https://theathletic.com/404762/2018/06/ ... -the-club/

Joining Kovachuk and Panarin as players who have told the Blues no this off-season.

From the article linked above: And late Friday night, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple identified the five clubs that Tavares, the New York Islanders’ prized free-agent-to-be, has interest in meeting next week, and the Blues are not among them. The top three are Toronto, San Jose and Dallas, and Tampa and LA also appear in the mix.

Wall flowers again

Looks like our locker room issues burn us again.

I bet he's going to LA. Wants to play for a team with a goalie.

DA is going to get desperate and overpay for Jeff freaking Skinner

For anyone holding out hope, JR followed up with: It’s been confirmed there’s no interest in St. Louis. I wouldn’t write it if I didn’t hear it.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:DA is going to get desperate and overpay for Jeff freaking Skinner

Yep....Odds are good that Fabbri and Kyrou might be getting phone calls today.

I wonder if JT would have talked with The Blues if they'd have won one more games, and were "a playoff team", still on a streak of years of making the playoffs?

I'm betting it's O'Reilly. I was worried Montreal would get crazy and offer the 3rd overall for ROR+, but with that bullet out of the chamber I think the Blues probably have the best trade chips with the young guns.

Robb_K wrote:I wonder if JT would have talked with The Blues if they'd have won one more games, and were "a playoff team", still on a streak of years of making the playoffs?

Hard to convince a guy to leave a non playoff team with lots of question marks only to join another. There’s just obvious better options.

Blues haven’t landed a big FA since overpaying for Staz.

Friedman "I do think the Blues are going to be aggressive today in trying to fix their offense"

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:

Robb_K wrote:I wonder if JT would have talked with The Blues if they'd have won one more games, and were "a playoff team", still on a streak of years of making the playoffs?

Hard to convince a guy to leave a non playoff team with lots of question marks only to join another. There’s just obvious better options.

Blues haven’t landed a big FA since overpaying for Staz.

I just mentioned over in the Loony Bin........these guys narrowed their list to roughly 4 teams, meaning 27 were excluded. People shouldn’t be taking it personally. The odds were slim to begin with....but yeah, missing the playoffs didn’t help!

At least we know where we stand; we have to force good players to come here through trade because they won't come here on their own.

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:

Robb_K wrote:I wonder if JT would have talked with The Blues if they'd have won one more games, and were "a playoff team", still on a streak of years of making the playoffs?

Hard to convince a guy to leave a non playoff team with lots of question marks only to join another. There’s just obvious better options.

Blues haven’t landed a big FA since overpaying for Staz.

I'd say the Blues payed market value for Stastny at the time, honestly. He was hands down the prize UFA 4 years ago, in a year that was particularly thin at center. And coincidentally, he's also the second-best potential UFA center this year.

RAFritchey wrote:

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:

Robb_K wrote:I wonder if JT would have talked with The Blues if they'd have won one more games, and were "a playoff team", still on a streak of years of making the playoffs?

Hard to convince a guy to leave a non playoff team with lots of question marks only to join another. There’s just obvious better options.

Blues haven’t landed a big FA since overpaying for Staz.

I'd say the Blues payed market value for Stastny at the time, honestly. He was hands down the prize UFA 4 years ago, in a year that was particularly thin at center. And coincidentally, he's also the second-best potential UFA center this year.

You just doomed us...thanks for nothing, Erik Johnson.

Tom: High-end FAs don’t even want to talk to you.

insideout wrote:Tom: High-end FAs don’t even want to talk to you.

“It’s not me, it’s you.”

barcthespark wrote:At least we know where we stand; we have to force good players to come here through trade because they won't come here on their own.

e

Exactly. We've got to get better thru the draft and selective trading. Let's face it. If you're a quality free agent, why would you choose to play here?
Seriously.

Can't wait to see what over payment DA offers for the scraps that are left. /s

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:https://theathletic.com/404762/2018/06/ ... -the-club/

Joining Kovachuk and Panarin as players who have told the Blues no this off-season.

From the article linked above: And late Friday night, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple identified the five clubs that Tavares, the New York Islanders’ prized free-agent-to-be, has interest in meeting next week, and the Blues are not among them. The top three are Toronto, San Jose and Dallas, and Tampa and LA also appear in the mix.

What's the deal with Panarin not being interested?

I think the Blues better be focusing on Ryan O'Reilly now and for Pete's sake get rid of one of Berglund or Sobotka.

BluesSK wrote:

Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote:https://theathletic.com/404762/2018/06/ ... -the-club/

Joining Kovachuk and Panarin as players who have told the Blues no this off-season.

From the article linked above: And late Friday night, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple identified the five clubs that Tavares, the New York Islanders’ prized free-agent-to-be, has interest in meeting next week, and the Blues are not among them. The top three are Toronto, San Jose and Dallas, and Tampa and LA also appear in the mix.

What's the deal with Panarin not being interested?

I think the Blues better be focusing on Ryan O'Reilly now and for Pete's sake get rid of one of Berglund or Sobotka.

When you’ve got three coveted and available players not interested in what you have to say, something needs to change. They’re going get some decent players and get back to being an early playoff exit team. That’s the ceiling.

I wonder how much the city as a whole is impacting free agents coming here? The Cardinals can't lure free agents either. This city doesn't have a good reputation on great places to live in America.

Although players who play here say they love the city, I wouldn't be surprised if the city's well earned crime-ridden reputation keeps some players away.

barcthespark wrote:Although players who play here say they love the city, I wouldn't be surprised if the city's well earned crime-ridden reputation keeps some players away.

Maybe barc, but that’s an easy issue to overcome........”hey Mr. Free Agent, avoid the 8 or 10 square block area that accounts for 99.9% of the crime in St. Louis.”

Problem solved!

So what are the next options at center?

Paul Stastny (UFA): We know what we're getting, but would he come back, and would we beat other offers for him?

Tyler Bozak (UFA): Please no.

Ryan O'Reilly (Trade): A lot of people here want him, but a $7.5 mil cap hit, signed through 5 more seasons, and we'd have to give up other assets for him? Seems like a lot for a career 60-ish point guy.

Robert Thomas (Rookie): I know a lot of people here want to throw rookies into the fire right off, but with his potential upside I'd rather see the Blues bring him along more deliberately. Hasn't played a single professional game yet.

Patrick Berglund/Alex Steen: I like these guys as veteran middle-6 wingers, but as a top-2 center, either would be WAY over-exposed in more than just spot duty.

Something I'm not thinking of?