Speculation: Tavares Tells Toronto, "I'm YOUR Huckleberry Now". Fans leaguewide mourn.

[TK 421]

I don't think Sobotka has any sort of NMC on his contract so that's one we can move at the draft if needed.

Also the cap is going up so it may actually be possible to add a scoring winger this deadline AND still pursue Tavares. Keep in mind that adding a scoring winger could be a big selling point to Tavares that the Blues are serious about contending.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I don't think Sobotka has any sort of NMC on his contract so that's one we can move at the draft if needed.

Also the cap is going up so it may actually be possible to add a scoring winger this deadline AND still pursue Tavares. Keep in mind that adding a scoring winger could be a big selling point to Tavares that the Blues are serious about contending.

If we’re gonna go after a scoring winger, I could see us possibly using Fabbri as a trade chip since we have Berglund’s trade clauses to deal with. I definitely don’t see Sobotka on the team longer than this season though.

 

[TK 421]

If we’re gonna go after a scoring winger, I could see us possibly using Fabbri as a trade chip since we have Berglund’s trade clauses to deal with. I definitely don’t see Sobotka on the team longer than this season though.

I would hate to lose Fabbri, offense drivers are rare. But for all we know he may take quite a while to get back to that level of effectiveness or may not ever regain it at all. I could see a very Andy MacDonald-esque injury forecast for him as a possibility. I'd still hold off on dealing an offense driver until he's shown to no longer be that player though.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I would hate to lose Fabbri, offense drivers are rare. But for all we know he may take quite a while to get back to that level of effectiveness or may not ever regain it at all. I could see a very Andy MacDonald-esque injury forecast for him as a possibility. I'd still hold off on dealing an offense driver until he's shown to no longer be that player though.

I don’t really want to get rid of him either, he’s one of my favorite Blues. It’s completely just a numbers issue. Say we get JT or bring back Stastny, we’d have them, Tarasenko, Schwartz, Schenn, Steen, Berglund, Thompson, and one of Thomas/Kyrou/Kostin as the other 8 of our top 9. I just think he might be on the table for a non-rental forward.

 

[Stealth JD]

Isles are a wreck...really liking how this is unfolding...Blues healthy and contenders, Isles circling the drain with JT's future in doubt.

Come on Doug...earn that shiny new contract extension by getting us another top-line Center.
Schenn, Schwartz, Tavares, Tarasenko, Pietrangelo, Parayko. Are you kidding me? Yeo could theoretically have any two of those guys on the ice at one time, for the whole game!!! Talk about offense and star-power.

 

[Vincenzo Arelliti]

Here's a little mock-up. Tavares at 11M and Hoffman at 5.1875M are both possible.

If Edmundson takes any less than a 3M raise, then we can fit Jaskin as 4LW and have Barbashev and Sanford as extra forwards. I doubt Fabbri and Edmunson combine for more than 4M worth of raises.

 

[izzy]

please dont break up the fabbri and eddy bromance

oshie-berglund was already destroyed

 

[wannabebluesplayer]

Here's a little mock-up. Tavares at 11M and Hoffman at 5.1875M are both possible.

View attachment 95133 View attachment 95135

If Edmundson takes any less than a 3M raise, then we can fit Jaskin as 4LW and have Barbashev and Sanford as extra forwards. I doubt Fabbri and Edmunson combine for more than 4M worth of raises.

I like your thinking but that package doesn't net you Hoffman. I like the Pittsburgh trade, but I don't think Thorburn or the 2nd round pick from Pit and Reaves would be involved. I think that one would play out more like Sobotka and a 4th/5th for Pitt's 1st.

 

[Halak Ness Monster]

Isles are a wreck...really liking how this is unfolding...Blues healthy and contenders, Isles circling the drain with JT's future in doubt.

Come on Doug...earn that shiny new contract extension by getting us another top-line Center.
Schenn, Schwartz, Tavares, Tarasenko, Pietrangelo, Parayko. Are you kidding me? Yeo could theoretically have any two of those guys on the ice at one time, for the whole game!!! Talk about offense and star-power.

Yeah man that is pretty nuts. That'd be the best team in the West by a mile.

And you'd like to think that with our great defense and with that forward group being able to control the puck so well that it wouldn't matter who is in net. Their job would be easy.

 

[The Note]

If the Blues managed to get Tavares I would 100% expect one of Tarasenko, Tavares, or Pietrangelo to suffer a long term injury. Things can’t go that well for the Blues.

