St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

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JCShutout
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St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by JCShutout »

Lets not sully the Stanley Cup Victory thread with offseason stuff, but lets start this one off nicely. I found a link to Jordan Binnington's ccontract negotiations.

https://www.nhl.com/video/t-277462458/c ... rId=nhl-rr

And lets start this thread with beauty.

Image

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JCShutout
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Re: St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by JCShutout »

Ok, for real now.

Blues estimated cap space: $18.7m (assuming around $83m cap)

I'd love to keep the whole band together, but I don't see it happening. I'm sure the Blues will try to move Allen and maybe Steen, but who knows if you will find a taker. If someone sees a starter there in Allen, maybe. I think it more likely that someone will take a flier on Allen, Steen or Bozak next year on their last year of their deal. Much easier to stomach one risky year than two.

Blues UFAs:
Thornburn
Maroon
DelZotto
Gunnarson

Thornburn doesn't matter to me. Keep him around the league minimum on a 2 way contract? Sure. Or not. Whatever. not everyone on the depth chart is for the NHL. He was useful in the AHL and is a team guy.

Maroon is a tough one. Heart and soul guy. Local guy. Playoff hero. But he is replaceable. If he stays at under $2m, then sure, stay home Big Rig, but I think someone will pay him.

DelZotto was good depth. If he would take a big paycut to around a mill, then sure, be that 7th dman. If not, thank you and move on. We do have a number of young D who could play on that 3rd pairing. (Looking at you Mikkola)

Gunnarson. Man I was down on him, but he was so good this year. Boom Boom's game 2 winner to end the SCF win drought is one of my happiest memories. That said, He is 32, and someone will pay him at or more than his current salary for a few years, and the Blues can't afford that. Thank you Gunnar for everything and best of luck.

Blues RFAs:
Binnington
Sundqvist
Barbashev
Edmundson
Sanford
Fabbri
Blais


I would prioritize Binner, Sunny, Barbie and Eddy (in that order) and fit the rest.

Its hard to guess what Binner may command. I'd love to see a bridge contract for $3m for a couple years to get him to FA. (also when Allen's contract ends) Some people cite a couple similar aged goalies, but Binner has half a season under his belt. I can't see him getting a long term $5 or $6m contract for such a small sample size, though I think he will be a fine starter given his solid minor league numbers the last few years and his fundamentally sound play. If you can get him at around Allen money, I think you take it.

Sundqvist went from a guy I thought was worthless to a key cog. I think he'll get too much and maybe the contract looks like the Sobotka deal, but what can you do? I'm guessing he gets around $3m.

Barbashev I would think around the same, though I would hope a little less. $2.5/2.75 maybe?

Edmundson, honestly, I think he's a $3m dman. He didn't have his best year, but I think he's a key cog for the Blues. He'll probably get $4m because I always underestimate these things. (I see Sunny and Barbie as $2m guys, which is why I'm guessing they get $3)

IMO if you can get Sunny, Barbie and Eddy for a combined $10m, I think you're okay. Add in Binner at $4.5m and the Blues would have a little over $4m left under the cap.

As for the rest of the RFAs, I think Sanford, Fabbri and Blais all get at or under a million, so they should be able to fit easily.

That's why I think it will be tough to keep Maroon unless he's at or under $2m.

Also to remember, Dunn is an RFA next year, and Schenn and the Captain are up for UFA next year. All 3 of those guys are key. Hopefully the Blues can send Allen AND one of Bozak/Steen away next year (final contract years) to shore up cap space to fit those 3 under the cap to keep the window open. (JayBo's money coming off the books next year helps)

That concern is why I was unhappy with the Perron and Bozak deals for a combined $9m, (though I'm happy with how it turned out). I've come around on Perron. Dude has hands, loves stl and wants to be here.

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Re: St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by Freed Roger »

Regarding Binnington's deal and goalies in general -does the NHL tend to sink a lot of years and $$ to this position?

