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Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 8:19 am
by dmiles2186
I know there's always talk of goal scorers and that's all well and good. We've got a TON of guys on the roster who can score 20 goals. But can we get a true, bona fide setup man? Someone who can make a pass? I'm not asking for Adam Oates here, but if we could get ONE guy who had half the setup ability of Oates, you'll start seeing some of our guys score more goals. The number of passes that were bungled this year was mind boggling.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 9:59 am
by cardsfan04
It's possibly blind optimism, but I'm hoping Schwartz develops into that guy. He really impressed me down the stretch.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 11:02 am
by not_a_wings_fan
My first order of business this off season is to dump Perron. He's not a young player any more, and his upside may have peaked. Regardless, he's a poor fit for this system and I question his game to game intensity and internal make up. He is -7 in 19 playoff games over two seasons. That's about want to and buy in. I think he has value around the league and get get us a return.

Oshie is another question mark. What is this kid? Is he a checker? Is he a scorer? Sometimes he plays with a nasty edge, sometimes he disappears. I personally wonder if he has a drinking problem and this is part of his inconsistency, but no way to know that. I would keep him around if we get rid of DP, but if someone wants him I would package him and get his salary off the books if there aren't takers on Perron.

We won't be able to sign all of the defenders we have, but that's fine because we seem to have some depth at that spot. Shatty and Pie are must haves and need to be locked into contracts asap. The rest is pretty negotiable. If we can get a good price for JB, Keep him.

The biggest need this off season is at least one bonafide #1 line scoring player. Wing, Center, I don't care. Someone who can score 30+ year in and year out and play around pt per game hockey. We haven't had one of those in years. Years. Go back and look at the guys we used to have on our top line and compare them to now. Yes, scoring isn't crazy anymore, but many teams have players MUCH better at it then ours. It was the difference in the playoffs.

IDK what you do with it, but it's time for change.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 11:16 am
by cardsfan04
Halak + Perron would probably get us a pretty decent return while taking $7.75 mil off the books (minus acquired salary).

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 11:27 am
by theohall
JB is already under contract next season. He is not a free agent until 2014.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 1:41 pm
by abc789987
not_a_wings_fan wrote:My first order of business this off season is to dump Perron. He's not a young player any more...
Dude will turn 25 years of age this month. If that's old, you can call me grandpa.

If we could get something decent I wouldn't mind trading him either. But I'm not ready to give up on him fitting in on this team.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 2:31 pm
by not_a_wings_fan
abc789987 wrote:
not_a_wings_fan wrote:My first order of business this off season is to dump Perron. He's not a young player any more...
Dude will turn 25 years of age this month. If that's old, you can call me grandpa.

If we could get something decent I wouldn't mind trading him either. But I'm not ready to give up on him fitting in on this team.
He's played six years in the league, grampa. He's got 340 NHL regular season games on his list. What do you call that? He's not "old" but he's pretty near what he will be for the rest of his career and he took a step backwards in year six. He's not a young player anymore. He's entering the "prime" of his career.

He has trade value and can be packaged to upgrade the club. His production can be replaced and his irresponsible play in his own end can certainly be improved upon.

I think he's a whiny bitch that blames other people for his problems. I think he's a show off who doesn't like to get his nose in the dirt. I think he's perfect to play on a line with Crosby, who, btw, is about the same age if you are looking for a comparison to where he's at in his career.

The worst thing to me is the series of trades that happened in that 2007 draft first round where we picked up Eller, Cole, and Perron when the dust settled. SJ got an allstar with our original pick.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 12:41 am
by Kreegz2
I have been solidly on the trade Perron wagon since February. He just doesn't fit with our team's playstyle since Hitch took over. I think we could package him and Halak together to get a decent return from Edmonton. Dubnyk has proven that he isn't a consistent goaltender and Khabibulin is 40 and is a UFA. Perron would fit well into their no defense, run and gun offense system.

I haven't given up on Oshie yet though. He just needs to find a way to stay healthy. Mcdonald is gone. Stewart should be gone after two straight playoff no shows(i still think we should have shopped him at the deadline when his stock was high).

