Blues sign Bouwmeester, 1 yr, $3.25

[WaukeeBlues]

Bouwmeester signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract extension with the Blues on Monday.

Bouwmeester has been a mainstay on the St. Louis blueline, skating in an average of 20 minutes per game each of the past six seasons. He also produced his best offensive output in the past three campaigns, accumulating 17 points in 78 games. Bouwmeester will continue to add toughness for the Blues, especially in the playoffs, and racked up 61 hits and 127 blocks this season.

I don't love it. The one year is fine and dandy but $3.25 seems awfully high. I would've liked to see half of that.

EDIT:

According to capfriendly.com that leaves the Blues with almost exactly $15 million in cap space for next year (not calculating any cap increase) for:

UFA's

Patrick Maroon
Michael Del Zotto
Carl Gunnarsson
(Multiple non-roster players like Thorburn, Nolan, Butler, etc)

RFA's

Robby Fabbri
Zach Sanford
Ivan Barbashev
Oscar Sundqvist
Sam Blais
Joel Edmunson
Jordan Binnington

For 7 RFA's that's a little over $2 million/per? Not good Army. Some of these RFA's were the best players on the ice for the Blues the 2nd half of the year and I'm pretty sure they know it.

EDIT EDIT: Maybe it won't be that bad.

Of the UFA's only Gunnarsson interests me in an extension but then again he could price himself out of coming back to the Blues. As always, how much how long?

I'm very sad about Fabbri. I wanted him desperately to be a success story on bouncing back from serious injuries but it doesn't look like it's meant to be. I could see Army cutting him. Which greatly saddens me. IF the Blues keep him I could see another one year deal at about $850,000 or so.

Binnington, Barbashev and Sundqvist are the expensive extensions I think. Maybe Edmundson too. Binnington will be REALLY interesting to see.

[theohall]

I see Gunnarson/Del Zotto as an either/or. Don't see the Blues keeping both as they are essentially 6th/7th defenseman.

While Maroon was way better the last 2 months of the season than the first 3, my take is he needs to continue with a good playoff performance to earn what he thinks he deserves, otherwise he's going to face another off-season as a UFA looking for more than what teams want to pay for a 3rd line forward who can sometimes be effective playing on the 2nd.

The RFAs will be really interesting. Jake Allen, while not exactly the same, was in a somewhat similar situation to Binnington having set the Blues rookie record in wins when he signed his extension. How much does Binnington get paid? It's only one season and Allen looked really good the year before he signed his extension, then fell off the map. Meanwhile, Binnington has a history from the minors from falling off. IMO, what he gets will be determined by his playoff performance.

I don't see Fabbri sticking around. Would not be surprised if the Blues make a minimum qualifying offer and he either takes it or looks for an offer sheet from someone else.

Blais, again, didn't make it through a regular season without being injured, which really hurts him. Probably getting a minimum qualifying offer, maybe slightly more, again.

Edmundson took less this season, because of Blues cap constraints, then had injury issues which limited his time and he didn't play as well this season compared to last. His situation will be very interesting to watch. No idea where that's going to go, especially with the Blues having so many left-handed D in the system.

Sanford had a good start, but it just seems like he gets knocked off pucks way too easy most of the time. Likely slight more than a qualifying offer.

Barbashev stepped up the last month and was an effective forward from January on, but his Oct/Nov/Dec was atrocious. Another guy whose playoffs will probably determine what he's offered.

Oscar Sundqvist deserves a raise. Most improved player on the Blues, period. And he sustained it from beginning to end whether playing winger or center, against any opposition line Berube chose to play him against. Outside of ROR, he was the only Blues forward playing consistently well when the team was playing poorly.

Taking a stab at RFA salary guesses:
Fabbri 2M over 2 years (1M AAV)
Blais 1.85M over 2 years (925 AAV - 2 way)
Sanford 2M over 2 years (1M AAV)
Barbashev 3M over 2 years (1.5 AAV)
Sundqvist 6-7M over 3 (2+ AAV)
Edmundson No flipping idea, but he's expecting to get paid somewhere between Parayko and Bouwmeester - longer the term the lower the AAV, but expect in the 4 to 4.5 AAV range.

