Off season wish list

[flyingnote38]

Best path (wont happen)
Trade allen, faulk, steen, resign petro, resign dunne
Let brouwer walk

Likely path
Trade allen, bozek
Resign dunne
Make best offer we can to petro and cross our fingers

Petro only ufa that matters
Dunne only rfa
Basically no cap space

The big reset (again not likely)
Trade allen, binnington, steen, faulk, bozek
Resign petro and dunne
Add via the trades or free agency new goalie to pair with husso, two top 6 forwards

Hard to grapple with the cognitive dissonance that this post is happening In mid august and yet is too early

[gaijin]

What I would like to happen:
The Blues are able to find some cap space by trading away some of our overpriced players and Petro is re-signed for a reasonable contract. Ah, who am I kidding?

What I honestly think will happen:
Pietrangelo walks. Not for lack of trying to sign him, but he will get better offers from other teams that the Blues won't be able to match due to cap space. No other significant changes will be made. We will have a goalie tandem in Binnington/Allen.

[theohall]

I'm not sold on re-signing Dunn. Perunovich is likely going to get a shot and don't be surprised if Tyler Tucker finds his way on to the roster. Dunn isn't that good defensively and has not improved, still, in his own end. He's almost the same player he was as a rookie. There is a reason Berube usually has him as a 3rd pairing defenseman and avoids, when possible, having him on the ice for defensive zone draws.

Steen has an NTC and Armstrong is on record as not willing to buy him out. So Steen says on the books.

Re-signing Petro - at a minimum - likely means moving Allen and Bozak. Don't know how, but that's essentially what needs to happen.
Not re-signing Petro is going to be a problem. Who are the RHD? Parayko, Faulk and Bortuzzo. We already know Bortuzzo is fine as a 3rd pairing guy, but usually misses games due to injury from his style of play. Parayko might step up. We don't know. Faulk was awful this season and awful in all but one game of the playoffs. Going into next year with those three would be concerning, IMO. There is no one behind them other than a bunch of career AHL lefties along with Perunovich, Tucker, and Mikkola. Forget Jake Dotchin and Mitch Reinke. Dotchin is just bad and Reinke is too small, with too short of reach, and doesn't skate that well. Reinke might be great in the AHL, but he's not cut out to be a regular NHL defenseman.

Goaltending - it might be time to bring up Husso or see what Hofer or Fitzpatrick can do in a camp. Binnington should still be fine, but he's also 27 already. Move Allen and go to "next man up".

[glen a richter]

You know I’ve probably been the biggest cheerleader for Tyler Tucker but I don’t think he’s ready for an NHL spot now, nor Hofer though I do think both will be impact players soon. Binnington? Well ya know he may be a one hit wonder but what a hit.

I don’t think it’s fair to judge any of these guys on what happened in the bubble. This was a weird ass season and you really can’t fault anyone for not being all there mentally after the way things turned out. Let Binner have next season, bet he bounces back.

[Robb_K]

You know I’ve probably been the biggest cheerleader for Tyler Tucker but I don’t think he’s ready for an NHL spot now, nor Hofer though I do think both will be impact players soon. Binnington? Well ya know he may be a one hit wonder but what a hit.

I don’t think it’s fair to judge any of these guys on what happened in the bubble. This was a weird ass season and you really can’t fault anyone for not being all there mentally after the way things turned out. Let Binner have next season, bet he bounces back.

Definitely! He's had good fundamentals most of his time with The Blues, and been a hard worker and has good discipline, and he's calm and generally confident. He just got caught with a slight flaw, with no time to work on it, before his team got ousted. He'll work on improving his defending against shots high on his blocker side with a goalie coach during the off-season and next season's camp and pre-season. He should be fine. He may not be the NHL Hall-Of-Famer many Blues fans thought he'd be, but, he'll still be a good NHL starter, and probably an NHL Top10 goalie (upper 1/3 of starters).

[theohall]

In terms of Pietrangelo potentially signing somewhere else...

Is he just going to chase the money? If so, there are way too many candidates for the Blues to legitimately compete.

