Blues Trade Proposals Part XXXV

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I’m fine with Kapanen if we trade off both Sobotka/Berglund. With this lineup I’m also assuming Thompson+WPG 1st+ lands a top 6 RHS center.

Schwartz-Schenn-Kyrou
Fabbri-TBA-Tarasenko
Steen-Thomas-Kapanen

 

[Ranksu]

Its pretty 'meh' situation for Blues when both Jbo (34-years old) and Gunnar (31-years old) get injured. Now they have lost their value and can they both catch a break and come back their own level. I don't believe Jbo is anymore top4 caliber and same goes with Gunnar, so both would in theory 3rd pair dmen. This creates log jam bottom pair. At least one of Jbo or Gunnar should get traded away so our top6 would look breathable and flexible. That would give kids like Mikkola and Walman possibility to play NHL level when needed. Currently with this roster there is zero change any of Mikkola or Walman could get change for it. There is also change that Schmaltz is out of roster. Tho Bortuzzo / Schmaltz switching places with different games was good and working thing, but when we've Jbo and Gunnar its too much imo.

Blues d-core looks like this currently:

Edmundson - Pietro
Dunn - Parayko
Jbo / Gunnar - Bortuzzo / Schmaltz

Call-ups are Mikkola and Walman. Questionmarks are Nolan Stevens, David Noël and Trenton Bourque. I don't count in this Lindbohm or Sergeev anymore.

Not sure will all those youngesters play at AHL level already next season, but Blues affliate team San Antonio really looks good in the future and finally we can develope our kids right away.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Its pretty 'meh' situation for Blues when both Jbo (34-years old) and Gunnar (31-years old) get injured. Now they have lost their value and can they both catch a break and come back their own level. I don't believe Jbo is anymore top4 caliber and same goes with Gunnar, so both would in theory 3rd pair dmen. This creates log jam bottom pair. At least one of Jbo or Gunnar should get traded away so our top6 would look breathable and flexible. That would give kids like Mikkola and Walman possibility to play NHL level when needed. Currently with this roster there is zero change any of Mikkola or Walman could get change for it. There is also change that Schmaltz is out of roster. Tho Bortuzzo / Schmaltz switching places with different games was good and working thing, but when we've Jbo and Gunnar its too much imo.

Blues d-core looks like this currently:

Edmundson - Pietro
Dunn - Parayko
Jbo / Gunnar - Bortuzzo / Schmaltz

Call-ups are Mikkola and Walman. Questionmarks are Nolan Stevens, David Noël and Trenton Bourque. I don't count in this Lindbohm or Sergeev anymore.

Not sure will all those youngesters play at AHL level already next season, but Blues affliate team San Antonio really looks good in the future and finally we can develope our kids right away.

Stevens is a forward, but i agree with everything else haha

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Every wrestling gif gets a like from me.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Every wrestling gif gets a like from me.

You’re the Bendak of wrestling posts!

 

[Majorityof1]

Which Blues could stay and which could go this summer?

Article by JR groups the 25 players that played more than 1 game plus Fabbri by likelihood of remaining a Blue. I mean, this is the type of in -depth analysis for which I'm glad I paid good money

Anyway, Tage Thompson was listed in the 3rd group, 3rd least likely to be moved, titles "Staying put...almost certainly". The first two groups were no-brainers (Tarasenko, Schwartz, Schenn, Pietrangelo, Parayko, Dunn and Eddy). But the next group had Steen, Bortuzzo, Barbashev and Thompson seems a bit weird. Steen still has value and a risky contract so I get him. Botz has minimal value, so get him too. But Tage and Barby, to me are our most likely trade chips, outside the first. Tage is listed in just about every hypothetical trade in this thread. Is this an indication that the Blues are subscribing to the Morty School of thought to protect all youngsters...or is JR out to lunch? Thoughts?

*Note - Seriously, JR gets paid to write about the Blues and gives no indication there are rumors that Soshnikov may return to the KHL. He should read this board for his information.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Which Blues could stay and which could go this summer?

