Jonathan Drouin requests a trade

[ecbm]

Drouin suspended today for not showing up for the AHL.

So, uh...this is a guy with what, 6 total NHL goals in like 60 games, right? And he's requested a trade publicly? And thumbed his nose at the club who drafted him repeatedly? And now he's been suspended by his own team?

If Yzerman thinks he's getting premium return for that, he's really on that dope.

[cprice12]

Drouin suspended today for not showing up for the AHL.

So, uh...this is a guy with what, 6 total NHL goals in like 60 games, right? And he's requested a trade publicly? And thumbed his nose at the club who drafted him repeatedly? And now he's been suspended by his own team?

If Yzerman thinks he's getting premium return for that, he's really on that dope.

Yeah, which might totally be by design on the part of Drouin's agent. It's possible he is sabotaging his trade value a bit if he is pissed. That way Yzerman wouldn't get as much in return. But with that said, that could also lead Yzerman to say (Frank) you, we're not trading you and you're staying in the minors until you start playing again and build your value back up.

Either way...interesting stuff.
If we do get him, hopefully his shenanigans will let us get him on the cheap. But to be honest, I'm not that jazzed anymore at the possibility of getting him if he is a pain in the ass to deal with. But then again, Patrick Kane is a douchebag and he helped the Hawks win some cups...so...whatever.

[The Flake]

Pass. This guy has issues we don't need.

[Fradi]

Drouin suspended today for not showing up for the AHL.

So, uh...this is a guy with what, 6 total NHL goals in like 60 games, right? And he's requested a trade publicly? And thumbed his nose at the club who drafted him repeatedly? And now he's been suspended by his own team?

If Yzerman thinks he's getting premium return for that, he's really on that dope.

Yeah, which might totally be by design on the part of Drouin's agent. It's possible he is sabotaging his trade value a bit if he is pissed. That way Yzerman wouldn't get as much in return. But with that said, that could also lead Yzerman to say (Frank) you, we're not trading you and you're staying in the minors until you start playing again and build your value back up.

Either way...interesting stuff.
If we do get him, hopefully his shenanigans will let us get him on the cheap. But to be honest, I'm not that jazzed anymore at the possibility of getting him if he is a pain in the ass to deal with. But then again, Patrick Kane is a douchebag and he helped the Hawks win some cups...so...whatever.

Kane is a different kind though. He's a dickhead off the ice, but never heard of him disrespect his club like that kid does, with nothing to show for in his career so far.

[alexmach1]

DO NOT TRADE FABBRI!!!!

Why would you trade a young player that you know will be good ...for one that might be?????

All the young guys in the lineup look good....this is not something the Blues should mess up!

[ComradeT]

DO NOT TRADE FABBRI!!!!

Why would you trade a young player that you know will be good ...for one that might be?????

All the young guys in the lineup look good....this is not something the Blues should mess up!

Overreact mach?

Other than that, spot on mate.

[cardsfan04]

Drouin suspended today for not showing up for the AHL.

So, uh...this is a guy with what, 6 total NHL goals in like 60 games, right? And he's requested a trade publicly? And thumbed his nose at the club who drafted him repeatedly? And now he's been suspended by his own team?

If Yzerman thinks he's getting premium return for that, he's really on that dope.

Yeah, which might totally be by design on the part of Drouin's agent. It's possible he is sabotaging his trade value a bit if he is pissed. That way Yzerman wouldn't get as much in return. But with that said, that could also lead Yzerman to say (Frank) you, we're not trading you and you're staying in the minors until you start playing again and build your value back up.

Either way...interesting stuff.
If we do get him, hopefully his shenanigans will let us get him on the cheap. But to be honest, I'm not that jazzed anymore at the possibility of getting him if he is a pain in the ass to deal with. But then again, Patrick Kane is a douchebag and he helped the Hawks win some cups...so...whatever.

Kane is a different kind though. He's a dickhead off the ice, but never heard of him disrespect his club like that kid does, with nothing to show for in his career so far.

Speaking of Kane. There's a new accusation against him today. It's anonymous, but fairly detailed (and graphic). Haven't seen a major news outlet pick the story up yet though. May not be credible.

[alexmach1]

DO NOT TRADE FABBRI!!!!

Why would you trade a young player that you know will be good ...for one that might be?????

All the young guys in the lineup look good....this is not something the Blues should mess up!

Overreact mach?

Other than that, spot on mate.

Yeah just read an article that the Blues were the frontrunners for Drouin by offering Fabbri, so i just flipped a bit

Ever since the Miller trade, i believe these guys can do all kind of stupidities!

[cardsfan04]

DO NOT TRADE FABBRI!!!!

Why would you trade a young player that you know will be good ...for one that might be?????

All the young guys in the lineup look good....this is not something the Blues should mess up!

Overreact mach?

Other than that, spot on mate.

Yeah just read an article that the Blues were the frontrunners for Drouin by offering Fabbri, so i just flipped a bit

Ever since the Miller trade, i believe these guys can do all kind of stupidities!

I really doubt that it's true that we offered Fabbri. For one, they haven't accepted an offer from us yet, and they would be dumb not to accept Fabbri in a heartbeat.

