Confirmed with Link: Bjorkstrand to Seattle for 2023 3rd & 4th round picks

[GMlizard]

The more I look into it, it is dawning on me that the extreme cap crunch explanation of the trade is 100% false.

For reference, in today's Athletic Porty drew up a 22 man roster with $3.8m to spare. Bjorkstrand's cap is $5.4m, so we really only needed a bit over $1.6m to squeeze under with a 21 man roster. That means that the list of ways to make it under is very long. You actually don't need to trade anybody this summer.

For instance you could send Kuraly and Bean to Cleveland for a week or a few weeks until somebody gets injured (or until injuries elsewhere means a mutually advantageous trade is possible). And for those of you who think we wouldn't do something so rude to Kurls - we just dumped our homegrown hero and top goal scorer on his honeymoon. Temporarily waiving guys is something Toronto has done recently.

Perhaps that sort of temporary AHL maneuver is something you greatly want to avoid - I would agree - but think of it as the worst case scenario if a trade doesn't pop up between now and game one of the season. That's the worst that could happen if we can't find a trade, and Jarmo still chose to dump Bjorkstrand months in advance.

The real answer here is that Jarmo wasn't as attached to Bjorkstrand as most of us are. Maybe he wasn't part of the long term plan anyways, maybe he wanted to clear space on the scoring lines for one of his half dozen ELC kids. The timing of the move would still be explained by the cap. He can go over the cap in the summer and there are several clubs that routinely go over until the season starts, but Jarmo has never done that and in this case could stay under by moving someone who wasn't a part of the long run plan and was getting in the way of his young players.

That is a nasty way to go through a long season. You hope someone gets injured and have to guess who might be taken for free from the waivers. If you go a long way without injuries, the guys sitting down will loose their flow and tension starts to rise. And each team will be looking at the waivers just to Arizona you for fun.

 

[majormajor]

That is a nasty way to go through a long season. You hope someone gets injured and have to guess who might be taken for free from the waivers. If you go a long way without injuries, the guys sitting down will loose their flow and tension starts to rise. And each team will be looking at the waivers just to Arizona you for fun.

Just to be clear, it's injuries around the league that loosen up the market, not necessarily injuries to the Jackets, which is harder to predict. I'd put the over/under at $15m-$30m in cap put on LTIR around the league in October. There might only be $10m-$15m in free cap left in the league now in late July, but history tells us that is a temporary bottleneck.

 

[Tecmo]

I decided to jump into CBJ talk with the signing of Johnny Hockey since it adds excitement to being a Blue Jackets fan and this seems like a fairly active CBJ community.

Regarding the Bjorkstrand deal: I think we, as fans, agree the return wasn't the best but also understand the necessity of why the deal was made. What I am most interested in his how Jarmo plays the long game with this roster over the course of the next few seasons. Signing Gaudreau and retaining Laine makes for a better roster than keeping Bjorkstrand. As Jarmo navigates the cap, there is still work to do.

I hope Jarmo continues to work GM magic during upcoming trade deadlines and during free agency when deals frequently take place. My trust lies with Jarmo.

Anyhow, I'm glad to be part of this CBJ community and hope to enjoy conversations with everyone here.

 

[thebus88]

Last I checked, Torts still can't find a PP coach to work for him in Philly. Maybe the coaches are wise to what Lars went through and don't want to be put in that position.

I’m willing to bet that your making this up.

You honestly believe guys won’t take the opportunity to coach an NHL team because of Torts’ apparent “over control”??

Why would he give “control” to Larsen or another coach, yet still make all the decisions. Why do we laugh at Portzline or the “CBJ media” for some things, yet other things we take their word on the nonsense they report?

To add, much of Torts teams haven’t been overly skilled and he is not a player on the ice not executing on the powerplays.

Also, why are people acting like Bjorkstrand and s just some defensive player that doesn’t also improve the teams scoring??

 

[thebus88]

The President's Trophy winners last season led the league in goals.
The Stanley Cup Champions were 3rd in the league in goals scored. They outscored their opponents in the playoffs 4.25-2.7 per game.

(In fairness, Tampa and Colorado were in the top 7 for least goals allowed last season as well.)

These teams you’re referring to are absolutely loaded. Again, this has been an issue with the past as people weren’t happy with a team that wasn’t top 5 in the league skill wise.

