Official Best Offseason Ever Thread

[JCShutout]

Boom Boom resigned for two years, $1.75m/per.

I mean, that's a good deal for a solid 3rd pairing Dman. I can't be mad at this, because I can't see this getting in the way of our RFAs. Now sign Maroon to the exact same deal please.
https://twitter.com/StLouisBlues/status/1144323363751510016

[JCShutout]

https://twitter.com/StLouisBlues/status/1144328444404277257

[glen a richter]

That’s a great AAV, way to go Gunnarsson being a team player and taking less than you would have gotten on the open market. It’ll help with signing everyone else.

[StL Dan]

I thought it might be good to have a RFA/UFA tracker for the Blues within the thread. Not sure this is the best way to do it, but here it is:


Interim HC Craig Berube: 06/24, offered and signed 3 yr contract with the StL Blues

UFA
Thorburn
Maroon
Del Zotto
Carl Gunnarsson: 06/27 - signed 2 yr, 3.5M contract (1.75M AAV) with the StL Blues
Coreau

RFA
Barbashev
Fabbri
Zach Sanford: 07/08 - signed 2 yr, 3M contract with the StL Blues (1.5M AAV)
Sundqvist
Sammy Blais: 07/01 - signed 1 yr, 850K contract with the StL Blues
Binnington (2 years from UFA status)

Existing contracts with caveats
Bozak has 10-team no trade list
Perron has 5-team no trade list
Schwartz has 15-team no trade list

Full no trade clauses:
Tarasenko
Pietrangelo
Steen
Bouwmeester

**Chris Butler: 07/03 - announces retirement from the NHL

[JCShutout]

https://twitter.com/jprutherford/status/1144671428672937984 Thank you for everything hometown hero. Standing Ovation every time you come back. Can't blame the man if he wants to take the money and run, and I hope the Blues make the smart, though admittedly difficult choice.

Kyrou time!

[WaukeeBlues]

Binnington concerns me. I could see it being a high AAV. If that's the case we may have to let some RFA's go or make a deal or two to make room.

Blues got $15.5 to re-sign, at least:

Binnington
Edmundson
Barbashev
Blais
Sundqvist
Sanford

For pessimism sake let's say Binnington get's $6 AAV. Frankly it could be higher than that.

$9.5 for 5 guys is $1.9 each. There's just no room for Maroon or anyone else, quite honestly.

[glen a richter]

If push came to shove and someone had to not be retained, I think Eddy and Sanford would be the easiest to replace. Blais, Sundqvist and Barbashev all proved their value to the team, the former by his addition to the lineup and the latter two by the teams shit performance when they were suspended, and Eddy was considered replaceable at times.

[theohall]

Panthers recent moves have cleared enough cap space to sign both Panarin and Bobrovsky, plus enough remaining to complete their roster. Wasn't true one week ago.

Vegas is still over the cap by about 1.5M. Their cap situation is the reason they essentially gave Colin Miller away to the Sabres.

Going to be interesting to see whom the Avs sign tomorrow with their ridiculous amount of space available assuming whomever is running things is actually allowed to spend that space.

[theohall]

As to the Blues, I don't expect anything to happen. Assuming a deal gets worked out with Edmundson, it looks like the Blues are going to return all but one significant player from a Stanley Cup winning team. Maroon seems to be the only player leaving. Returning almost an entire Championship team in the NHL is not the norm in this cap era.

[marco]

I haven't posted in 10 years :D

Saw Curt in a J Rutherford Twitter thread about Maroon.

So how about them STANLEY CUP CHAMPION ST LOUIS BLUES?! :D

[glen a richter]

Panarin is going to be a Ranger if he can forgive them for putting his head on a left handed shot. I would be cautious, if I was the rest of the East, to take Florida very seriously though because if he does ultimately pick the Panthers, plus with Q behind the bench, they're going to be a force fast.

[Portland Blues]

I haven't posted in 10 years :D

Saw Curt in a J Rutherford Twitter thread about Maroon.

So how about them STANLEY CUP CHAMPION ST LOUIS BLUES?! :D

Congrats on surviving the last decade and welcome back.

