Let's Go Blues

Here's what we're looking at...according to:
http://www.nhlnumbers.com/overview.php? ... eason=0910

UFA's...if we don't resign these players, their salary comes off of the books after this season is over:
Kariya - 6.00 million
Mason - $3 million
Tkachuk - $2.125 million
Colaiacovo - $1.4 million
Sydor - $1 million
Winchester - $800k
Weaver - $800k
Armstrong - $688k
Stastny - $500k
--------------------
Total - $16.313 million
'09-'10 Cap room - $7.619 million

Assuming the salary cap doesn't change (it will) and assuming we spend up to the cap...(we won't), and assuming those players we resign don't resign for less, we'll have $23.932 million available to spend on free agents and/or raises to those we resign.
That may not be exact, but it should be fairly close.

How would you spend the money?
Here is a list of NHL players that are set to become free agents after this season: http://www.nhlnumbers.com/freeagents.php
(I've noticed that it might not be completely accurate, as Pronger is still on that list as playing for Anaheim and still an UFA in the offseason, which he is not.)

So...
Do you resign Mason? If so, does he get a raise?
Resign Colaiacovo? Does he get a raise?
What forward would you sign if still available?

I sign Carlo and hope we can part ways with Brewer. That makes room for Petro.

Mason is a big Question mark. He's been good and deserves more money, but if you sign him it will probably have to be at least a three year deal and they said Bishop is not a #2. He would play up here as a #1 when he arrives. So if you sigh Mason you're giving up on Bishop. By the time Mason is done with a three year deal it will be Allen time.

You HAVE TO sign a top end scoring forward (Kovalchuk). If you can’t sign a FA, you can probably make a trade because there are always teams looking to shed payroll and we have more than enough room to take some on.

Until we get some top end scoring talent, we will continue to muddle around 500 and 10th to 6th place.

Would you resign Kariya for 2 more years at $3.5 million per?

Even though I am the official sponsor this year of Paulie, I say we let him go. DaDitka will argue this but I think if Walt wants to do another one year deal for the same money I think they will resign him. Mason I believe will be to expensive and since he is getting older this will most likely be his last chance to get that high dollar four year deal. Carlo (the chipmunk) I think has had a bit of a rebirth here and I think we can sign him for a small raise and I think he deserves a little something extra. When it comes down to King vs Cam I think that they will keep Cam 1) home town boy sales tickets 2) King is kinda injury prone. Finally not to sound like a broken record see if we can trade Brewer to a team located at the center of the earth so we will not have to see him ever again.

cprice12 wrote:Would you resign Kariya for 2 more years at $3.5 million per?

Hell no!

But, you absolutely HAVE to resign Mason if he continues to play like he has so far. Conklin's never been a true #1 and may not hold up over the course of a 60-70 game regimen. Sure you've got Bishop, but he's an even bigger question mark at this level. The only scenario I see where we don't resign Mason is if he demands a salary over 5 million a year. He's good, but he's not Nabokov or Khabibulin good.

As for defense. I think you do your best to dump either Brewer or Jackman at the trade deadline and then resign Coliacovo for 2.5-3 mil/yr. That's a reasonable number and it isn't breaking the bank. The only thing to keep in mind here is that Ian Cole will be coming out of Notre Dame after this season and he'll likely be ready to jump right to the big show. So now you're faced with Pietroangelo and Cole on the roster. Maybe you stick Cole in Peoria, but not both.

Offensively it has GOT to be a priority to sign a big name scoring winger (or two). Unless we see some miracle and one of these guys busts out of their slump, we won't have a single player break 30 goals this year. Last year we had two (almost three). Something's got to be done about that.

But seriously guys. It's December and we're not even half way through the season yet. LOTS could change between now and July. Let's just see how this year plays out before we start tearing apart the roster.

strocklen083 wrote:But seriously guys. It's December and we're not even half way through the season yet. LOTS could change between now and July. Let's just see how this year plays out before we start tearing apart the roster.

I'm just thinking ahead. This team needs some tweaking and we'll have some money to spend in the offseason.

keep in mind our RFAs, like Perron and Johnson, could be costly.

I'm really curious what sort of contract Johnson is going to get, especially if he solidifys his play this season and shows that he's a top 10 defenseman.

With the Kane and Toews signings, it seems like the second contracts are starting to get more. But with Johnson missing a season and all, i'm really not sure what kind of contract to expect. There's comparable 2nd year contracts with players making 1.5m/season cap and some, like Kane, making 5mil/cap.

TheoSqua wrote:keep in mind our RFAs, like Perron and Johnson, could be costly.

I'm really curious what sort of contract Johnson is going to get, especially if he solidifys his play this season and shows that he's a top 10 defenseman.

With the Kane and Toews signings, it seems like the second contracts are starting to get more. But with Johnson missing a season and all, i'm really not sure what kind of contract to expect. There's comparable 2nd year contracts with players making 1.5m/season cap and some, like Kane, making 5mil/cap.

I'm also sure the Blues will remind him that we paid him last year when we did not have to.

I think both parties would be best off with a short term, mid range deal, there is no way we can pay EJ like the superstar we think he will be YET, and there is no way he doesn't deserve a significant pay raise.

A short term deal would be attractive to both because EJ would get to go right back to the table in a couple of year when the cap is hopefully higher, and the Blues would be happy because he would still be restricted.

I believe EJ will be getting the max soon enough, just not quite yet.

I imagine $10.7MM of that cap space will be going to Johnson (~$4.7MM), Perron (~$3.3MM), Steen (~$2MM), and Janssen(~$0.7MM).

I assume we might buy out Brewer's last year if no one will take him off our hands (save $2.8MM).

Personally, I would like it if we could make a run at Rinne and let Mason walk. Rinne is entering his prime, he's only going to be 27, and he's already better than Mason. That would likely run about $5.5-6MM/yr.

I think then it will come down to how much Cola will cost us and if there are any available trades to improve the offense. Personally, I think Cola is going to get at least $3.5MM/yr on the open market. Is he worth that? Who will be made available this offseason via trade? Do we go after Kovy or Marleau as a UFA? Do we try and trade for Staal or Spezza?

I think we'll have plenty of cap space next season. It's the season after next that I'm worried about. In 2011 Berglund, Oshie, Eller, and Polak are RFAs and Backes is a UFA. The only money we have coming off the books is Brewer (and he already may be off the books).

strocklen083 wrote:But seriously guys. It's December and we're not even half way through the season yet. LOTS could change between now and July. Let's just see how this year plays out before we start tearing apart the roster.

someone in another thread suggested, jokingly, that Junland should be brought up to play forward. Retrospectively, that's probably not a bad idea at all. He obviously has a shot, he could provide a decent boost offensively and on the cheap as opposed to paying Kariya and some mid-level free agent. Dump Kariya + Brewer + Janssen who serves no actual purpose on this team and let Walt walk, then bring Junland up as a forward role, plus another kid or cheapy free agent reclamation project and spend the extra dough on Kovalchuk. There ya have it.

With as worthless as this team is, why bother resigning anyone over 25 years old? With current leadership, we are YEARS away from contending.