Confirmed with Link: Sanford agrees to one-year contract (2m)

[Brockon]

I hope he breaks out of his mental limits and proves everyone wrong.

But alas, he will be this season's punching bag. Like Krug was last season's punching bag. The fans have their needs.

I disagree... Sanford has been a focal point for disappointment in our forward core for the past 3 seasons minimum - I can recall many a complaint about his inconsistent play and the ease he was knocked off both his feet/puck dating back to our cup winning season. Berube loves what he brings and often plays him up the lineup to our dismay.

I don't think he'll be the weakest link and earn the punching bag rights for this season... I daresay I expect one of Binnington, Krug or Schenn to underwhelm and carry that focus because of their contracts relative to Sanford's 1 year deal on a low cap hit.

 

[GoldenSeal]

I don't see that happening do you?

I think Army’s about to make a move so we can make it happen. Guys got something brewing.

 

[Spektre]

I think Army’s about to make a move so we can make it happen. Guys got something brewing.

The big pot of brew is getting moldy at this point

 

[Ranksu]

Lol ppl losing their **** over 2mill.$ x 1-year and be all right 6.5mill.$ x 6 years x 2 player = 13mill.$ AAV for garbage.

 

[542365]

Lol ppl losing their **** over 2mill.$ x 1-year and be all right 6.5mill.$ x 6 years x 2 player = 13mill.$ AAV for garbage.

Faulk was the Blues’ best Dman by a wide margin last year. Nobody else was even remotely close.

 

[simon IC]

Faulk was the Blues’ best Dman by a wide margin last year. Nobody else was even remotely close.

Which is setting the bar pretty low. If Parayko were himself, we would have been in much better shape.

 

[ezcreepin]

Sanford would be a great signing if he improved on his season last year. The problem is that, even with him playing higher up in the lineup like he did last year, he was so awful this year with the eye test and advanced stats confirming this. Corsi fell faster than Cheechoo's career, he hit nearly half as much in almost the same number of games, but he did block a few more shots for what it's worth. I don't care about plus/minus, but he did drop 26 points after being a +13 after the cup win. The fact that he played a minute more, scored more pp goals, but straight up didn't perform at even a 3rd line level is astounding. Even with his inconsistencies, him scoring 30 points in 58 games is stomachable, but he has to prove he is a top 9 player next year otherwise he is platoon fodder for another team.

 

[Ranksu]

Faulk was the Blues’ best Dman by a wide margin last year. Nobody else was even remotely close.

So the bar is that low now?

 

[Ranksu]

Which is setting the bar pretty low. If Parayko were himself, we would have been in much better shape.

Hah, you said it above. Well. Exactly my thoughts.

 

[Ranksu]

@542365 you must be happy camper with tight 13mill.$ AAV with Krug + Faulk 6 more years.

People lose their minds over Sanford 2 mill.$ 1 year. It's so frigging mind-blowing.


See the full picture.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

He's fine as our starting 3LW - we can address the spot nearer the TDL using him as a salary dump to balance or as a sweetener if he's regained any value.

Kostin and Sanford should compete for this spot, hopefully Kostin grabs it. Either way, it's shaping up to look like our 3rd line is something like:

???-Thomas-Kyrou

That LW spot can be Sanford, Kostin, or possibly a healthy Sundqvist. This should be a matchup nightmare for most teams, even if Thomas/Kyrou are carrying someone on the other side. The real key for that LW spot is to be defensively responsible and allow Thomas and Kyrou to do their thing. The quintessential unheralded grinder/mucker type. If Sanford or Kostin can carve out a spot on that line with that mentality, I think that line is going to do MAJOR damage.

 

[EastVillageBlues]

I'm going to be sick. Absolutely sick.

What is the reasoning for this? 2 million?!

We need to just make him go away.

He has no value to this organization.

 

[Brian39]

Which is setting the bar pretty low. If Parayko were himself, we would have been in much better shape.

So he is either the undisputed #1 guy on a bad D group (who personally performs well in that role) or he is the undisputed #2 D man of a group that is in pretty good shape. Isn't that pretty much exactly what you hope to get out of $6.5M when you are buying all UFA years?

Last year his cap hit was 22nd highest in the league among D men and this season it is 24th. He's paid like a low end #1 or top end #2 D man and last season he had a very good year while logging 24+ minutes a night. He led the team in hits (127), led the team in blocks (87), led the team in defensive points share (3.6), led the D in shot attempts, led the D in shots, was +11, was on pace for 36 points with almost no top unit PP time, and played a pretty damn defensive oriented role. The rest of the D being bad is not his fault and it is absurd to act like he brought a B- game but outshined a bunch of D+ performances making up the rest of the blue line.

