Priority #1 - Resign Husso and Perron: Husso looks to be getting a 2-3 year deal, small sample size helps the Blues here, I think $2.75-3M AAV makes sense. Perron will get a 1 year deal and a team friendly contract, a $2M AAV deal makes sense, Blues always can bring Perron back on a 35+ contract if they want to go that route.
Priority #2 - Round Out the Squad with RFAs: Perunovich, Kostin, MacMac, and Dak all need contracts. Sign them for cheap for 1-2 years.
Priority #3 - Fill the gaps: I want to see STL SIGN, NOT TRADE FOR, a stop-gap 2 LD until Scandella comes off the books. No one wants Scandella, don't buy him out, just scratch him until he asks for a trade. Not a lot of cap to work with to sign someone legit right now, so I think Blues need to settle for a guy they can pay around $2.5M AAV for 2 years. Options include Zadorov, De Haan, Goligoski, Cole, Giordano, or Leddy (if it works out). PSA: this scenario just signs Zadorov, okay, so don't kill me for that signing, it's just a placeholder.
Secondly, I might be in the minority, BUT Mikkola could be a nice trade chip in the offseason. #1 - Scotty P NEEDS playing time to develop. #2 - Mikkola would most likely take Scotty P's spot. #3 - some teams could use a guy like Mikkola. Mikkola's RFA rights make him more appealing for certain suitors. I went the route of acquiring a big body 4th liner which we lost in Sunny (thanks Army :)) Bastian could be a solid pick-up for STL that rounds out the bottom of the line-up, we have even seen him score some goals too this year for NJD, so that's an interesting idea. Not sure what it'll take to balance the deal.
All of this fits perfectly in a flat cap offseason, if Salary Cap increases... sweet, more money to spend on a 2 LD.
Priority #4 - Lock-Up the Future: Extensions for Thomas, Kyrou, and O'Reilly flow in first. I think O'Reilly gets like a 3 year $6M AAV deal from St. Louis, he is a great captain and leader. Thomas and Kyrou are tricky. I don't know the rules for RFA status and what not, however, I think signing both guys to a 1 year deal (if that keeps their RFA status) is a solid move. Something as simple as $5-5.5M AAV for a season, then sign them again long-term after that is a really smart move for STL. Then, sign Barbashev to a Saad-style contract of $4.5M AAV for 5 years. After spending that $21.5M, Blues have $5.675M in cap space (if $81.5M is still Salary Cap). Since that's an ugly number, give Bastian (1 year, $1.125M) and Brown (3 year, $1.05M AAV) to make it an even $3.5M in cap space. Gaps include Top 9 F LW, Top 6 F RW, and Bottom 6 F. Neighbours surely steps into that LW role and the bottom 6 forward is filled internally. At most, that's $835,833 (Neighbours) and $863,333 (Bolduc), leaving $1,800,834+ for a Top 6 RW. That doesn't sound promising, but cap should move up to at least $83.5M. Line-up looks something like this maybe?
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