Will the Blues get a top 10 pick at next years draft?

[TerminatorBlue]

We drafted 16th overall this year and haven't made any significant moves to get better while other teams beneath us have. Do you think we will be a bottom 10 team next year or will we be a bubble team to make the playoffs?

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[Blanick]

Still a long way to the start of the season.

 

[WeWentBlues]

Still a long way to the start of the season.

Don't foresee many significant moves for any team around the league between now and the start of the season with the dust settling on the draft and opening of free agency.

 

[kimzey59]

Honestly, I don't think our situation has changed all that much.
Bubble team. Probably miss the PO's but not by much.

- Despite the amount of signings today, I'm not sure anyone below us has done enough to really alter the standings besides New Jersey(at least in regards to us).

- Still a LOT of offseason left to play out.

-There are far too many teams that put themselves in Cap trouble today for me to see Army being completely quiet. There will be a move or two made in the next day or so. Probably something on the "underwhelming" side of the spectrum, but our roster is far from set IMO.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

If we keep Buch all year assuming a re-signing i bet we finish 8th-13th worst, assuming Buch gets traded i would infact vote for a bottom 10 season of some kind. I still dont think this is, or needs to be a bottom 5 roster.

 

[Xerloris]

It's entirely up to Binnington.

 

[Mike Liut]

We could be better than we think if we get progression from Neighbors, Bolduc, Dean and another great season from Binny. If not, then yes, a top 10 pick is likely.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

I think it depends on the kids, injuries, and dumb luck.

 

[Eldon Reid]

We drafted 16th overall this year and haven't made any significant moves to get better while other teams beneath us have. Do you think we will be a bottom 10 team next year or will we be a bubble team to make the playoffs?

If we don't do anything else, I would say we will be borderline on top 10 pick. Lot of depends on goaltending, we get goaltending like this year I think we are about 12th-14th. If poor goaltending, we could be top 10.

But still of ton of the offseason left.

You have a ton of teams in cap trouble (Colorado, Nashville (needs another player), Vegas, and so on). Do Blues trade for a Colton or someone else from a team in cap trouble?

What happens with Buch? Still here or traded?

What happens with some of these RFA? Necas, Pinto, and so on? Do Blues make a move for RFA in trade or offer sheet???

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

It's difficult to say. Our roster is still taking shape, young players will progress (how much?), goaltending will likely regress (how much?), and injuries and trades (Buch?) throughout the course of the season could all significantly contribute to this team being better of worse then last season. I don't look at this team and think on paper that they're more flawed than last season's roster. I also don't see any reason to think they're a lock to be outside of the top 10. Too many questions.

 

[SirPaste]

I voted bottom 10 as the roster stands right now, I think there will still be changes made though, hopefully anyway. As others mentioned there are so many different things that it depends on. I think the question would be better saved until closer to the season when we know for sure what our lineup is going to look like.

 

[542365]

We’re going to be right around the bubble of the top ten. My guess is we pick 11th or 12th unless the goaltending is awful in which case I could see us being 7th or 8th.

 

[mk80]

I’d say it’s too early to tell but most likely we end up in the 10-16 range again.

 

[Majorityof1]

Way too early to tell. What if we bring in Roslovic, Tarasenko and Klingberg on cheap deals while trading for Pinto? That's a lot different team.

Neighbours - Thomas - Buch
Kyrou - Pinto - Roslovic
Saad - Schenn - Tarasenko
Texier - Bolduc - Kapanen

Leddy-Parayko
Klingburg- Faulk
Krug - Kessel

 

[SirPaste]

Way too early to tell. What if we bring in Roslovic, Tarasenko and Klingberg on cheap deals while trading for Pinto? That's a lot different team.

Neighbours - Thomas - Buch
Kyrou - Pinto - Roslovic
Saad - Schenn - Tarasenko
Texier - Bolduc - Kapanen

Leddy-Parayko
Klingburg- Faulk
Krug - Kessel

Tarasenko ship has sailed and he has offers out there, I would be shocked if he came back here. Don't have much interest in Klingberg, but replace him with Kylington there and I could be on board.

 

[TerminatorBlue]

20 votes so far and not one of us think we will make the playoffs lol. I think next year will be the year we can make some moves, Krug, Schenn and Faulk can be traded in 2025 which can free up significant cap space.

 

[PJJJP]

Depends on how the goalies play and if key players get injured

 

[Majorityof1]

Tarasenko ship has sailed and he has offers out there, I would be shocked if he came back here. Don't have much interest in Klingberg, but replace him with Kylington there and I could be on board.

I don't disagree. Thise were just the top remaining names I grabbed quickly to show how a few deals could drastically change the team. It may or may not be a good strategy, but there are deals still out there to make us a pretty likely playoff team

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Pinto would be a perfect fit for the Blues right now and he's tired of being a low priority for the Sens. I'm curious what it would take to acquire him.

 

[Brian39]

- Despite the amount of signings today, I'm not sure anyone below us has done enough to really alter the standings besides New Jersey(at least in regards to us).

I see strong potential for improvement in several teams around/below us.

