Free Agent Moves and Major Trades

[KrustyKevo]

Gonna miss Backes so much.

[KrustyKevo]

I don't believe this has been brought up yet, but who takes the C now? I say Pietrangelo.

[theohall]

To the folks pissed about Perron...

1) How many UFA LWs were available?
2) How many are actually goal scorers who aren't old?
3) The Blues lack depth at LW and what they do have in the system for LW are essentially all Cs who are still at the developmental level.

So - how would you have solved the Blues LW issue of having somewhat talented players to play for the Blues this season at the NHL level beyond Steen (who they want at C) and Schwartz? More Paajarvi and garbage?

After answering those questions, consider the deal the Perron signed He's still easily tradeable with that cap number if it isn't working out and seemingly someone always wants Perron at the trade deadline and they usually give up a high pick for him. What's the issue? That he couldn't play for Andy Murray??? Puh-lease.

[Oaklandblue]

Paying Stastny 7m to so far do jack shit, but yall won't pay Backes 6? You deserve what you get.

Shatt is going for picks or a prospect and/or a middling player. One year contracts usually get those, so the Blues might just want to play him in the right position for a change instead of trying to trade him off.

The sooner Army and Hitch are fired the better. This is only going to get worse.

As for the C, expect Hitch NOT to give it to Pie. If Pie gets it, I will be shocked. Perron is a downgrade, no matter what anyone says. There's a reason we shipped him off.

And paying Allen 4.35 a year for 4 years while letting Elliott go for nothing? Jake ain't worth that much yet, if at all. Everyone's delusional and keeps looking at the future and not focusing on the now.

Like I said earlier and I will say again, our window is quickly closing. Don't blame the messenger.

[theohall]

Why do morons write articles that say a Left Winger replaces a Right Winger?

Is this aimed at me? I mean, I said that above, but I wasn't meaning positionally, I was meaning more from a points output and PP role standpoint.

No. I was referring to people that actually write articles and get paid to do so as sports writers. In others words, the mediots. A direct quote from an article - "Perron replaces RW Troy Brouwer who signed with Calgary." No mention in said article that Perron is a left winger at all or that it is part of addressing the lack of depth at LW for the Blues.

[dmiles2186]

I don't believe this has been brought up yet, but who takes the C now? I say Pietrangelo.

I agree with you. In fact, this seems like it should be it's own thread. I'll make one now.

[Oaklandblue]

I don't believe this has been brought up yet, but who takes the C now? I say Pietrangelo.

I'd say Steen, but something tells me Hitch will pick Tank.

[theohall]

Also....Jay Bouwmeester.
I'm so tired of that guy! Ugh!

Sent from my R2 unit

To me, this is the big issue. Bouwmeester isn't bad per se, but we're going to lose Shatty because we can't fit him under the cap while we're paying Bouwmeester $5.4 mil to play the same position. Instead of having a really good young defenseman here longterm and some cap space, we have Bouwmeester here long term and it's unclear whether we can allocate cap space to Shatty beyond this year or we should be using that for something else.

Losing Brouwer and Backes sucks, but those were bad contracts. Losing Elliott sucks, but I have confidence in Allen to be just as good as Elliott. The Shattenkirk situation is bad on a bunch of levels though and I don't really see any silver lining to it. If we trade him and get good value, I'll revisit my sentiments, but that situation is purely negative to me right now.

The problem with comparing Bouwmeester and Shattenkirk, while both are defenseman, Shattenkirk cannot play on the left side where Bouwmeester plays. He sucks worse than Bouwmeester playing left D which says something. Yes, Bouwmeester is overpaid and shouldn't be anything better than a 3rd pairing D-man.

