2017-2018 Blues Discussion Thread Part Three

[wannabebluesplayer]

Steen isn't far off being worth $5.75 million right now. He's maybe overpaid by 250k-400k this year. His value relative to his cap hit is obviously going to go down but his contract isn't awful. He took him awhile to get back to full speed after his injury and his defensive game has still been solid. Not as great as we have come to expect but still better than most. Ideally, on this team, he plays on the 3rd line with some of the younger guys next year, mainly thinking Thomas. Infusing some of the younger talent over the course of his contract will help absorb some of his cap hit and I think he'll be useful as a mentor for some of the prospects.

For reference, here is a list of players that have a cap hit of $5 million or higher and lower than $6.25 million that play primarily wing. Anyone with an * received that deal as a UFA and anyone in bold is someone who I would pick for their cap hit over Steen and his $5.75 million:

Tomas Tatar $5.3 million - YOUNGER
Frans Nielsen $5.25* - SAME AGE
Patrick Marleau $6.25* - OLDER and more productive throughout his career
Brandon Saad $6 (Debated this one but age was tiebreaker) - YOUNGER, but had benefit of playing with Toews
Mikael Granlund $5.75 - YOUNGER
Nino Niederreiter $5.25 - YOUNGER
TJ Oshie $5.75 - YOUNGER
Loui Eriksson $6* - SAME AGE
David Backes $6* - SAME AGE
Alexander Radulov $6.25* (Another debatable one but went with the goal scoring) - YOUNGER
Andrew Ladd $5.5* - SAME AGE
Mike Hoffman $5.187 - YOUNGER
Ondrej Palat $5.3 - YOUNGER
Valterri Filpulla $5* - SAME AGE
Dustin Brown $5.875 - SAME AGE
Brandon Dubinsky $5.85 (He's a center but saw that cap hit and figured I'd include him) - YOUNGER
Nick Foligno $5.5 (Signed December before he would have been a UFA) - YOUNGER
Joe Pavelski $6 - SAME AGE BUT MUCH MORE PRODUCTIVE
Jason Pominville $5.6 - OLDER
Blake Wheeler $5.6 (This contract is a steal) - HA...really Wheeler to Steen...why is this on here?
Jonathan Huberdeau $5.9 - YOUNGER
Jonathan Drouin $5.5 - YOUNGER
Taylor Hall $6 (another steal of a contract) - YOUNGER
Milan Lucic $6* - YOUNGER but this is a BAD contract
James Neal $5 - YOUNGER
Reilly Smith $5 - YOUNGER
Gabriel Landeskog $5.571 - YOUNGER
Jeff Skinner $5.725 - YOUNGER

There's a lot of good contracts/players in there. Steen falls in the middle of the pack I'd say so his contract isn't the end of the world as long as we have young talent on ELCs filling up one or two of the spots on his line.

Almost the entire list you put out there have players 2 or more years younger than Steen. It's really not a fair comparison. Steen is already in his mid 30's and is declining in production, both offensively and defensively. He's been hurt the last 3 years now. I'll agree the contract isn't an albatross like Lehtera's but it's still not good. When he signed that extension, he still had a year left on his current contract at the time. If I was Armstrong, I offer him a 2 year extension and that's it. Either go year to year after or let him walk. The length, actual salary, and cap hit are my problems with it.

 

[Note Worthy]

I feel like this JR article has done exactly what it was meant to do - resonate with the majority of the fanbase that thinks Berglund is useless, Tarasenko is lazy, Petro is a bad captain, team's too soft, JBo is awful, and Allen is likely to be traded.

This isn't good analysis, and, in typical JR fashion, is a bunch of unfounded speculation built on an old school mentality that hasn't won anything since at least Boston's last Stanley Cup, and even then it's debatable. I agree with Alklha that he completely fails to come to the most obvious conclusion his "evidence" points to: blaming Armstrong. JR doesn't have the balls to do this, and he isn't smart enough to draw that conclusion anyway.

The talk about trading Allen, Stastny, and the rest just seems silly to me. It's not likely to happen, which is fine to talk about, I guess, but to me it seems like another example of the "mentally tough" crowd failing at the thing the accuse the team of doing. I'll try not to comment again on it, but I felt like I had to this one last time just to point out how stupid this all is; it's a tier above facebook quality discussion.

I completely agree with this.

JR's article was great for people like my cousin or the listeners of the god awful Blues Hockey Podcast with Jamie Rivers who think hockey is some form of WWE where you win games by "hitt'n people" and "being tough". He played right into those people, which honestly, is the majority of the casual fanbase. He has to sell those Athletic subscriptions!

