2016-17 Blues Discussion Thread Part III

[pricer502]

Parayko is a beast low in the offensive zone when he wonders down there. His play along the boards and ability to shield the puck is crazy good for a Dman. It's sad that he is noticeably better than alot of our regular top 9 forwards. His stick handling and ability to enter the zone and dodge defenders to create chances is good as well.
Next season I would like to see the Blues experiment with Parayko at forward some. I know his long term position is on the D but it could help develop his game. Similar to what the Sharks did with Burns. Look at how skating and offensive abilities improved after playing some forward.

 

[HockeyGuy73]

Parayko makes things happen when he is on the ice. He needs to be on the number 1 PP unit. So tired of seeing our top end players disappear in the playoffs. Every year. Army better be kicking the tires in the Tavares situation in NY. For me, #55 an #34 are the only untouchables in a deal to bring him here.

 

[Stealth JD]

As much as we've all expected a retool this year and a step back, I feel like we're actually pretty well off moving into the next couple of years. Our core is all in their prime (Petro, Tarasenko, Schwartz, Parayko) or entering it...then we've got several nice young players who can add to that (Edmundson, Fabbri, Allen), and some vets with some tread left on the tire hopefully (J-Bo, Steen, Stastny, Berglund). If the next wave of players (Branford, Barbashev, Dunn, Walman) can step in and become legitimate top-4 d-men or top-6 forwards, the Blues might be right back in the Conference Finals in a couple of years (ready to be blown out by the Oilers).

A D-core of Petro, Parayko, Edmundson, Dunn/Walman (if one can 'boom') and Bouwmeester is every bit as intimidating as Subban, Josi, Ellis & Ekholm...and the forward depth for St. Louis should be enough IF they can land a top-6 center somehow.

Armstrong has plenty of flexibility if he can dump the likes of Yakupov, Lehtera, Gunnarsson, Upshall & Brodziak. The latter two guys (along with Perron, Berglund & Steen) have been awful in the playoffs and should be able to be replaced internally no problem.

As far as Perron - I'd make him available to Vegas, and give his protected spot to Reaves (despite the boneheaded penalty he took leading up to the Ellis goal). He's only got one year to UFA, so that alone may dissuade the VGK from choosing him. And even if they do, I'd prefer to give his spot to Agostino/MPS and move on from DP57. Guy is too slow and ineffective in the post-season when his time & space are taken away. Plus, the offensive-zone penalties would drop by about 70% with him off of the roster.

All in all, I don't think this club is too far off from being a contender. A UFA or trade-deadline acquisition of Tavares would make them favorites in the West for the next-5 years in my estimation. That would cure a lot of what ails this club. And if we could stop taking too-many-men penalties in addition to somehow landing Tavares, they'd be almost unstoppable.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

I see us as being one piece away from being a serious contender. Problem being that number one centers are damn near impossible to acquire without drafting them.

 

[Thallis]

As much as we've all expected a retool this year and a step back, I feel like we're actually pretty well off moving into the next couple of years. Our core is all in their prime (Petro, Tarasenko, Schwartz, Parayko) or entering it...then we've got several nice young players who can add to that (Edmundson, Fabbri, Allen), and some vets with some tread left on the tire hopefully (J-Bo, Steen, Stastny, Berglund). If the next wave of players (Branford, Barbashev, Dunn, Walman) can step in and become legitimate top-4 d-men or top-6 forwards, the Blues might be right back in the Conference Finals in a couple of years (ready to be blown out by the Oilers).

A D-core of Petro, Parayko, Edmundson, Dunn/Walman (if one can 'boom') and Bouwmeester is every bit as intimidating as Subban, Josi, Ellis & Ekholm...and the forward depth for St. Louis should be enough IF they can land a top-6 center somehow.

Armstrong has plenty of flexibility if he can dump the likes of Yakupov, Lehtera, Gunnarsson, Upshall & Brodziak. The latter two guys (along with Perron, Berglund & Steen) have been awful in the playoffs and should be able to be replaced internally no problem.

As far as Perron - I'd make him available to Vegas, and give his protected spot to Reaves (despite the boneheaded penalty he took leading up to the Ellis goal). He's only got one year to UFA, so that alone may dissuade the VGK from choosing him. And even if they do, I'd prefer to give his spot to Agostino/MPS and move on from DP57. Guy is too slow and ineffective in the post-season when his time & space are taken away. Plus, the offensive-zone penalties would drop by about 70% with him off of the roster.

All in all, I don't think this club is too far off from being a contender. A UFA or trade-deadline acquisition of Tavares would make them favorites in the West for the next-5 years in my estimation. That would cure a lot of what ails this club. And if we could stop taking too-many-men penalties in addition to somehow landing Tavares, they'd be almost unstoppable.

I am shoving my head down a pipe until the minute Tavares signs a new contract. We need to be all over that situation should it unfold.

 

[stl76]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but found it very interesting:

https://www.nhl.com/news/martin-brod...ew/c-289234446

Apparently the Sabres approached Brodeur about interviewing for their GM position and he turned them down...

