Let's Go Blues

What are your guys' thoughts on his 8 year 6.5M AAV extension?

Obviously the term is what got this done.

the AAV is fine, I don't mind it. Depends on what the contract conditions are as far as NTC/NMC and what the salary is in the later years. If it'll be easy to buy out or trade towards the end of the deal then great! If it's not then I'm not a big fan.

He just turned 28 this last August 22 so he'll be 37 on the last year of this deal. Ugh.

Here is another thing: Schenn has missed 15 games over the last 6 seasons. That's insane for a forward. IMO, very friendly deal for the Blues. Schenn would likely have gotten significantly more if he'd hit the market, just not an 8 year team.

Updated from the Edmundson thread:
Per CapFriendly Blues are currently at $73,777,499 for 20-21 (this is with Bouwmeester gone) with projected space of $7,722,501. That projected space is under the current cap of 81M. It's probably going to be 84, based on what's being said now, so it jumps to 10.7 in available space, which is enough to sign Petro, but likely no more than one of the RFAs. Which is why I'm still of the mind Steen is bought out and/or Bozak gets traded which clears all the space needed to sign everyone remaining.

The only thing which will hold up a Petro signing now is not knowing what the actual cap space will be for next year.

theohall wrote:Here is another thing: Schenn has missed 15 games over the last 6 seasons. That's insane for a forward. IMO, very friendly deal for the Blues. Schenn would likely have gotten significantly more if he'd hit the market, just not an 8 year team.

Updated from the Edmundson thread:
Per CapFriendly Blues are currently at $73,777,499 for 20-21 (this is with Bouwmeester gone) with projected space of $7,722,501. That projected space is under the current cap of 81M. It's probably going to be 84, based on what's being said now, so it jumps to 10.7 in available space, which is enough to sign Petro, but likely no more than one of the RFAs. Which is why I'm still of the mind Steen is bought out and/or Bozak gets traded which clears all the space needed to sign everyone remaining.

The only thing which will hold up a Petro signing now is not knowing what the actual cap space will be for next year.

That's a good point! With a relatively low AAV on Schenn, we have more space than we perhaps thought we did.

All of Allen (assuming Binnington performs), Steen and Bozak are on the block. I daresay we can keep a large part of the band together!!!

Only thing that will hold it up is if Petro wants a huge AAV in the realm of $9+ plus.

Yeah, the aav is fine. (Would have liked to see a half mill less per year, but that's pennies at this point.) Its two years too long. Really 3, but I always expect to have to eat a year in these types of signings.

That said, I'm a big fan of Schenn, and am glad he's on the team for awhile. Rather have him at $6.5m than Bozak at $5m.

I have a feeling Petro is gone. They will bank on Parayko, Faulk and Dunn, and save money for Schwartz

In the next season or two you're peeling off the salaries of Steen, Bouwmeester and Allen for sure and replacing them with Kyrou/Kostin, Mikkola/Perunovich and Husso. Maybe Bozak also goes, and none of these guys are being replaced by high salary players. I think signing Petro will be fairly easy.

True, but young guys won't be on elcs forever. They will eventually get raises. (or be traded/let walk over salary concerns)

I hope you're right but at some point, something has to give.

JCShutout wrote:True, but young guys won't be on elcs forever. They will eventually get raises. (or be traded/let walk over salary concerns)

I hope you're right but at some point, something has to give.

Well at that point you're looking so far ahead in the future it's basically a meaningless discussion because of all the hypotehticals. There could be trades, FA signings, etc. Heck, a week ago we assumed we'd have Edmundson's cap space free for next season, then boom.

I forget which GM said it but the most you can "look ahead" is 2 years. That's a reasonable number with a measure of certainty to it. Any more and you're looking into a cloudy future and any less and you're being reckless.

The Blues are in good shape for the next 2 years. Contracts are coming off the books the next 2 years, either by force (trades/buyouts) or simply coming off (Bouwmeester, Allen, etc).

Not to beat the dead horse but for Pietrangelo it's going to come down to how much he wants to stay in St. Louis. If he wants the most money and most term possible, more power to him, but it's not going to be here. If he wants to stay, as long as it's not an albatross number, the Blues can make it happen.