[marco]

I haven't posted in 10 years :D

Saw Curt in a J Rutherford Twitter thread about Maroon.

So how about them STANLEY CUP CHAMPION ST LOUIS BLUES?! :D

Congrats on surviving the last decade and welcome back.

Thank you, thank you.

It was a litle weird seeing my old login work, then seeing my last posts from another decade. Got married, had a couple kids, bought a home in the Metro East... Yada yada yada... The Blues won a Stanley Cup!!!

[marco]

Pavelski to Dallas

Duchene to Nashville

[Portland Blues]

I haven't posted in 10 years :D

Saw Curt in a J Rutherford Twitter thread about Maroon.

So how about them STANLEY CUP CHAMPION ST LOUIS BLUES?! :D

Congrats on surviving the last decade and welcome back.

Thank you, thank you.

It was a litle weird seeing my old login work, then seeing my last posts from another decade. Got married, had a couple kids, bought a home in the Metro East... Yada yada yada... The Blues won a Stanley Cup!!!

Congrats on everything! It's weird to think about how much life has changed (winning a Stanley Cup for example) in the almost 20 years we've been kicking around this forum.

[JCShutout]

Blais is back for one year at $850k. That's about right where it should be. I think we'll see a similar number for Fabbri and Sanford.

Panik got 4/11 ($2.75m/yr) from Washington. That's gotta be the neighborhood for Sunny, Barbie and Maroon, and one would think we could make all of them fit in that neighborhood as long as Binner and Eddy don't cost the moon.

[marco]

Maroon will moving on to the highest bidder, and his spot can be filled in with the current org depth chart. Good for him tho bc he will need to cash in now, probably his last opportunity. For him now will be just about earning a paycheck and being servicable in anyone's lineup.

[WaukeeBlues]

Chris Butler retired sad but good for him!

I was born October 27, 1986 in Kirkwood, Missouri…not exactly a hockey hotbed, yet!

But I was lucky from the day I was born.

My father, Doug, had migrated to St. Louis from Souris, Manitoba to play college hockey at Saint Louis University in 1975 and there he would meet my mother, Martha, a field hockey player. To say hockey is in my blood is an understatement.

Now, we didn't have season tickets to the Blues growing up but my dad would take me to a game every year around my birthday and I was hooked. I remember my dad letting me stay up late after hockey practices a couple times per week to watch NHL 2Night on ESPN. Hell, we even had to get a special box from the cable company to get half - just half! - of the Blues games on TV, and this is when I got hooked!

I fell in love with the game of hockey watching the likes of Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger.

Now I could go on and on about my favorite player or Blues moments growing up but on June 12, 2019 I got to live the greatest moment in Blues history.

I could say the last five years being a member of the Blues organization was a dream come true but that would be a lie. It was a dream that never existed for me. Growing up in St Louis, as a hockey player, my dream was to someday be able to get a college scholarship and help my parents by paying for my education, that was it.

As I fast forward to free agency, I was hoping for a multi-year deal that never materialized. I spoke with Doug Armstrong and the last five years have been a blur. From lifting the Stanley Cup, to holding it for Bobby Plager as he drank a beer from it on the flight home, to the parade and partying with the entire city of St Louis, it was a hell of a way to cap my career off! And then going back to the arena where I watched hockey games growing up and playing for the team that made me fall in love with the game of hockey still doesn't seem real, and I hope that it never does.

But I do have one hope, that my journey can inspire the next generation of young hockey players to say the hell with settling for just college hockey... My dream is to play for the Blues and win another Stanley Cup!

Clicky!

[glen a richter]

I remember one game Butler played in, forget the opponent but Blues won 6-5 and Butler was a minus 5. Sucks that’s the game that sticks out for me.

[theohall]

With the Leafs signing Kerfoot and Ceci, they have a whopping 3.77M to sign Marner. Yeah, there is the option of going 15% over the cap until the season starts, but that would force Dubas to dump the difference in salary somehow. Should be an interesting time until that gets resolved.