 

[Oberyn]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but found it very interesting:

https://www.nhl.com/news/martin-brod...ew/c-289234446

Apparently the Sabres approached Brodeur about interviewing for their GM position and he turned them down...

Nice to see. Sounds like Brodeur is happy with his current position on the Blues.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but found it very interesting:

https://www.nhl.com/news/martin-brod...ew/c-289234446

Apparently the Sabres approached Brodeur about interviewing for their GM position and he turned them down...

Next GM

 

[2 Minute Minor]

Next GM

Suggests to me:
1) Brodeur has some reason to steer clear of the Buffalo situation.
or more likely
2) Has a future with the Blues organization that he feels fairly confident with.

 

[Majorityof1]

Suggests to me:
1) Brodeur has some reason to steer clear of the Buffalo situation.
or more likely
2) Has a future with the Blues organization that he feels fairly confident with.

Says to me, our goaltending coach who turned around this season has other more lucrative offers than being Allen's permanent head doctor. I hope Allen takes his lessons to heart.

 

[AVictoryDive]

Suggests to me:
1) Brodeur has some reason to steer clear of the Buffalo situation.
or more likely
2) Has a future with the Blues organization that he feels fairly confident with.

He must feel confident that He could do no worse than Army haha

 

[bleedblue1223]

Either he simply doesn't want to live in Buffalo or he is waiting for his spot to come up. I think he has an inside track to eventually take over for Army.

 

[Brian39]

Says to me, our goaltending coach who turned around this season has other more lucrative offers than being Allen's permanent head doctor. I hope Allen takes his lessons to heart.

I think you are right that the front office and goalie coach split isn't sustainable long term, but why does him turning down what could be a GM interview tell you that he has better offers than his offer here?

Potentially being the GM of the Sabres would be one of the more lucrative offers. This tells me that he is set to be our next GM if Stillman decides to move on from Army. GM of Buffalo is a pretty good gig. That roster has a lot of talent, an owner who will spend money, a decent chunk of cap flexibility and arguably their biggest weakness is the position that Marty seems best suited to identify talent. On top of all this, they are young and the new GM will likely be able to build the coaching staff and front office exactly how he wants. It may not be the best GM gig, but I can't think of any better spots that would be available for a 1st time GM. If he's passing that up, I think it is because someone has made it clear to him that this team is his if he is patient.

 

[Brian39]

Thanks for your thoughts. This situation will start to clear up just a bit as soon as we see how deftly Armstrong handles the Lehtera situation, which should be this summer.

Again, I don't agree that the Steen, Bergie and Sobie contracts are bargains, hence I don't think they are easily movable in a pinch.

That said, Parayko (this summer) and Ed (next summer) are the priorities...then Fabs. I have a feeling that Ed is going to cost a bit more than one might have thought a few months ago and that Fabs will cost a bit less.

I know the conversation is a couple days old, but I just wanted to say that those contracts don't have to be bargains to be easily moveable. So long as they are fairish value, we could dump them for scraps if need be. Plenty of teams would trade a late round pick for any of those bolded players at the salary they are making.

I think the contracts are good enough that those players each carries decent trade value if we wanted to go down that road. But even if you think the contracts are actively bad, I don't think any of them are bad enough that they aren't at all moveable without giving up an asset. If cap space is desperately needed, we should be able to move any one of those guys without having to spend an asset (minus Steen if he isn't willing to waive his NTC. I assume if things are to the point where we want to trade him, his usage will be so limited that he would be willing to waive his NTC to go to a handful of other teams).

 

[Halak Ness Monster]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but found it very interesting:

https://www.nhl.com/news/martin-brod...ew/c-289234446

Apparently the Sabres approached Brodeur about interviewing for their GM position and he turned them down...

Interesting. The Sabres have a strong young core with Jack Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly, Rasmus Ristolainen, Sam Reinhart, and Robin Lehner. Evander Kane may or may not be a core guy but he put up 28 goals this year at age 25.

They also have some good prospects at forward knocking on the door: Alex Nylander, Justin Bailey, and Nick Baptiste. These guys can help fill in around the long term center duo of Eichel and O'Reilly. Plus they have the 8th overall pick this year.

Buffalo is a pretty solid GM opening. The owner is willing to pay out the nose for talent, too.

 

[BlueDream]

Brodeur is the biggest pimp the city of St. Louis has seen since they selected Fabbri in the 2014 draft.

 

[Majorityof1]

I think you are right that the front office and goalie coach split isn't sustainable long term, but why does him turning down what could be a GM interview tell you that he has better offers than his offer here?

It's not that he turned him down, its that they wanted to interview him at all. If there are teams interested in making him a GM now, he won't be content to be an assistant GM for us for much longer. GM is the position he wants, not goalie coach. While I can see him as a guy who wants to learn all he can at this stage before moving to the next, that will only last so long. Even if he moves on to GM for us, he won't have time to continue to work with Allen regularly if at all. As you said, the front-office goalie split is unsustainable. The only hope we had to keep him as a goalie coach was if the front-office thing wasn't going to work out. But if teams are interested in him, that is probably not the case.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Who says the job the Sabres wanted to interview Brodeur for was GM? The article says "an unspecified position." For all we know, it was Asst GM or something else. Or maybe it was for GM but Brodeur felt he wasn't ready for a GM position yet. Brodeur strikes me as a guy that can be honest with himself and not take a position he's not ready for yet. Bottom line is we don't know. But what it tells me is that he's likely happy where he's at and the direction of things.