So taking the high ends... that's 11M leaving 4+ whatever the increase is for Gunnarson/Maroon/Del Zotto and whichever FAs they chase.

My guesses are probably low seeing how these other RFAs were getting paid this season on their extensions, but the Blues RFAs aren't on those high end players level. And if that's the case, someone won't be here while some AHL guys get a greater opportunity.

Joey LaLeggia proved to be a very versatile player this season for the Rampage moving from D to LW and could very well earn a depth spot next season. The question is will the Blues overcome their size first attitude - which they still haven't done. The Blues are one of the largest teams in the playoffs.

On a completely different aside: Quenneville already re-united with Dale Tallon and the Florida Panthers. That's going to be interesting with the way their management tried to micro-manage the prior coaches with analytics and how Quenneville won't tolerate being micro-managed.

[JCShutout]

I like bringing him back for another year, as he was finally solid this year. I don't like the amount. Was hoping for 2-2.25m. Every penny matters in a salary cap league.

[glen a richter]

The Blues are out of their goddamn minds if they resign Sundqvist. He played out of his own goddamn mind this season and earned a raise that he’ll never live up to. Let him walk and bring in Austin Poganski.

[Toasted Oates]

Not sure why Doug bid against himself here, but pretty typical of his tenure as GM. Signing a player to a deal he didn't have to.

A few months ago, I would have put Bouwmeester on waivers. He likely wouldn't have been claimed. Now he's healthy and admittedly looks solid as hell with 55. Can't wait for a goal to deflect off his skate past Binnington Wednesday night.

[theohall]

The Blues are out of their goddamn minds if they resign Sundqvist. He played out of his own goddamn mind this season and earned a raise that he’ll never live up to. Let him walk and bring in Austin Poganski.

LaLeggia, the LW/D, should be ahead of Poganski.... Poganski got sent down to the ECHL twice this season.

[glen a richter]

I didn't watch San Antonio as closely as I'd planned to earlier in the season, but either way my point remains that signing Sundqvist would be a mistake. He's a classic example of paying a guy for what they did instead of what they project to do. Who expects this kind of season from him again? They'll give him a few mil a year and that's the last time we'll hear of a season like this. From the RFA's, I'm absolutely paying Binnington, Edmundson and Barbashev. I'll qualify Fabbri, maybe Sanford, maybe Blais but that's it.

Ultimately, room needs to start being made for other guys, so are we going to shell out the big bucks to guys like Robby Madeofglass? I get Bouwmeester on a one year--maybe Mikkola isn't ready or will be the first guy up if necessary. A kid like Tyler Tucker isn't ready yet and it's debatable whether Jake Walman will ever be ready so this is a "just to be on the safe side" signing. One thing I would disagree with is that this team is loaded on defensive depth. We thought that once before when the pipeline included Dunn, Walman, Mikkola, Saari, Haakanpa, Vannelli... the future of the defense was set in stone for 15 years. Looks like they were 1 for 6 on that group of kids.

[ComradeT]

I didn't watch San Antonio as closely as I'd planned to earlier in the season, but either way my point remains that signing Sundqvist would be a mistake. He's a classic example of paying a guy for what they did instead of what they project to do. Who expects this kind of season from him again? They'll give him a few mil a year and that's the last time we'll hear of a season like this. From the RFA's, I'm absolutely paying Binnington, Edmundson and Barbashev. I'll qualify Fabbri, maybe Sanford, maybe Blais but that's it.

Ultimately, room needs to start being made for other guys, so are we going to shell out the big bucks to guys like Robby Madeofglass? I get Bouwmeester on a one year--maybe Mikkola isn't ready or will be the first guy up if necessary. A kid like Tyler Tucker isn't ready yet and it's debatable whether Jake Walman will ever be ready so this is a "just to be on the safe side" signing. One thing I would disagree with is that this team is loaded on defensive depth. We thought that once before when the pipeline included Dunn, Walman, Mikkola, Saari, Haakanpa, Vannelli... the future of the defense was set in stone for 15 years. Looks like they were 1 for 6 on that group of kids.

