Half-Assed GDT: ♪ @ ★ Game #38 (My First GDT Edition)

[BigB]

This would be my 3rd period lines

Steen Lehtera Tarasenko
Paajarvi Backes Brouwer
Fabbri Stastny Jaskin

I'm down with that.

 

[Lord Helix]

That's not how cap management works. You'll have better deals in some areas, overpay in others.

Stastny is "overpaid" at $7m, but better to be paying him $7m for 4 years than $6.5m for 7. There is no doubt that Stastny has been a disappointment, but using his salary as a stick to beat him with doesn't make any sense. I must have missed all the posts praising Backes at the end of last season for his production -vs- salary ratio.

To be honest, I'm most concerned with the amount of time that it potentially wastes. And while I do think it may be time to move on from Backes, I've never once said he wasn't our best center. Beyond that, my issue is that I feel like the 2nd line center should be an easy hole to fill relative to how the salary has been allocated in years past.

That being said, I don't know how to solve the problems that I believe to be widespread.

 

[Alklha]

I wasn't a fan of bringing in Stastny and hated the idea of Miller but hoped for the best, I think Army jumped the gun and took what he thought was best available at the time. What hurts us the most is his NTC.

I'm far from an Armstrong fan, but what was the other option? If there was a trade market for a top centre, then someone else would have pounced on that by now.

Then it comes down to would you rather have Backes signed at ~$6.5m until he is 37-38 (5-6 years) or have Stastny signed at $7m for the next 2? Realistically, the only reason we can let Backes walk at the end of the season is because we have Stastny.

The salary we are paying Stastny is not hurting the team. If there are areas of the team that we can't address because of lack of cap space, then it's players like Ott and Berglund that are causing that issue.

 

[STL BLUES]

Lehterä FO 2-11/18%

That is sick! So what about the other Blues center FO%'s? Can't be much better.

 

[Vladdy the Impaler]

He's 3rd in points on this team. What are you talking about?

That speaks more about how bad the forward core is outside of Tarasenko and Steen.......

 

[Ranksu]

That is sick! So what about the other Blues center FO%'s? Can't be much better.

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20152016/FC020529.HTM

 

[Dbrownss]

My god....the luck bounces

 

[Alklha]

To be honest, I'm most concerned with the amount of time that it potentially wastes. And while I do think it may be time to move on from Backes, I've never once said he wasn't our best center. Beyond that, my issue is that I feel like the 2nd line center should be an easy hole to fill relative to how the salary has been allocated in years past.

That being said, I don't know how to solve the problems that I believe to be widespread.

I agree that Backes is our best centre. I really wanted us to get Stastny, but I still laughed at suggestions he was better than Backes. Their performances for USA showed who the better player was. Going forward it's all about age and ability to maintain production.

I think the only solution is that we're going to have to make a trade to replace Backes and move Stastny down into the Backes type role, which he played in Colorado.

And... 2-0...

 

[Lord Helix]

I'm far from an Armstrong fan, but what was the other option? If there was a trade market for a top centre, then someone else would have pounced on that by now.

Then it comes down to would you rather have Backes signed at ~$6.5m until he is 37-38 (5-6 years) or have Stastny signed at $7m for the next 2? Realistically, the only reason we can let Backes walk at the end of the season is because we have Stastny.

The salary we are paying Stastny is not hurting the team. If there are areas of the team that we can't address because of lack of cap space, then it's players like Ott and Berglund that are causing that issue.

I just don't see how adding Stastny hasn't propped this team up. Lehtera is better than Arnott and company, the defense is similar to every other Hitchcock coached team, but they're still spinning their tires. I mean, Oshie for Brouwer was a pretty big loss, but a group of Backes, Lehtera, and any decent 3rd line center should be a lot worse than what we currently have, but it's the same result.

 

[Blanick]

Well that's that.

 

[Vladdy the Impaler]

Benn ****ing crosschecked Jay.

 

[Overkamp]

How does Benn get away with that in the offensive zone? Unreal.

 

[Blanick]

Gotta give it up to Elliott. Only player that showed up and just keeps on fighting despite the **** show in front of him.

 

[Lord Helix]

Spezza's curve is legal?

 

[Overkamp]

Any other game, I would place some of the blame on the officiating, because it's been porous (even with one ref tonight)..but the Blues don't deserve anything tonight.

 

[Vladdy the Impaler]

Seems like it's always a collective effort when the Blues significantly lower their level of play against teams like Chicago or LA (or any team in the playoffs). Similar to what we see tonight.

 

[Chojin]

It's poor asset (money/cap) management. Look at the salary of the true contender's top 6 centers and their production versus Stastny. I'm not hating on him, but he clearly doesn't provide the production and effect that we thought he would considering it was a pure addition.

True contenders' top centers, by and large, are on RFA contracts in their prime, so your expectations are too high.

 

[Ranksu]

next goal wins

 

[SirPaste]

Feel bad for Elliott, he's playing great but he's the only one who showed up to play today

 

[Lord Helix]

True contenders' top centers, by and large, are on RFA contracts in their prime, so your expectations are too high.

Or this team truly lacks the piece that it'll take to have playoff success. Maybe there's not enough ice-time to go around for depth to have as great a net effect on results as top end talent does.

 

[Overkamp]

This team cannot even make one play to enter the zone or get deep. Not one. Holy pathetic effort Batman.

 

[Vladdy the Impaler]

Or this team truly lacks the piece that it'll take to have playoff success. Maybe there's not enough ice-time to go around for depth to have as great a net effect on results as top end talent does.

I will continue to stress that this team cannot win a cup without a front line center. We have a bunch of #2 centers but not the guy who can pair with Vladdy and raise our offense to the next level during crunch time. The cup winners for at least the past decade have all had a true #1 center. There's no way around it.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Jaskin you're supposed to hit people in the Green Unis not PRV. Lol.

 

[Thallis]

These refs really don't want to call anything on Dallas.

 

[TerminatorBlue]

I'm far from an Armstrong fan, but what was the other option? If there was a trade market for a top centre, then someone else would have pounced on that by now.

Then it comes down to would you rather have Backes signed at ~$6.5m until he is 37-38 (5-6 years) or have Stastny signed at $7m for the next 2? Realistically, the only reason we can let Backes walk at the end of the season is because we have Stastny.

The salary we are paying Stastny is not hurting the team. If there are areas of the team that we can't address because of lack of cap space, then it's players like Ott and Berglund that are causing that issue.

It's not that I blame Armstrong for making the deal it's the the NTC that is handcuffing the team...maybe he couldn't have got the deal done without it, I don't know.