2019-20 Minor League Thread - Rampage/Oilers
- Thread starter Coach Nate
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Good question. Won't be Hofer as he is too young to play there. And I don't believe we have signed Devin Williams? He was on minor league contract, not Blues contract, and haven't seen anything that he was signed for this year.
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I expect it will be Husso and Fitzpatrick, though if they feel both Husso and Fitz need more games they may flip Fitz to the ECHL and have Devin Williams back up Husso. Hofer should be going back to the WHL as he is too young for the AHL.
I still think that there is a non-zero chance that we trade Allen before the season starts and sign a cheaper backup or trade for one, though I think it is much less likely now than it was at the draft. Columbus still has no solid answer and there are a few other teams that have plenty of questions marks that might see Allen as a potential solution.
Coach Nate
Angry Rampage Expat
I'm sticking with my prediction that Schmaltz is traded for a goalie who has fallen out of favor on his current team and is buried.
STL fan in MN
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As of now I would expect Husso and Fitz to be the tandem in SA but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see the Blues sign an AHL/ECHL caliber goalie to provide some depth and competition for Husso & Fitz. It would also likely allow Fits to be Tulsa’s starter instead of SA’s backup, which may be better for his development anyway.
As others have said, Hofer is too young since he was drafted out of the CHL, will head back to the WHL.
A while ago I was thinking that Allen would likely be traded but I doubt it now. Not unless they’re able to sign someone else that would provide similar backup capabilities as I don’t think they can really count on Husso to be an NHL backup at this point given his horrible 2018-19 season.
As others have said, Hofer is too young since he was drafted out of the CHL, will head back to the WHL.
A while ago I was thinking that Allen would likely be traded but I doubt it now. Not unless they’re able to sign someone else that would provide similar backup capabilities as I don’t think they can really count on Husso to be an NHL backup at this point given his horrible 2018-19 season.
Beauterham
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If that happens the Rampage onlye have 6 D. left (also counting Pouliot). If one of Dotchin, LaLeggia or Pouliot are picked up from waivers they will be a D. short. They really need to get at least one more defender. Two if we trade Schmaltz for a goalie.
More AHL contracts will be signed later in the summer, everybody is on vacation now. I’m not worried about it, we’ll find depth for San Antonio.
Coach Nate
Angry Rampage Expat
Yes. Someone who can compete with Husso in SA and be an injury fill in with St Louis if needed.
A Real Barn Burner
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Armstrong has a bad history trading for goalies, but if it’s a need they identify, he will pull the trigger.
Not one goalie he has traded for has worked out. I know someone will say Halak but for the high price paid I think I would call that one a bust.
Hope Hosso stays stateside and can do what he didn’t last year.
Not one goalie he has traded for has worked out. I know someone will say Halak but for the high price paid I think I would call that one a bust.
Hope Hosso stays stateside and can do what he didn’t last year.
Coach Nate
Angry Rampage Expat
In fairness, though, trading Schmaltz for an AHL level goalie that can back up in the NHL as a last resort is a pretty low risk move.
Eller wasn’t ever going to be the missing piece here. Ian Schultz was nothing. Halak won a Jennings trophy here and made us true contenders just about every year he was here. Trading him when we did was also a good idea, just not for Miller, who was a good risk to take (he was lights out at the Olympics and had been one of the best goalies in the league for years). We should have just run Elliott those playoffs and gotten a decent backup (or just stuck Allen in there instead). Good idea, poor execution. But I don’t think you can point to Eller’s prolific history of 20-30 point seasons and say that Halak wasn’t the better player for us at the time. If anything, we should have just paid the bigger price (pun not intended) and given what Montréal wanted for Price, who was also on the table at the time. But after Halak’s miracle playoff run with them the year before, he was a good get for us, and ended up being a pretty big part of the team’s success
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As I remember from that time, the rumor was that we balked at the price for Price because they wanted Perron in the deal.
I mean, c'mon, how are we going to steal Paajarvi out of Edmonton if we just give DP57 away for a goalie prospect?
A Real Barn Burner
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I hate having disagreement with posters who I respect, especially ones I know can present their points better. You’ll probably destroy me, but I disagree so I’ll give it a shot....just go easy on me.
It’s a what if game with Eller. Who knows how he would of done here. One can make the point that Montréal rushed him when he should of been in the AHL for a few more years to develop his game and adapt to North American ice. Not to mention the conclusion he suffered in the Playoffs which certainly set his development back imho. Your probably right he wouldn't have been the missing piece here; Hitchcock would of probably ruined him by making him a defensively responsible center who still only put up 20-30 points. Just kidding, far more likely his size and style of play would of never worked here. If he was destined to be traded though I believe trading him for a goalie was a poor call. Once again all a big bunch of what ifs. No one knows what we could of got for Eller in another trade or what he would of become in the Blues system had we continued to develop him.
However, I still maintain Halak was a bust. For an organization low on Center depth at the time we should of never traded a center for him. Goalies are rarely traded for as much as we gave up for Halak. A 13th overall center in the 2007 draft who had six years left of team control (and Ian Schultz as a sweetener) for an RFA goalie who had never shown he could be a starter for a whole season. He only played 45 games the year prior to the trade for Montreal.
