Both players currently have contracts that will pay them through their year 36 season. Steen at 5.75 per, Backes at 6 per.

At the end of that those contracts, who's contract will look worse..or better however you want to look at it?

Do you think the Blues kept the wrong guy?

Hindsight is 20/20. I'd prefer Backes at this point, but Steen has brought a lot to this team for years now, and at the same time, these deals both have years left on them. They'll likely BOTH be overpaid by the times their deals are up.

If I remember correctly Steen signed his extension mid-season and when he was the league leader in goals. Also, it isnt like they both had expiring contracts in the same seasons. Believe the Blues wanted to bring both back when their time came, Steens deal was up first.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:Both players currently have contracts that will pay them through their year 36 season. Steen at 5.75 per, Backes at 6 per.

At the end of that those contracts, who's contract will look worse..or better however you want to look at it?

Do you think the Blues kept the wrong guy?

Shoulda unloaded Steen too... love his game, but he's a broken player, with a fragile melon. His best days are long gone, I'm afraid.

I consider them fairly equal in value, but they bring different things to the team.
If we had kept Backes, and not Steen, and, as in the case of Backes, not replaced what he brought to the team, I think we are right where we are now. I have no problem with Army's decision to stick to his guns on the length of contract with Backes, but his failure to replace the essentials Backes brought to this team is a glaring mistake.

Oates2Hullie450 wrote:Hindsight is 20/20. I'd prefer Backes at this point, but Steen has brought a lot to this team for years now, and at the same time, these deals both have years left on them. They'll likely BOTH be overpaid by the times their deals are up.

If I remember correctly Steen signed his extension mid-season and when he was the league leader in goals. Also, it isnt like they both had expiring contracts in the same seasons. Believe the Blues wanted to bring both back when their time came, Steens deal was up first.

Steen was just re-signed in Sept for 4 more years, he was set to be a UFA after this season. Backes's deal was actually up first. Steen's hasn't really even begun yet.

Turk Sanderson wrote:

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:Both players currently have contracts that will pay them through their year 36 season. Steen at 5.75 per, Backes at 6 per.

At the end of that those contracts, who's contract will look worse..or better however you want to look at it?

Do you think the Blues kept the wrong guy?

Shoulda unloaded Steen too... love his game, but he's a broken player, with a fragile melon. His best days are long gone, I'm afraid.

^^^

My mistake, was thinking of his last contract. Need to do more research before I post, but in that case then Backes for sure.

The reasoning was that Backes, due to his heavy hitting game, was expected to have his body beat up earlier than Steen's. And, Steen's game would decline slowly, and still be an effective scorer through age 35. While Backes was expected to start declining this year or next, and decline precipitously, during his 3rd and 4th years.

But, it may be that Steen will never come back from that last injury, to be a quality scorer again. BOTH will likely be liabilities related to their contract, in their 3rd and 4th contract years.

The Steen contract actually bothers me more than the Lehtera contract. At least Lehterable will be out of here in a couple of years...we are stuck with Steen. He's not even an asset any longer and that new contract hasn't even kicked in yet...makes me sick.

I guess I just don't get the Steen hate. Sure he only has 3 goals this season, but he is on a 48 points per 82 pace despite being dinged. If he can stay healthy (and I realize that's a big IF) he is still a defensively stout 50 point forward. Keep him off the point on the power play and he's an exceptional middle 6 winger on a good (not great) deal.

MissouriMook wrote:I guess I just don't get the Steen hate. Sure he only has 3 goals this season, but he is on a 48 points per 82 pace despite being dinged. If he can stay healthy (and I realize that's a big IF) he is still a defensively stout 50 point forward. Keep him off the point on the power play and he's an exceptional middle 6 winger on a good (not great) deal.