 

[Celtic Note]

Who says the job the Sabres wanted to interview Brodeur for was GM? The article says "an unspecified position." For all we know, it was Asst GM or something else. Or maybe it was for GM but Brodeur felt he wasn't ready for a GM position yet. Brodeur strikes me as a guy that can be honest with himself and not take a position he's not ready for yet. Bottom line is we don't know. But what it tells me is that he's likely happy where he's at and the direction of things.

I keep wondering if he knows if he wants to be a GM or not. In an interview a while back he said something along the lines that he wanted to be in hockey still but didn't know how exactly. He thought he wanted to be a GM but wasn't sure. He might still be trying to figure that out.

 

[Renard]

As much as we've all expected a retool this year and a step back, I feel like we're actually pretty well off moving into the next couple of years. Our core is all in their prime (Petro, Tarasenko, Schwartz, Parayko) or entering it...then we've got several nice young players who can add to that (Edmundson, Fabbri, Allen), and some vets with some tread left on the tire hopefully (J-Bo, Steen, Stastny, Berglund). If the next wave of players (Branford, Barbashev, Dunn, Walman) can step in and become legitimate top-4 d-men or top-6 forwards, the Blues might be right back in the Conference Finals in a couple of years (ready to be blown out by the Oilers). END QUOTE.

This is how I see it too. We have some quality players on this team. Going into the season, Allen was an uncertainty. His play in this post season has removed that uncertainty (to everyone but Ranksu). We have some excellent prospects to fill some of the gaps on the current team, and two first round draft choices to help us find more help. And we have Fabbri coming back from injury, hopefully as good as ever.

I'm still hoping that the Blues come back and win the current series. But either way, I'm really looking forward to next season.

 

[2 Minute Minor]

I keep wondering if he knows if he wants to be a GM or not. In an interview a while back he said something along the lines that he wanted to be in hockey still but didn't know how exactly. He thought he wanted to be a GM but wasn't sure. He might still be trying to figure that out.

Maybe they wanted to interview him to be goalie coach.

 

[Celtic Note]

Maybe they wanted to interview him to be goalie coach.

Had the same thought as well

 

[MissouriMook]

Suggests to me:
1) Brodeur has some reason to steer clear of the Buffalo situation.
or more likely
2) Has a future with the Blues organization that he feels fairly confident with.

or

3) Waiting for the right position to open up in the Devils' organization.

I honestly think he's just waiting for the right time and right opportunity to go "home".

 

[Brian39]

Who says the job the Sabres wanted to interview Brodeur for was GM? The article says "an unspecified position." For all we know, it was Asst GM or something else. Or maybe it was for GM but Brodeur felt he wasn't ready for a GM position yet. Brodeur strikes me as a guy that can be honest with himself and not take a position he's not ready for yet. Bottom line is we don't know. But what it tells me is that he's likely happy where he's at and the direction of things.

There is the possibility that it wasn't for the GM position, but that is highly unlikely. The GM is the guy in control of a team and the guy who makes decisions about what coaching staff and lower front office staff to hire. Filling other vacancies before hiring a new GM is the perfect way to undercut your new GM immediately and ensure that there are competing factions/visions in your front office and coaching staff.

Not to mention, every report I have seen has described their desire to interview him as part of their ongoing search for a general manager.

 

[Brian39]

It's not that he turned him down, its that they wanted to interview him at all. If there are teams interested in making him a GM now, he won't be content to be an assistant GM for us for much longer. GM is the position he wants, not goalie coach. While I can see him as a guy who wants to learn all he can at this stage before moving to the next, that will only last so long. Even if he moves on to GM for us, he won't have time to continue to work with Allen regularly if at all. As you said, the front-office goalie split is unsustainable. The only hope we had to keep him as a goalie coach was if the front-office thing wasn't going to work out. But if teams are interested in him, that is probably not the case.

Gotcha.

I guess I just kind of assumed that there would be teams interested in him for front office jobs and that if he prefers the front office to coaching he would always have those options. This does confirm that.

I will say, after letting this news stew in my head for a day, I'm starting to wonder whether Marty still wants a front office role or if he prefers coaching. As a goalie, he wanted to play every night and playing into his 40s demonstrates that he loves the game. Part of that love was almost certainly being in the locker room, being on the ice and being 'one of the guys'. You are a lot closer to that life as a coach than a member of the front office and it might just suit his personality a little better. I just read this article and it kind of confirms that theory. It might just be confirmation bias, but he certainly eludes to the fact that coaching provides a more immediate sense of reward than being in the front office.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_7e7d62aa-bd13-5b0b-b7fb-9fff1199c97e.html

Who knows, this might just be wishful thinking, but turning down an interview that could lead to a GM job may be a sign that he would rather coach. If so, holy cow did we ever hit the jackpot by signing him to his retirement contract.