The issue with Shattenkirk and the Blues - who are the Blues top 2 right-handed defenseman who play their best hockey playing on the right side? They have Pietrangelo, Shattenkirk, and Parayko. Which one do you relegate to playing 3rd pairing ice time while paying them big bucks, which Parayko will get next season? Or which one do you play on their off-side on the 2nd pairing and get not as effective defense? We already saw how bad Shatty is on the left side. We also saw Shattenkirk is not a #1 defenseman when Pietrangelo went down. He wasn't as good, but played decent enough. The Blues have way too many right-handed defenseman and moving Shattenkirk to improve the team elsewhere is the best scenario - unless you want to give up Parayko. There are other guys to move up.

Hopefully, they can lose Bouwmeester next season in the expansion draft, because I doubt anyone will take on that contract.

The other problem is the coaching staff (read Hitchcock) still thinks Bouwmeester is a #1 LD when truth is the Blues D improved late in the season when Edmundson played with Pietrangelo. It's a shame we never got to see that in the playoffs and see if Bouwmeester would have been more effective on the 2nd or 3rd pairing.

[Kerfuffle]

So Ott signs with the Red Wings.

[theohall]

Steve Ott to Detroit!!!!

[Krigloch the Furious]

Whoa!

Sent from my R2 unit

[dmiles2186]

Steve Ott to Detroit!!!!

[cardsfan04]

https://twitter.com/RedBeardSTL/status/748991766380945409

[cardsfan04]

Also....Jay Bouwmeester.
I'm so tired of that guy! Ugh!

Sent from my R2 unit

To me, this is the big issue. Bouwmeester isn't bad per se, but we're going to lose Shatty because we can't fit him under the cap while we're paying Bouwmeester $5.4 mil to play the same position. Instead of having a really good young defenseman here longterm and some cap space, we have Bouwmeester here long term and it's unclear whether we can allocate cap space to Shatty beyond this year or we should be using that for something else.

Losing Brouwer and Backes sucks, but those were bad contracts. Losing Elliott sucks, but I have confidence in Allen to be just as good as Elliott. The Shattenkirk situation is bad on a bunch of levels though and I don't really see any silver lining to it. If we trade him and get good value, I'll revisit my sentiments, but that situation is purely negative to me right now.

The problem with comparing Bouwmeester and Shattenkirk, while both are defenseman, Shattenkirk cannot play on the left side where Bouwmeester plays. He sucks worse than Bouwmeester playing left D which says something. Yes, Bouwmeester is overpaid and shouldn't be anything better than a 3rd pairing D-man.

The issue with Shattenkirk and the Blues - who are the Blues top 2 right-handed defenseman who play their best hockey playing on the right side? They have Pietrangelo, Shattenkirk, and Parayko. Which one do you relegate to playing 3rd pairing ice time while paying them big bucks, which Parayko will get next season? Or which one do you play on their off-side on the 2nd pairing and get not as effective defense? We already saw how bad Shatty is on the left side. We also saw Shattenkirk is not a #1 defenseman when Pietrangelo went down. He wasn't as good, but played decent enough. The Blues have way too many right-handed defenseman and moving Shattenkirk to improve the team elsewhere is the best scenario - unless you want to give up Parayko. There are other guys to move up.

Hopefully, they can lose Bouwmeester next season in the expansion draft, because I doubt anyone will take on that contract.

The other problem is the coaching staff (read Hitchcock) still thinks Bouwmeester is a #1 LD when truth is the Blues D improved late in the season when Edmundson played with Pietrangelo. It's a shame we never got to see that in the playoffs and see if Bouwmeester would have been more effective on the 2nd or 3rd pairing.

From a salary allocation standpoint, I don't think left vs right matters much and Bouwmeester and Shattenkirk can be compared (I'd rather pay for a really good dman on second pairing than for a mediocre dman on top pairing). But, that's a really good point about Parayko being a third right dman. You don't wanna put one of those 3 on the 3rd pairing. I hadn't considered that aspect of it. I never played hockey, so I sometimes struggle to grasp the differences of left vs right on both defense and wing.

[crazyhorse]

The C had better go to Steen.


