2021 Off Season Discussion Thread

[bleedblue1223]

AHL players I assume?

Yes.

 

[Chojin]

How is this man 25 years old

View attachment 457647

That's a hard 25.

 

[Majorityof1]

AHL signings!

People are going to think I am complaining just to complain, but oh well. This is slightly troubling with these signings. One of the things that I have always liked about Armstrong is that he goes out and spends money on quality AHL/NHL tweeners to shove in the AHL, so we can have good NHL call ups. These guys aint that. I don't think they compare well to Santini, Beau Bennett, Chris Butler, Gilles etc? I wonder if we are skimping on money in the AHL due to lower revenue. Maybe we like these guys as potential call-ups. I don't know much about them beyond a brief google search.

Maybe we have a few more of the signing like what I am looking for coming. Who knows, I probably am just complaining to complain, but I'd like a few more good call-ups stashed in the AHL then we have. We lost some depth losing Reinke, DLR, and having to move guys up to replace guys like Dunn, Schwartz, Hoffman, etc. Perunovich, Santini and Tucker are the entirity of our AHL defense. Peca is probably the second forward call up after Walker.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I take back everything I said today, apparently we are getting Saad.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Hopefully we didn't pay him anything more than 5mil for 4 years.

 

[BlueDream]

5 years, 4.5 per year. Takes him to age 33.

That’s a good contract.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Less money than I wanted but 1 extra year. I'm ok with this.

 

[bleedblue1223]

That's awesome.

 

[BlueKnight]

$4.5m nice I was expecting something like $6m which I wanted no part of.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Saad-ROR-Perron
X-Schenn-Buchnevich
X-Thomas-Kyrou

Could probably move pieces around, but we can likely put all the guys that prefer the right on the right. Prefer to start Saad with ROR and Perron, but he should be able to fit on any line.

 

[BlueDream]

Saad-ROR-Perron
X-Schenn-Buchnevich
X-Thomas-Kyrou

Could probably move pieces around, but we can likely put all the guys that prefer the right on the right. Prefer to start Saad with ROR and Perron, but he should be able to fit on any line.

We definitely have a lot of options. I don’t mind Schenn on the wing either.

Saad-ROR-Perron
Schenn-Thomas-Buchnevich

If Thomas improves defensively, those are two very well rounded lines that can match up against anyone.

Means we likely need Bozak back to center Kyrou and Kostin, but I’d be fine with that.

Sanford-Barbashev-Sundqvist as the 4th line is good.

This really helps us be in “no panic” mode anymore. Even if we lose Tarasenko for nothing, we can roll 4 lines.

 

[bleedblue1223]

We definitely have a lot of options. I don’t mind Schenn on the wing either.

Saad-ROR-Perron
Schenn-Thomas-Buchnevich

If Thomas improves defensively, those are two very well rounded lines that can match up against anyone.

Means we likely need Bozak back to center Kyrou and Kostin, but I’d be fine with that.

Sanford-Barbashev-Sundqvist as the 4th line is good.

This really helps us be in “no panic” mode anymore. Even if we lose Tarasenko for nothing, we can roll 4 lines.

Yeah, this really helps gives us flexibility in the top 9, where we can either load up, or go with that pair system.

If Tarasenko returns, we likely have just enough cap space for the RFAs and no other moves. If we move Tarasenko, then we either are bringing someone in through trade or have room to make another move. I know Army doesn't want to retain, but this helps give us clarity that we can still field a competitive team while not spending to the cap.

Would've been nice if stuff got wrapped up at a point where we could bring in a quality backup on a short deal, that move would probably result in a handful of wins.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

I like the Saad signing. I think the last year might hurt, but I'd rather have Saad at 4.5x5 then Schwartz at 5.5x5.

Now use the extra 1M to resign Bozak, get our RFAs signed, and I think we can tie a bow on this until the season starts unless someone blows us away on an offer for Tarasenko.

Plan for the 2021-2022 season - feed Tarasenko minutes and good linemates. Get him going. Flip him for a top line LW or hope that he gets the red off his ass and realizes that playing for this team is still pretty fun. See how the D holds up with a healthy Parayko and hopefully an improved/more comfortable Krug. If we look like we're a solid contender and he hasn't fallen off a cliff, go after Giordano for the stretch run/playoffs. Hopefully win Stanley Cup.

 

[WeWentBlues]

I like the Saad signing. I think the last year might hurt, but I'd rather have Saad at 4.5x5 then Schwartz at 5.5x5.