Kind of an odd situation, it is a key position for a team, and the uber-elite goalies surely get paid. Is it my imagination though, that a hold on this spot is tenuous as goalies are known to be streaky, and prone to the hook? Jake Allen obviously. Even Binnington saw a Stanley Cup hook (though that is historically common).

Sink a bunch on one guy or better to go the depth and development route ?

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Re: St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by JCShutout »

There is no comparable for Binner. A half season and a SCF win. He's a RFA, so he'll be here Blues for two years at least. I think the Blues would match anything not insane offered by another team. I just have a gut feeling Allen money (a tick over) gets it done. I think if you're the Blues you try to lock him up at that price. Maybe it backfires, maybe not.

I'm usually way off on these things, so watch him get $6m and Eddy $4m. I think the Blues would be in the best shape if you could get Eddy for around $3, Sunny and Barbie for around 2-2.5, and Binner for around 4.5. They get money, but no so much that role players are keeping you from keeping high end guys. I think Schenn and Petro get raises next year, but not massive ones, unless they have monster seasons next year. Dunn will get a nice pay bump next year. He's already an important top4 dman.

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Re: St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Quick question. I don't pay much attention to the offseason. But, what are the Blues plans for Allen? Are they going to shop him and if so would they have to eat some of his salary? And, if they have to eat salary, does that still count against the cap?

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Re: St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by CardsofSTL »

I don't remember how much is left on Allen's contract..he signed an extension a few years ago if memory serves; so he is what; under contract through 20 or 21? Probably more money than most teams will want to eat.

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Re: St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by Freed Roger »

Worth noting is the Blues offseason is going to be up to two months shorter than a good chunk of the NHL.

Looking things over, reigning NHL champs have had historically better success than I'd expect with this shortened offseason and success attrition.

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Re: St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by JCShutout »

I'm sure the Blues would shop Allen just for the salary relief, and because its clear he isn't and now never will be the #1. This is Binner's team for the next little while.

Allen isn't bad at all, and is signed for 2 more years at $4.2m ish. If he's a solid starter, that's a good salary. If he's the best backup, that's a million and a half ish high. If I'm the Blues, I wouldn't take on much, if any salary, because you can probably just keep him around to be the league's best backup and make the numbers work as long as Binner isn't making $6m or something and you don't give Maroon a bad contract. I think the Blues can retain half of a salary in a trade (via someone on LGB). I could see someone gambling a 3rd for Allen. That's a bargain price for a maybe starter. Would like a 2nd or a 1st but teams know we need to unload him, so that won't happen unless we eat salary.

Worst case, someone for sure throws us a 3rd for him next year. He'd be an ideal guy to pair with a rookie/young goalie who you don't want to overload right away. Sort of a, more-than-a-backup-not-quite-the-starter guy.

The Blues offseason is shorter, but aside from their RFAs starting negotiations later due to the playoffs, their scouts have been doing the same work they always would have done. The team will be ready for the draft and can't afford a big FA from outside the org anyways unless we let all our RFAs go, and why would we do that?

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Re: St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by tlombard »

Thankfully Bouwmeester's salary drops a bit over $2M from $5.4M to something like $3.25M for 2019-2020. I honestly have no idea as to what a fair contract is these days in the NHL for any level of player so I have no clue what is going to happen with turnover going into next season. I've just never paid any attention to the financial part of hockey.

Heck, what did I care? The Blues were just going to let me down in the playoffs again right? Now that they have won the Stanley Cup, I can finally accept that they are actually capable of winning the thing and will start paying more attention to the salary aspect.

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Re: St Louis Blues Greatest Offseason Thread Ever

Post by Secret Weapon »

JCShutout wrote:There is no comparable for Binner. A half season and a SCF win. He's a RFA, so he'll be here Blues for two years at least. I think the Blues would match anything not insane offered by another team.
If I was another team I would offer something insane just to screw over the Blues. No matter what is offered the Blues have to match it. Just imagine if they let Binner walk and went back to Allen next year, there would be a riot.

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