Article by JR groups the 25 players that played more than 1 game plus Fabbri by likelihood of remaining a Blue. I mean, this is the type of in -depth analysis for which I'm glad I paid good money

Anyway, Tage Thompson was listed in the 3rd group, 3rd least likely to be moved, titles "Staying put...almost certainly". The first two groups were no-brainers (Tarasenko, Schwartz, Schenn, Pietrangelo, Parayko, Dunn and Eddy). But the next group had Steen, Bortuzzo, Barbashev and Thompson seems a bit weird. Steen still has value and a risky contract so I get him. Botz has minimal value, so get him too. But Tage and Barby, to me are our most likely trade chips, outside the first. Tage is listed in just about every hypothetical trade in this thread. Is this an indication that the Blues are subscribing to the Morty School of thought to protect all youngsters...or is JR out to lunch? Thoughts?

*Note - Seriously, JR gets paid to write about the Blues and gives no indication there are rumors that Soshnikov may return to the KHL. He should read this board for his information.

Read that article a couple of days ago too. Was fairly shocked to see Barbashev and TT in that group. I'm assuming he doesn't believe that we will be trading much? Was equally as shocked about the listening to offers on Jaskin by him as high as he's been on Jaskin. He just had another mailbag or whatever its called today when he was talking about Barbashev and Jaskin playing their best on the 4th line but Jaskin playing his best with Schwartz and Schenn... Very confusing. Seems like his list is pandered to the players that take the most social media backlash(Berglund/Sobotka/Jaskin/Allen/Thorburn).

I guess he's just assuming if we do trade it will be someone like Foley/Stevens/Walman/ anyone else who is a prospect. I just don't necessarily see us trading Stevens or Foley. Seems kind of cruel to sign a kid to his first pro-level contract and then trade him before he even hits camp. Not saying if the right offer was there and they needed to be included we wouldn't trade them but still nonetheless I don't know how often that happens.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Which Blues could stay and which could go this summer?

Article by JR groups the 25 players that played more than 1 game plus Fabbri by likelihood of remaining a Blue. I mean, this is the type of in -depth analysis for which I'm glad I paid good money

Anyway, Tage Thompson was listed in the 3rd group, 3rd least likely to be moved, titles "Staying put...almost certainly". The first two groups were no-brainers (Tarasenko, Schwartz, Schenn, Pietrangelo, Parayko, Dunn and Eddy). But the next group had Steen, Bortuzzo, Barbashev and Thompson seems a bit weird. Steen still has value and a risky contract so I get him. Botz has minimal value, so get him too. But Tage and Barby, to me are our most likely trade chips, outside the first. Tage is listed in just about every hypothetical trade in this thread. Is this an indication that the Blues are subscribing to the Morty School of thought to protect all youngsters...or is JR out to lunch? Thoughts?

*Note - Seriously, JR gets paid to write about the Blues and gives no indication there are rumors that Soshnikov may return to the KHL. He should read this board for his information.

I will say that just because Gametime writes about it doesn’t make it a real story.

That paper is garbage

 

[Majorityof1]

Read that article a couple of days ago too. Was fairly shocked to see Barbashev and TT in that group. I'm assuming he doesn't believe that we will be trading much? Was equally as shocked about the listening to offers on Jaskin by him as high as he's been on Jaskin. He just had another mailbag or whatever its called today when he was talking about Barbashev and Jaskin playing their best on the 4th line but Jaskin playing his best with Schwartz and Schenn... Very confusing. Seems like his list is pandered to the players that take the most social media backlash(Berglund/Sobotka/Jaskin/Allen/Thorburn).

I guess he's just assuming if we do trade it will be someone like Foley/Stevens/Walman/ anyone else who is a prospect. I just don't necessarily see us trading Stevens or Foley. Seems kind of cruel to sign a kid to his first pro-level contract and then trade him before he even hits camp. Not saying if the right offer was there and they needed to be included we wouldn't trade them but still nonetheless I don't know how often that happens.

I too read it a couple days ago, and was waiting to see if someone lese mentioned it. When it popped up again for some reason, I decided to link it.