Will he only sign with a contending team? If so, Colorado, Columbus, Montreal, *cough* Nashville *cough*, and *cough* Boston (since Chara is a UFA and may retire) *cough* all have the cap space and would benefit from adding Pietrangelo to their roster. There are no "deal breaker" RFAs or UFAs on any of those rosters for the 20-21 season. These make the most sense in terms of going to a contender who has the necessary space.

Other than these 2 issues, that leaves the question of how willing is Pietrangelo to stay in St Louis and what will the Blues have to do going forward with a bunch of RFAs and UFAs coming up in the 21-22 season, including both goaltenders if nothing changes.

Then you have teams like the Rangers, Jets, and Islanders. Would he want to live in NY? Who really wants to play for Winnipeg? They don't keep UFAs and there is probably a reason. Of course, there a more, but these have the most space of potential contenders not including the ones listed above. (yes, the Rangers are going to be a playoff team really soon with the infusion of young, quality talent they've added. Adding someone with Pietrangelo's background would help accelerate that process).

Forgot the Toronto talk. They simply don't have the space without giving up one of their highly paid forwards.

[glen a richter]

If Pietrangelo signs with the Rangers I’ll need a dump truck to hold all my vomit.

[WaukeeBlues]

Well that sucked.

I can't see them keeping Petro. Just... where is the money going to come from? If this garbage series has shown me anything, its that the Blues live and die with 4 good lines. Tying up too much $$$ in one player isn't smart. I can't see them moving Allen after Binner's rough series when you can have a great goalie tandem for under $9m.

Unless you can get Petro somehow for $8m and find a taker for Faulk, I just don't see it.

I was actually having very similar thoughts when this series was playing out. If you re-sign Pietrangelo the most obvious and immediate cap casualty has to be Jake Allen. No trade protection, the backup goalie, making $4.35 AAV. Now you're Doug Armstrong watching Binnington put up a thunker and Jake Allen come in to "save the day" (kind've)? That's a "well, crap" moment. It's impossible Army isn't concerned about what he saw from Binner this series. Sure you can toss it away as a one off "oh well" situation but that's reckless to me. Nothing that happened in this series was conducive to re-signing Petro. Nothing. Faulk played better, Binner had a terrible outing, and the need for solid forward depth was amplified.

The ONLY way some unexpected salary space comes out is if Tarasenko's prognosis is terrible and he's LTIR next year. Which none of us want to see. But IF that happens you MAY be able to keep Allen depending if you can move Bozak. Maybe.

I could absolutely see Army coming in strong with "we'll pay you $8 AAV but that's it." Absolutely. Jeff Marek on NHL Network radio this morning is saying that Petro's camp wants the Josi deal (8 years, basically $9AAV). This is apparently down from their earlier amount of $9.5-$10 AAV. Marek also said he thinks the biggest problem in the negotiations is going to be the structure of the deal, not the length. Army hates the salary as a bonus type thing. That could play into it as well.

[theohall]

The Josi deal would be great if Armstrong can get his head around the signing bonus thing in the first 4 years. It's "friendly" enough in terms of salary at the back end so that, assuming Petro doesn't crap out in 5-6 years, he'd still be tradeable. It'd be fair, IMO. Like we've all said, the issue for the Blues is having enough space. Moving Allen or Bozak individually doesn't create enough space to sign anyone to a 9M AAV deal.

Then there is Dunn. What to do with him as an RFA? IMO, move on. Let Tucker and Perunovich take a shot. There are no physical D-men on the left side for the Blues. Tucker would be that. Then there all the other LD prospects starting with Mikkola.

If Petro is signed to a 9M AAV deal, what happens in 21-22 with the expansion draft, a flat cap and a ton of RFA/UFAs (10 players due new contracts and/or retiring including both goalies)? Whatever happens with Petro will impact this team beyond next season. Either guys from within are finally going to be ready/get extended shots anyway/or Armstrong is shopping the UFA market.

[WaukeeBlues]

The Josi deal would be great if Armstrong can get his head around the signing bonus thing in the first 4 years. It's "friendly" enough in terms of salary at the back end so that, assuming Petro doesn't crap out in 5-6 years, he'd still be tradeable. It'd be fair, IMO. Like we've all said, the issue for the Blues is having enough space. Moving Allen or Bozak individually doesn't create enough space to sign anyone to a 9M AAV deal.