I will be very surprised if Utah isn't better than Arizona was last year. Upgrading Moser/Dumba to Sergachev/Marino is a large improvement that should take some load off Durzi. Cole is a decent short-term guy to play 4/5 minutes and Valimaki is still there. They are noticeably better 1-5 on the blue line than they were last year. They still have $20M+ in cap space (with 19 guys rostered) to extend Hayden and bring in additional middle of the lineup support if they want. And that's before we consider whether any of their excellent prospect pool proves ready to contribute in limited roles.

Seattle gave out some ugly contracts that should age real terribly, but in terms of a single-season improvement from last year, adding Montour and Stephenson brings improvement in two key areas and it is pretty reasonable to expect one of Beniers/Wright to take a step forward.

The Sens made a large upgrade in net. I'm not wild about replacing Chychrun with Jensen on pure ability/age, but it balanced their left/right sides and Jensen's skillset is more in line with defending than Chychrun's. I think they have more work to do, but I see tangibles steps forward in preventing goals against, which was by far their biggest issue.

With the Devils, that is 4 teams who were within 15 points of us in the standings that have provided real reason to believe in a single-season improvement.

Buffalo and Detroit both exist in the 'believe it when I see it' category, but both have substantial cap space to address needs. I would say the jury is still very much out on what these two teams will be next year.

Looking beyond 'these teams specifically could jump us' I also see clear improvement within our division. We can debate about how much better/worse/stagnated Colorado, Dallas, and Winnipeg will be, but none of them became noticeably easier nights for the Blues. Nashville got better. Arizona Utah got better. Chicago added actual NHL players at every position and got better. Minnesota (like us) hasn't really moved the needle one way or another. On paper, banking points against the teams we play the most is going to be a much taller task than it was last year.

Finally, we were a pretty damn healthy team last year. All 9 forwards who averaged 13+ minutes a night played 71+ games last season. 3 of the top 4 D played 77+ games and the 4th (Krug) played 60. Neither goalie got hurt. Odds are pretty good that we are going to deal with more significant/consequential injuries this year.

And all these assumptions about repeating last year rely on Buch staying, the goalies being top 5-10 in the league again, and no other trades for futures off the current roster.

There is still a lot of time before camps open and a decent chunk of RFA and roster logjam situations where teams that just reconfigured their depth charts with UFAs will need to move out some guys to make everything work. There are also the Buffalo/Detroits of the world who are facing major pressure to make the playoffs within the market, didn't land the day 1 UFAs they were targeting, and are likely aggressively shopping for other solutions. Llike every year, there should still be some fairly significant changes around the league between 7/2 and opening night. But just as we stand right now, I see a lot of avenues for the Blues to get jumped by a good chunk of teams.

 

[TerminatorBlue]

I see strong potential for improvement in several teams around/below us.

I will be very surprised if Utah isn't better than Arizona was last year. Upgrading Moser/Dumba to Sergachev/Marino is a large improvement that should take some load off Durzi. Cole is a decent short-term guy to play 4/5 minutes and Valimaki is still there. They are noticeably better 1-5 on the blue line than they were last year. They still have $20M+ in cap space (with 19 guys rostered) to extend Hayden and bring in additional middle of the lineup support if they want. And that's before we consider whether any of their excellent prospect pool proves ready to contribute in limited roles.

Seattle gave out some ugly contracts that should age real terribly, but in terms of a single-season improvement from last year, adding Montour and Stephenson brings improvement in two key areas and it is pretty reasonable to expect one of Beniers/Wright to take a step forward.

The Sens made a large upgrade in net. I'm not wild about replacing Chychrun with Jensen on pure ability/age, but it balanced their left/right sides and Jensen's skillset is more in line with defending than Chychrun's. I think they have more work to do, but I see tangibles steps forward in preventing goals against, which was by far their biggest issue.

With the Devils, that is 4 teams who were within 15 points of us in the standings that have provided real reason to believe in a single-season improvement.

Buffalo and Detroit both exist in the 'believe it when I see it' category, but both have substantial cap space to address needs. I would say the jury is still very much out on what these two teams will be next year.

Looking beyond 'these teams specifically could jump us' I also see clear improvement within our division. We can debate about how much better/worse/stagnated Colorado, Dallas, and Winnipeg will be, but none of them became noticeably easier nights for the Blues. Nashville got better. Arizona Utah got better. Chicago added actual NHL players at every position and got better. Minnesota (like us) hasn't really moved the needle one way or another. On paper, banking points against the teams we play the most is going to be a much taller task than it was last year.

Finally, we were a pretty damn healthy team last year. All 9 forwards who averaged 13+ minutes a night played 71+ games last season. 3 of the top 4 D played 77+ games and the 4th (Krug) played 60. Neither goalie got hurt. Odds are pretty good that we are going to deal with more significant/consequential injuries this year.

And all these assumptions about repeating last year rely on Buch staying, the goalies being top 5-10 in the league again, and no other trades for futures off the current roster.