 

[Note Worthy]

If the Blues managed to get Tavares I would 100% expect one of Tarasenko, Tavares, or Pietrangelo to suffer a long term injury. Things can’t go that well for the Blues.

We should be fine as long as Schwartz doesn't get injured.

 

[The Note]

We should be fine as long as Schwartz doesn't get injured.

It is very Blues-y that the one player that apparently holds the whole operation together is pretty injury prone.

 

[Brian39]

Here's a little mock-up. Tavares at 11M and Hoffman at 5.1875M are both possible.

View attachment 95133 View attachment 95135

If Edmundson takes any less than a 3M raise, then we can fit Jaskin as 4LW and have Barbashev and Sanford as extra forwards. I doubt Fabbri and Edmunson combine for more than 4M worth of raises.

I like the cap breakdown, but I don't think either of those trade proposals are very realistic. Ottawa should be able to get way more than that for Hoffman. That package is bottom pairing D man who is slightly overpaid, a 24 year old D prospect with 13 career NHL games played, a 24 year old long shot goalie prospect with 13 minutes NHL experience and a 2nd round pick. There is no 'really good'asset in that package. I'm not even sure that there is simply a 'good' asset in that package. Schmaltz was hurt by a log jam ahead of him at RD, but this year he couldn't beat out Bort for a 3rd pairing spot and got surpassed by Dunn. That's no longer a top level asset.

To make your hypothetical work, I think we would need to give up Fabbri or one of the top 4 prospects (and that might not do it if Ottawa isn't eager to take on Gunnar's contract). Hoffman only has a 10 team no trade list, so there should still be a number of bidders on a defensively sound, 55-60 point guy who is 28 with 2 more years on a reasonable contract. An average/slightly below average roster player and collection of expendable assets shouldn't be close to what they can get for him. If that's all they can get, they would likely just keep him for a year or two and trade him as a rental for more than that.

I also don't think Sobotka returns nearly that much, but the return for Sobotka isn't all that important if you can find a way to add Tavares and Hoffman to the roster without crippling the future.

 

[Dbrownss]

Its getting very noticable with how Stl makes sense if JT is considering leaving NY. Its coming up alot when they talk about JT. Blues throwing out that lure that if he hits FA, they'd love to take a big dollar run at him.

 

[Majorityof1]

I like the cap breakdown, but I don't think either of those trade proposals are very realistic. Ottawa should be able to get way more than that for Hoffman. That package is bottom pairing D man who is slightly overpaid, a 24 year old D prospect with 13 career NHL games played, a 24 year old long shot goalie prospect with 13 minutes NHL experience and a 2nd round pick. There is no 'really good'asset in that package. I'm not even sure that there is simply a 'good' asset in that package. Schmaltz was hurt by a log jam ahead of him at RD, but this year he couldn't beat out Bort for a 3rd pairing spot and got surpassed by Dunn. That's no longer a top level asset.

To make your hypothetical work, I think we would need to give up Fabbri or one of the top 4 prospects (and that might not do it if Ottawa isn't eager to take on Gunnar's contract). Hoffman only has a 10 team no trade list, so there should still be a number of bidders on a defensively sound, 55-60 point guy who is 28 with 2 more years on a reasonable contract. An average/slightly below average roster player and collection of expendable assets shouldn't be close to what they can get for him. If that's all they can get, they would likely just keep him for a year or two and trade him as a rental for more than that.

I also don't think Sobotka returns nearly that much, but the return for Sobotka isn't all that important if you can find a way to add Tavares and Hoffman to the roster without crippling the future.

If we can add Tavares and Hoffman without giving up a single core-player or prospect better than Schmaltz, I will take back every bad thing I ever said about Armstrong. Even if he trades Sobotka for a bag of pucks, if he signs Tavares and gets Hoffman for that pile of steaming....spare parts, then Army wins GM of the decade.

 

[TK 421]

Without a doubt we're a frontrunner for him with a core group right around his age. Nashville is a team I've seen mentioned as another possibility. I'm going to lose my ****ing mind if the god **** Predators manage to pick up Ryjo, Turris and Tavares in succession.....

