Thornton probably takes a smaller salary, Tavares will definitely get more though. It could still work for them, but I dont know why Tavares would choose SJ

Tavares could get more if he went to a crap bag team or stayed in Long Island, but to come to a potential contender, 10-10.5M is exactly what I'd expect. If they didn't land Tavares, I would be shocked if Thornton signed for that little amount of money (or at least a contract that wasn't heavily laden with incentives for a 35+ contract).

He's not going to sign with a 'crap bag' team. He'll still get 11- 11.5M. Eichel just got 10, McDavid got 12.5 he'll fit in the middle, especially with teams bidding on him. If he's taking a discount for a potential competitor, it wont be for an aging one

How is SJ an aging competitor, especially if they are about to sign Kane? Eichel is 21, not 28 like JT. McDavid is almost the best player in the league. All the respect in the world to Tavares, but he isn't even in the top 10 best players in the league. Most "competitive" teams bidding on him won't be able afford more than 10.5M. If he wants a max contract, he will indeed need to go to a CRAP bag team - like Montreal.

Oilers would love boedker but wouldn't love his cap If we can get a trade like what happened with pens having Vegas take up some of brassard csp let's say coyotes do it then I'm all for it but rather give 2019 second

SJ average age is 28. the average age of their star players is 34, including Thornton Kane and Tavares. A lot of teams on the cusp, who could easily afford 11.5 would be competitive after signing Tavares. Even Vegas can afford him at 11.5

Lol nice cherry picking there. At 33 and 31, I'm not worried about Burns and Vlasic especially considering they are defensemen. The truth is that yes, with Kane, SJ is still a young/competitive/contending team, whatever you want to call it. Couture is only 29. The emergence of Meir and Hertl who are in their early 20s, along with a potential Tavares, and a good goalie who is cost-effective and only 28...I'd take SJ's situation over a lot of other teams in this league.

The Blues will be a serious cup contender with JT, could afford to give him 12m per, and have a much younger core than SJS. Just saying, San Jose is a decent place for him to go, but there are plenty of contenders out there that can and probably will give him more than 11m per.

Wheres the cherry picking? I told you the average age of the team combined. The average age of theirs stars without Thornton and Tavares is 30, 31 by the time the next season starts (around the time most players start dropping off) which is fairly old. 29 is not that young anymore. Most of those guys have expiring contracts to, so theyll all want a raise. Why would Tavares want to join a team of over paid vets that will need young kids to carry the of which they have 2 (Hertl and Meier). Also their good goalie is one of the highest paid goalies in the league. So if he's "cost controlled" so are 90% of the goalies in the league.

They have a plethora of RFAs to re-sign along with Hutton, and assuming the cap limit rises to 80M, they'll have about 18M to do all that plus sign Tavares to an 11-12M/year deal?? If that's the way you see things shaking out, then hats off to you. I personally don't see St. Louis being able to afford that type of contract.

All of those RFAs except Edmundson will come cheap, Hutton likely won’t resign here unless we trade away Allen, which would free up 4+mil. Plus it’s very likely one of Berglund or Sobotka will be gone freeing up another 3+ mil. So yes, that’s the way I see things shaking out.

The cherry picking was in saying their "star players" average age. And as I said, when you include their two best defensemen, who aren't old for that position, and Thornton who is at the end of his career and doesn't occupy "star status" on their team, that makes them seem older than they are.

Yes SJ's average age is 28. So is Vegas, Pittsburgh, and Washington. Vegas and Washington are about to play for the Cup, and Pittsburgh is a perennial contender. And right behind them at 27 is Tampa and Boston, another two teams who are expected to be contenders for the next couple of years. And Boston has one of the biggest age gaps between rising stars who are <23 (Carlo, McAvoy, Pastrnak, Donato, Heinen, DeBrusk) and an aging core >30 (Chara, Bergeron, Marchand, Krejci, Backes). So what does that make Boston? An old team or a young team?

Idk what you have against SJ as a destination, but I'm not inventing this potential link between Tavares and SJ. Media speculation about landing spots for Tavares consistently seem to have SJ on the list. There are certainly teams I would put ahead of SJ, but not many.

P.S. Jones has the 12th highest cap hit for goalies in the league going into next season. I'm sure he'll drop on that list based on offseason signings (i.e. Hellebuyck). I don't think it's fair to equate his contract with being one of the "highest paid" when it's barely in the top half of the league.

Likely 3M/year for Edmundson, and another 3M spread between the rest (Fabbri, Jaskin etc). And if Hutton doesn't re-sign, you'll need another backup so add another 1M to that.

So that leaves St Louis with roughly 11M in cap space...are they going to commit every last cent to a contract for Tavares and go into the season with $0 cap space?

And how exactly are either Sobotka or Berglund leaving, unless they are bought out (which would be foolish of STL to do) or traded (which no one would want those players anyways)?

Yes and when SJ averaged 27 y/o they were in the finals too, now theyre older and are out. Vegas will probably dump some of their older players and will still be a good team, while being much younger. I have nothing against SJ . They are a great market, they are definitely an option, i just think their are better options available. Jones is tied for 11 which puts him well into the top half of goalies in the league (min. 62)

Lol you're comparing backup goaltender contracts to starters? Really? Have a good one!

Youre the one that set the standard when you said "goalies in the league". If you meant starters in the league you should have said starters.

So that leaves St Louis with roughly 11M in cap space...are they going to commit every last cent to a contract for Tavares and go into the season with $0 cap space?

And how exactly are either Sobotka or Berglund leaving, unless they are bought out (which would be foolish of STL to do) or traded (which no one would want those players anyways)?[/quote]

So you think there is not a single team that would want a third line center that scores ~20 goals (Berglund)? There is plenty of value to be had for both of them, just not on the Blues because we have a plethora of third liners.