I don't think Foley or Stevens really move the needle at all. We traded Stastny for a couple months for 1st + Foley, what type of player will we get for a whole year/longer with the same package? It would have to be a worse player, or someone nobody else was bidding on. Walman could garner some value. But Thompson/Kostin seem to be our most valuable non-essential piece. Teams were asking about Thomas and Kyrou last year. If Armstrong calls a team about Player X, and the team asks for Thomas, how happy do you think they'd be with a counter of Stevens?

 

[Majorityof1]

I will say that just because Gametime writes about it doesn’t make it a real story.

That paper is garbage

Agreed. But the linked article was from the Athletic and Jeremy Rutherford.

 

[BleedBlue14]

I too read it a couple days ago, and was waiting to see if someone lese mentioned it. When it popped up again for some reason, I decided to link it.

I don't think Foley or Stevens really move the needle at all. We traded Stastny for a couple months for 1st + Foley, what type of player will we get for a whole year/longer with the same package? It would have to be a worse player, or someone nobody else was bidding on. Walman could garner some value. But Thompson/Kostin seem to be our most valuable non-essential piece. Teams were asking about Thomas and Kyrou last year. If Armstrong calls a team about Player X, and the team asks for Thomas, how happy do you think they'd be with a counter of Stevens?

Not very at all but what I'm saying is in a trade where a team wants the first plus an addition I could see Foley/Stevens being fairly attractive as an addition. I agree Stevens/Foley are not in the same category as the other two but still with what JR had in the listening to offers so on and so forth I don't really know if any of those players have any notable value. Agreed though that those two are our most attractive non-essential assets for us moving forward. I think most calls will start with Thomas/Kyrou/Dunn/Fabbri though, all of which hopefully are no-gos.

Just for clarity I wasn't trying to sell those players more or less just saying I guess that's who JR sees as liquid assets.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Agreed. But the linked article was from the Athletic and Jeremy Rutherford.

I was referring to his comment about the Soshnikov KHL rumors

 

[Majorityof1]

Not very at all but what I'm saying is in a trade where a team wants the first plus an addition I could see Foley/Stevens being fairly attractive as an addition. I agree Stevens/Foley are not in the same category as the other two but still with what JR had in the listening to offers so on and so forth I don't really know if any of those players have any notable value. Agreed though that those two are our most attractive non-essential assets for us moving forward. I think most calls will start with Thomas/Kyrou/Dunn/Fabbri though, all of which hopefully are no-gos.

Just for clarity I wasn't trying to sell those players more or less just saying I guess that's who JR sees as liquid assets.

I understood where you were coming from. I wish JR dipped into the prospect pool in this discussion so we could better see what his thoughts were. A Blues beat writer should be able to talk about our more valuable prospects at least. If he is expecting Blues to make a move for someone and he expects his expendable players to get it done, he is mistaken. He was mentioning Draisaitl and RoR in his mail bag. Sobotka + Berglund + Stevens+ Foley doesn't get you a signed Draisaitl jersey much less the player (granted neither does Tage). I'm just confused what he expects the Blues to do to improve, which he says they have to, when he lists any guy with value as unlikely to be moved.

 

[Majorityof1]

I was referring to his comment about the Soshnikov KHL rumors

It was from an interview with Soshnikov himself. When asked if he was coming back to the KHL, he said he needed time to think about it and he wasn't sure. It was also tweeted by a supposedly reputable Russian source who has knowledge on KHL negotiations. I never saw the Gametime article on that.

 

[BleedBlue14]

I understood where you were coming from. I wish JR dipped into the prospect pool in this discussion so we could better see what his thoughts were. A Blues beat writer should be able to talk about our more valuable prospects at least. If he is expecting Blues to make a move for someone and he expects his expendable players to get it done, he is mistaken. He was mentioning Draisaitl and RoR in his mail bag. Sobotka + Berglund + Stevens+ Foley doesn't get you a signed Draisaitl jersey much less the layer (granted neither does Tage). I'm just confused what he expects the Blues to do to improve, which he says they have to, when he lists any guy with value as unlikely to be moved.

Agreed. I'm getting fairly tired of journalists pandering to social media whipping boys when they have legitimate sources inside. I get that it could be that the two are essentially the same but hell I could've written that whole mailbag or whatever. There really isn't much content there that's worthwhile in terms of a paywall. Doesn't seem like many organizations are leaking much to the journalists anymore.

