Team: 2020-21 St. Louis Blues

Initial Creation Date: Aug. 18, 2020

Published: Aug. 19, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

This is my personal best case scenario next season.

First, Petro signs $68m/8. We have the advantage of being able to offer him 8 years and another team would have to offer 9.7AAV for 7 to match. I think he’ll age well because he doesn’t rely primarily on skating or physicality. Plain and simple, he’s one of the best defenders in the game and makes everyone on the team better.

Second, Dunn signs a bridge. He would do this to stay on a competitive team and because he knows the cap will take a year or two to increase and he’ll make more money in the long run by waiting and increasing his value.

Trades:
WSH: Allen raises his value by his play this playoffs and goes to WSH to be a mentor/1B for Samsonov like he did for Binnington. Binnington raved about how good of a teammate Allen was during his ascent last year.

Tor: I’m sure the Toronto fans will come out of the woodwork demanding Parayko for Kapanen but this would be a good deal because they’re getting a player who could play 3RW/C for nearly 2mil less than Kapanen/Kerfoot if they decide to move them. This would allow them to sign someone like Vatanen or DeMelo perhaps. I think Barbashev has much more offensive ability than his role allows him to use. I remember him centering Tarasenko in the playoffs a couple years ago and not looking bad.

NYR: I like this deal for both sides. NYR has had an incredible rebuild. They have firepower and tremendous young D depth but what they could use are reliable vets. I think they trade Strome because they have plenty of guys who can score and he’s redundant. Bozak, while expensive makes sense as a 3C because he can take a large portion of Dzone draws and allow Chytil and Mika to stay fresh to feed the offensive weapons they have. Gunny has played well with Petro and can do the same for any of NYR RHD, all of whom are offensive minded. Blues get a replacement for Barbashev and a lottery ticket in Andersson. Stick Andersson and Kostin on a line and play them 21min a night in the AHL.

I left enough money for a Steen buyout but maybe we can put him on LTIR and use him as a coach. There’s also the slimmest chance he retires.

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