Funny what a difference 3 months make (from when posted this thread) and 6 months make (from when the Blues were looking to be a top 10 draft pick).

I honestly have ZERO idea what this team will do. If things were status quo with the Blues, I'd say they will make minimal changes and ride the players they have to make another run.

Then again, the Blues have repeatedly giving the middle finger to predictability so I wouldn't be surprised if DA make a big move. T

The biggest questions will be the contracts of Berube; UFA's Maroon and Gunner; RFA's Binnington, JEd, Blais, SunnyD, Sanford, Fabbri, and Barbs...then of course you have our RFA prospects who need contracts: Husso, Reinke, Stevens, Bleackley,

As of right now, we have around 19M in cap space. IF Maroon and Gunner are both extended, they'll each cost probably $2-3M so that leaves about $14. Then you know Binnington is going to get $4-5/ so that takes you down to $10M to sign 10 RFA's, some of who will be due 'big raises' like SunnyD, Barbs, Sanford, and Blais. who will each be making around $1.5 IMO.

Something will have to give or have to move to make sure we have enough cap space for either a Schenn or Petro extension...or both. (I really don't want us to move either of them; Schenn has great chemistry with Schwartz and Tarasenko, and Petro has finally become the leader and player we had hoped he'd be).

Would love it if DA could figure out a way to get Toronto to take Jake.

Maybe if NJ moves Schneider. Maybe Allen would be an option as the back up to Blackwood. I think if anybody comes calling it will be Marty

Changes take place every single year, but right this second I love every player, coach, and everyone else who works for the Blues. I know it's not possible, but I'd be perfectly happy with going into next season with this exact same squad.

This season could be challenging from a salary perspective for the Blues.

1) I think Pietrangelo will get his 8 year deal now. Obviously people will complain and it doesn't go into effect until the 2020/21 season, but I will assume it will be a 8 year deal worth probably 9 million or so. There will be some people that will complain loudly about this but we have our Cup, so....

2) Goalies - Binnington is a RFA and Allen is making 4.35 a year for the next two years. Some people are saying that Allen will demand a trade, but I don't think he will. The big issue can we pay a backup more than the starter? If we do trade him, then we're relying on an unproven kid (Husso) or some veteran to be the backup - is that what we want to do? Allen might not be a savior but in a limited role, I don't think he was bad. Maybe the issue with Allen is he simply can't be "the guy?"

3) Defence - DelZotto and Gunnarsson are UFA's, and Edmundson is a RFA. In addition, Reinke is a RFA and Butler is a UFA. I would like to see the Blues get younger on D - you have a decent top four of Parayko, Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, and Dunn, and Bortuzzo is a good 3rd pairing / PK guy. But it would be nice if Reinke or Mikkolo can make a push to be on the team. We need to get younger on the backend.

4) Forwards - You have two UFA's (Maroon and Thorburn) and I doubt either should be on the team. We have five RFA's (Blais, Barbashev, Sundqvist, Sanford, and Fabbri). I would bet at least one of these kids is gone to make room for Kyrou.

Ultimately, you might be looking at something like this:

Schwartz / Schenn / Tarasenko
Perron / ROR / Thomas
Sanford / Bozak / Kyrou
Steen / Sundqvist / Barbashev

Bouwmeester / Parayko
Dunn / Pietrangelo
Mikkola - Reinke / Bortuzzo

Binnington
Allen - Husso - FA

I think it's likely that Fabbri is done here and moves on. I think Maroon stays and is a fixture on the 3rd line with Bozak and Thomas....and lets just Keep Thomas there until we can't afford to keep him there. We can always flip him and Kyrou around.
Sanford might have some trade value after what he did in the final.....maybe he's part of a deal. I also think that Jed could be moved. I like the defensive pairings that Spiff has above....I think Reinke is going to be a very good player.

barcthespark wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 2:20 pm Changes take place every single year, but right this second I love every player, coach, and everyone else who works for the Blues. I know it's not possible, but I'd be perfectly happy with going into next season with this exact same squad.

Honestly, the Blues aren't in a position to move a lot of players. This has been a long hard playoffs, 26 games.