Now use the extra 1M to resign Bozak, get our RFAs signed, and I think we can tie a bow on this until the season starts unless someone blows us away on an offer for Tarasenko.

Plan for the 2021-2022 season - feed Tarasenko minutes and good linemates. Get him going. Flip him for a top line LW or hope that he gets the red off his ass and realizes that playing for this team is still pretty fun. See how the D holds up with a healthy Parayko and hopefully an improved/more comfortable Krug. If we look like we're a solid contender and he hasn't fallen off a cliff, go after Giordano for the stretch run/playoffs. Hopefully win Stanley Cup.

I'd much rather read posts like this than a lot of the doom and gloom from the past few weeks. Cheers

 

[BuLLeT1291]

Don't mind this signing I suppose but when I still look at lines I feel like something is still missing. Not sure what is it.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Don't mind this signing I suppose but when I still look at lines I feel like something is still missing. Not sure what is it.

3rd Line wingers, Top 4 defensive LHD

 

[WeWentBlues]

3rd Line wingers, Top 4 defensive LHD

I'm hopeful that we see the pre-bubble version of Scandella that was partnered with Parayko for 11 games following the Bouwmeester incident. Blues were 9-2 in that stretch. Then the shutdown occurred on 3/11/20 and alot of the Blues players haven't looked the same since, Scandella included.

 

[Spektre]

Army loves the vets. Are there other UFA's on his radar?

Tatar
Bozak
Ritchie
Thornton
Zajac
Brassard
Chiasson

Palmieri would be nice but probably signing back with the Islanders

 

[Brian39]

I put together a quick roster on capgeek to see how the cap was looking. I gave $2.5M to each of Kyrou, Thomas and Sanford for the sake of simplicity and then chose the most expensive 6th and 7th D men.

Perron-ROR-Buch
Saad-Schenn-Kyrou
Sanford-Thomas-Tarasenko
Mac-Sunny-Kostin
Clifford

Krug-Faulk
Scandella-Parayko
Mikkola-Bort
Perunovich (because he is most expensive)

Binner
Husso

We've got $768k left with that lineup. Barby is not included in that and I hope we can get Thomas/Kyrou/Sanford done for less than $7.5M. I also think that Perunovich starts in the AHL and our 7th D will be about $200k cheaper. But tweaks aside, it is pretty clear that we can get a decent roster under the cap without moving Tarasenko. I'm not saying we should be done looking for upgrades and shouldn't look to swap Tarasenko/Scandella for better uses of that $10.75M. Step one should be finding a way to get Bozak here on a 1 year bonus-laden deal with a $1M salary/starting cap hit.

My point is simply that Army has done enough to look at GMs and say "if that's your best offer I'm just going to start the year with what I have and keep looking."

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I would love to see Ritchie and/or Kase to be signed for the 3rd line.

Perron-RoR-Buch
Saad-Schenn-Kyrou
Kostin/Richie-Thomas-Kostin/Kase
Sanford-Sunny-Barbie

 

[BlueDream]

Army loves the vets. Are there other UFA's on his radar?

Tatar
Bozak
Ritchie
Thornton
Zajac
Brassard
Chiasson

Palmieri would be nice but probably signing back with the Islanders

Don’t even suggest Thornton. Don’t.

 

[Spektre]

Don’t even suggest Thornton. Don’t.

We all hate Thornton..... but you never know

 

[Bobby Orrtuzzo]

I could MAYBE stomach Dumbo if he was still productive (relatively speaking), but a big HELL NO to that

 

[Vincenzo Arelliti]

Kase would be a great bottom-6 add, but this lineup most desperately needs a top-4 LHD now. We have everything else we need to be contenders. Upgrading one of Sanford or Tarasenko is our “greatest” forward need. It’s really all down to the defense now.

Adding Bozak sets the forward group outside of whatever happens with Tarasenko. Sanford should just be stapled to the bottom-6. I don’t think we address the defense this off-season, unfortunately, but that’s what we really need to challenge for a cup.

 

[BrokenFace]

We all hate Thornton..... but you never know

Can you imagine Jumbo Joe finally winning a cup, and it's with the Blues? I've never hated the guy, but I hate the media ass kissing he gets every time he gets past the first round. Would love that fawning to come the Blues' way, and I would really love Sharks fans having to see their franchise's icon lifting a cup in a Blue note.