[theohall]

I seriously don't get the Fabbri stuff.

The Blues have a guy whose likely going to score 20 G in his rookie campaign and they would supposedly trade him for a guy who has 6 goals over 89 games??

The Blues need goal-scoring and you don't give up a guy who is proving it for someone who "might" be as good.

Heck, I only got the Shattenkirk stuff because of the cap crunch that will hit when/if everyone is healthy. Still wouldn't be moving Shattenkirk, though. Bouwmeester would be the guy to move.

[glen a richter]

The more I hear about Drouin's shenanigans the less I want him.

That said, look... Fabbri is doing very well for a rookie, Rattie is coming into his own recently as well, and should get more ice time because hey, the kid's playing well. As I see things, the offense is shaping up if Hitch keeps his paws off of it, and when Schwartz comes back things will be even better on that front. The defense is surprisingly, as far as I'm concerned, the weakest part of this team right now. Offensive production aside, Shattenkirk, Pietrangelo, Edmundson and Bouwmeester are all in the minus. Parayko is +17 and Gunnarsson is +11. I'm not really understanding the discrepecy in +/- amongst the defense and it makes me wonder if that's not the area that needs working on. Keith Yandle is available (supposedly) and at a reasonable cap hit because Arizona agreed to eat some of that when they traded him to the Rangers. Edmonton is always looking for defense because they're just abysmal on the defensive end, so how about trading Pie to Edmonton for one of their offensive pieces (RNH and Eberle are both rumored to be available) and then swing a trade with the Rangers for Yandle. Instant upgrade on an already pretty good offense, good swap on defense.

[cprice12]

I seriously don't get the Fabbri stuff.

The Blues have a guy whose likely going to score 20 G in his rookie campaign and they would supposedly trade him for a guy who has 6 goals over 89 games??

The Blues need goal-scoring and you don't give up a guy who is proving it for someone who "might" be as good.

Heck, I only got the Shattenkirk stuff because of the cap crunch that will hit when/if everyone is healthy. Still wouldn't be moving Shattenkirk, though. Bouwmeester would be the guy to move.

If we do have cap issues when everyone is healthy, we will not be moving Shattenkirk. There are far too many other ways to skim payroll than moving one of your most valuable players.

So...I'll repeat... Shattenkirk is NOT being traded to free up some cap space.

The mere idea of it just sounds ridiculous.

[theohall]

The more I hear about Drouin's shenanigans the less I want him.

That said, look... Fabbri is doing very well for a rookie, Rattie is coming into his own recently as well, and should get more ice time because hey, the kid's playing well. As I see things, the offense is shaping up if Hitch keeps his paws off of it, and when Schwartz comes back things will be even better on that front. The defense is surprisingly, as far as I'm concerned, the weakest part of this team right now. Offensive production aside, Shattenkirk, Pietrangelo, Edmundson and Bouwmeester are all in the minus. Parayko is +17 and Gunnarsson is +11. I'm not really understanding the discrepecy in +/- amongst the defense and it makes me wonder if that's not the area that needs working on. Keith Yandle is available (supposedly) and at a reasonable cap hit because Arizona agreed to eat some of that when they traded him to the Rangers. Edmonton is always looking for defense because they're just abysmal on the defensive end, so how about trading Pie to Edmonton for one of their offensive pieces (RNH and Eberle are both rumored to be available) and then swing a trade with the Rangers for Yandle. Instant upgrade on an already pretty good offense, good swap on defense.

Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester are minus from playing too much.

Shattenkirk has had rotating partners which is the likely reason for being minus.

Parayko and Gunnarson being plus - 1) they haven't gotten as much ice time. 2) They had been playing together until recently with the Blues trying to find a way to keep their best 4 D playing more (Parayko, Shatty, Pie and Bouwmeester).

Edmondson has played better lately, but he's almost a pure defensive defenseman who doesn't move the puck that well from his own end. Watch how he defends. He pinches his opponent on the boards, and usually relies on someone else helping to get the puck free. Compare that to Parayko and one can understand why a defenseman who isn't that good at puck movement, relies on holding guys on the boards, and teammates helping move the puck, winds up minus on a team which is pushing possession and getting the puck up ice. We'll see if he improves from what we are seeing now.

If the Blues would be willing to let Parayko take over the reigns from Pie, yes, move Pietrangelo. I'd rather they moved Bouwmeester, though, because Pie is still a damn good hockey player. I think we are over-stating Pie's mistakes at times, which are mostly from him playing so darn much, when Hitch would be better served balancing the top 2 D pairings, instead of relying so much on Pie.

[cardsfan04]

There's a point that I was open to trading Pietrangelo. I think I'd have to be blown away to move him now though. I'd love to trade Bouwmeester, but I doubt we get anybody to take that contract on. And, if we have to eat salary, it defeats the purpose. He's not playing poorly. He's just not playing at a $5MM level or whatever his salary is.