Not sure I agree with you on Sundquist. The guy spent two years in the Pens system stuck behind a very talented group of forwards and putting up decent stats in AHL. This season was his first full season in NHL. It doesn't surprise me he played his goddamn mind out because he wanted to claim his place on the team. That said, the fact that he played consistently even when everyone else on the team didn't speaks to character. He could have played as badly as everyone else and then peaked (like Barbie did) when things went well, and he'd still be likely looking at a contract. He kept his head down and just put in the work night in and night out. I don't see him petering out. He's a great checker with a good pass, a decent shot and awesome work ethic. He's also a right hand shot. I think the Blues would be out of their goddamn minds not to keep him. Now if another team thinks he's a 1st line center and comes at the Blues with an appropriate package, I wouldn't think twice about trading him.

[theohall]

I didn't watch San Antonio as closely as I'd planned to earlier in the season, but either way my point remains that signing Sundqvist would be a mistake. He's a classic example of paying a guy for what they did instead of what they project to do. Who expects this kind of season from him again? They'll give him a few mil a year and that's the last time we'll hear of a season like this. From the RFA's, I'm absolutely paying Binnington, Edmundson and Barbashev. I'll qualify Fabbri, maybe Sanford, maybe Blais but that's it.

Ultimately, room needs to start being made for other guys, so are we going to shell out the big bucks to guys like Robby Madeofglass? I get Bouwmeester on a one year--maybe Mikkola isn't ready or will be the first guy up if necessary. A kid like Tyler Tucker isn't ready yet and it's debatable whether Jake Walman will ever be ready so this is a "just to be on the safe side" signing. One thing I would disagree with is that this team is loaded on defensive depth. We thought that once before when the pipeline included Dunn, Walman, Mikkola, Saari, Haakanpa, Vannelli... the future of the defense was set in stone for 15 years. Looks like they were 1 for 6 on that group of kids.

Not sure I agree with you on Sundquist. The guy spent two years in the Pens system stuck behind a very talented group of forwards and putting up decent stats in AHL. This season was his first full season in NHL. It doesn't surprise me he played his goddamn mind out because he wanted to claim his place on the team. That said, the fact that he played consistently even when everyone else on the team didn't speaks to character. He could have played as badly as everyone else and then peaked (like Barbie did) when things went well, and he'd still be likely looking at a contract. He kept his head down and just put in the work night in and night out. I don't see him petering out. He's a great checker with a good pass, a decent shot and awesome work ethic. He's also a right hand shot. I think the Blues would be out of their goddamn minds not to keep him. Now if another team thinks he's a 1st line center and comes at the Blues with an appropriate package, I wouldn't think twice about trading him.

Sundqvist was effective in every situation, even the power play for a limited time as the bumper guy, in which Berube used him. The only other forward on this team for which this is also true is ROR. Friggin' Sidney Crosby was surprised they traded him and considered him to be one of the toughest guys he played against in practice. Yeah, it was practice, but that's showing up now. One thing Sundqvist clearly does extremely well is play the system the way the coach wants the system played - regardless of which coach's system. Players always know where he's going to be and he is always on the right side of the puck. He doesn't get caught giving up odd-man breaks other than when missing on a SHG chance. Even then, he gets back and usually screws up that odd-man chance for the other team. There are lots of players in the AHL who are probably more skilled than Sundqvist but are incapable of playing within a system. Kyrou, when with the Blues, was guilty of this trying to make passes where Blues players weren't, because they were where the system asked them to be, while also not being in the right place position defensively in many situations. Being talented and creative is great, but that talent and creativity has to work within the system. Sundqvist works within the system. He'd fit in on Tampa's roster in their bottom 6 the way he is playing the game. Kyrou wouldn't right now. One reason Tampa is so damn good - everyone on the team plays the system the same way and everyone knows where everyone else will be - shift after shift after shift. Doesn't matter if a 4th liner is out with the 1st line mid-change or a 1st liner with 2 4th liners - they still play the same way and go to the right places. This is a value Sundkvist provides which too many talents never seem to get. One reason the Blues beat Tampa twice - they did the same thing - shift after shift after shift and Sundqvist on the PK was a huge reason the Blues shut down the Bolts PK. His reach at his position on the PK took away the passing lanes Tampa loves to use.

glen might be right, but I don't think so with how consistent Sundqvist played from start to finish this season.