Confirmed with Link: Blues sign Brandon Saad

[Majorityof1]

Career wise, Schwartz is better, but his recent production is too up and down to rely on for a long-term deal IMO.

The last 4 years were the 4 worst of Saads career. He may not be inconsistent, but he is consistently trending down. Schwartz on his down years is only a slightly worse point producer than Saad, but he kills him on his up years.

 

[Majorityof1]

I don't know if Schwartz would have signed here, given an identical offer from the Blues. Sounds crazy to say but I get the impression he really wanted to sign in Seattle.

That's a big problem then if a 60 point player would rather go to an expansion team he has no geographical connection with than stay with his current team for the same contract.

 

[Blueston]

I like it. He was always the FA that made most sense for us. I expect he will slot in with ROR and Perron and Buchnevich with Schenn (and either Kyrou or Thomas). Add another bottom 6 guy (Bozo?) and deal Tank and our forwards lines shape up darn well.

 

[bleedblue1223]

The last 4 years were the 4 worst of Saads career. He may not be inconsistent, but he is consistently trending down. Schwartz on his down years is only a slightly worse point producer than Saad, but he kills him on his up years.

And that's why Schwartz is paid more, but Saad is a safer choice to me when you factor Schwartz's injuries and up and down production.

 

[BlueDream]

That's a big problem then if a 60 point player would rather go to an expansion team he has no geographical connection with than stay with his current team for the same contract.

Eh, Schwartz said he enjoyed his time here. So did Dunn who said he didn’t want to leave. Heck, even Mike Hoffman said he was strongly considering returning even after we healthy scratched him last season.

There’s nothing to worry about. Players want to be here, besides Tarasenko.

 

[Majorityof1]

And that's why Schwartz is paid more, but Saad is a safer choice to me when you factor Schwartz's injuries and up and down production.

Fair enough. I did say I could accept injuries and inconsistency. I disagree, but they are valid points.

 

[Brian39]

Well the contract looks pretty good to me I’m just not sold on the player. Saad is a good player and will probably fit our system really well so I will probably end up regretting this but he is just not the high impact guy that I think this team still needs.

I think I disagree about needing a high impact guy.

Perron, ROR, Buch and Schenn are all capable of being 25-30 goal players. Buch was on a 30 goal pace last year and has been 25+ in 2 of his last 3 seasons. Perron has been on pace for 28+ goals in each of his last 3 seasons. ROR was on pace for 35 last year and 28 in 2018/19. Schenn was on pace for 23 last year and 29 in 2018/19. Saad is a consistent 20-30 goal guy who was on pace for 28 and 29 goals in his last 2 years. I think it is more than reasonable to expect all 5 of those guys to be 20+ goal players. Saad and Buch scored 29 of their 35 combined goals at even strength last year. ROR scored 18 of his 24 at even strength. This isn't a situation where we should expect goal production to decrease because a couple of them can't get their cookies on the PP. We should expect a good chunk of goals from these 5 forwards.

 

[Blueston]

I much prefer him over Hoffmann. Won’t produce as much but helps us to reestablish our identity. He is what we needed.

 

[STL BLUES]

$4.5M + upgrade = 1 happy blues fan

 

[MissouriMook]

I wish we'd only given him 3 years like the Hoffman deal, but we needed a couple of guys to shoot the puck to replace Tarasenko and Hoffman and now we have them in Buch and Saad. I don't love the deal, but I don't hate it, I just think it is a year or two too long.

 

[tfriede2]

That's a big problem then if a 60 point player would rather go to an expansion team he has no geographical connection with than stay with his current team for the same contract.

His parents lived in Seattle for a short time, and Schwartz stated that he wanted to move closer to his family.

 

[ItsOnlytheRiver]

Not a bad contract. I like Schwartz for the extra $1M better. But it is a fine addition to a guy who can slot 3rd to 1st line adequately wherever he finds the right chemistry. We really need to move Tarasenko now or we won't be able to afford raises coming to Parayko and Perron.

You’ve said Perron is due a raise a couple times now. What kind of contract do you think he’s going to get next year.. at age 34? I would guess what he does this season will have a lot to say about it but even if he is going to get a raise I can’t imagine it would be much higher than his current pay. Also, he clearly really likes being here which will help.

 

[BlueDream]

Most Avs fans don’t seem too pleased about losing Saad to us.

Saad was 3rd on their team in even strength goals last season. 1st in even strength goals per 60.

Don’t underestimate the amount of players they’re losing with Saad, Graves, Donskoi, Soderberg, Timmins, etc. You need depth to win in the playoffs and the Avs will have a lot less of it than they did this past season because of the cap.

 

[Majorityof1]

Eh, Schwartz said he enjoyed his time here. So did Dunn who said he didn’t want to leave. Heck, even Mike Hoffman said he was strongly considering returning even after we healthy scratched him last season.

There’s nothing to worry about. Players want to be here, besides Tarasenko.

There probably is nothing to worry about. I was just going off the hypothetical that Schwartz wouldn't have signed here for the same contract he got from Seattle.

Schwartz parting words are evidence of nothing though. If Schwartz was unhappy here, it does not behoove him in the slightest to make a stink about it at this point. He was a pending UFA. When Armstrong came calling, he would just say "No thanks to anything you offer", and both parties would want to keep it quiet. Its not the Tarasenko situation where Tarasenko is trying to force a trade. Schwartz was free to walk out the door. There have been plenty of players that talked nice when they left a team, only to find out years later hated that team/coach/GM.

 

[Stlblue50]

Couldn't agree more. If this was for 3 years I would be ecstatic with the signing but I guess making a 5 year deal is what kept the AAV low. The good news is if he does start to decline towards the end of the deal he is ideal player to slide down the lineup for a checking role, similar to Steen.

He’s still only 28 (feels like he’s older because he’s been in the league so long), so by NHL standards that’s your prime. He also doesn’t have a NTC in his final year I believe

 

[Stlblue50]

Really like this signing. He bring experience, speed, and scoring depth. I remember him being one of the few Avs players that stood out in a good way vs Vegas.

Bonus for taking him away from CO and he’s honestly one of maybe 2-3 total players from that Hawks core that I respected.

 

[Majorityof1]

You’ve said Perron is due a raise a couple times now. What kind of contract do you think he’s going to get next year.. at age 34? I would guess what he does this season will have a lot to say about it but even if he is going to get a raise I can’t imagine it would be much higher than his current pay. Also, he clearly really likes being here which will help.

Perron put up a point per game plus last year. He has averaged .9055 ppg over the last 4 years, or 74.25 points a year, playing the vast majority of games. I don't care how old he is, how many 70+ point guys are signed at $4M?

 

[Falco Lombardi]

I was very against signing Saad because I didn’t want to overpay for anyone in free agency.

That didn’t happen. 4.5 is certainly less than I thought he would get. I’d much rather give Saad 4.5 than Schwartz 5.5

 

[Majorityof1]

Most Avs fans don’t seem too pleased about losing Saad to us.

Saad was 3rd on their team in even strength goals last season. 1st in even strength goals per 60.

Don’t underestimate the amount of players they’re losing with Saad, Graves, Donskoi, Soderberg, Timmins, etc. You need depth to win in the playoffs and the Avs will have a lot less of it than they did this past season because of the cap.

Blues fans: Avs are a 1 line team!!!!! Avs are a 1 line team!!!!! They have no depth and their goalie sucks.
Also Blues fans: Look at all the quality depth the Avs lost. Plus they lost their goalie, They are going to be so much worse.

 

[Reality Czech]

Assume we trade Vladi.

Perron-ROR-Buch
Schenn-Thoms-Kyrou
Saad-Barby-Kostin
Sanford-Sunny-Bozak

Switch Bozak and Kostin and now we're cooking! I like the signing a lot and we have good flexibility. Can move Thomas or whoever to the 3rd line to balance out the scoring and the wingers could fit together in many different ways.

 

[The Grouch]

This isn't a terrible signing, but...

In the flat cap era I feel like the Blues would have been wise to delay their spending on an UFA until next season. With teams going crazy with multi-year contracts during this years free agency and the cap being stagnant, I think there will be great deals on UFAs next offseason. Also having cap space would have given the Blues a better chance to pounce on opportunistic trades during the season. Also Parayko and Perron will need new contracts as well.

I've listed some players scheduled to be UFAs below. It's loaded with talent. Obviously not all of these players will be available, but because of the cap crunch I think many more will make it to UFA than in years past...

Parayko
Perron
Malkin
Giroux
Berkov
Bergeron
Couturier
Zibanejad
Lindholm
Ekholm
Pulock
Ristolainen
Letang
Klingberg
Rakell
Pavelski
Hertl
Rust
Fluery
Kuemper
Giordano
Gaudreau
Forsberg
Trochek
Strome
Kadri
Palat
Domi

 

[execwrite1]

I don't know if Schwartz would have signed here, given an identical offer from the Blues. Sounds crazy to say but I get the impression he really wanted to sign in Seattle.

One factor mentioned was Schwartz needed to be closer to home near his family. Father passed away last fall.

That family has been through a lot.

 

[Mike Liut]

I heard somebody call him a bigger better version of Schwartz on the radio. Is that fair?

 

[finnishflash13]

That's a big problem then if a 60 point player would rather go to an expansion team he has no geographical connection with than stay with his current team for the same contract.

Did you not read where he has connections to Seattle and wanted to be closer to home?

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Saad has been a Blues killer....nice to have him on our side