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The best case scenario is an in-season trade of Barbashev Sanford or Blais

Created by: TheEarthmaster
Team: 2020-21 St. Louis Blues
Initial Creation Date: Jan. 11, 2021
Published: Jan. 11, 2021
Salary Cap Mode: Basic
Description
With a fully healthy roster, the Blues are going to be over the cap (just barely) when Tarasenko gets back. Because they'll be using LTIR throughout the season, they will not be accumulating any cap space to help with this overage.

It's not a big overage, and thus may be a non-issue. After all Kyrou is still waiver exempt, and Tarasenko will probably need his spot in the lineup anyway, so problem solved right? Sure, but that would also mean that Kyrou has not impressed enough to stay at the NHL level. Considering we are almost certainly using a protection spot on him, the best case scenario would be him making enough of an NHL impact so that they won't want to send him down. We'd also be without a full 23 man roster in that scenario.

It's also possible (maybe even probable!) that Gunnarsson is injured at some point in the season. He's missed time in every season he's been with the Blues, and if he's on LTIR at some point during the season then his cap hit - Mikkola/Walman/Perunovich's hit would get us under the cap as well. But I'd rather not have to bank on anyone being injured, even if it's likely. Best-case scenario is that everyone is healthy. Perhaps we could trade Gunnarsson, but with his M-NTC and injury history, finding a buyer might be tough.

So...the best case scenario for when Tarasenko is back? Trading a forward. And there are three prime candidates. Barbashev, Sanford, and Blais.

They are prime candidates because they all are making low enough money to be palatable to another team in the flat cap era. They are all decently productive, and are all RFA expiry.

They are also players we don't have room to protect from Seattle next year. I've put our projected protections in the PP/PK sections.

So...who goes?
DraftRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7
2021
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2022
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2023
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ROSTER SIZESALARY CAPCAP HITOVERAGES TooltipBONUSESCAP SPACE
23$81,500,000$72,583,848$306,349$425,000$8,916,152

Roster

Left WingCentreRight Wing
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$6,500,000$6,500,000
C, LW
NTC
UFA - 8
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$1,875,000$1,875,000
C
UFA - 3
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$4,000,000$4,000,000
RW, LW
M-NTC
UFA - 2
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$5,350,000$5,350,000
LW
M-NTC
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$894,166$894,166 (Performance Bonus$425,000$425K)
C, RW
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$4,000,000$4,000,000
LW
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$1,500,000$1,500,000
LW, RW
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$5,000,000$5,000,000
C, RW
M-NTC
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$758,333$758,333
RW
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$1,000,000$1,000,000
LW
UFA - 2
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$1,475,000$1,475,000
LW, RW
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$2,750,000$2,750,000
RW, C
UFA - 3
Left DefenseRight DefenseGoaltender
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$6,500,000$6,500,000
LD
NTC
UFA - 7
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$5,500,000$5,500,000
RD
UFA - 2
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$4,400,000$4,400,000
G
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$1,875,000$1,875,000
LD/RD
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$6,500,000$6,500,000
RD
NTC
UFA - 7
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$750,000$750,000
G
UFA - 2
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$3,275,000$3,275,000
LD
M-NTC
UFA - 4
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$1,750,000$1,750,000
LD
M-NTC
UFA - 1
ScratchesInjured Reserve (IR)Long Term IR (LTIR)
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$1,375,000$1,375,000
RD
UFA - 2
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$5,750,000$5,750,000
LW, RW, C
NTC
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$1,500,000$1,500,000
LW, RW
UFA - 2
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$3,750,000$3,750,000
RW
NTC
UFA - 3
Taxi Squad
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$900,000$900,000 ($0$0$0$0)
LW, RW
UFA - 2
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$700,000$700,000 ($0$0$0$0)
C, LW
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$700,000$700,000 ($0$0$0$0)
RW
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$700,000$700,000 ($0$0$0$0)
LW
UFA - 1
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$787,500$787,500 ($0$0$0$0)
LD
UFA - 2
Logo of the St. Louis Blues
$725,000$725,000 ($0$0$0$0)
LD
UFA - 2

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Jan. 11, 2021 at 8:03 p.m.
#1
Good Opinion Haver
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Joined: Jun. 2018
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Likes: 927
Arguments for each:

Barbashev: Full disclosure- I love Ivan Barbashev. His advanced stats are abysmal, and I'm a big computer boy. In this case, I don't care. If he's cheap enough, I want him on this team. The problem is that on his next deal he'll likely be looking for roughly Sundqvist money, which in a flat cap world is not cheap for a fourth liner, especially when we're already paying Sundqvist money to *checks notes* Oscar Sundqvist. With guys like Clifford and (hopefully) MacEachern and Kostin on the roster in the future, his "intagibles" are mostly replaceable for less. He scores enough that we can get something for him too.

Sanford: I've been in favor of trading Sanford for awhile. He had a really good year last year so his value is as high as its ever been. I also think his production last year was unsustainable and significantly overhyped considering 1/3 of his goals came in one game. But even if I'm wrong about that, every aging curve would suggest that Sanford is hitting his peak right now at 26. And while some players occasionally defy that- Perron, you might say- if this or even a little more than this is Sanford's peak, he's not going to be outplaying Schwartz or Schenn for a top-six LW spot anytime soon. He's also going to command a decent amount on his next deal, with arb rights- probably about Hintz money- and that money is better spent elsewhere. He's also Seattle's clear best pick and if we want them to take someone like Scandella, Perron or Faulk (wishful thinking), we need to remove their better options. Long story short- he's not good enough to be in our top six, he'll be too expensive to play in our bottom six, and we've got a cap issue to solve, so we might as well.

Blais: I love Sammy Blais as much as I love Barabshev. He's got lots of upside BUT he's not much younger than Sanford at 24 so his time to show that he's something more than a bottom-six guy is now. That's gonna be tough considering he's not projected to make the opening night roster. He's had some injury trouble in the past that's held him back and he doesn't score much so that hurts his trade value. In reality, his upside is probably not much more than 20-25 points, but there's still time to surprise in a Sanford-esque way. The good news? He's cost controlled for the next two years instead of just this season. He's probably never going to perform well enough to be in the top six, but that also means he'll probably never cost as much either. At the same time, the window is now and he doesn't have a spot in the lineup. There's cheaper guys to scratch. If you want to trade a guy with as little disruption to the talent of our regular lineup as possible, he's probably it.
 
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