 

[The Note in MI]

For cap at 77k. Really tough decisions there and a lot of different combinations. I feel like we are still weak on the RW. Would love to have an NHL proven top six RHS RW to play behind Tarasenko and roll a 4th line scoring line of veterans with a sheltered offensive 3rd line. But that’s tough to work out. My toughest spot is injected so much youth. I feel like Thompson and Thomas will be fine but adding Kyrou and a questionable Fabbri worries me. But if these guys don’t hit then we play guys like Sundqvist Sanford and Jaskin.

Would like to see us be young next year and then in 19-20 we can really make our push

This lineup moves Sobotka and Gunnarsson.

If we keep Stastny we need to make a move for a top 6 RW of that I have no doubt.

 

[Dbrownss]

Without a doubt we're a frontrunner for him with a core group right around his age. Nashville is a team I've seen mentioned as another possibility. I'm going to lose my ****ing mind if the god **** Predators manage to pick up Ryjo, Turris and Tavares in succession.....

Im too lazy to look at the cap but how in the blue f*** can they afford him?

 

[The Note in MI]

Im too lazy to look at the cap but how in the blue **** can they afford him?

Feel like it would only be for a year or two and they would have to move some serious salary or just ride to the end of contracts.

 

[wannabebluesplayer]

Im too lazy to look at the cap but how in the blue **** can they afford him?

Because their defense's contracts outside of Subban are ridiculously cheap. Josi is woefully underpaid compared to what he provides. Ekholm and Ellis the same.

 

[TK 421]

Im too lazy to look at the cap but how in the blue **** can they afford him?

I've seen it mentioned that if the cap goes to at least 78 mil they could pull it off.

 

[Dbrownss]

Because their defense's contracts outside of Subban are ridiculously cheap. Josi is woefully underpaid compared to what he provides. Ekholm and Ellis the same.

Josi is coming up though in the next couple years iirc. Tavares is a long term plan. Johansen and Turris are long term and 14m combined. Adding JT is going to kick that to at least 24m.

While it may be possible, it doesn't sound realistic.

 

[PiggySmalls]

If Nashville landed JT, they would likely try to move RyJo for futures. The way he is performing vs his cap hit, he is very overpaid.

 

[TruBlu]

If Nashville landed JT, they would likely try to move RyJo for futures. The way he is performing vs his cap hit, he is very overpaid.

I don't see how they are going to be able to get rid of that contract with the term and money he's making. Any move would have to come with Nashville retaining salary, and that throws them over the cap when you add in Tavares. They already have some contracts that are going to put them in Blackhawks territory in the coming years having to move talent out every year just to be cap compliant when some of these raises are due.

 

[Brian39]

For cap at 77k. Really tough decisions there and a lot of different combinations. I feel like we are still weak on the RW. Would love to have an NHL proven top six RHS RW to play behind Tarasenko and roll a 4th line scoring line of veterans with a sheltered offensive 3rd line. But that’s tough to work out. My toughest spot is injected so much youth. I feel like Thompson and Thomas will be fine but adding Kyrou and a questionable Fabbri worries me. But if these guys don’t hit then we play guys like Sundqvist Sanford and Jaskin.

Would like to see us be young next year and then in 19-20 we can really make our push

This lineup moves Sobotka and Gunnarsson.

If we keep Stastny we need to make a move for a top 6 RW of that I have no doubt.

In this hypothetical, I'd put Tarasenko with Tavares and then try out Thompson with Schenn/Schwartz. I'm growing more and more confident that Schenn/Schwartz can produce with just about anyone on the RW, but I think Thompson's shot could compliment that line well. that lineup may be a little thin at RW, but I'm fine trying to get Thompson/Kyrou/Kostin to grow into a legit 2nd line RWer on a line with Schenn and Schwartz. If none of them can adequately fill the roll to start next season, Jaskin has proven that he can be at least a competent 3rd guy for that line while those guys develop. Yeo seems to be intrigued by using Steen as the RW with Schenn and Schwartz, so maybe you put him there if the young guys aren't ready and let Bergie anchor a 3rd line of younger guys with high upside. Tons of options for RW solutions even though it doesn't look ideal at the moment.

Who knows what Fabbri looks like when he gets back, but I'm pretty comfortable with him on the wing with Tavares and Tarasenko. If it doesn't work out, you can try Steen or Bergie there before getting creative with young guys.

While that lineup may have holes for opening night next season, the worst case scenario is still an above average forward group that should get better in a year. It has the potential to be the best forward group in the league and that D looks good too.