Join Jeff Gordon for his live STL sports chat at 1 p.m. Friday
Bring your Cards, Blues, Mizzou, SLU and MLS questions and comments, and talk to columnist Jeff Gordon in his weekly live chat.
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Growing up I was a fan but we never won, So after the Cup win and tears of joy like many I am a Blues addict! You know it's weird when you wake up at 3 in the morning and play General Manager! It should be a board game! Anyway now this expansion draft is disrupting my sleep. The game is getting younger but the veteran leadership is crucial. The Blues have put a lot into Sunny, Sanford, Dunn and developed these guys into solid potentially consistent very good players that can be here for years. Mikkola is another unique physical talent that you want to continue to develop into a top 4 d man. We don't have another Mikkola or Sunny. Sanford needs more Berube mentoirship but he's close to being a reliable front net presence . We don't have another coming up. So we can dangle Dunn for the Kraken because he may or may not ever be as good as Krug. They're too similar. Krug is very good and will remain that way. Dunn is not there and it's unknown if he will ever be. His terrible Petro agent will hold him out for ransom you can count on that. So I would not protect Perron, Schwartz and Dunn. Sanford and Sunny are simply too young and too good and in their prime years. Also excellent team friendly contracts. Unfortunately I have to leave Mikkola unprotected because we have to protect Faulk, Krug, and Parayko. Only 3 allowed. The play is the Kraken take Dunn due to high ceiling potential and youth. With Perunovich in the pipe line and Krug already here ( Walman as well) it's something we can recover from. Now I am going back to bed! -
I can see Dunn going to the Kraken. D-men are tough to come by and he's going to play a lot this year for the Blues due to injuries and such. He will get ample exposure. Up front, I can see the team extending Schwartz and protecting both him and Perron to keep more of the Cup nucleus. If that means losing Sanford or Sundqvist, so be it.
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When things return to normal. Eighty one games plus playoffs is too much for any goalie in the history of the game. The mental focus and intensity wanes. So we need 2 number one's. What is the Blues Goalie budget? That's the question. If it's 8 million and you pay Binner 6 million it's Ville Husso for at least a few more years. Overpaying a goalie can sink your team if he's not worth it. ( see Marc Bergeron and Carey Price 10 plus million a year is basically destroying Bergeron and the team) Another way to go would be two veteran guys from UFA. Like Fredrick Anderson from the Leafs and whoever else is available. Antti Raanta, Tukka Rask, Pekka Renne are all UFAs. ( Antti Tukka and Pekka oh my!!! Take on lions tigers and bears--Wizard of Oz! Get it? ) Anyway I digress. The minute you pay a goalie 6 plus million per year you have to have a cheap young back up. Raanta is intriguing because he won't get big dollars and he may be a number one playing behind keumper. Army will not go past 6 million per year for Binner so that's another thing. I know you want to keep Binner but face it he's good not great. Capable of great just not all the time.
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The Blues have won with Binnington. He is a huge piece of the team chemistry. The team can easily afford to pay him the going rate for a true No. 1 netminder and still surround him with a very good team. Given this team's uneven goaltending history, inviting more uncertainty would be stupid.
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Last time Vegas was an expansion team and George Macfee the GM/ President fleeced the whole league. What the heck are the rules anyway? Can you call the Kraken and say who do you want out of these players? Work out trades with them? I remember Vegas wheeling and dealing like they were playing Texas Hold 'em!
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Yes, teams can make a deal with the Kraken to take this player instead of that one. Teams can spent draft picks and prospects to that. But given the fact the Blues have already spent a lot of draft picks and prospects to build this team, I don't see the Blues playing that game. Doug Armstrong knows he will lose a good player, but that will just be one player -- and in the flat cap era, teams are going to lose good players anyway.
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Hi, Mr. Gordon. Thank you for the chat. MU's AD Sterk has to be pleased that a number of Mizzou teams are nationally ranked. But he can't be all that happy with Pingeton and the women's basketball team. This team was very mediocre, and at times downright bad. It couldn't play defense, had trouble with way too many turnovers, and couldn't rebound. When the team couldn't shoot, it had no chance. Do you think Pingeton can take this team to anything above a middle-of-the-pack SEC team, or is that her ceiling?