Breakdown of the contract just came out:

ALL base salary, NO signing bonuses. that's huge!!

AAV Salary
2020-21 $6,500,000 $8,000,000
2021-22 $6,500,000 $8,000,000
2022-23 $6,500,000 $5,200,000
2023-24 $6,500,000 $8,000,000
2024-25 $6,500,000 $8,000,000
2025-26 $6,500,000 $6,500,000
2026-27 $6,500,000 $4,300,000
2027-28 $6,500,000 $4,000,000

I REALLY like this deal now. Not buyout proof, and tradeable.

WaukeeBlues wrote:

JCShutout wrote:True, but young guys won't be on elcs forever. They will eventually get raises. (or be traded/let walk over salary concerns)

I hope you're right but at some point, something has to give.

Well at that point you're looking so far ahead in the future it's basically a meaningless discussion because of all the hypotehticals. There could be trades, FA signings, etc. Heck, a week ago we assumed we'd have Edmundson's cap space free for next season, then boom.

I forget which GM said it but the most you can "look ahead" is 2 years. That's a reasonable number with a measure of certainty to it. Any more and you're looking into a cloudy future and any less and you're being reckless.

The Blues are in good shape for the next 2 years. Contracts are coming off the books the next 2 years, either by force (trades/buyouts) or simply coming off (Bouwmeester, Allen, etc).

Not to beat the dead horse but for Pietrangelo it's going to come down to how much he wants to stay in St. Louis. If he wants the most money and most term possible, more power to him, but it's not going to be here. If he wants to stay, as long as it's not an albatross number, the Blues can make it happen.

I actually agree with this for the most part. Lots can change in 2-3 years, and as I said in an earlier post, even though I think the last two years of this deal will be rough (or, Steen-like), I'm glad we have Schenn around for the next 5.

And I'd LOVE to keep Petro. If he could be happy with $8m I'd jump for joy.

How much of this is Schenn still riding the high of winning it all and wants to keep the band together so he’s willing to take less money now but wouldn’t necessarily have next offseason? If Petro is going to sign a team friendly deal now might be the time to get that done.

Also the last 3 years of Schenn's contract have a modified NTC, compared to full NTC the first 5 years per Strickland. Tradeable contract when he's in his mid-30s.

glen a richter wrote:How much of this is Schenn still riding the high of winning it all and wants to keep the band together so he’s willing to take less money now but wouldn’t necessarily have next offseason? If Petro is going to sign a team friendly deal now might be the time to get that done.

Word on the street and Sirius XM radio was that Armstrong was talking with both Schenn's agent and Pietro's agents simultaneously. Now that Schenn is done, maybe that becomes more of a focus.

I agree time is of the essence. "Riding high" feeling helps, for sure. And you often see players around December/January when the season starts kicking in to high gear and teams are looking at their playoff prospects and standings positioning, some players just shut down contract talks so they can "focus on the season." Don't want to see that.

Worst case scenario is missing the playoffs entirely or an abrupt first round exit where he can have "time" to sit back and go "You know what? It's been real, but I'm gonna go get paid $11/AAV and be ultra-set for life." It wouldn't shock me if some NHL team paid him Karlsson dollars next summer. It really wouldn't.

I think Pietrangelo will re-sign relatively soon. However, if it turns out he's asking too much and they just let him walk, I'd assume they'll probably go the route of bringing in one of the kids if they decide they're ready. I also assume they'll bring in a kid to replace Bouwmeester which then got the wheels turning in my head thinking "Will Army want to go with two rookie defensemen at the same time?" This got the wheels turning a little more... if it came down to it, would Army maybe consider signing pending UFA Roman Josi? If Pie goes anywhere, he's going to Toronto, and we could weaken Nashville in the process.

Ultimately, in a relatively short amount of time, we'll probably also be saying goodbye to Gunnarsson and Bortuzzo which opens up slots for your Perunovich's and Tucker's who are still a few years off. I'm guessing guys like Jake Walman are no longer part of the plan and Niko Mikkola is possibly next man up in case of injury.