 

[Dbrownss]

I understood where you were coming from. I wish JR dipped into the prospect pool in this discussion so we could better see what his thoughts were. A Blues beat writer should be able to talk about our more valuable prospects at least. If he is expecting Blues to make a move for someone and he expects his expendable players to get it done, he is mistaken. He was mentioning Draisaitl and RoR in his mail bag. Sobotka + Berglund + Stevens+ Foley doesn't get you a signed Draisaitl jersey much less the player (granted neither does Tage). I'm just confused what he expects the Blues to do to improve, which he says they have to, when he lists any guy with value as unlikely to be moved.

Draisaitl was a deal for Parayko

 

[EastonBlues22]

Read that article a couple of days ago too. Was fairly shocked to see Barbashev and TT in that group. I'm assuming he doesn't believe that we will be trading much? Was equally as shocked about the listening to offers on Jaskin by him as high as he's been on Jaskin. He just had another mailbag or whatever its called today when he was talking about Barbashev and Jaskin playing their best on the 4th line but Jaskin playing his best with Schwartz and Schenn... Very confusing. Seems like his list is pandered to the players that take the most social media backlash(Berglund/Sobotka/Jaskin/Allen/Thorburn).

I guess he's just assuming if we do trade it will be someone like Foley/Stevens/Walman/ anyone else who is a prospect. I just don't necessarily see us trading Stevens or Foley. Seems kind of cruel to sign a kid to his first pro-level contract and then trade him before he even hits camp. Not saying if the right offer was there and they needed to be included we wouldn't trade them but still nonetheless I don't know how often that happens.

I'm not suggesting that JR is doing anything but speculating, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Blues still internally ranked Thompson ahead of someone like Kyrou.

We know for a fact that they had Thompson ranked clearly ahead of Kyrou at the draft, as they had a first round grade on Thompson and a second round grade on Kyrou. Thompson played two levels above Kyrou this past year and did ok, so there's an argument to be made that Thompson is closer to making an impact and that he has a higher floor at this point. Etc.

I wouldn't rank them that way myself (and never have, even going back to when they were drafted), but for someone who started with a different perspective, there's reasonable justifications for keeping the status quo.

My secret fear is that Kyrou is the guy they choose to dangle this offseason for top six help if they feel the need to move one of the top four forward prospects. I could easily see it happening, too.

 

[Dbrownss]

I'm not suggesting that JR is doing anything but speculating, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Blues still internally ranked Thompson ahead of someone like Kyrou.

We know for a fact that they had Thompson ranked clearly ahead of Kyrou at the draft, as they had a first round grade on Thompson and a second round grade on Kyrou. Thompson played two levels above Kyrou this past year and did ok, so there's an argument to be made that Thompson is closer to making an impact and that he has a higher floor at this point. Etc.

I wouldn't rank them that way myself (and never have, even going back to when they were drafted), but for someone who started with a different perspective, there's reasonable justifications for keeping the status quo.

My secret fear is that Kyrou is the guy they choose to dangle this offseason for top six help if they feel the need to move one of the top four forward prospects. I could easily see it happening, too.

For a team with the needs the Blues have, that would be disturbing.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

My secret fear is that Kyrou is the guy they choose to dangle this offseason for top six help if they feel the need to move one of the top four forward prospects. I could easily see it happening, too.

I agree, I have a gut feeling if we make a top6 move, Kyrou will be the piece involved.

 

[Spektre]

I'm not suggesting that JR is doing anything but speculating, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Blues still internally ranked Thompson ahead of someone like Kyrou.

We know for a fact that they had Thompson ranked clearly ahead of Kyrou at the draft, as they had a first round grade on Thompson and a second round grade on Kyrou. Thompson played two levels above Kyrou this past year and did ok, so there's an argument to be made that Thompson is closer to making an impact and that he has a higher floor at this point. Etc.

I wouldn't rank them that way myself (and never have, even going back to when they were drafted), but for someone who started with a different perspective, there's reasonable justifications for keeping the status quo.

My secret fear is that Kyrou is the guy they choose to dangle this offseason for top six help if they feel the need to move one of the top four forward prospects. I could easily see it happening, too.