Nothing is won on paper, Laine and Gaudreau haven’t even skated a shift together, and if the goal, or plan for success, is to outscore the best offensive teams in the league that are around right now, GOOD LUCK to those who have the patience for Patty Laine and the current CBJ to become good enough to match up with the best teams in the league in that way.

And to add, these teams don’t just play overly offensive hockey and don’t focus on defense. Much of their offense is an effect from their hard work and defensive play, that they have literally changed after failing in years past.

As you literally try to sneak in the fact that they don’t allow many goals either, and like others, downplay that fact and impact on them winning.

 

[majormajor]

I think we, as fans, agree the return wasn't the best but also understand the necessity of why the deal was made.

I'm still working on that part.

I’m willing to bet that your making this up.

You honestly believe guys won’t take the opportunity to coach an NHL team because of Torts’ apparent “over control”??

Why would he give “control” to Larsen or another coach, yet still make all the decisions. Why do swine things we laugh at Portzline or the “CBJ media”, yet other things we take their word on the nonsense they report.

To add, much of Torts teams haven’t been overly skilled and he is not a player on the ice not executing on the powerplays.

Also, why are people acting like Bjorkstrand and s just some defensive player that doesn’t also improve the teams scoring??

Flyers actually just hired Rocky Thompson and I missed it.

What Torts did was have Lars run PP practice and give him new 5 man units every couple of games. Torts used PP time as a reward for whoever was going that stretch of games. That kept the units from forming cohesion and Lars and Torts fought about it.

They might have sucked anyways, we'll never know, but Torts played his part.

 

[thebus88]

I'm still working on that part.



Flyers actually just hired Rocky Thompson and I missed it.

What Torts did was have Lars run PP practice and give him new 5 man units every couple of games. Torts used PP time as a reward for whoever was going that stretch of games. That kept the units from forming cohesion and Lars and Torts fought about it.

They might have sucked anyways, we'll never know, but Torts played his part.

Yes, I haven’t always agreed with Torts’ lineup decisions, but, let’s not act as if the player choices we had were all that great or that there was some extensive list of players that were being thrown out there randomly with no ability to gain “chemistry”.

We have people who complain about keeping lines/players together too long when it’s not working, and others who complain about not keeping them together long enough to gain “chemistry”. Some flip flop and pick and choose and complain about both at different times. I disagree with the idea he changed things up “every couple games”, especially not just for something to do.

Not sure there is a “RIGHT” (or wrong) way, when it comes to lineup decisions and PP structure, but, I question if you or anybody can really make the claims and assumptions you are about Torts (or our other coaches, when you really don’t know.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Yes, I haven’t always agreed with Torts’ lineup decisions, but, let’s not act as if the player choices we had were all that great or that there was some extensive list of players that were being thrown out there randomly with no ability to gain “chemistry”.

We have people who complain about keeping lines/players together too long when it’s not working, and others who complain about not keeping them together long enough to gain “chemistry”. Some flip flop and pick and choose and complain about both at different times. I disagree with the idea he changed things up “every couple games”, especially not just for something to do.

Not sure there is a “RIGHT” (or wrong) way, when it comes to lineup decisions and PP structure, but, I question if you or anybody can really make the claims and assumptions you are about Torts (or our other coaches, when you really don’t know.

I agree that there are not universally right or wrong ways to fill out a lineup card.

But if you’re going to call our people for complaining that we give lines too long and complaining that we don’t give them long enough, you need to be able to show that it’s by here same posters playing both sides. Is it? Can this be shown? And then can we see if there is context to any specific time when one of those complaints was made?

 

[majormajor]

Yes, I haven’t always agreed with Torts’ lineup decisions, but, let’s not act as if the player choices we had were all that great or that there was some extensive list of players that were being thrown out there randomly with no ability to gain “chemistry”.

We have people who complain about keeping lines/players together too long when it’s not working, and others who complain about not keeping them together long enough to gain “chemistry”. Some flip flop and pick and choose and complain about both at different times. I disagree with the idea he changed things up “every couple games”, especially not just for something to do.

Not sure there is a “RIGHT” (or wrong) way, when it comes to lineup decisions and PP structure, but, I question if you or anybody can really make the claims and assumptions you are about Torts (or our other coaches, when you really don’t know.

I agree that there are not universally right or wrong ways to fill out a lineup card.