In his time here Halak had one excellent season, as you noted the year he won the Jennings, posting a .926 save percentage in 46 games. That was down from 57 games and a .910 the year prior, had Elliot not found his grove that year we wouldn’t have won the Jennings or been a contender imho. The two other years of Halak he posted a .899, and a .917. Three years of basically league average goaltending or below, Halak didn’t make us a contender those years. In his time here, he never showed he could handle a starter workload or stay healthy. One year of above average production from Halak is not worth six years of Eller.
My bigger point was Armstrong sucks at trading for goalies. I guess I should amend that to just say this organization sucks at making judgements on goalies. The same mistakes this organization made with Allen where all made with Halak before and that why I don’t think he was worth what we gave up. All of it has been gone over before on these forums from Bishop to Elliot, to Miller and back to Allen. Not to mention the whole Copley debacle which effected Binnington. Had we not traded for Halak perhaps we keep Bishop? Once again a whole bunch of what ifs....
A Real Barn Burner
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Sorry your right, I just have little faith in this organization to make the right calls on goalies. But not losing much
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Coach Nate
Angry Rampage Expat
Assuming a full season, which is a huge assumption in the AHL, the forwards project out to about the following point toals
Walker (45) - Vecchione (40) - Kyrou (55)
Kostin (30) - Jackson (25) - Poganski (40)
Nolan (40) - Olsen (35) - Lappin (40)
Polei (30) - Stevens (15) - Toropchenko (20)
Now, this isn't world beating, by any means, but with a strong defense and a healthy (and effective) Husso, it could be a playoff team.
I also would expect Stevens to be better in year 2 then he was at year 1 at the level. But really it’s a Blues AHL team, who knows how it goes. Maybe Erik Foley comes back and plays PPG and ends the year on the big club. Hockey is weird every year.
They’re fair points, and since we’re dealing in hypotheticals, it all really comes down to a matter of opinion. The same “what if” with Eller technically also applies to Bish; would he become the same goalie in St. Louis as he did elsewhere? Who’s to say? With full hindsight, we absolutely should have gotten Bish his 30 NHL games, signed him to another contract and let it play out. We wouldn’t have traded Eller for Halak, but maybe, with hindsight, we do trade Eller and/or Perron for Price (who knows what the actual ask was). Price-Bishop as a tandem is mmmm decent. I wouldn’t kick it out of bed for eating crackers. That’s a big time missed opportunity, but it’s understood with the benefit of hindsight. And idk, it misses a lot of context.
We really needed a goalie; our window was opening and we didn’t have one. Our goalies the year before were Conklin and Mason, it was time to put on the big boy pants and do something, especially since Bish and Allen hadn’t really shown anything yet. Heck, Price hadn't really don’t anything yet. Halak had shown he could carry a team to the ECF just the year before, where he was incendiary. In the end it didn’t work out. But this fanbase would have had Army’s head on a pike for not making a serious play for a starting goalie that year. As luck would have it, we sort of ended up with two in Moose and Halak, but nobody really could have predicted that. Knowing what we know now, you go into the season with Moose and Bish and keep Eller. But Bish was just ok in Peoria, and Moose’s career to that point would not indicate to anybody that we would go on to post the lowest GAA in the modern era.
Idk, we’re the Blues, we aren’t allowed to have a clear-cut goalie situation. Maybe Binnington finally gives us some stability there for a few years. Maybe it forces us to trade Allen, and he goes on to win a Vezina somewhere else. Nobody would guess that would happen now, but after all we know about the Blues and goalies, wouldn’t it kind of make sense? What about Husso? He’s about ready, but is coming off a horrendous year (not all his fault). Would you trust him as a backup over Allen at this point, knowing it could mean the difference between him leaving in a year or two, or losing most of the games he does start? What about Fitzpatrick, Ellis, and Hofer, all of whom I think have strong potential? Does that change our perspective on the conversation?
It’s ultimately down to opinion, but determining (and then finding!) the exact right mix for your goalie tandem is a bizarre calculus that doesn’t ever seem to make sense in hindsight. Go back to the MTL forums from when Halak was traded, and I guarantee you’ll find some people saying “it should have been Price instead.” It’s the hardest position in hockey to evaluate because we don’t *really* know what makes a goalie good. You either have it or you don’t. Some people have it and lose it. But you need it to win, and I won’t ever be mad about us trying to find it. Because while we’ve paid hefty prices for Halak and Miller, we also found Moose and Binnington on the scrap heap. With the Blues especially, you just don’t ever know.
Beauterham
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Well, as long as we're not signing Maroon and we'll start Kyrou in the AHL and go with 2 extra forwards we can keep Blais, Sanford, Fabbri AND Mac2 up.
For example:
Sanford - O'Reilly - Perron
Schwartz - Schenn - Tarasenko
Blais - Bozak - Thomas
Barbashev - Sundqvist - Steen
Fabbri/MacEachern
Beauterham
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I agree, wish we would be able to send Fabbri down to San Antonio without waiving him. Unfortunatly we can't, so he will have to prove he's better than someone else and earn a spot. A good Fabbri should always play.
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