Then there is Dunn. What to do with him as an RFA? IMO, move on. Let Tucker and Perunovich take a shot. There are no physical D-men on the left side for the Blues. Tucker would be that. Then there all the other LD prospects starting with Mikkola.

If Petro is signed to a 9M AAV deal, what happens in 21-22 with the expansion draft, a flat cap and a ton of RFA/UFAs (10 players due new contracts and/or retiring including both goalies)? Whatever happens with Petro will impact this team beyond next season. Either guys from within are finally going to be ready/get extended shots anyway/or Armstrong is shopping the UFA market.

I didn't realize that, you're right! That'd be a great middle ground, just having the salary bonuses the first 4 years and then it's "normal." That seems reasonable as heck to me.

I don't know that I agree. I think we can get both Dunn and Petro in. Dunn is more of a wild card though. His AAV will really set the amount we have to clear to get Petro.

[WaukeeBlues]

Robby Fabbri got himself a 2 year deal worth $5.9 million, good for him! ($2.95 AAV).

[theohall]

Good for Fabbri. Hope he can finally get back to what he was doing as a rookie.

On the Blues front:
Allen 4.35M
Bozak 5M

Cap space 2.047M

Cap isn't going up, so we already know the issue.

So to get to 9M, both have to be moved. That would leave the remainder for Dunn and DeLaRose. which should be plenty if Petro winds up getting the same kind of deal as Josi. But it requires moving more than 7M in salary - of which Bozak and Allen are the most likely candidates. At some point, Husso needs to get more of a look than filling in as backup due to injury. They kept Binnington at the AHL level forever, convinced he wasn't ready. What if it's the same thing for Husso? We won't know until he gets a more regular shot.

Some crazy conspiracy nuts think Schwartz will get traded since he will be a UFA in 21-22. I don't believe it, but even moving him requires moving Allen or Bozak also to clear the room for a 9M contract.

One potential thing that could change this - if Tarasenko goes on LTIR again - the Blues could try and delay when they actually have to do something, but that's just begging for trouble down the road.

[theohall]

Toronto made a cap clearing trade today sending Kapanen to Pittsburgh.

Full deal is
To Pittburgh
Kapanen 3.2M cap cleared
Aberg RFA (no change)
Lindgren $775,833 cap cleared

To Toronto
Evan Rodrigues (RFA) - currently no cap hit
2020 1st (18th)
David Warsofsky - still AHL - no cap hit
Filip Hallander - still AHL - no cap hit.

Leafs now have $7,791,467 projected cap space on CapFriendly, which is considerably more than the Blues currently have and it won't take much to make room to make Petro that 9+ offer, assuming he doesn't sign with the Blues before the UFA period opens. Looks like they are finally giving up some forward depth to make space for a good defenseman.

As a Blues fan...

Or they could just be making the space to re-sign Barrie and Ceci. Who knows?

[WaukeeBlues]

Toronto made a cap clearing trade today sending Kapanen to Pittsburgh.

Full deal is
To Pittburgh
Kapanen 3.2M cap cleared
Aberg RFA (no change)
Lindgren $775,833 cap cleared

To Toronto
Evan Rodrigues (RFA) - currently no cap hit
2020 1st (18th)
David Warsofsky - still AHL - no cap hit
Filip Hallander - still AHL - no cap hit.

Leafs now have $7,791,467 projected cap space on CapFriendly, which is considerably more than the Blues currently have and it won't take much to make room to make Petro that 9+ offer, assuming he doesn't sign with the Blues before the UFA period opens. Looks like they are finally giving up some forward depth to make space for a good defenseman.

As a Blues fan...

Or they could just be making the space to re-sign Barrie and Ceci. Who knows?

They would have to clear considerably more space to fit Pietrangelo. With Petro at $9 million (and we can debate if he would bounce to Toronto for that number) that would put the Leafs at -$1,208,533 and still needing FOUR forwards just to put 12 guys on the ice at that position.

They would have to clear Nylander for essentially nothing for Petro to be an option. Then you'd have to have 5 forwards with $5,753,833 in cap space.

Not impossible. Not likely. That's a hell of a lot to move to get one player.