But if you’re going to call our people for complaining that we give lines too long and complaining that we don’t give them long enough, you need to be able to show that it’s by here same posters playing both sides. Is it? Can this be shown? And then can we see if there is context to any specific time when one of those complaints was made?

And in this case I was on Lars' side of the argument from the beginning, back when it was a very lonely position.

 

[Xoggz22]

I'm thinking there is a reason why they cleared $5m+ off the books in a hurry. It wasn't just getting under the salary cap, we didn't need that much space and had time. But maybe there was an internal cap, or maybe there is another trade target (or I suspect was another trade target that fell through).

I mean this very well could be true and that's what I surmised quite some time ago when I proposed that both Gus and Bjorkstrand could be moved. Again, I'll just use as an example but what if Jarmo is still after Chychrun. i get he's not a 1RD, however, he can play there. He has a contract beyond this year and would fill the Bjorkstrand dollars after Nyquist drops off. You keep Gus for the year but can move a guy like Bean and some of the glut of wings along with picks? Maybe that's a hedge on retaining Gavrikov if he's asking too much on an extension. ??? Again, an example. Doesn't have to by Chychrun, could be someone else in the $4M range or so...

obviously I have no idea but that would make some logical sense to the why now? Move Gus and keep Bjorkstrand and maybe the flexibility is gone for next year and through this year? No idea. Sorry he's gone but I still think this team will be better than last year with more high end potential and a year of growth from the coaching staff and the players.

 

[koteka]

I think the Bjorkstrand return was limited by several factors:

- very few teams had the cap space for Bjorkstrand
- the whole Bjorkstrand is on the market thing came as a shock because the Gaudreau trade came as a shock so teams might not have fully scouted him
- Bjorkstrand could block trades to 10 teams
- the few teams with cap space were wondering if they could get a better return “weaponizing” their cap space in the future
- 4 years and a 10 team NTC on Bjorgstrand’s contract in a flat cap world gives team something to think about
- the team with the most obvious need at wing had just signed Palat (and is in the Metro)
- the CBJ wanted to move quickly
- unless they are truly elite, maybe the NHL is valuing wings less relative to other positions due to expansion making it that much harder to find centers and top pair defensemen

 

[majormajor]

I mean this very well could be true and that's what I surmised quite some time ago when I proposed that both Gus and Bjorkstrand could be moved. Again, I'll just use as an example but what if Jarmo is still after Chychrun. i get he's not a 1RD, however, he can play there. He has a contract beyond this year and would fill the Bjorkstrand dollars after Nyquist drops off. You keep Gus for the year but can move a guy like Bean and some of the glut of wings along with picks? Maybe that's a hedge on retaining Gavrikov if he's asking too much on an extension. ??? Again, an example. Doesn't have to by Chychrun, could be someone else in the $4M range or so...

Yeah we could still be players for Chychrun. We've got $3.8m in cap space now so we could add him in exchange for Boqvist/Bean++, no need to move Gus. Moving Bjorkstrand for cap benefit would be overkill for cap reasons so it would make sense that there is another deal in the works, though personally i suspect Bjorkstrand is the better player than Chychrun and I wonder why we wouldn't just send Bjorkstrand to AZ - not that AZ would keep Bjorkstrand long term but they could hold him for a couple months and pick up a nice 1st rounder for him.

Edit: Forgot about the NTC.

obviously I have no idea but that would make some logical sense to the why now? Move Gus and keep Bjorkstrand and maybe the flexibility is gone for next year and through this year? No idea.

I don't think that's it. I've heard so many folks rationalize the move based on long term needs but it's not going to be harder to move Bjorkstrand next deadline or next June. Still no idea here too.

Sorry he's gone but I still think this team will be better than last year with more high end potential and a year of growth from the coaching staff and the players.

I wouldn't debate that. I'm honestly pretty much over it on an emotional level I just think it's a weird trade. Not that often that a trade happens and I can't figure out why.

 

[Tecmo]

I'm still working on that part.

All about the Benjamins. I suspect they didn't have a plan to sign Johnny Hockey & after he fell in their lap, Jarmo perceived he had to react quickly to manage the cap.

 

[majormajor]

All about the Benjamins. I suspect they didn't have a plan to sign Johnny Hockey & after he fell in their lap, Jarmo perceived he had to react quickly to manage the cap.

We've heard that. I've already laid out my argument in the last two or three pages, but suffice it to say I think that is only a part of it and there must be more going on to explain it. We needed to clear $1.6m to get under and so we gave away our $5.4m topline top goal scorer? There's more to explain.

 

[DougKnowsBest]

Something I’ve been pondering.

Question. Why wasn’t there more interest with value for bjorky. Why wasn’t Arizona or someone else interested?

My working hypothesis: Those teams are just so focused on stripping things down trying tank they didn’t want to add such a great player like bjorkstrand. He would cost them lotto positioning.

 

[Fro]

Something I’ve been pondering.

Question. Why wasn’t there more interest with value for bjorky. Why wasn’t Arizona or someone else interested?

My working hypothesis: Those teams are just so focused on stripping things down trying tank they didn’t want to add such a great player like bjorkstrand. He would cost them lotto positioning.

Or they were on his NTC list

 

[Tecmo]

We've heard that. I've already laid out my argument in the last two or three pages, but suffice it to say I think that is only a part of it and there must be more going on to explain it. We needed to clear $1.6m to get under and so we gave away our $5.4m topline top goal scorer? There's more to explain.

Fair enough. The "There's more to explain" also crossed my mind & I wonder if ownership gave a quick mandate to get something done asap? Obviously, anything I suggest is speculative.

 

[Fro]

Fair enough. The "There's more to explain" also crossed my mind & I wonder if ownership gave a quick mandate to get something done asap? Obviously, anything I suggest is speculative.

I just took it as Jarmo saw with the MaxPac trade, it's a buyers market and he had to make a move quickly...it may also tie to making a move to have a bit of flexibility

 

[DougKnowsBest]

Or they were on his NTC list

Very true.

And I suppose a 3 team deal that involves Arizona as a cash dump would be difficult to set up where the cbj get anything but cap relief.

 

[Cowumbus]

We've heard that. I've already laid out my argument in the last two or three pages, but suffice it to say I think that is only a part of it and there must be more going on to explain it. We needed to clear $1.6m to get under and so we gave away our $5.4m topline top goal scorer? There's more to explain.

If they move Bean and Roslovic they could probably get Kadri…



It is odd though.

 

[NotCommitted]

I'm still a bit surprised at the poor return - I realize it's the worst possible time to be trading a player for cap space, but a team could've significantly outbid Seattle and still get a bargain. But I think I've noticed players who more or less broke out offensively during the covid seasons are flying under radar a bit. Like with Bjork, 36pts, 44pts, 57pts doesn't look like that great last 3 seasons, except first two were in 49 & 56 gp.

 

[Dumais]

I'm still a bit surprised at the poor return - I realize it's the worst possible time to be trading a player for cap space, but a team could've significantly outbid Seattle and still get a bargain. But I think I've noticed players who more or less broke out offensively during the covid seasons are flying under radar a bit. Like with Bjork, 36pts, 44pts, 57pts doesn't look like that great last 3 seasons, except first two were in 49 & 56 gp.

I think it has to do with a limited number of teams that could take on 5m contract (Nyquist or Bjorks) and which of those teams he wanted to trade him too. Seattle being as far from CBJ as possible. And I think Jarmo was worried that cap space may dry up soon based on the amount of good UFA that are still out there.

It had to be done now.

 

[koteka]

Another point - there is still a potential Patrick Kane move which will likely need 3 teams so Chicago can retain 50% and another team can retain 50% again. A “tanking“ team might want to be that third team and get something for retaining 1/4 of Kane’s $10.5 million cap hit.

 

[JacketsDavid]

I agree I think we were clearing space for something (maybe it is still going to happen, maybe it fell thru).
If not why not retain a bit of Oliver's contract to increase the return?
My best guess is a forward(s) for dman swap with us taking on a bit more in contract.

 

[Ship of Fools]

I was pretty pissed when this “trade” initially occurred.. the more I read/ think about this, the more in makes sense.. the flexibility to now grab someone at the deadline (I.E potentially trade Nyquist, then add a stud defenseman if in the playoff hunt is appealing)

This also shows me that Jarmo/JD etc. are very high on the youth.. you have to think between Texier, Johnson, Marcinko, Chinakhov, Bemstrom - they all will improve with another year, and multiple could breakout and match Bjork’s production.. this shows me they feel highly confident this will happen.. and at the very least gives them the ice time to mature even faster