 

[AjaxManifesto]

This article by JR will either:

1) tick off the players to play harder
2) further fracture the team and they play worse
3) be completely ignored by the players

In any case, I would imagine JR will lose some access to the players and staff....unless the staff wanted this inside the locker room info known..

 

[Note Worthy]

Oh and I just looked at the comments on the article, not sure why as I already knew how this was going to go, but JR is getting gushed all over for that mailbag response. People are loving him for "telling it like it is" and "being real". Seriously, there's not a single person on there that is like "Wait...this is all just speculation of the low hanging fruit".

Look no further than the amount of people clamoring "THIS is why I signed up for The Athletic!" There's your reason right there for his response.

I'm sure he's real proud of himself. Sorry, I've not been a fan of JR's for quite some time and he's even worse now that he used to be.

 

[BleedBlue14]

I completely agree with this.

JR's article was great for people like my cousin or the listeners of the god awful Blues Hockey Podcast with Jamie Rivers who think hockey is some form of WWE where you win games by "hitt'n people" and "being tough". He played right into those people, which honestly, is the majority of the casual fanbase. He has to sell those Athletic subscriptions!

I'm not going to lie, I listen to that podcast as well and that has to be one of the dumbest group of hosts I've listened to. I will say though I think this team could either use grit or a stronger sense of pride I.e a bit of a back bone or killer mentality.

 

[Note Worthy]

I'm not going to lie, I listen to that podcast as well and that has to be one of the dumbest group of hosts I've listened to. I will say though I think this team could either use grit or a stronger sense of pride I.e a bit of a back bone or killer mentality.

Someone suggested that I listen to it and I'm always up for listening to Blues hockey chat so I gave it a shot. It was like having the worst posters on HF come together and give their opinions. It was awful.

I prefer the Wendy's Week in Hockey on KMOX with Alex Ferrario and Amy Marxkors. That one I listen to on a pretty weekly basis.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Someone suggested that I listen to it and I'm always up for listening to Blues hockey chat so I gave it a shot. It was like having the worst posters on HF come together and give their opinions. It was awful.

I prefer the Wendy's Week in Hockey on KMOX with Alex Ferrario and Amy Marxkors. That one I listen to on a pretty weekly basis.

Yeah I listen to that one as well. Nice to hear from the players and just get the recap. I work from home in an office a lot and am on the road a lot so I have a lot of time to myself. The humor of listening to Rivers and Kimble spew the same things over and over again is nice to kill some time from time to time.

I lost a lot of hope when the first one I listened to was those two trying to figure out who we would give up for Hoffman. It was ridiculous like Eddy + Thomas + Kyrou + Dunn and so on and so forth. From that point I pretty much just listen to laugh.

 

[simon IC]

I completely agree with this.

JR's article was great for people like my cousin or the listeners of the god awful Blues Hockey Podcast with Jamie Rivers who think hockey is some form of WWE where you win games by "hitt'n people" and "being tough". He played right into those people, which honestly, is the majority of the casual fanbase. He has to sell those Athletic subscriptions!

Really? I am honestly surprised to hear this. From what I have read, I would have thought the majority of the casual fan base was "dump the old useless vets and let the kids play".

 

[Note Worthy]

Really? I am honestly surprised to hear this. From what I have read, I would have thought the majority of the casual fan base was "dump the old useless vets and let the kids play".

This is true and maybe it's just what I see through my eyes. I hear a lot of "hit somebody!!" when I'm at the games and we're losing.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Someone suggested that I listen to it and I'm always up for listening to Blues hockey chat so I gave it a shot. It was like having the worst posters on HF come together and give their opinions. It was awful.

I prefer the Wendy's Week in Hockey on KMOX with Alex Ferrario and Amy Marxkors. That one I listen to on a pretty weekly basis.

Thumbs up for Wendy's Week in Hockey.

Plus, Amy is hockey playing babe. Not that you can make that out over the AM radio waves.

 

[simon IC]

This is true and maybe it's just what I see through my eyes. I hear a lot of "hit somebody!!" when I'm at the games and we're losing.

I think I see what you're getting at, even though I have never attended a Blues game in person. I lot of fans don't realize that putting yourself out of position to make a hit is poor defensive hockey.

 

[CitizenSnips]

I have completely stopped listening to the Blues Hockey Podcast due to my frustration with the lack of quality conversation. It is just horrible and not even worth the listen anymore. Its a shame because I spend tons of time in my car for work and really need some good content I can download via podcasts

As for JR, this is typical click bait and he has to sell subscriptions. The sad part here is that articles like this WILL help him do just that. I will not be participating anymore. I have my free t-shirt and when my subscription falls off, I will continue to come here as I have for years for the best conversations.