I really wonder if they don't trade Marner. It sounds crazy but it would immediately clear space and they would get a HELL of a return.

edit: Also, over on capfriendly on the interactive GM tool almost all Leaf fans are in agreement with wanting to keep Travis Dermott. The lowest I've seen fans re-signing him for is $2 million. So if you're not re-signing him and letting him walk you need to trade him too. Point being: For Petro to be a realistic option in Toronto they'd have to trade Marner OR Nylander + other pieces with little to no salary coming back the other way.

[theohall]

or the Leafs get completely stupid and move Andersen who is a UFA in 21-22. That's 5M. Add that and go with lower end bottom 5 forwards.... Don't know what the goalie market looks like, but... it's another nut case possibility.

[JCShutout]

So Tank now out 5 months with another shoulder surgery...

With him on ltir, maybe that gives Armstrong time to sign Petro and figure out what salary to move later... maybe...?

[flyingnote38]

or the Leafs get completely stupid and move Andersen who is a UFA in 21-22. That's 5M. Add that and go with lower end bottom 5 forwards.... Don't know what the goalie market looks like, but... it's another nut case possibility.

if we could move both Binnington and Allen, Lehner could be an option (there was a rumor that he had a handshake deal with the Blackhawks when he signed the one year deal with them to get a better longer deal once Crawford was off the books so who knows)

[gaijin]

Can we get a healthy, 40-goal Tarasenko?

https://www.nhl.com/news/st-louis-blues ... -318760474

Vladimir Tarasenko is expected to miss the start of next season after the St. Louis Blues forward has shoulder surgery next week.

The 28-year-old will be reevaluated in five months.

The start of the 2020-21 NHL season has yet to be determined but is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 1.

"Obviously long season, long year, missing playing games, but it is what it is," Tarasenko wrote on Instagram on Wednesday. "Last few months I felt like something [was] wrong, but still trying to play. Then we found out what it was when I got back home from the bubble. To take some speculation away, no, I'm not done, [my] career is not done. ... I am more motivated than ever to finally get healthy and play. I hope and believe that the doctors will do their job, fix the problem and there is a solution for it.

"So can't wait to get it done and start working on coming back, playing hockey, scoring goals and enjoying the game again."

Tarasenko had shoulder surgery Oct. 29 after being injured in a game against the Los Angeles Kings five days earlier. Prior to the injury, he scored 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 games.

"He rehabbed, he came back, we had to do another MRI. He wasn't feeling good," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. "That surgery didn't take the way we had hoped. It wasn't successful. He's going to go back in and have more surgery next week, and it's serious in the sense that he won't be with us and he won't be reevaluated for five months after the date of surgery.

"It's the third surgery. We're hoping he gets back to the level that he was at before. I'm not concerned about the work ethic and the approach he's going to take to put himself in a great spot, but time is going to tell on how quickly and the impact he can have when he gets back."

After the first surgery, Tarasenko did not play again until an exhibition game against the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the Western Conference hub city, on July 29, but he sat out the second of three round-robin games during the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

He played Games 1 and 2 for the Blues in the Western Conference First Round against the Vancouver Canucks but did not play the rest of the series, which defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis lost in six games. He had no points in four postseason games.

"Thank you for supporting the Blues and myself, especially with that injury," Tarasenko wrote. "... We received so many positive, warm and nice messages. Your support helped me recover faster and feel better."

Tarasenko also addressed negative messages he received, sent by a "different group of people, haters."

"I hope no one will ever text things like this to you or to the one you love," he wrote. "Instead of this, just wish me a good recovery."

Tarasenko has scored 428 points (214 goals, 214 assists) in 507 NHL games through eight seasons, including five straight seasons with at least 33 goals from 2014-19, and 49 points (33 goals, 16 assists) in 74 playoff games. He scored 17 points (11 goals, six assists) in 26 playoff games to help the Blues win their first Stanley Cup championship last season.

"I think he can have the same impact as before," Armstrong said, "but it's really irrelevant what I think or what I feel. It's going to be how he does when he gets back."

[glen a richter]

Is it time to call Tarasenko injury prone?

[theohall]

It's the same shoulder and the same injury which the surgery didn't fix - so not necessarily.