I'm not too worried about the 2nd rounder. Not only have we rid ourselves of Hayes' deal, we've replaced him with a couple players who now have a chance to become cheap depth with the new core. Having control of Texier as a RFA could be a bigger deal than people realize. Besides, it doesn't feel like it'd be too difficult to move any semi-productive depth player for a 2nd rounder at the TDL if we're outside of the playoff picture. At first the move was a headscratcher. I've seen enough now to see the logic behind it.