Speculation: Maroon to STL + Gunnarson

[BA Carroll]

Please link your sources. Where's his beef with Petro? Problems with management?

You can't make a claim like this without any external source...

I have posed some overtly speculative possibilities.
Please link where I have made a "claim" of fact that wasn't duly qualified.

You can't claim I am making untrue assertions without producing evidence.

 

[BleedBlue14]

As others have noted, there are several two-way players on the team now who can play Steen's role. That makes him redundant. Shall I list these players for you? Fine. O'Reilly, Perron, and Bozak have made Steen expendable.

I never said there was a rift, I said there was an alleged rift. If reading is hard for you, perhaps you should find another hobby besides surfing internet forums.

There are plenty of reasons why Steen might waive his trade protections, but since none of us are old drinking buddies with him, it's likely we'll never know. But just because someone poses speculation you don't like, doesn't constitute a free pass for snarkiness. Go be rude to someone else.

Again, I do not think of Maroon as a "replacement" for Steen. I think Steen has already been replaced. The addition of Maroon is just icing on the cake. In any event, none of the players you mentioned are particularly good at causing havoc in front of the net. Perron has a knack for it, but that takes a toll, and it is far better that he not take that sort of punishment during the regular season.

I will agree with your diagnosis of the power play, but that problem was very likely addressed in the acquisitions we've made in the last week.

Booze kicked in hard. Regardless, two-way role is t exactly a role as opposed to a play style. If you're meaning shutdown line, I really only think that makes sense if we separate O'Reilly and Tarasenko. I don't think Bozak has ever been in a shutdown role. But hey maybe we are just wanting to roll 4 and not play a matchup game which is fine.

As for allegedly, if you are going to make a claim and cover yourself by putting parentheses around allegedly, what's the point? Clearly if it's a big enough deal to bring in to an argument about Steen possibly being expendable, there is some belief there.

If it came off as jumping down your throats, I apologize. It wasn't intended. Regardless, this signing is going to hurt us if it's for multiple years.

 

[Evocable Manager]

I have posed some overtly speculative possibilities.
Please link where I have made a "claim" of fact that wasn't duly qualified.

You can't claim I am making untrue assertions without producing evidence.

But what is your speculation based on? Anyone just can just randomly speculate, that doesn't make your speculation reasonable.


From the article: “We are extremely excited to have Alexander signed for the next four seasons,” Blues president of hockey operations and GM Doug Armstrong said in a release. “He has developed into one of the league’s premier 200-foot players and is a key member of our leadership group. He has shown tremendous loyalty to the Blues organization, its fans and the St. Louis community.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis...nder-steen-sells-luxury-clayton-condo-to.html
Would a player buy/sell properties to teammates if their was a rift?

He also had his wedding a while back where the almost the entire team was there.

So there's evidence to suggest he's a fine teammate and has no issues with management/colleagues.

 

[BA Carroll]

Booze kicked in hard. Regardless, two-way role is t exactly a role as opposed to a play style. If you're meaning shutdown line, I really only think that makes sense if we separate O'Reilly and Tarasenko. I don't think Bozak has ever been in a shutdown role. But hey maybe we are just wanting to roll 4 and not play a matchup game which is fine.

As for allegedly, if you are going to make a claim and cover yourself by putting parentheses around allegedly, what's the point? Clearly if it's a big enough deal to bring in to an argument about Steen possibly being expendable, there is some belief there.

If it came off as jumping down your throats, I apologize. It wasn't intended. Regardless, this signing is going to hurt us if it's for multiple years.

You may be right, but I suspect he will work out better than expected, and I think there will be some more roster movement, independent of this deal. If so, while it might be perceived as "X replacing Y", that's not necessarily the case. The devil is in the details, and we are rarely privy to all of those.

 

[Dbrownss]

And he's (allegedly) got a personal beef with the captain, and (supposedly) an attitude issue.


I can't knock him for not getting along with Pietrangelo--because I'm not the biggest fan either.

I have posed some overtly speculative possibilities.
Please link where I have made a "claim" of fact that wasn't duly qualified.

You can't claim I am making untrue assertions without producing evidence.

Putting parentheses around words doesn't alleviate you from having to back it up.

 

[BA Carroll]

But what is your speculation based on? Anyone just can just randomly speculate, that doesn't make your speculation reasonable.



From the article: “We are extremely excited to have Alexander signed for the next four seasons,” Blues president of hockey operations and GM Doug Armstrong said in a release. “He has developed into one of the league’s premier 200-foot players and is a key member of our leadership group. He has shown tremendous loyalty to the Blues organization, its fans and the St. Louis community.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis...nder-steen-sells-luxury-clayton-condo-to.html
Would a player buy/sell properties to teammates if their was a rift?