[glen a richter]

I've felt, for quite a while, that Berglund is more suited to play successfully on an EC team. Convincing the EC teams of that is another issue altogether, but that's a good place to start. Hence Berglund+ for Yandle is an interesting concept--I guess depending on what the + is, especially if you're able to move Bouwmeester or Pie in a concurrent trade. Yandle is a UFA at seasons end and I can't really imagine a good reason why Schmaltz won't be NHL ready after a full season in the AHL. I just can't see the value of keeping so many minus defensemen on a team whose bread and butter for years has been the defense. There's no reason why there should be such a major discrepency between Pie's +/- and Parayko's/Gunnarsson's. To me, he's the expendable one, which is why I wouldn't be against him being traded to Edmonton. Everyone benefits from these two trades (except maybe Pie). The Rangers get something for Yandle instead of losing him as a FA, the Blues get rid of Berglund and his contract while also getting another young forward not named Drouin, Edmonton gets a veteran defenseman that they desperately need and they also get rid of one of their excess forwards that lord knows they'll never be able to retain when it comes time to pay all their former #1 overall picks.

[theohall]

Forgot one major aspect to the +/- thing.

Defenseman which play alot will be minus in a system which is focusing more on getting the puck up ice while relying almost exclusively on the D to proved that movement from the defensive zone. It's a consequence of the change in offensive philosophy. The problem - the Blues haven't had the forwards necessary to make this work most of the season. Recently, they have, but I'm looking forward to what it looks like when the first two lines include Schwartz back in the mix.

It's not like the Blues were losing in blowouts so offense is coming. The recent losses were one-goal games, some in OT, outside of the Carolina anomaly.

25 one-goal games of the 50 played (didn't factor in 2 goal games with empty netters, but should) were one goal games. Blues are 16-2-7 in those (4 OT wins, 3 SO wins, 5 OT losses, 2 SO losses). There won't be 3-on-3 in the playoffs.

Over the last 10 games, the Blues are scoring 2.8 goals per game which would be 7th in the league over a full season. That's up from 2.5 goals per game on the season. Getting healthier is showing up on the score sheet.

But - the cost will still be defenseman's +/- rating due to the nature of the style of offense they've adopted.

[glen a richter]

I will grant that Pietrangelo's TOI is absurdly high, but Parayko is nearly 20 minutes/game and if you take away from the beginning of the season when he was getting less TOI just because Hitch saw him as an unknown variable, he's probably about 20 minutes/game. Yet he's +17, far and away the best on the team. Is 6 extra minutes of ice time really worth a swing of 23 in the +/- category?

[cardsfan04]

Something to consider with +/- is that not all minutes are equal in 2 ways:

1. Special teams don't count toward +/-. It's possible that Parayko is playing more even strength minutes than Pietrangelo, but fewer total minutes. I can't find this though, so that's just a possibility. It also wouldn't account for passing 0. Pietrangelo's +/- averages losing goals per shift. More even strength shifts wouldn't fix that, at this rate anyway.

2. Pietrangelo is going to be (in theory) paired against the other team's top players which makes it harder to have a good +/-. Flip roles and maybe the +/- changes too.

[ecbm]

It's possible he is sabotaging his trade value a bit if he is pissed. That way Yzerman wouldn't get as much in return. But with that said, that could also lead Yzerman to say (Frank) you, we're not trading you and you're staying in the minors until you start playing again and build your value back up.

That'd be a dangerous game. Because not only is what you're saying true, but they can also toll his contract. This is a serious consequence and I feel like TB could swing it with the public nature of all this.

I really doubt that it's true that we offered Fabbri.

Exactly. What a blatant win that would be for Yzerman.

Keith Yandle is available

He's no solution to anyone's defensive problems. I'd just move Bouwmeester and redistribute his minutes. There's good stuff in the pipeline at D.

Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester are minus from playing too much.

Amen. The splits between their minutes and those of Parayko and Shattenkirk are indefensible.

Forgot one major aspect to the +/- thing. Defenseman which play alot will be minus in a system which is focusing more on getting the puck up ice while relying almost exclusively on the D to proved that movement from the defensive zone. It's a consequence of the change in offensive philosophy.

Agreed. I really don't think there's any need for major changes to the personnel.

Finally, I'm not that worried about +/-. It's a flawed stat, really. That it suggests that Gunnarson is having a better season than Shattenkirk in any way just underlines that fact.

[JCShutout]

I seriously don't get the Fabbri stuff.

The Blues have a guy whose likely going to score 20 G in his rookie campaign and they would supposedly trade him for a guy who has 6 goals over 89 games??

The Blues need goal-scoring and you don't give up a guy who is proving it for someone who "might" be as good.

Heck, I only got the Shattenkirk stuff because of the cap crunch that will hit when/if everyone is healthy. Still wouldn't be moving Shattenkirk, though. Bouwmeester would be the guy to move.

If we do have cap issues when everyone is healthy, we will not be moving Shattenkirk. There are far too many other ways to skim payroll than moving one of your most valuable players.

So...I'll repeat... Shattenkirk is NOT being traded to free up some cap space.

The mere idea of it just sounds ridiculous.

Thank you. I had been hearing and reading this for too long and in too many places and was starting to get worried.