They will need ever bit of depth they already have. The 20/21 season will see a lot of movement but for now, it's a honeymoon.

I agree with Tim, Maroon should stay, Sanford could get flipped, and I’m all for Mikkola and Reinke getting a shot. If Army does retain a vet for insurance, wouldn’t mind seeing Del Zotto sticking. Would also like at least one more guy added to the team that can play the heavy game. And don’t count Blais out of the starting lineup next yr. I would put him in over Sandford on the depth chart. Blais reminds me of a Flyer the way he plays. Just hard nose with an edge of skill to make a play. Hope he nets 15 to 20 next yr.

4.5mil/4yr ntc to fabbri "to help boost his confidence" seems like the type of boneheaded signing army would do

Ozzies09tc wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:33 pm 4.5mil/4yr ntc to fabbri "to help boost his confidence" seems like the type of boneheaded signing army would do

Yup, that guy clearly has mo idea how to build a winner.

DA actually has a lot of work to do. Lots of RFAs. Binner needs a huge raise. Jed needs a raise.

Do you keep Del Zotto, Gunnar, both?

Let Thorburn walk.

Maroon Barbs and Sunny all need nice raises.

Fabs Sanford and Blais all have a case if they go to arbitration.

All that to do and only 18.733 MM to get it done with.

Crazy prediction, Gunnar gets walked and Del Zotto gets a 2.75 ish contract.

BillP. wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:05 pm I agree with Tim, Maroon should stay, Sanford could get flipped, and I’m all for Mikkola and Reinke getting a shot. If Army does retain a vet for insurance, wouldn’t mind seeing Del Zotto sticking. Would also like at least one more guy added to the team that can play the heavy game. And don’t count Blais out of the starting lineup next yr. I would put him in over Sandford on the depth chart. Blais reminds me of a Flyer the way he plays. Just hard nose with an edge of skill to make a play. Hope he nets 15 to 20 next yr.

I would think Blais is here all year next year. He played a role very well for us but I think he’s got more to show.

I remember back in November there were various "experts" talking about how Parayko's development had stalled.

39hurricane wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 7:59 pm
Crazy prediction, Gunnar gets walked and Del Zotto gets a 2.75 ish contract.

You’re right, that is crazy.

My guess is that we re-sign Petro for 8 years 67 million range. Schenn can't come to an agreement but we keep him for another run anyway.
Gunnarsson walks, Del Zotto walks.
Maroon re-signs for 4 years 14 million.
We package Edmundson and one of Fabbri/Sanford/Blais for a LD. Maybe Allen gets shipped to a team in need.

Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
Perron O'Reilly Kyrou
Maroon Bozak Thomas
Steen Barbashev Sundqvist

Macmac/Blais extras

new LD Pietro
Bouw Parayko
Dunn Bortuzzo

Reinke extra

Binnington
Allen/?

ratonmono wrote: Sat Jun 15, 2019 12:33 am My guess is that we re-sign Petro for 8 years 67 million range. Schenn can't come to an agreement but we keep him for another run anyway.
Gunnarsson walks, Del Zotto walks.
Maroon re-signs for 4 years 14 million.
We package Edmundson and one of Fabbri/Sanford/Blais for a LD. Maybe Allen gets shipped to a team in need.

Schwartz Schenn Tarasenko
Perron O'Reilly Kyrou
Maroon Bozak Thomas
Steen Barbashev Sundqvist

Macmac/Blais extras

new LD Pietro
Bouw Parayko
Dunn Bortuzzo

Reinke extra

Binnington
Allen/?

Your Maroon signing is way too gratuitous - both term and cap I know Army has gone down that road before with mid level forwards but I think he’s learned his lesson now. I think the Blues are on their way now to cultivating their own mid level forwards internally thru the draft. That’s how it should be cycled. But I do see Army offering a 2 year deal around 2M for Pat.

T.C. wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 7:23 am

CaptSMRT wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 7:19 am I guess this means we can never do suite night again though.

not in feb anyway. we're doing it home opener next season. we'll get to see the banner go up. likely lose the game, but still.

