Team: 2022-23 St. Louis Blues

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 14, 2022

Published: Jul. 14, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Negative Nancy alert - Blues bringing the same team back without Husso and Perron could be a bad idea considering the number of guys that had career highs offensively last season (and the amount of defensive deficiencies that were bailed out by Husso).

On the positive side, I could see big things from Perunovich if he can finally get a healthy season. At that point, maybe Krug gets shipped next offseason and they can be players for some big UFAs (or Tkachuk) while Neighbours and Bolduc and eventually Snuggerud join the party on ELCs.

I don't think there were many moves available that would've put the Blues in a more competitive spot, so I wonder if a quick retool would've been a smarter play - i.e. if they could've gotten a few assets for Tarasenko and Barbashev, weaponized the cap space on 1 yr deals, and made another push next season. Could've taken advantage of this promising draft and upcoming FA class.

Overall, I'll give the offseason a C-.
- Would've liked to see Perron extended over Leddy, especially after the contracts have been revealed.
- Also would've liked to see Lindgren over Greiss. Chucky was a folk hero that deserved a chance to be the backup.
- Too much to ask for a Scandella buyout from the guy who prides himself on no dead money.
- The Thomas extension is great but I don't see why they couldn't have waited til next season if that's the number. Not sure what kind of production he'd have to have this season to warrant more than he got.
- I liked the draft - got some guys with good feet in Kaskimaki and Buchinger. Snuggerud gonna be a good NHLer fairly soon.