The Blues are good on defensemen, not so good on forwards. After Kyrou and Kostin, I don't see any young forwards who could help this season down there. All the others are still a few years away.
Got to take a call. Be back in a few.
Sorry about that. Jake Allen called.
Jake has nothing but fond memories of St. Louis, he said. And he was here a long time.
Dunn certainly gives you more years going forward. And offense is going to be an issue next season. That's going to be an issue. Though in the immediate term, the Blues are a better team with Pietrangelo.
It's possible, though I'm hesitant to declare Perunovich the next Cole Makar just because that's saying a lot. The Blues won't be spending that much money on Dunn -- he's not arbitration eligible so he won't get a gigantic deal -- and I don't know that you want to all of a sudden have a whole bunch of youngsters out there.Next season will be Dunn's fourth in the league, so he's becoming a veteran, though he clearly has places to improve. I would think Dunn isn't going to get a long deal like Parayko got.
What Pietrangelo gives you is dependability. The Blues know what they're getting from him, and it's usually at a pretty high level. Can they survive with out him? Sure. Parayko has been readied for the top role, Marco Scandella equals Jay Bouwmeester, and you can plug in Niko Mikkola and that should work. Faulk will be better. Some variables there, but it's a group that can get the job done. Pietrangelo gives the group stability, and leadership. And you can play him as much as you want. But yes, failing to re-sign him does not end things. But everyone would need to step up their game for the increased responsibility.
Armstrong said they talked to all their minor-league scouts and executives last night and they felt Husso was ready to take that step. During the season, that's what I heard but that they would have really liked to get him an NHL game because that's just good experience for him to have. The 2018-19 season wasn't good for Husso -- he got hurt and his performance was off -- which ultimately won the Blues the Stanley Cup because it opened the door for Binnington. They were more pleased with his play this season. Armstrong this morning: "We think he needs to get that 25 to 30 starts, we need to find out if our scouting information and our goalie coaches ... they gave him a thumbs up. ... Everyone feels he's ready for the opportunity and we need as an organization to provide an opportunity for younger players. It's really irrelevant what I think or hope, it's going to be what he does. And I'm hoping that he can get in there and do the job that we believe he can do."
Schwartz is an unrestricted free agent after next season, so if the Blues don't think they can re-sign him and fit him under the cap, the return on him would be better now. The problem, of course, is that the Blues don't want a big return right now. They want a good prospect who is a year away and a high draft pick. Would they get more by holding on to Schwartz and trading him later? Maybe. The problem with pretty much everyone else on the team is that trading them doesn't solve your problem. You can trade Gunnarsson, but you still need to find another $4 million. So you can either trade one high-priced guy or three lower-priced guys. And trading young guys like Blais or Sanford doesn't save you money against the cap because they're not making much.
No. His AAV on this contract and for next season would stay the same.
On the day Tarasenko returned to action, the Blues would have to be able to fit $7.5 million on to their payroll and be under the cap, even if the season were almost over. I hope this makes sense, but while he would have $3.75 million yet to be paid at the halfway mark in the example you give, to follow that line of thinking, the cap is in effect no longer $81.5 million at that time of year, but half of it. So it's all relative. You can add players at the trade deadline because the other team has been paying that salary, so the Blues only have to accommodate a certain amount of it.
I don't think they know yet what to expect so I'm sure it's something that will be monitored, especially since as Armstrong said, everyone involved showed some symptoms. That's something to be watched going forward, though we're not sure who everyone involved was.
Well, the maximum length of an NHL contract is eight years, so that first one is out. 8 for 8 is in the ballpark, though I think Pietrangelo is looking for 8+ for 8 years. At that price, a deal would seem do-able, though the Blues would have to ask if they want to go that long. By the time Pietrangelo is 36, 37, 38 years old, $8+ million a year is going to be a lot of money for their likely return.
Right. The Blues can't put Tarasenko on LTIR and use that money to pay Pietrangelo unless Tarasenko misses the entire season. So that's not an option. And if Tarasenko was going to miss the entire season, that money may be better spent on someone who could score goals.
That would be the ultimate act of generosity on the part of Steen to do that, since he would be walking away from $5.75 million. And also a big step since he sounds like someone who still wants to play. It would be tough for a player, no matter how much he's making, to retire while he still thought he could play. Pro athletes just aren't wired like that.
About the same. Edmundson didn't have arbitration rights yet, if that's what you mean. The next two seasons, he did.
What I meant by that was that Scandella was in the Bouwmeester role. Bouwmeester is a potential Hockey Hall of Famer; Scandella isn't.
Armstrong said a few teams that he thought would be interested in trading for Allen said they liked him but didn't want to give up assets for him. There are a bunch of goalies who will be UFAs after this season, who might cost a little more, but might give you more pop. Holtby, Crawford, Lehner, Markstrom, Khudobin among others are UFAs after this season. Allen's numbers are good, but I can imagine some teams having some hesitancy about going all in on Jake compared to some of those other guys.
It does not. Essentially subtract the league minimum from Steen's contract and that's what would count against the Blues salary cap. That's why if you send someone like Kyrou down it doesn't cost you anything because his salary is cancelled out. But you can't hide a veteran in the minors.
I saw that when looking at the Junior Blues season stats. He might have been passing through town and they let him play a few games while he was here. Otherwise, I know nothing about him.
It might be a case where, after the bulk of the free agents are signed, they take a stab at someone, like Maroon, who is still out there. The cost of a proven scorer will be high.
Well the team fired its GM, so the level of talent may have been an issue. The key to being a good coach is having good players.
I think the hopes are that Perunovich is a top two pairing defenseman, and he's got an offensive bent. He's only a year younger than Dunn and is coming into the league at 22, so how quickly he develops will be interesting to see.
Hey folks, I've got to run and start writing stories and doing things like that. Thanks for all the input and the questions and best of luck to Jake Allen as he begins a new life in Montreal. Very good turnout on the chat today. So we owe Jake for that. Until next time!