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 7:21 am
by glen a richter
Kreegz2 wrote:I have been solidly on the trade Perron wagon since February. He just doesn't fit with our team's playstyle since Hitch took over. I think we could package him and Halak together to get a decent return from Edmonton. Dubnyk has proven that he isn't a consistent goaltender and Khabibulin is 40 and is a UFA. Perron would fit well into their no defense, run and gun offense system.

I haven't given up on Oshie yet though. He just needs to find a way to stay healthy. Mcdonald is gone. Stewart should be gone after two straight playoff no shows(i still think we should have shopped him at the deadline when his stock was high).
Anyone Edmonton would be willing to give up I wouldn't want. Unless they're shopping Yakupov, Hall or N-H which I can say with some certainty they're not.

Halak and Perron would both be best served playing in the east. I could envision having the Islanders as trade partners. They'll need a replacement for Nabakov sooner than later and with the progress they made this season, they don't want to take a step back by having a goaltending hole a couple years down the road. Halak and Nabby can be 1A/1B. Perron would score in bunches in their system. We could command some decent talent maybe Nino Niedereitter and Calvin De Haan plus a mid round pick.

Edit: To think we could get any kind of established scoring threat in any deal that includes only Perron and Halak is foolish though. We would have to give up one of the top D-men, which I guess at the end of the day wouldn't be the end of the world if it helped this team get better. I'd throw in Pie if we could get Tavares, Hall or Stamkos.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 10:09 am
by not_a_wings_fan
I agree, Halak and Perron alone aren't going to get us a top line forward, but I don't think it would take too much more with the right partner. Another forward, maybe a pick or two.

I would NOT include a top D-man in any trade that included Perron AND Halak. That's over paying in the extreme and sets the team back.

The issue is really their salaries. Together they are due to make about 8 million (cap hits: 3.75 and 3.812 for halak and perron, respectively) next season if my math is correct.

You would ideally want to shop them to a team that didn't make the playoffs, has a high priced star, and would like to trade one big salary for two or three lower salaries to increase the top to bottom talent level of the hockey team while keeping their spending the same or lower. I don't see that happening with the big contracts these two players have.

A situation like Stamkos comes to mind... Guy making 8 mil per on a team that is going backwards the last three seasons. He is a big-time player, but not surrounded by the right talent.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 10:41 am
by glen a richter
The only people with high opinions of many of our players are us. Hell, when the national guys and many away commentators can't even pronounce their names right after they've been here 3, 4, 5, 6 years, you know that they're not highly regarded elsewhere. Perron, Halak, another forward and a pick still wouldn't net us much. They'd have to include Shattenkirk or Pie to even have a shot at someone who could make a difference. We have depth at D, Eronen, Schmaltz, Hakanpaa. Probably Hakanpaa sooner than later. I'd pull the trigger on a deal if something big presented itself this summer. I think most of us would.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 1:39 pm
by not_a_wings_fan
glen a richter wrote:The only people with high opinions of many of our players are us. Hell, when the national guys and many away commentators can't even pronounce their names right after they've been here 3, 4, 5, 6 years, you know that they're not highly regarded elsewhere. Perron, Halak, another forward and a pick still wouldn't net us much. They'd have to include Shattenkirk or Pie to even have a shot at someone who could make a difference. We have depth at D, Eronen, Schmaltz, Hakanpaa. Probably Hakanpaa sooner than later. I'd pull the trigger on a deal if something big presented itself this summer. I think most of us would.
I agree that we don't get much national attention, but some of that is how much we have sucked up to the last two years.

Another part is our guys don't show up at the top of the scoring, which is pretty much all the national media care about.

I think the point about Perron is that in a different system he could be among the league leaders in scoring, and I am certain other teams know his hands/potential. He may have more value that you think.

But I also agree with you that we tend to over-value our own guys. And we do seem to have some depth on the blueline, but Shatt and Pie are more than "depth" guys in my opinion.

They are both still very young and it wouldn't shock me to see one or both of them have a breakout season and jump up into the conversation about elite #1 D. I hope it doesn't take brief cardiac arrest on the ice for them to take the next step, lol...