There is still a lot of time before camps open and a decent chunk of RFA and roster logjam situations where teams that just reconfigured their depth charts with UFAs will need to move out some guys to make everything work. There are also the Buffalo/Detroits of the world who are facing major pressure to make the playoffs within the market, didn't land the day 1 UFAs they were targeting, and are likely aggressively shopping for other solutions. Llike every year, there should still be some fairly significant changes around the league between 7/2 and opening night. But just as we stand right now, I see a lot of avenues for the Blues to get jumped by a good chunk of teams.

Yup, I agree 100% with what you said, which is why I voted bottom 10 team next year.
Utah, Ottawa, Seattle, New Jersey, Minnesota, Buffalo,, Detroit. I can see all these teams finishing higher in the Standings than us.

 

[Brian39]

Pinto would be a perfect fit for the Blues right now and he's tired of being a low priority for the Sens. I'm curious what it would take to acquire him.

He is one of my favorite realistic trade candidates. Maybe my favorite.

Unfortunately, odds are extremely good that Ottawa is on the no trade list of damn near every vet on our roster so it would be pretty tough for us to get a deal done.

I'd wager that it would have to be part of a Kyrou deal. You know I'm far from a Kyrou basher, but he is by far our best player who doesn't have trade protection. Ottawa should be drooling to get a mid-20s player with 7 years of term who can't just use Ottawa as a brief stop to go somewhere else. That ship probably sailed with them giving out money to forwards yesterday, because now they would have to send money back our way. But a deal centered around Kyrou for Pinto, cap shedding, and more makes some sense.

Kleven is the only prospect of theirs who interests me and the existence of Chabot/Sanderson might make him an expendable luxury in their eyes. They also have picks to trade, although the league taking one of their next three 1sts complicates that. But it is reasonable to think that they might use Pinto and more futures to add to a roster that should be opening a contender window (by age). Or maybe they look at their brutal prospect pool and decide to just recover the best futures package they can get for him (or strong-arming him into another 1 year bridge if that package never comes).

 

[Drubilly]

I think the Blues will finish around 10th worst. The following year they will see improvement but the hockey gods will us the 1OVA. They summoned Bedard to the Hawks and will summon his cousin to their rival. It is written and so it shall be.

 

[SirPaste]

He is one of my favorite realistic trade candidates. Maybe my favorite.

Unfortunately, odds are extremely good that Ottawa is on the no trade list of damn near every vet on our roster so it would be pretty tough for us to get a deal done.

I'd wager that it would have to be part of a Kyrou deal. You know I'm far from a Kyrou basher, but he is by far our best player who doesn't have trade protection. Ottawa should be drooling to get a mid-20s player with 7 years of term who can't just use Ottawa as a brief stop to go somewhere else. That ship probably sailed with them giving out money to forwards yesterday, because now they would have to send money back our way. But a deal centered around Kyrou for Pinto, cap shedding, and more makes some sense.

Kleven is the only prospect of theirs who interests me and the existence of Chabot/Sanderson might make him an expendable luxury in their eyes. They also have picks to trade, although the league taking one of their next three 1sts complicates that. But it is reasonable to think that they might use Pinto and more futures to add to a roster that should be opening a contender window (by age). Or maybe they look at their brutal prospect pool and decide to just recover the best futures package they can get for him (or strong-arming him into another 1 year bridge if that package never comes).

I think the goal would be to get Pinto to add to the Thomas/Kyrou core at forward. So I would be looking to move futures, not sure what Ottawa would realistically be looking to do as it seems he didn't actually request a trade but they don't currently have enough cap space to get him signed so it wouldn't be surprising if he was frustrated. Ottawa is just a team that is hard to pinpoint what exactly they are trying to do, they should be looking to make that next step with the acquisition of Ullmark so futures might not be interesting to them.

 

[Blueston]

He is one of my favorite realistic trade candidates. Maybe my favorite.

Unfortunately, odds are extremely good that Ottawa is on the no trade list of damn near every vet on our roster so it would be pretty tough for us to get a deal done.

I'd wager that it would have to be part of a Kyrou deal. You know I'm far from a Kyrou basher, but he is by far our best player who doesn't have trade protection. Ottawa should be drooling to get a mid-20s player with 7 years of term who can't just use Ottawa as a brief stop to go somewhere else. That ship probably sailed with them giving out money to forwards yesterday, because now they would have to send money back our way. But a deal centered around Kyrou for Pinto, cap shedding, and more makes some sense.

Kleven is the only prospect of theirs who interests me and the existence of Chabot/Sanderson might make him an expendable luxury in their eyes. They also have picks to trade, although the league taking one of their next three 1sts complicates that. But it is reasonable to think that they might use Pinto and more futures to add to a roster that should be opening a contender window (by age). Or maybe they look at their brutal prospect pool and decide to just recover the best futures package they can get for him (or strong-arming him into another 1 year bridge if that package never comes).

They have cap issues, so Kyrou would be a tough add for them. Not to mention I don’t want to deal him for a forward. They may have interest in Dean, who played jr hockey in ottawa area and couid conceivably jump into lineup now at low $ for them. Would likely need to add, but he could be good start to package.