@StLouisBlues: DONE DEAL! Vladimir Tarasenko has signed an eight-year, $60 million deal. >>> http://t.co/n8FNl3QgHs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; #stlblues http://t.co/tQg8xBzL1p" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good fair deal.

Yup. Locked up for 7.5 per. Great value there I think. Great contract.

Sounds about right.

Love it!

About exactly what I expected. Locking him up for 8 years is HUGE.

Perfect. 7.5 million through prime years.

Excellent for both sides!!!!!!

Yeah, I have a feeling in a few years with salaries going up and everything this deal will look like a steal.

Best news of the off season in my books, fantastic deal. Is it known yet if the deal starts at say 7mil and increases to 9 by the end? Sure there is something like that but just wondering as far as our cap the next few years is concerned.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:Yeah, I have a feeling in a few years with salaries going up and everything this deal will look like a steal.

If 7.5 mil in the NHL is considered a steal in a few years then the NHL will be in financial trouble and heading for a lock out.

Andy Strickland ‏@andystrickland 5m5 minutes ago
#stlblues Sign Tarasenko to 8 yr deal....breakdown as follows $8, $8, $7, $7, $9.5, $5.5, $9.5 $5

Weird breakdown. But great deal, fair for both sides. Love it.

wizard pork sword wrote:

UMSLBlues12 wrote:Yeah, I have a feeling in a few years with salaries going up and everything this deal will look like a steal.

If 7.5 mil in the NHL is considered a steal in a few years then the NHL will be in financial trouble and heading for a lock out.

Maybe not "a steal" but good value none the less, when you look at how much some of these other guys are getting paid in FA.

There will certainly be another lockout though, its inevitable

Overall I like it. I love the 8yr term but 7.5 is a tad more than I hoped. Either way, salaries are going up so I hope towards the middle/end he will be considered a bargain. Atleast it wasn't a bridge deal for 2/3 years at 6.5ish and then he wants 10m afterwards and we end up losing him.

Hoping army has a move he was waiting to add to this team that couldn't be done till this signing. Would love to upgrade at any one position (like everyone else I'm sure)

"Picture or it's not true"

Atta boy, Army.

So where does this now put the Blues current cap situation if anyone knows?

According to Tom Timmerman, we have 1.2M in cap space (assuming Rattie and Lindbohm are on the roster) and still need to sign another forward. MPS' deal was for 1.4M, and if I'm not mistaken don't RFA contracts have to be a certain percentage more than the previous contract was for? Which would mean unless we move someone MPS is probably out.

I have a feeling someone (likely Berglund) is going to get dumped so we have some more room. If I remember correctly Army isn't a fan of going in up against the cap.

UMSLBlues12 wrote:According to Tom Timmerman, we have 1.2M in cap space (assuming Rattie and Lindbohm are on the roster) and still need to sign another forward. MPS' deal was for 1.4M, and if I'm not mistaken don't RFA contracts have to be a certain percentage more than the previous contract was for? Which would mean unless we move someone MPS is probably out.

I have a feeling someone (likely Berglund) is going to get dumped so we have some more room. If I remember correctly Army isn't a fan of going in up against the cap.

Well goodbye Gentle Giant. I think he finally found a place here (or most have lowered their expectations), but tis a business and all that.

I think 7.5 aav for a budding superstar is great value in today's NHL. The term is just as important. 8 years at that price is great.

Look at some of the other contracts around the league. It really puts it into perspective.

Sweet Non-Mythical Jesus how bad does ROR's contract look right now. Who would you rather have at 7.5 AAV?

Doug Glatt wrote:
Look at some of the other contracts around the league. It really puts it into perspective.

Yes, Chicago comes to mind. I'm just happy to have such a quality centerpiece to build around. Having just watched the Army interview on the subject, I'm not sure if we'll see another big move. If anything, someone for picks if we need to free up a few million and open a roster spot for someone like Fabbri.

SickMittsRomKnee wrote:Sweet Non-Mythical Jesus how bad does ROR's contract look right now. Who would you rather have at 7.5 AAV?

Yeah, ROR's contract made me worried that we would have to go up to 8 for Frank.

wizard pork sword wrote:So where does this now put the Blues current cap situation if anyone knows?

With 2 forward spots open they have a little over 2.4M in cap space left. Assuming Fabbri gets one spot ($925k cap hit) that takes it down to $1.5M in cap space. The 14th forward should cost somewhere in the $600-800k range (whether that's Rattie, Porter, etc.). That would leave them wth $700-900k in cap space remaining after filling the 23-man roster.

Paajarvi isn't signed yet and no, he wasn't due a raise. That's only for RFAs making way less than what Paajarvi made last season.

The Paajarvi situation is certainly interesting though. It sounds like he's only interested in a one-way deal and Army is only interested in a two-way deal...but I imagine that the qualifying offer had to be a one-way deal (since Paajarvi's last deal was one-way) but maybe I'm wrong on that. Actually, I hope I'm wrong on that as I have absolutely no interest in Paajarvi on a one-way deal! Paajarvi filed for arbitration so it'll be interesting to see how the situation plays out. He better not cost the Blues too much though as I personally think that we have better options and I'd be fine with him leaving to go play in Sweden. I was and still am a little confused why we even bothered to qualify him. My only thought is that it only makes sense from the team's perspective if they were able to qualify him with a two-way deal so hopefully that's the case. I'm fine having Paajarvi as depth but not at a guaranteed NHL salary.

Well, this should quiet the screaming for a day or two. Then, it will all start all over again.
Glad to see the 8 year contract. Makes this deal very sweet.

Absolutely love this deal. We just locked up a top 10 goal scorer for the better part of a decade. The annual salary numbers look sort of odd....would like to know the logic behind it.