GDT: Game #15: Buffalo Sabres @ St. Louis Blues | Full Assed Edition

[Bluesnatic27]

"He'd be driving it to the net every chance he got and driving opposing d-men crazy." Lol, you make it sound like this dude is a one of a kind player who is the toughest guy in the league. Neither is close to being true. I've watched Vancouver games and Zack Kassian is hardly noticeable most of the time. He also wouldn't prevent any team from gooning it up. Sure he might respond to something, but that's about it. Have you ever, as a Blues fan, been afraid of our team facing Zack Kassian? Because I haven't, and I don't think anyone has.

Quite frankly, the only Kassian memories I have of him facing the Blues are him losing a fight to Chris Stewart and getting in a scrum with Backes and Perron which led to Backes making fun of his hairline in the penalty box.

This is pretty much my opinion on Kassian.

The only notable thing I remember him doing is trucking some Czech player in the world juniors and getting ejected for it. Kassian has very little skill and would just be another Ott, so unless we trade Ott for him, he's worthless.

It would be nice to get an Andrew Shaw kind of player though. Someone who is quick and physical, but doesn't necessarily needs to be skilled with the puck like Saad.

 

[Twister18]

Instead of Kassian, I would rather try to pry Chris Neil away from the Sens. He is very physical and not bad on the ice. But I don't think the Sens would want to give him up either.

 

[rumrokh]

If we're talking about adding some veteran grit, just off the top of my head, I'd consider Foligno or possibly Brouwer. We'll have to see what the team looks like come trade deadline, though. It's nice to fantasize, but a little premature for me.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

If we're talking about adding some veteran grit, just off the top of my head, I'd consider Foligno or possibly Brouwer. We'll have to see what the team looks like come trade deadline, though. It's nice to fantasize, but a little premature for me.

What about Joel Ward?

 

[rumrokh]

What about Joel Ward?

I wouldn't be against that. Later in the season there should be several solid depth players who are available for a moderate price and could improve the team. Just going to have to see what the standings look like and exactly how moderate the prices are. A move might not be a good idea if the Blues are really clicking, and so forth, you know the drill.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

I wouldn't be against that. Later in the season there should be several solid depth players who are available for a moderate price and could improve the team. Just going to have to see what the standings look like and exactly how moderate the prices are. A move might not be a good idea if the Blues are really clicking, and so forth, you know the drill.

Totally agree. Just for clarification you were talking about Nick Foligno right? I'd take him in a heartbeat on the third line.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

What salary are you dumping in these moves? If I recall, we couldn't even make an AHL call up at one point this year because of how close we were to the cap.

 

[rumrokh]

Totally agree. Just for clarification you were talking about Nick Foligno right? I'd take him in a heartbeat on the third line.

Yea, I think that could be a superb move. He'd cost a little more than some of the other mid-line guys available, especially with his hot start, but the chance of re-signing him could compensate for that.

 

[rumrokh]

What salary are you dumping in these moves? If I recall, we couldn't even make an AHL call up at one point this year because of how close we were to the cap.

Cap space remains the same for the season, while cap hits are based on how much of the season remains. I have no idea what else will happen for the rest of the season, so I'm not even going to try to crunch the numbers, but it's entirely possible that the Blues have plenty of space to make a move at the deadline. Capgeek has the Blues projected deadline space at 1.7 million.

 

[Dbrownss]

Ward would be a move in the right direction.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

Ward would be nice, but if we can make the numbers work Foligno would be an even better addition for the third line.

 

[Bluesin7]

I feel like Ward is the type of player who will only ever reach 20+g/35+ pts on the Caps. Like a David Clarkson type guy and how Clarkson had that 30g season with the Devils, but he wouldn't really be able to replicate it anywhere else especially with the role he has.

 

[rumrokh]

I feel like Ward is the type of player who will only ever reach 20+g/35+ pts on the Caps. Like a David Clarkson type guy and how Clarkson had that 30g season with the Devils, but he wouldn't really be able to replicate it anywhere else especially with the role he has.

Not that I'm specifically advocating that the Blues acquire him, but his scoring rate with the Capitals is nearly identical to his rate the whole time with the Predators. 14 goals and 35 points vs. 17 goals and 37 points per 82 games. He's coming off a good season and is scoring well to begin this year, but you can probably bank on a 15 goal, 30+ point rate from him on most teams at this point in his career. Team style of play rarely has much of an impact on productivity. Unless players begin or cease playing on a line with an elite player, they almost always produce about the same. Ward hasn't taken a single even strength shift this year with Ovechkin or Backstrom, and has only taken a few on the powerplay with Ovechkin.