Let's Go Blues

Per JR's Twitter:

GM Doug Armstrong confirms that Vladimir Tarasenko has agreed to a contract in principal with the #stlblues. He will sign it on July 1.


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I guess July 1 since it's the first day of FA affects how long he's contract controlled or something. Regardless, this is awesome!

Bout time.

And Rattie signed yesterday. They keep comin' in waves.

dmiles2186 wrote:And Rattie signed yesterday. They keep comin' in waves.

Yep. What's the timetable for Rattie? I know he's staying in Juniors for another year, but then is it Peoria and then NHL? I don't fully understand how minor league hockey works.

Also, he had 121 points (57G/64A) in 64 games last year in the WHL. That sounds amazing, but is that overly significant? How does that translate to moving up?

cardsfan04 wrote:

dmiles2186 wrote:And Rattie signed yesterday. They keep comin' in waves.

Yep. What's the timetable for Rattie? I know he's staying in Juniors for another year, but then is it Peoria and then NHL? I don't fully understand how minor league hockey works.

Also, he had 121 points (57G/64A) in 64 games last year in the WHL. That sounds amazing, but is that overly significant? How does that translate to moving up?

I know some of the guys in the Northwest might be able to speak to his specific play, but for a Blues example, you can look at Brett Sonne who scored 100 points in the WHL a few years back but has stalled out in Peoria. But from what I've read about Rattie, for what he lacks in size, he makes up for with speed and skill and that usually can translate at any level. It will be interesting to see how he makes the transition. If I had a guess, he'll go to Peoria first, but who am I, Andy Strickland?

Hopefully JR posts something on the Blues plan for Rattie in an upcoming story, blog or chat.

I asked JR about Rattie in his chat on Thursday, but he didn't answer.

He had a zinger about Strickland though which was pretty good. Apparently there's a rumor that Strickland is trying to join the Blues in some sort of media relations role. JR said it would be a role reversal in which he gets his info from Strickland now instead of the other way around.

Probably worth mentioning that it was in jest, and not a legit shot.

UN........BE..............LIEVABLE!!

I found this on TSN, basically just another confirmation.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=397437

All hail Tank the Savior!

Rattie, I was informed and then after recovering from my brain fart realized for certain, cannot go to Peoria next season as he's too young. So it's either juniors or NHL. I think we all know it's not NHL.

glen a richter wrote:All hail Tank the Savior!

Rattie, I was informed and then after recovering from my brain fart realized for certain, cannot go to Peoria next season as he's too young. So it's either juniors or NHL. I think we all know it's not NHL.

Yeah, JR said he's going to Juniors for another year. There's an age limit of Peoria or am I being dense and missing a joke?

cardsfan04 wrote:

glen a richter wrote:All hail Tank the Savior!

Rattie, I was informed and then after recovering from my brain fart realized for certain, cannot go to Peoria next season as he's too young. So it's either juniors or NHL. I think we all know it's not NHL.

Yeah, JR said he's going to Juniors for another year. There's an age limit of Peoria or am I being dense and missing a joke?

I believe I read that you can't play in the AHL before you are 20 (or something along those lines).

I told you all this a long time ago but nobody listened. I have an in as his LGB sponsor.

On Rattie:

From my understanding, you cannot join the AHL if you're under 20 years old.

From my understanding after playing countless hours of Eastside Hockey Manager, IF you wait to sign a player to contract until their 20th birthday, you can send them to the AHL after they sign, but Rattie won't be 20 until February of 2013, so since he signed now, he cannot go to Peoria at any point next season. Frankly, I think the smartest thing to do would have been to wait on signing him until February so that he could leave his juniors team then and go right into Peoria. That is, of course, if EHM played by the real rules. As it stands, he can't spend a single game at the AHL level so we won't have him next year or probably the year after because I'm sure they'll want to give him some professional seasoning. No worries though, by that point Tank and Jaden will have 2 seasons under their belt and they can guide him into the NHL.

Confirmed on the Blues' Twitter feed. It's official.

Big get, and about time, too.

Sweet.

Kind of tied with this: is anyone re-considering the Blues' thought about using up one of Schwartz's years with his few games skid this season?

We got a lot of guys that will be looking for/being due raises (namely Oshie in the immediate future) so contract prices are going to start escalating here pretty quickly for us so I would think we would have wanted Schwartz and Tarasenko for every ounce of the three cheap years we could get them for as possible.

But what do I know

WaukeeBlues wrote:Kind of tied with this: is anyone re-considering the Blues' thought about using up one of Schwartz's years with his few games skid this season?

We got a lot of guys that will be looking for/being due raises (namely Oshie in the immediate future) so contract prices are going to start escalating here pretty quickly for us so I would think we would have wanted Schwartz and Tarasenko for every ounce of the three cheap years we could get them for as possible.

But what do I know

I think it is very strange how it played out. When they signed him, I assumed that had to mean that he was NHL ready to be in our lineup everyday and that he would play during the postseason. I don't really understand why we signed him only to let him watch from the press box. They are saying that the experience he gained will allow him to start next season significantly further along though. I'm not sure if it's right or wrong, but it is strange to me.

Maybe they thought that with new ownership, plus labor strife coming around the pike that maybe owners would be forced to make concessions in the salary cap area and the cap wouldn't be so much of an issue in the future.

This has to be like making a trade...

If memory serves, when Schwartz was brought in, McDonald's timeline of return from injury was an unknown. As it turned out, he came back probably as soon as could be expected.

However, another possibility that I've considered is that maybe the Blues brought in Schwartz, expecting Tarasenko to sign this summer, so that they won't have to deal with their big contracts down the road in the same year. Of course, that is all going to depend on negtiations this summer with the union.