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[theohall]

From a salary allocation standpoint, I don't think left vs right matters much and Bouwmeester and Shattenkirk can be compared (I'd rather pay for a really good dman on second pairing than for a mediocre dman on top pairing). But, that's a really good point about Parayko being a third right dman. You don't wanna put one of those 3 on the 3rd pairing. I hadn't considered that aspect of it. I never played hockey, so I sometimes struggle to grasp the differences of left vs right on both defense and wing.

That's what makes Shattenkirk the guy to move - the combination of salary and having too many right handers. Parayko is cheap this season, but whatever the Blues gain for this season if they can move Shattenkirk, will get eaten up by Parayko signing his deal in 2017.

The issue with knowing Shattenkirk is the guy to move - so does everyone else which will force his value down unless he agrees to an extension as part of the deal - and whatever extension he would agree to would have to be near or at what he would get via his UFA opportunity. Otherwise, what's the point of him agreeing to an extension? He isn't going to do the Blues any favors, unless he gets a chance to play somewhere he really wants to go.

[theohall]

Lee Stempniak would have been a good acquisition based on what Carolina paid him. That experience on RW would have replaced what was lost by Brouwer leaving with a little better skill. Shame he couldn't be brought back into the fold.

[theohall]

Anyone who thinks Montreal got the better end of that deal is living in the hockey past. In pretty much every meaningful metric, Subban is better. Among Dmen, only Karlsson has a more positive effect on creating offensive chances. Also, Montreal's top pairing will now be Weber and Markov. They're going to spend a lot of time waving at forwards from TB/WAS/PIT/NYR as they fly by. And the commitment to Weber goes through his age-38 season; Subban's ends after his age-32 season.

Basically, Montreal's coaching/management were so aggrieved with Subban, somehow, they made a disastrous deal to get rid of him.

Consider this and tell me Montreal didn't get the better end.

The Weber contract was signed under the old CBA and there is a clause in the new CBA about what happens if a player retires while still under one of the old CBA contracts. So... 1) Montreal gets Weber. 2) His cap hit with Montreal is less than what the cap hit was for Subban. 3) If Weber retires before his contract is up, Nashville is on the hook for that cap hit. (This has been all over NHL Radio).

Even if the Habs were to trade Weber later because they felt he was getting old and he went somewhere else still under that old CBA contract, if Weber retires from that new team, Nashville is still on the hook for the cap hit.

Nashville got screwed completely financially on this deal. They've got to pay Subban to play and if Weber suddenly has to retire prior to his deal ending, they have to pay for Weber also, while Montreal pays nothing for Weber's retirement. There is no risk in this for Montreal financially.

[glen a richter]

The shift away from the old core is underway. We all knew it would happen eventually, and it may be for the better eventually. Expect to see a lot of kids jockeying for a roster spot in camp... Maceachern, Musil, Blais, Rattie, Barbashev definitely. As far as trading Shatty, which is inevitable, we didn't draft all those defensemen for nothing. We'll be fine on d.

Hutton to backup Allen? Not how I would have played it out but ok. Preds fans love him, he'll do fine.

[theohall]

Hedman signs 63M 8-year extension with Tampa. Going to be interesting to see how they manage the cap these next two seasons - they have 9 RFAs and 3 UFAs left between this season and next. 13M cap space right now with 4 RFAs and on UFA unsigned. No matter what, that 13M in space drops to 9 next season when Hedman's extension kicks in so whomever they sign this season has to fit under that nine while still having 5 RFAs and 2 UFAs, including one Ben Bishop, to deal with next season. And some of these guys are key players - Killorn, Kucherov, Palat, Johnson. Not so much Sustr, but Drouin is an RFA next season - with all the crap do they move him or re-sign him? If Stamkos is playing C, Drouin is relegated to being a 3rd/4th line center again which is what led to the issues in the first place. Interesting team to watch to see how they manage the cap considering the praise Yzerman has received for building that team. They are going to be up against it come July 2017 unless some players sign very cap-friendly deals.