By the way, I'm in for it, especially if it's opening night. Would love to see that banner raised.

CaptSMRT wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:51 pm I remember back in November there were various "experts" talking about how Parayko's development had stalled.

You must have not started watching until after Berube took over because Parayko was downright terrible Oct thru December and he was definitely stalled in his development. His worst moment as a Blue was the game in Montreal early in the season. It took a new coach, and Larry Robinson to fix his game.

Berube got the best out of everyone. Petro was just a different guy this post season. He actually got better and better each round. His name now just moved up the list of elite defensemen. You have to credit Berube for this. Toughening up Petro was no small task and Berube did that.

NHLTIM wrote: Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:58 am

CaptSMRT wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:51 pm I remember back in November there were various "experts" talking about how Parayko's development had stalled.

You must have not started watching until after Berube took over because Parayko was downright terrible Oct thru December and he was definitely stalled in his development. His worst moment as a Blue was the game in Montreal early in the season. It took a new coach, and Larry Robinson to fix his game.

The whole team had stalled. How does anyone pick Parayko out of that group and say...this guy isn't developing. I'd like to know the criteria you are using for (stalled development). I am glancing at his game logs...he is averaging over 20 mins...finished the first three months with a positive (+/-). Watching the games it was hard not to notice he was one of the fastest Blues defenders. I never agreed with the assessment back in December and now considering new information it is obviously pretty misinformed. Also...the guy can apparently do inhuman amounts of cocaine.

CaptSMRT wrote: Sat Jun 15, 2019 3:47 pm

NHLTIM wrote: Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:58 am

CaptSMRT wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:51 pm I remember back in November there were various "experts" talking about how Parayko's development had stalled.

You must have not started watching until after Berube took over because Parayko was downright terrible Oct thru December and he was definitely stalled in his development. His worst moment as a Blue was the game in Montreal early in the season. It took a new coach, and Larry Robinson to fix his game.

The whole team had stalled. How does anyone pick Parayko out of that group and say...this guy isn't developing. I'd like to know the criteria you are using for (stalled development). I am glancing at his game logs...he is averaging over 20 mins...finished the first three months with a positive (+/-). Watching the games it was hard not to notice he was one of the fastest Blues defenders. I never agreed with the assessment back in December and now considering new information it is obviously pretty misinformed. Also...the guy can apparently do inhuman amounts of cocaine.

He had like 3 assists the first 3 months of the season or so.....Stats wise, 2019 was his worst season in his career. Offensively he was stagnated for sure....he should be more than a 30 pt guy. He wasn't even playing well defensively until after the changes. His complete game took off in the playoffs.

I think that besides maybe ROR and SunnyD, you could say the whole team blew the first couple months of the season. And you DO expect more out of your leaders like Tarasenko, Schenn, Parayko, Petro, etc. DA even said on NHL radio he had a deal ready to go 'for one of our UFA for a 2nd round pick'. We can look back now and say whatever, but at the time it was damn bleak looking for 99.9% of any observing this team.

But as Dave says, "whatever, the Blues won the Cup!"

bradleygt89 wrote: Sat Jun 15, 2019 4:04 pm I think that besides maybe ROR and SunnyD, you could say the whole team blew the first couple months of the season. And you DO expect more out of your leaders like Tarasenko, Schenn, Parayko, Petro, etc. DA even said on NHL radio he had a deal ready to go 'for one of our UFA for a 2nd round pick'. We can look back now and say whatever, but at the time it was damn bleak looking for 99.9% of any observing this team.

But as Dave says, "whatever, the Blues won the Cup!"

exactly...this team was fe fi fo fucked at the start. Pretty sure everybody but ROR and SunnyD were getting called out.

Holy shit those are some sick hands!

Dave's a mess wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 7:59 pm

Ozzies09tc wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:33 pm 4.5mil/4yr ntc to fabbri "to help boost his confidence" seems like the type of boneheaded signing army would do

Yup, that guy clearly has mo idea how to build a winner.

Forced to bring in the winning coach due to a great choice in yeo.

Caught lightning in a bottle with the 6th string goalie the interim coach wanted up.

Army sure is great..... :eyeroll: