Free Agent Frenzy

[Roman Yoshi]

Not 100% confirmed but sounds like Hoffman to St. Louis.

I just remembered we have almost a decade of Turris' $2M a year cap hit to look forward to...ugh

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Not 100% confirmed but sounds like Hoffman to St. Louis.

I just remembered we have almost a decade of Turris' $2M a year cap hit to look forward to...ugh

I guess we'll never know for sure, but the way things were going it seemed like we had Taylor Hall lined up solidly enough that the buyout was justified in that context, given the timing. Of course, then Pegula swooped in on his private jet and that all fell apart. But it's funny how many big things like that have happened to Poile in recent years. Cases where you understand WHY he did something, and it made sense at the time, but nevertheless turned out bad.

I'd much rather just still have Turris today, for all his foibles, and just burn another 2 years off that buyout in a semi-meaningless 56-game chaos season, than be sitting on unused cap space. Oh well.

I wonder why Hoffman didn't want to play for us?

 

[Predsanddead24]

If the Blues sign Hoffman that would pretty much have to mean Tarasenko is out for the season unless Hoffman is taking a pretty small contract. Slotting into Tarasenko’s role seems like a good fit for Hoffman so I can see why he would go there.

 

[herzausstein]

If the Blues sign Hoffman that would pretty much have to mean Tarasenko is out for the season unless Hoffman is taking a pretty small contract. Slotting into Tarasenko’s role seems like a good fit for Hoffman so I can see why he would go there.

Yeah I don't really see how else it could work out. Steen going to LTIR only opens enough room for Vince Dunn and maybe another league minimum contract. Tarasenko would need to be out for a significant amount of time to make Hoffman work or if they could purge themselves of Bozak's contract.

 

[LCPreds]

I guess this one can now be put to bed.

 

[BigFatCat999]

Wow, PTO. He should of been one of the highest FAs out there and he got a PT f***ing O. Is he that much of an asshole?

 

[Soundgarden]

Yeah, that's got to raise a few flags.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Definitely feels like one of those violating the spirit of the salary cap without explicitly breaking it situations. I assume they would have cleared this with the NHL ahead of time but seems like something they could prevent if they really wanted.

 

[herzausstein]

So he’s just gonna practice with them until the season starts and steen goes on IR and then sign with them.... I mean this reeks of cap circumvention.

 

[herzausstein]

Wow, PTO. He should of been one of the highest FAs out there and he got a PT f***ing O. Is he that much of an asshole?

It’s not really a PTO. The blues are avoiding having to put steen on ltir prior to the season starts so that they can reap maximum benefit from it. He gets to practice with them since he has an agreement then he will get some sort of contract after the season starts

 

[BigFatCat999]

It’s not really a PTO. The blues are avoiding having to put steen on ltir prior to the season starts so that they can reap maximum benefit from it. He gets to practice with them since he has an agreement then he will get some sort of contract after the season starts

Yeah but HOW BIG?

 

[Armourboy]

I would love to see him do just garbage in camp and they just let him go rather than sign him.

 

[Legionnaire11]

I don't wish injury on players, but dang, in this one case it would be sweet to see Hoffman go down in training camp with a season ending injury. Terrible, but if the league doesn't do anything about this, karma should.

 

[OldFan]

I don't wish injury on players, but dang, in this one case it would be sweet to see Hoffman go down in training camp with a season ending injury. Terrible, but if the league doesn't do anything about this, karma should.

Sorta reminds me of old Leipold stripping the Preds of their stars when he owned them while “allegedly “ negotiating with some phone guy. Illegal; nope. Against the rules; nope. Unethical; ___(fill in the blank).

 

[herzausstein]

Yeah but HOW BIG?

depends on how much they can fit. Steen is out for the season and word is Tarasenko starts on IR. If Tarasenko is gonna be out half the season he could get a pretty good payday.

 

[Predsanddead24]

You don’t accrue cap space if you’re over with LTIR so either Tarasenko is done for the year, they will get Dunn and Hoffman for under ~5.3 mil, or they’ll shed a couple other guys and run a smaller active roster once Tarasenko is back. Otherwise they’ll have to move someone get cap compliant once Tarasenko is healthy.

 

[herzausstein]

You don’t accrue cap space if you’re over with LTIR so either Tarasenko is done for the year, they will get Dunn and Hoffman for under ~5.3 mil, or they’ll shed a couple other guys and run a smaller active roster once Tarasenko is back. Otherwise they’ll have to move someone get cap compliant once Tarasenko is healthy.

Tarasenko probably has a case of the Kucherov's

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I don't wish injury on players, but dang, in this one case it would be sweet to see Hoffman go down in training camp with a season ending injury. Terrible, but if the league doesn't do anything about this, karma should.

I wonder if they would really just let him go in that scenario. Surely, even if he suffered a season-ending injury in camp, they'd still honor their commitment? (At that point, what does it even matter to the team anyway?)

It would seem to me that we probably offered him as much or more than St. Louis did. And, as with Taylor Hall, they chose to go elsewhere. If top UFA forwards have caught on to what happens in our top-6 here... well... that sucks. But I guess we already knew we'd have to build from within.

 

[PredsV82]

I would love to see him do just garbage in camp and they just let him go rather than sign him.

Or another team signs him at the end of camp

 

[Scoresberg]

I wonder if they would really just let him go in that scenario. Surely, even if he suffered a season-ending injury in camp, they'd still honor their commitment? (At that point, what does it even matter to the team anyway?)

It would seem to me that we probably offered him as much or more than St. Louis did. And, as with Taylor Hall, they chose to go elsewhere. If top UFA forwards have caught on to what happens in our top-6 here... well... that sucks. But I guess we already knew we'd have to build from within.

Yeah, I mean, I would've loved to sign Hoffman instead of bringing back Granlund but the silver lining in all of this is that now we're giving a chance to lean on internal improvement and perhaps on a few young guys stepping up. Haula and Granlund on short deals won't block up anybody, they're just there in case the none of the rookies can't keep up.

Signing Hall or Hoffman, especially long-term, would've cemented one of the top-6 spots completely at least for the next year or so. Now, if Tomasino or whoever can prove they have what it takes, the job is theirs.

 

[OldFan]

Yeah, I mean, I would've loved to sign Hoffman instead of bringing back Granlund but the silver lining in all of this is that now we're giving a chance to lean on internal improvement and perhaps on a few young guys stepping up. Haula and Granlund on short deals won't block up anybody, they're just there in case the none of the rookies can't keep up.

Signing Hall or Hoffman, especially long-term, would've cemented one of the top-6 spots completely at least for the next year or so. Now, if Tomasino or whoever can prove they have what it takes, the job is theirs.

Saw Tomasino play over the weekend and score a goal on a pretty shot. But he sure looks so young and sort of slight in statue. Hasn’t grown all the way into his man’s body yet. He may make the NHL roster but he looks like a candidate to take another year.

 

[Scoresberg]

There’s got to be some cap manuvering from the Blues. Tarasenko will be back around March, so his cap has to be taken into account at that point of the season. Steen retired which means they can really only exceed the cap by his $5.5 mil and right now they’re over $1.175 with neither Hoffman nor Dunn signed. Hoffman’s coming in around $4 mil which doesn’t leave room for Dunn.

Interesting situation.