I'm not trying to build up the HF boards too much but this is seriously some of the best, respectful conversation you can have even with people having the ability to hide behind a keyboard. For the most part everyone is respectful and knows enough to make reads worth while. If anyone has other suggestions for quality discussions/podcasts I would honestly love to hear them.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Blais got recalled.... I think something could be happening. Idk tho.

 

[EastonBlues22]

Blais got recalled.... I think something could be happening. Idk tho.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Read that the Dunn thing was due to personnel emergency and was rescheduled for March 5th. I thought the Blues would be over player limit with Blais being called up and Soshnikov getting activated (hopefully soon)

 

[bleedblue1223]

Read that the Dunn thing was due to personnel emergency and was rescheduled for March 5th. I thought the Blues would be over player limit with Blais being called up and Soshnikov getting activated (hopefully soon)

Soshnikov isn't active yet, so we had an open roster spot. Sosh was always going to take about 7-10 days, so nothing imminent.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Soshnikov isn't active yet, so we had an open roster spot. Sosh was always going to take about 7-10 days, so nothing imminent.

That's true. Maybe it's just wishful thinking that Sobotka or Bergy was about to get moved.

 

[EastonBlues22]

Read that the Dunn thing was due to personnel emergency and was rescheduled for March 5th. I thought the Blues would be over player limit with Blais being called up and Soshnikov getting activated (hopefully soon)

I was just having fun with the way every little thing is put under a microscope at this time of year. I'm obligated to be glued to the trade board for the next week, so you'll have to forgive me some indulgences here and there as I attempt to purge that nonsense from my system.

I wouldn't read too much into this just yet. Doesn't make much sense to be calling up a forward if there has been a trade unless we're sending out one more roster player than we are bringing back. That scenario seems pretty unlikely to me. We might send out one contract for financial reasons, but we're trying (ostensibly) trying to use expendable non-roster assets to add to what we have at the NHL level.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I was just having fun with the way every little thing is put under a microscope at this time of year. I'm obligated to be glued to the trade board for the next week, so you'll have to forgive me some indulgences here and there as I attempt to purge that nonsense from my system.

I wouldn't read too much into this just yet. Doesn't make much sense to be calling up a forward if there has been a trade unless we're sending out one more roster player than we are bringing back. That scenario seems pretty unlikely to me. We might send out one contract for financial reasons, but we're trying (ostensibly) trying to use expendable non-roster assets to add to what we have at the NHL level.

I understand. I'm probably just really wanting to get a 1st from Pitts for Sobtoka. lol

 

[EastonBlues22]

I understand. I'm probably just really wanting to get a 1st from Pitts for Sobtoka. lol

I could see the Blues selling off some of their LW depth to create some elbow room to reshape the roster after this season, but it's hard to imagine them doing it at the deadline when they still have a pretty good chance of making the playoffs.

 

[David Dennison]

Soshnikov isn't active yet, so we had an open roster spot. Sosh was always going to take about 7-10 days, so nothing imminent.

Poor guy, between "reconditioning" stints with the Leafs/Marlies and 7-10 days to get a visa with us, it has got to be difficult to succeed while only playing intermittently and bouncing between 3 teams now. Teams are really getting creative with stretching the limits of their roster though.

I think the Blais callup is simply because we are desperate for scoring and he is the best option we got. He is also a logical trade target for teams who are rebuilding, it could be a bit of a showcasing as well.

 

[Stealth JD]

I've actually expected the recall of Blais for some time, considering all he does is produce in the AHL. With Thompson's ice-time dwindling, it's not surprising to see Sammy called back.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Don't trade Sammy!

I'm hoping he's that diamond in the rough that everybody misses except for the Blues.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Love to see what this Sosh kid can do.

This is why I won't get too bent if we miss the playoffs. We have a lot of good prospects and some very good early career NHLers that will make the next few seasons very interesting.

 

[simon IC]

Love to see what this Sosh kid can do.

This is why I won't get too bent if we miss the playoffs. We have a lot of good prospects and some very good early career NHLers that will make the next few seasons very interesting.

Respectfully, I could not disagree more. The franchise needs the revenue, our players benefit from the experience, and a strong push for the playoffs sends a positive message to the team and the fans. The Blues #1 priority right now should be making the playoffs. We may not be contenders, but we are darn well competitors. The only way missing the playoffs would be tolerable would be if we had a 1st round pick. Sadly, we don't. I do agree that our prospects make our future exciting, and that we need to hang on to most of them.