I hope that's not the case. Army alluded to the fact he didn't want to trade one of the big 4 prospects several times. That doesn't necessarily mean one won't be moved in the right deal but all we can really do is take him at face value. This is just my opinion but, I think Army views the 1st round pick as the substitution for any deal that the top 4 were asked about. The deal for a top 6 player becomes the 2018 1st + instead of Kostin, Kyrou, TT, or Thomas +.

 

[BlueDream]

For a team with the needs the Blues have, that would be disturbing.

I mostly agree, with the Cup Final possibly being between Vegas and Tampa, and Pittsburgh having won the last 2 Cups, there's one common theme there obviously... speed. I think now would be a pretty awful time to trade Kyrou, given that he would greatly help us there.

At the same time though, perhaps some other GM is thinking the same thing and gets too giddy about Kyrou's speed and just offers us something stupid for him that solves our need.

We'll see. But yeah if given the choice I'd rather trade Thompson without much hesitation.

 

[Majorityof1]

I mostly agree, with the Cup Final possibly being between Vegas and Tampa, and Pittsburgh having won the last 2 Cups, there's one common theme there obviously... speed. I think now would be a pretty awful time to trade Kyrou, given that he would greatly help us there.

At the same time though, perhaps some other GM is thinking the same thing and gets too giddy about Kyrou's speed and just offers us something stupid for him that solves our need.

We'll see. But yeah if given the choice I'd rather trade Thompson without much hesitation.

I am one of the biggest brake-pumpers with Kyrou and think he is far from guaranteed success. But if value is equal, I keep him 10/10 over Thompson. You just don't throw away that kind of upside unless you are getting something really good in return.

 

[Dbrownss]

I mostly agree, with the Cup Final possibly being between Vegas and Tampa, and Pittsburgh having won the last 2 Cups, there's one common theme there obviously... speed. I think now would be a pretty awful time to trade Kyrou, given that he would greatly help us there.

At the same time though, perhaps some other GM is thinking the same thing and gets too giddy about Kyrou's speed and just offers us something stupid for him that solves our need.

We'll see. But yeah if given the choice I'd rather trade Thompson without much hesitation.

It better be a stupid offer to give up an elite skating, borderline elite playmaking RHS RW.....

 

[BlueDream]

I am one of the biggest brake-pumpers with Kyrou and think he is far from guaranteed success. But if value is equal, I keep him 10/10 over Thompson. You just don't throw away that kind of upside unless you are getting something really good in return.

I agree. I'm fine if they test the waters on offers for him to see what they can get. I mean (this is just an example that I don't expect to happen) if Edmonton would part with Draisaitl then that's something you look into. But by no means would I consider him "available". It'd have to be an extremely legit player we're getting back.

 

[BleedBlue14]

I'm not suggesting that JR is doing anything but speculating, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Blues still internally ranked Thompson ahead of someone like Kyrou.

We know for a fact that they had Thompson ranked clearly ahead of Kyrou at the draft, as they had a first round grade on Thompson and a second round grade on Kyrou. Thompson played two levels above Kyrou this past year and did ok, so there's an argument to be made that Thompson is closer to making an impact and that he has a higher floor at this point. Etc.

I wouldn't rank them that way myself (and never have, even going back to when they were drafted), but for someone who started with a different perspective, there's reasonable justifications for keeping the status quo.

My secret fear is that Kyrou is the guy they choose to dangle this offseason for top six help if they feel the need to move one of the top four forward prospects. I could easily see it happening, too.

I agree with about everything you said there and that's sort of a fear I have too that I think I'm just trying to disregard. I get that we do need the trigger man that TT was in college. That would be a big big help. But with the transition to a speed league that seems to be going on I can't see any way possible that someone couldn't look at the way Kyrou plays and has performed and say wow, that guy can really be a game changer.

I get that alot more is to be expected of Thompson in the near future and I like the kids toolset. I just really love Kyrou's. The explosion in his skating is pretty hard to match and I think his playmaking can really open up the door for Schenn on the powerplay. I guess maybe our brass is thinking Thomas could do that as well?