He also had his wedding a while back where the almost the entire team was there.

So there's evidence to suggest he's a fine teammate and has no issues with management/colleagues.

I hope you're right. I never said I wanted to see Steen dealt. I suspect that the team might benefit from it, but I like him as a player, and I've never said anything to the contrary. The only thing I don't like about Steen is his contract, relative to his performance.

The perception that he's unhappy here didn't originate with me. It's been noted by many others, and apparent in his body language for years. Maybe he has the hockey equivalent of "resting b!tc# face", and he's just misunderstood. He obviously has many friends on the team. And I'm not researching his private life, because that's creepy, and none of my business.

So let me reiterate my position for the last time: analyzing several of the moves the team has made in recent weeks, looking at this roster, regardless of whether Patrick Maroon is signed or not, it seems likely that there is a plan afoot to deal Steen. As that is difficult to do given his NMC protections, that theory only makes sense if he is requesting a trade. I don't pretend to know why he might do so, I've only mentioned some possibilities.

I'm sure, for many of you, the thought of Steen being dealt elsewhere is upsetting. Let me suggest that, instead of debating the likelihood of that in a thread about Maroon and Gunnarsson, we start a new thread on the Blues' forum.

 

[BlueOil]

regardless of your opinion on maroon, it's pretty noticeable that it requires a lot of explaining to make sense of signing him. that's just what you're looking for with sought-after depth players - complications.

is there not cheaper, more sensible depth available? i realize they may not necessarily be from st. louis...

 

[rumrokh]

I hope you're right. I never said I wanted to see Steen dealt. I suspect that the team might benefit from it, but I like him as a player, and I've never said anything to the contrary. The only thing I don't like about Steen is his contract, relative to his performance.

The perception that he's unhappy here didn't originate with me. It's been noted by many others, and apparent in his body language for years. Maybe he has the hockey equivalent of "resting b!tc# face", and he's just misunderstood. He obviously has many friends on the team. And I'm not researching his private life, because that's creepy, and none of my business.

So let me reiterate my position for the last time: analyzing several of the moves the team has made in recent weeks, looking at this roster, regardless of whether Patrick Maroon is signed or not, it seems likely that there is a plan afoot to deal Steen. As that is difficult to do given his NMC protections, that theory only makes sense if he is requesting a trade. I don't pretend to know why he might do so, I've only mentioned some possibilities.

I'm sure, for many of you, the thought of Steen being dealt elsewhere is upsetting. Let me suggest that, instead of debating the likelihood of that in a thread about Maroon and Gunnarsson, we start a new thread on the Blues' forum.

Apparent to you? What "others"? Is The Asylum leaking again?

This doesn't just seem like a reach or connecting dots poorly, it reads like a full-on parody of delusional fan posts.

 

[stl76]

I was really confused by the last few posts...then clicked “show ignored content” and it all started to make sense.

 

[ChuckLefley]

So you don't think Schmaltz is good enough to be a bottom pairing or extra guy? And what's your argument that Gunnarsson is better than 6th? I'd love to hear that.

The point is, Gunnarsson and Bortuzzo are pretty close. if you are going to keep one as the #6 OR put one in the press box so Schmaltz can get playing time, it makes a ton more sense to keep the guy who is 3 years younger and cheaper. That's just common sense. Bortuzzo also provides an element that most of the other d-men don't have. Gunnarsson provides nothing that is unique.

And putting Gunnarsson in the top 4 over Dunn is a great way to make the team worse.

P.S. Also keep in mind that if you are arguing to trade Bouwmeester over Gunnarsson, I'd be completely fine with that. However I just don't think that's going to happen, which is why I'm going with this plan instead.

Schmaltz might be ready. Thus, at best, he is our bottom guy. Would you rather play someone who you know will be solid, who is a perfect compliment to a pmd, who just gets the job done, or someone who might be a complete train wreck at times. With the signings and trade, it’s obvious the Blues are of the mindset that the window is opening, so Gunnarsson is the better choice until Schmaltz proves himself. Bortuzzo has gotten better but can still be counted on for one huge error and one error caused by trying to be tough every game. When it comes to playing Gunnarsson over Dunn, it’s all about pairings. Gunnarsson playing with Parayko frees Parayko up to jump into the offense and know that he has cover, like Charlie Huddy playing with Paul Coffey. It follows in the same vein as the reason that our best pairing, since his maturation as a player, has been putting Edmundson with Petro.