Need to get younger and faster...not older and slower. With that said the Blues haven't been able to find those players that can step in and make a difference like what we've seen in Pittsburgh, San Jose, and Tampa. Steen had a role on this team two years ago and while he can still be a serviceable player...most likely, it's guys like him that will end up holding us back.
The game is changing so fast that long term contracts given to players that are not core players end up holding you back. Steen is not a core player any more...he didn't need that contract. We should have let him end up being our competitions problem down the road.
It was a mistake by Army and his penchant for showing loyalty. Loyalty to players needs to go away especially to players that are over 30. JR even hinted at it in his chat that Steen probably has assurances from management that he won't be traded. JR didn't mention he had a NTC but according to hockeyscap it does say Steen has a NTC. Not sure if that's accurate so again going on JR's comment...I find that very troubling.

It's not that I hate the guy, I hate this whole holdover year. Right now Steen looks like Berglund before his surgery and that's a big problem going forward. His concussion history is also an issue. Like Tim said these kind of guys will hold the team back on down the road. Last year was a good run for this team, but let's not kid ourselves, if Elliott didn't have the year he had things would have been much different. As much as I like Army, this year he's really left me scratching my head. The way I see it this year sets the inevitable rebuild back a year... they should be cutting bait this year instead of heading for an earlier exit with Allen in the net...and rebuilding next year.

I haven't seen Steen throw one of his patented reverse checks once this year, I feel he's a little more dinged than people know. That being said, he needs to stay off the point on the PP.

Here's my simple take; Steen's got it made with that extension so he just might be "gliding" instead of his usual physical self. And, he just may be a bit on the morose side since he was not picked to be captain. A longshot but a possibility. The other possibility is the injury bug. And unfortunately he's not the overall longterm healthiest guy on the squad.

Maybe Steen is saving it for a big run in the playoffs. (takes big hit off of crack pipe)

NHLTIM wrote:

MissouriMook wrote:I guess I just don't get the Steen hate. Sure he only has 3 goals this season, but he is on a 48 points per 82 pace despite being dinged. If he can stay healthy (and I realize that's a big IF) he is still a defensively stout 50 point forward. Keep him off the point on the power play and he's an exceptional middle 6 winger on a good (not great) deal.

Need to get younger and faster...not older and slower. With that said the Blues haven't been able to find those players that can step in and make a difference like what we've seen in Pittsburgh, San Jose, and Tampa. Steen had a role on this team two years ago and while he can still be a serviceable player...most likely, it's guys like him that will end up holding us back.
The game is changing so fast that long term contracts given to players that are not core players end up holding you back. Steen is not a core player any more...he didn't need that contract. We should have let him end up being our competitions problem down the road.
It was a mistake by Army and his penchant for showing loyalty. Loyalty to players needs to go away especially to players that are over 30. JR even hinted at it in his chat that Steen probably has assurances from management that he won't be traded. JR didn't mention he had a NTC but according to hockeyscap it does say Steen has a NTC. Not sure if that's accurate so again going on JR's comment...I find that very troubling.

Maybe I'm just too old school, but I still believe you need guys like Steen as the vets who have been through the wars a few times on your team to make a deep run in the playoffs. Best case would be a bunch of young, fast dynamic players push him to the 3rd (or even the 4th) line, but until those guys are here I still think there is a place for an aging, defensively responsible 50 pts winger in the middle 6.

MissouriMook wrote:
Maybe I'm just too old school, but I still believe you need guys like Steen as the vets who have been through the wars a few times on your team to make a deep run in the playoffs. Best case would be a bunch of young, fast dynamic players push him to the 3rd (or even the 4th) line, but until those guys are here I still think there is a place for an aging, defensively responsible 50 pts winger in the middle 6.

It's one thing to have them on your team. It's another to be paying them nearly 6 million a year. And there's a really good chance Alex Steen never scores 50 points in a season again, so calling him a 50pt winger might be a big of wishful thinking.

The course of Steen's career with the Blues seems similar to that of Andy McDonald. Arguably the team's best player a for a span and now a shadow of what he used to be. His decline has been much faster than most of us probably anticipated. In my opinion he has been the team's biggest disappointment this year.