Half-Assed GDT: Blues NHL draft + FA market 2020

[Falco Lombardi]

One butters his bread from the Blues, the other butters his bread by generating clicks/subscriptions/etc.

Strickland will certainly tout whatever is more inline with the Blues, but Rutherford is always going to post whatever gets his article the most views.

Clicks and views mean nothing to the Athletic. If they did, they would sell ads

 

[Novacain]

Clicks and views mean nothing to the Athletic. If they did, they would sell ads

I won’t go quite this far (the Athletic letting writers go based largely on click rates does give incentives for writers to post interesting content, and the like) this is basically it. JR signed on to an independently news site that makes its money of subscriptions, not ad revenue. I’ll trust his take on things over Strickland, even if I don’t trust JRs take at all.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Clicks and views mean nothing to the Athletic. If they did, they would sell ads

Since he joined the Athletic, I've found his takes, and article titles to be very click-baity as if he's just hoping to drag in as many people as possible to subscribe. Outside of his biopic articles, the quality of his stuff has gone down since leaving the PD in my opinion.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Since he joined the Athletic, I've found his takes, and article titles to be very click-baity as if he's just hoping to drag in as many people as possible to subscribe. Outside of his biopic articles, the quality of his stuff has gone down since leaving the PD in my opinion.

Interesting, I feel just the opposite.

I always felt like he was overly vanilla and safe and bland on the Post Dispatch. I like him more now.

Different strokes for different folks though!

 

[rumrokh]

Since he joined the Athletic, I've found his takes, and article titles to be very click-baity as if he's just hoping to drag in as many people as possible to subscribe. Outside of his biopic articles, the quality of his stuff has gone down since leaving the PD in my opinion.

I agree. He was almost "too ethical" for fans who wanted Delicious Scoops, but now he's way more about subscription-baiting and his own unfortunately mediocre opinions and speculation. And instead of engaging with fans, he has become snarky and dismissive in a way that he probably thinks is edgy, but comes off as bitter and impatient. The significant gap between PD JR and Athletic JR also makes me wonder if he just ached to be like this before and was restraining himself or if what he's up to now is a performance he's tuned for his current venture. Either way, it's off-putting.

 

[Zezel’s Pretzels]

Seeking another topic and hoping to turn the page...

we almost certainly trade Dunn, right? It seems like a waste of an asset with Mikkola waiting in the wings and Gunnar as the 7th D man, not even mentioning Perunovich. And with Vladi out another scoring winger is a need.

Dunn for futures, or a young 2nd/3rd liner with NHL experience? What is in the realm of the possible here?

 

[mk80]

You really think so?

I realize there are two sides, however I'm more inclined to lay the blame on Armstrong because I believe nothing in the contract he signed with Vegas was anything we couldn't have given him. I think the longer negotiations dragged out and the closer to UFA day got sure, he started exploring other options, and I'm sure that visit with Vegas did leave him feeling good about signing, playing and living there.

But bottom line at the end of the day Armstrong could have locked him up at any point since the Cup celebration and instead prioritized other signings, and refused to budge on an NMC because of his own stated personal philosophy, which based on my interpretations of reports was the main asking point by Pietro.

 

[rumrokh]

I realize there are two sides, however I'm more inclined to lay the blame on Armstrong because I believe nothing in the contract he signed with Vegas was anything we couldn't have given him.

This is a difficult conclusion to make because you have to consider how much his offer from Vegas was impacted by no longer having the Blues to bid against. If Vegas was willing to go higher and the Blues had to bid against them, it's entirely possible his eventual demands of the Blues would be even higher than what he got from Vegas. It's an easy criticism, but, ultimately, a catch-22 of this type of speculation.

 

[Blueston]

Since he joined the Athletic, I've found his takes, and article titles to be very click-baity as if he's just hoping to drag in as many people as possible to subscribe. Outside of his biopic articles, the quality of his stuff has gone down since leaving the PD in my opinion.

He's the worst hockey scribe at The Athletic. He really lacks a sense of nuance and doesn't seem capable of realizing when someone is using him for their purposes. That said, he is good features writer. He should stick to that.

 

[MissouriMook]

Seeking another topic and hoping to turn the page...

we almost certainly trade Dunn, right? It seems like a waste of an asset with Mikkola waiting in the wings and Gunnar as the 7th D man, not even mentioning Perunovich. And with Vladi out another scoring winger is a need.

Dunn for futures, or a young 2nd/3rd liner with NHL experience? What is in the realm of the possible here?

The idea of Dunn + for DeBrusk was brought up in another thread. I think the + being Blais makes some sense. Allows you to put DeBrusk with Bozak and Kyrou while Schwartz-Thomas-Schenn and Sanford-ROR-Perron make up your Top 6 until Tarasenko is ready to return.

 

[Celtic Note]

Interesting, I feel just the opposite.

I always felt like he was overly vanilla and safe and bland on the Post Dispatch. I like him more now.

Different strokes for different folks though!

Most of his content is still largely taken from quotes during post game interviews. If you watch the interviews there is no point I read in his articles on the game. The same isn’t tire of many of the other Athletic writers because they really know the game.

I think the guys name is Evan who also writes a few Blues articles here and there. His writing isn’t the greatest, but his analysis is great to read. JR tried to follow suit on occasion, but the analysis was so watered down that it was not really worth reading.

 

[Majorityof1]

With Steen and Tarasenko on LTIR, is there any chance we can bring in someone of a short-term below market deal? Cap space is tight around the league and there are a few decent UFAs unsigned. I wouldn't mind Hoffman or Dadanov to provide some goals while Tarasenko is out. Or Hamonic to give us a guy who can PK. Is it feasible, cap-experts, for a relatively cheap $3-4M 1 year deal if they get squeezed out by the market? Is there anyone out there you all want?

 

[WeWentBlues]

The issue with LTIR, in my mind, is we have no finite start and end date for next season and therefore can't project if Steen or Tarasenko would be able to play based on their expected recovery timeline. As I'm sure you know, their cap allocations count 100% against the cap when activated. If Steen is not likely to play at all/retire, that gives us some wiggle room.

With neither on LTIR, we are 1.175M over the cap with 15F and 6 D under contract and doesn't include Dunn or younger players exempt from waivers we are likely to feature next year. The De La Rose extension and Clifford signing have created an even more crowded forward group.

 

[MissouriMook]

With Steen and Tarasenko on LTIR, is there any chance we can bring in someone of a short-term below market deal? Cap space is tight around the league and there are a few decent UFAs unsigned. I wouldn't mind Hoffman or Dadanov to provide some goals while Tarasenko is out. Or Hamonic to give us a guy who can PK. Is it feasible, cap-experts, for a relatively cheap $3-4M 1 year deal if they get squeezed out by the market? Is there anyone out there you all want?

I'd have to sharpen my pencil, but I dug into this very issue a couple of days ago and I think the magic number is somewhere between $4M-$4.5M under the following conditions:

1. Steen stays on LTIR for the entire regular season.
2. Tarasenko doesn't stay on LTIR the entire regular season and has to be added to the roster in a cap compliant manner.
3. Dunn is moved for futures (or the scorer you mention at that maximum cap hit) and either Perunovich or Mikkola takes his place on the roster.
4. We are committed to carrying a full 23 man roster the entire year.

 

[Majorityof1]

The issue with LTIR, in my mind, is we have no finite start and end date for next season and therefore can't project if Steen or Tarasenko would be able to play based on their expected recovery timeline. As I'm sure you know, their cap allocations count 100% against the cap when activated. If Steen is not likely to play at all/retire, that gives us some wiggle room.

With neither on LTIR, we are 1.175M over the cap with 15F and 6 D under contract and doesn't include Dunn or younger players exempt from waivers we are likely to feature next year. The De La Rose extension and Clifford signing have created an even more crowded forward group.

Yeah. We'd basically have to have a trade in place with Steen for when he comes off of LTIR, hopefully after his NTC expires. He is only making $3.5M, which would be pro-rated as well by the time we trade him. A team with cap space may be willing to take him bundled with a late pick. I am also assuming Dunn gets traded as he is just too redundant at this point. Steen's cap hit should cover signing someone for $3-4M + our current overage of 1.175M.

De La Rose can be stashed in the AHL or whatever this years equivalent is. Any 2 way guys we bring up would be covered by LTIR, as we would only call them up in the even of an injury. If we pass on getting Hoffman because we don't want to risk waiving De La Rose or Clifford, then this team is already screwed.

 

[MissouriMook]

Yeah. We'd basically have to have a trade in place with Steen for when he comes off of LTIR, hopefully after his NTC expires. He is only making $3.5M, which would be pro-rated as well by the time we trade him. A team with cap space may be willing to take him bundled with a late pick. I am also assuming Dunn gets traded as he is just too redundant at this point. Steen's cap hit should cover signing someone for $3-4M + our current overage of 1.175M.

De La Rose can be stashed in the AHL or whatever this years equivalent is. Any 2 way guys we bring up would be covered by LTIR, as we would only call them up in the even of an injury. If we pass on getting Hoffman because we don't want to risk waiving De La Rose or Clifford, then this team is already screwed.

You can't lose sight of the fact that you need to have breathing room for short-term injuries. Unless they change the rules next season (and I can only see them doing that if there is a shorter schedule) you have to be out 10 games or 21 days if you go on LTIR. A replacement for a guy that is only going to be out 7-10 days needs to fit in your available cap space, which is why Army generally likes to go into the season with at least $1M-$1.5M of wiggle room.

 

[JoshFromMO]

Well there goes Dadanov

 

[Beauterham]

Well there goes Dadanov

I believe there was a quote in the Post Dispatch saying something in the line of Army not wanting to add another free agent forward that could possibly get in the way of Thomas and Kyrou. Unless we don't trade any other forwards, I don't see us adding any other top-9 forward.

 

[The Note]

I would really like to see Hoffman brought in on a 2-3 year deal if they could make it fit/if he's even open to that.

 

[MissouriMook]

Well there goes Dadanov

He got $5M a year. We can't give anyone more than $4M-$4.5M at most, and that is with replacing Dunn with a near-league-minimum salary and Steen on LTIR all year. He would have had to settle for less AAV to come here or we would have had to move a player out. With what I've learned in the last week about the summer cap, and acknowledging that there is much I still don't know, I don't think we can add anyone right now anyway until we resolve our players with QOs as I read recently that those QOs count against the 10% overage unless and until they accept a 2-way contract.

 

[JoshFromMO]

He got $5M a year. We can't give anyone more than $4M-$4.5M at most, and that is with replacing Dunn with a near-league-minimum salary and Steen on LTIR all year. He would have had to settle for less AAV to come here or we would have had to move a player out. With what I've learned in the last week about the summer cap, and acknowledging that there is much I still don't know, I don't think we can add anyone right now anyway until we resolve our players with QOs as I read recently that those QOs count against the 10% overage unless and until they accept a 2-way contract.

Yeah that definitely makes sense why we probably didn't pursue him. I want to believe we're working on something to clear up some space but there are lots of unknowns still. Good on him for getting that AAV. I like the move for Ottawa

 

[MissouriMook]

Yeah that definitely makes sense why we probably didn't pursue him. I want to believe we're working on something to clear up some space but there are lots of unknowns still. Good on him for getting that AAV. I like the move for Ottawa

Dorion is quietly doing a lot of things right to rebuild that team if he can keep the owner from f***ing it up for him.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I would really like to see Hoffman brought in on a 2-3 year deal if they could make it fit/if he's even open to that.

I’d love swapping Bozak out to add Hoffman.

Schwartz-O’Reilly-Perron
Schenn-Thomas-Hoffman
Sanford-Sundqvist-Kyrou
Clifford-Barbashev-Blais
Mac, DLR

Then when Vladi returns

Hoffman-O’Reilly-Perron
Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko
Sanford-Thomas-Kyrou
Blais-Barbashev-Sundqvist
Clifford, Mac

 

[The Note]

I’d love swapping Bozak out to add Hoffman.

Schwartz-O’Reilly-Perron
Schenn-Thomas-Hoffman
Sanford-Sundqvist-Kyrou
Clifford-Barbashev-Blais
Mac, DLR

Then when Vladi returns

Hoffman-O’Reilly-Perron
Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko
Sanford-Thomas-Kyrou
Blais-Barbashev-Sundqvist
Clifford, Mac

I think that would be great as well, especially on a shorter term deal, but I get the impression moving Bozak may be difficult.

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I think that would be great as well, especially on a shorter term deal, but I get the impression moving Bozak may be difficult.

Oh agreed. I’m intrigued with what Army does with the roster from here on out.