Concerning the St. Louis Cardinals. Judging from chats this week, I guess Mozeliak's honeymoon period following the Arenado trade is over. Could you please point out to the self-anointed "Best Fans in Baseball" that if they are going to criticize Mozeliak and the players that the fans should at least learn to spell their names correctly. Thanks for your time. -
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As much as Cards fans would love to pick the coaches, they do not. Certainly there will be a lot of attention paid to what happens with Albert this season, but I don't see Mike Shildt running fan polls to guide his choices with the field staff.As for Edmonds, he's free to pass his wisdom along to the players as he sees fit.
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Given the sheer volume of starting pitching candidates in camp for the Cardinals. I imagine it would take multiple concerns to arise to make the team spend any more money on pitching. At this point, nothing has happened to change the initial pitching outlook. Jake Odorizzi is waiting for a team to offer multiple years. If he waits long enough, he could get such an offer once a team could take a big enough injury hit to change the calculus. Beyond Odorizzi, there's not much out there.
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There a no cap implications with those two. The only players that count against the salary cap are those on the active NHL roster. If either of those two guys ever ended up on the active roster, that just would be an entry-level salary replacing another salary on the active roster.With Carl Gunnarsson on long-term injured reserve for the rest of the season, the Blues have no cap issues with the surviving players. They can bring Tarasenko or anybody else back from injury without losing any players.
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I can see you're a born and raised Red Wing fan from Detroit. And now you love the Blues obviously. We all had to grow up some where! My friend met Gordie Howe once and when he shook his hand Gordie had monster hands wrapping around my friends!! I never saw him play I can't imagine being in a fight with him. Did you ever meet him or go to his massive funeral?
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I never met him one-on-one. But I had a grandmother that worked the hospital the Red Wings used back in the day. She had nothing but great things to say about what a good guy he was. Everybody said the same thing about him. And as for his strength, yes, he was a beast. Farm boy strength.
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He is having the same issues that Jack Hughes had last season. There is not much time or space out there. The NHL game is fast and NHL skaters are strong. The ice closes in a hurry. But just as Hughes is making strides in Year 2, so will Lafreniere. Don't write him off yet.
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Happy Friday! Jeff your chats are the Gold standard. The Cards are light on LH batters that can hit. Why did MO pass on Danny Santana? Since Edman is replacing Wong wouldn't Santana would have been a good replacement for Edman? He can play anywhere and has hit in the past.
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Santana has had a pretty uneven career offensively, Outside of this chat, I can't remember seeing much connection between the Cardinals and him. As for subbing out Edman, right now that's what Carpenter is doing. He is under contract for big money for this year, so the team is finding something for him to do.
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Despite all this mishaps, the Cardinals have banked 13 consecutive winning seasons while going to the postseason in seven of the last 10 years, The Cardinals have been the gold standard for competitive consistency on his watch. No amount of fan whining changes that.
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Where is the NHL headed visibility wise? I am reading out at NBC in at ESPN. How would that look? NHL.Com is still the easiest it's about $100 bucks for all regular season games. NHL is the most entertaining sport on TV today. Games are quick and exciting. Just needs greater exposure. Can't believe NBA gets good ratings with all this 3 point shooting the league wide play has gone downhill. I think their ratings have gone down as well during Covid.
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Not sure how many more years the MVC has on this deal. As for DePaul and SLU, I don't see either school eager to move to the mid-major level. The A-10 is an upper mid-major and the MVC is a lower mid-major -- one that is hard-pressed to get at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament.
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Watching the Blues on TV and it seems like Steve Ott is doing most of the in-game team instructions at the bench including PP, PK and end of game strategies. Is he taking over some of PP because of lack of production? Also, does he want to be a head coach and when do you think he would be ready for that position?
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Ott is often mentioned as a potential head coach. His time could come soon. As for the power-play adjustments, Jim Montgomery is watching from high above. Although Jim Montgomery works with the PP, Ott is there on the bench. And all the coaches have input on all things.
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I see the Blues minor league forward Sam Anas led the AHL in scoring last year. He's 28 and has never played an NHL game? Professional sports is full of politics. This guy gets screwed year after year. He does everything asked of him but never gets an opportunity. Happens in the NBA too. Teams sign a guy from Europe and due to the money they spent the European guy gets the shot. Not the guy who has toiled in the minors. Who knows how many Luke Voits there are that never get the chance. It's not right and the players associations need to put mandatory opportunities into the professional players contracts that are blocked or stuck in the minors.