Am I saying that I think his contract is incredible and that he will age like a fine wine? Absolutely not. But anyone claiming that Faulk wasn't worth his cap allocation last year is out to lunch. He was at least a low-end #1 D man last year and an argument that he would have been a good #2 if Parayko were healthy wouldn't make him overpaid.

 

[Frenzy31]

Which is setting the bar pretty low. If Parayko were himself, we would have been in much better shape.

You will not find anyone to argue against this. This team looks much different with a healthy Parayko. He would have been the number 1 guy or atleast worked a shut down pair.

But he wasn't and so we had what we had.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

He's fine as our starting 3LW - we can address the spot nearer the TDL using him as a salary dump to balance or as a sweetener if he's regained any value.

Kostin and Sanford should compete for this spot, hopefully Kostin grabs it. Either way, it's shaping up to look like our 3rd line is something like:

???-Thomas-Kyrou

That LW spot can be Sanford, Kostin, or possibly a healthy Sundqvist. This should be a matchup nightmare for most teams, even if Thomas/Kyrou are carrying someone on the other side. The real key for that LW spot is to be defensively responsible and allow Thomas and Kyrou to do their thing. The quintessential unheralded grinder/mucker type. If Sanford or Kostin can carve out a spot on that line with that mentality, I think that line is going to do MAJOR damage.

Kyrou needs to be with Schenn. That's when most of their magic happened last year.

 

[Celtic Note]

Kyrou needs to be with Schenn. That's when most of their magic happened last year.

Saad as the Schwartz replacement on that line? Could work.

Perron - ROR - Buch

Sanford - Thomas - Tarasenko to start?

 

[Linkens Mastery]

Saad as the Schwartz replacement on that line? Could work.

Perron - ROR - Buch

Sanford - Thomas - Tarasenko to start?

Exactly my thoughts. Except

Kostin-Thomas-Tarasenko
Sanford-Sunny-Barbie

 

[Bluesguru]

He’s a good 3rd liner who’s been asked to play top 6 too often.

Yeah. Why so many chances? Bottom 6 is where he belongs until he proves he can play consistently well.

 

[Moose and Squirrel]

Could be worse

yeah...could have been a multi-year deal...

just trade this guy already

 

[Moose and Squirrel]

Kyrou needs to be with Schenn. That's when most of their magic happened last year.

to me, kyrou and thomas looked great together... think the same game, at the same speed..etc..

 

[BlueOil]

Sanford - Thomas - Tarasenko

the trade bait line

 

[Thallis]

I disagree... Sanford has been a focal point for disappointment in our forward core for the past 3 seasons minimum - I can recall many a complaint about his inconsistent play and the ease he was knocked off both his feet/puck dating back to our cup winning season. Berube loves what he brings and often plays him up the lineup to our dismay.

I don't think he'll be the weakest link and earn the punching bag rights for this season... I daresay I expect one of Binnington, Krug or Schenn to underwhelm and carry that focus because of their contracts relative to Sanford's 1 year deal on a low cap hit.

My money is on Schenn

 

[Moose and Squirrel]

My money is on Schenn

yeah.. not sure what happened to him, but the last half of the season he seemed fairly invisible

 

[ChicagoBlues]

yeah.. not sure what happened to him, but the last half of the season he seemed fairly invisible

I hope he checks back in cuz we gonna need him.

 

[Brian39]

yeah.. not sure what happened to him, but the last half of the season he seemed fairly invisible

He's always been a pretty streaky guy. His slump this year (17 games with no goals and 4 assists) was worse than usual, but he was red hot at the start of the season and was finding his game at the end of the year (4 goals and 4 assists in the final 12 games). He had a down year for sure, but I'm fairly comfortable saying that his stretch of invisibility likely would have ultimately been looked at as an extended cold streak in an 82 game season. He had a similar cold streak in 2018/19 where he had 2 goals and 3 assists over a 16 game period, but he still finished the year on pace for 61 points (instead of the 52 he was on pace for this year).

I really liked Schenn's deal at the time it was signed because it was mortgaging the future in order to best preserve a current Cup window. I was fine with a contract that would age poorly in order to fully maximize the chances of winning in the short term. I've fallen out of love with the contract after a few decisions that I believe closed the current window (or at least pushed the window slightly to the future).

However, regardless of those considerations, we need Schenn to get back to the 60 point guy rather than the 50 point guy he was last year. My hope is that the fairly significant changes to the top 6 construction this year help get him there.