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 4:46 pm
by flyingnote38
Hard to predict this offseason. New ownership structure in place. Doesn't have deep pockets, but a genuine fan and the moves at the deadline were suggestive of contending having priority over merely being cost-contained competitive. Don't anticipate that they will spend like drunken monkeys in the free agent market, and honestly not much on the market looks all that interesting.

I think a likely offseason scenario is the Blues do "nothing." And honestly, despite feeling they are 2 elite offensive talents away from being legit cup contenders, I'd be ok with that if "nothing" means:
1) they resign their RFAs
2) their UFA moves at forward are depth neutral (ie they keep Cracknell and either resign AMac to a short term/less dollar value deal or add a depth replacement -- Viktor Stahlberg would be an idea)
3)Don't really care either way on Leopold....but probably not worth the cash.

Clearly this team is good enough to compete in the regular season and ought to be able to get to the deadline with playoff aspirations intact. Adding a player at the deadline would be more cost effective than doing so during this offseason. Also this would allow extra development time for Schwartz and Tarasenko to perhaps add one elite talent internally.

However, if the Blues are serious about acquiring Ryan Miller than they may be very active this offseason.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 10:24 pm
by KrustyKevo
GET NATHAN HORTON

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 10:26 pm
by KrustyKevo
Oh, and drop Amac and Perron. My 2 cents.
Spoiler: my 2 cents are worthless

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 7:47 am
by WaukeeBlues
flyingnote38 wrote:Hard to predict this offseason. New ownership structure in place. Doesn't have deep pockets, but a genuine fan and the moves at the deadline were suggestive of contending having priority over merely being cost-contained competitive. Don't anticipate that they will spend like drunken monkeys in the free agent market, and honestly not much on the market looks all that interesting.

I think a likely offseason scenario is the Blues do "nothing." And honestly, despite feeling they are 2 elite offensive talents away from being legit cup contenders, I'd be ok with that if "nothing" means:
1) they resign their RFAs
2) their UFA moves at forward are depth neutral (ie they keep Cracknell and either resign AMac to a short term/less dollar value deal or add a depth replacement -- Viktor Stahlberg would be an idea)
3)Don't really care either way on Leopold....but probably not worth the cash.

Clearly this team is good enough to compete in the regular season and ought to be able to get to the deadline with playoff aspirations intact. Adding a player at the deadline would be more cost effective than doing so during this offseason. Also this would allow extra development time for Schwartz and Tarasenko to perhaps add one elite talent internally.

However, if the Blues are serious about acquiring Ryan Miller than they may be very active this offseason.
Agreed with basically all of this. They'll manage the budget/salary cap, they'll make a few depth positions (one of which; Chris Porter, we already have) and we'll be right back next year with a competitive product on the ice. I don't see any earth-shattering moves this offseason at all.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 2:44 pm
by glen a richter
The whole Miller to the Blues thing, I hadn't heard that (or paid attention to such rumors) until it was brought up here. I'm expecting an Elliott/Allen duo next season with Allen stepping in as #1 after Elliott's contract is up and Binnignton maybe backing him (Allen) up, or a FA backup tender. I would be shocked if we got Ryan Miller.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 9:05 am
by WaukeeBlues
Also: Until Halak gets healthy, and stays healthy, and is playing well (i.e. precisely when we would be least willing to trade him), teams aren't going to touch him, or the return will be very little.

And the Isles have enough experience with injured goaltenders that I feel safe in assuming that Garth Snow isn't chomping at the bit to acquire him.

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:07 am
by cardsfan04
What do you guys think about Brad Richards? There's a chance that the Rangers could buy him out after the season. If that happens, any chance the Blues pick him up? Would you want them to?

Re: The Offseason Thread

Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 11:52 am
by gaijin
cardsfan04 wrote:What do you guys think about Brad Richards? There's a chance that the Rangers could buy him out after the season. If that happens, any chance the Blues pick him up? Would you want them to?
There are very few people I'm opposed to signing, as long as the contract is reasonable.