Blues 2023-24 fix the defense and retool or I die

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Created by: salami_investor

Team: 2023-24 St. Louis Blues

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 22, 2023

Published: Mar. 22, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

1ST SCENARIO:

Kind of an ideal situation for the blues here based off of being trapped by 5 defensemen with nmc’s.

Perunovich needs play time, Tucker needs play time.

One of Krug, Leddy or Parayko need to go before the season starts. Plus they should either rid of Scandella at the beginning of the season or wait for a better draft pick at the deadline.

Ideally the blues find a team for Krug. I listed LA on here. Obviously I feel this will only work if the kings:
1 get Vilardi + important rfas resigned
2 Pay a goaltender (maybe Copley performs in the playoffs and they only need to sign a 1b goalie backup?)
3 Do not choose to sign/miss out on signing any D-man (there are a lot lmao)

1st round pick makes sense if its later in free agency and kings have the space. Andersson in there for change of scenery but my guess is he is released by kings anyways.

This is Ideal for blues side. But as a blues fan, Id be happy with a 2025 3rd and one of Kupari or JAD, or a 2nd and Grundstrom. Or literally anything at all tbh, feeling claustrophobic looking at all those contracts.

Due to all the nmc’s, Blues cannot just dump a defensemen wherever unfortunately, and I am sure any player would waive their clauses to play in LA.

Blues sign tatar for a year (if they can trade a defenseman).

Sunny is back (hell yeah)

Blues resign all their rfa’s.

2nd SCENARIO:

If blues cannot rid of a D contract:
- I die

Free Agent Signings

RESERVE LIST		YEARS	CAP HIT
Robertsson, Simon		3	$950,000

RFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Lyle, Brady	1	$850,000
McGing, Hugh	1	$850,000
Samorukov, Dmitri	1	$850,000
Toropchenko, Alexey	2	$950,000
Tucker, Tyler	1	$950,000
Perunovich, Scott	1	$950,000
Laferrière, Mathias	2	$850,000
Gaudette, Adam	1	$800,000
Brown, Logan	1	$850,000
Andersson, Lias	1	$850,000

UFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Tatar, Tomas		1	$4,500,000
Sundqvist, Oskar		2	$2,500,000

Trades

STL

Andersson, Lias [RFA Rights]
2024 1st round pick (LAK)

LAK

Krug, Torey

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2023
2024
2025

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
24	$82,500,000	$80,968,333	$20,000	$0	$1,531,667

Roster

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Vrána, Jakub $2,625,000$2,625,000 LW UFA - 1	Buchnevich, Pavel $5,800,000$5,800,000 LW, RW, C M-NTC UFA - 2	Tatar, Tomas $4,500,000$4,500,000 LW, RW UFA - 1
Neighbours, Jake $835,833$835,833 LW, RW RFA - 2	Thomas, Robert $8,125,000$8,125,000 C, RW UFA - 8	Kyrou, Jordan $8,125,000$8,125,000 RW UFA - 8
Saad, Brandon $4,500,000$4,500,000 LW, RW NTC UFA - 3	Schenn, Brayden $6,500,000$6,500,000 C, LW NTC UFA - 5	Kapanen, Kasperi $3,200,000$3,200,000 RW UFA - 1
Toropchenko, Alexey $950,000$950,000 LW, RW RFA - 2	Sundqvist, Oskar $2,500,000$2,500,000 RW, C UFA - 1	Blais, Samuel $1,000,000$1,000,000 LW, RW UFA - 1
Walker, Nathan $775,000$775,000 LW UFA - 1	Brown, Logan $850,000$850,000 C, LW RFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Perunovich, Scott $950,000$950,000 LD RFA - 1	Faulk, Justin $6,500,000$6,500,000 RD NTC UFA - 4	Binnington, Jordan $6,000,000$6,000,000 G NTC UFA - 4
Leddy, Nick $4,000,000$4,000,000 LD NTC UFA - 3	Parayko, Colton $6,500,000$6,500,000 RD NTC UFA - 7	Hofer, Joel $775,000$775,000 G RFA - 2
Tucker, Tyler $950,000$950,000 LD/RD RFA - 2	Bortuzzo, Robert $950,000$950,000 RD UFA - 1
Scandella, Marco $3,275,000$3,275,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 1
Rosén, Calle $762,500$762,500 LD UFA - 1

Special Teams

Power Play 1
Kyrou, J.		Thomas, R.		Tatar, T.
	Faulk, J.		Vrána, J.

Power Play 2
Kapanen, K.		Schenn, B.		Saad, B.
	Buchnevich, P.		Perunovich, S.

Penalty Kill 1
	Schenn, B.	Toropchenko, A.
	Leddy, N.	Bortuzzo, R.

Penalty Kill 2
	Buchnevich, P.	Saad, B.
	Tucker, T.	Faulk, J.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 8:29 p.m.

tkecanuck341

Joined: May 2016

Posts: 14,616

Likes: 6,169

Krug isn't worth a 1st round pick with his full cap hit. If St. Louis retains like $1.25M then maybe they'd do it.

I'd bet that LA is going to look at a LHD with size though. The last thing they need is another undersized defenseman.

salami_investor liked this.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 8:38 p.m.

Lancebmx

Joined: Oct. 2020

Posts: 10,667

Likes: 8,265

I think the Blues are stuck with that defence. I don't know if there will be much interest let alone the players approve a move to that team.

salami_investor and OldNYIfan liked this.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 8:40 p.m.

salami_investor

Thread Starter

Joined: Jul. 2022

Posts: 19

Likes: 6

Haven’t been mad at doug armstrong for anything besides these damn nmcs

OldNYIfan liked this.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 8:43 p.m.

salami_investor

Thread Starter

Joined: Jul. 2022

Posts: 19

Likes: 6

Quoting: tkecanuck341

I agree, and ryan graves will be a free agent. And he fits LA’s needs better

OldNYIfan liked this.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 8:45 p.m.

salami_investor

Thread Starter

Joined: Jul. 2022

Posts: 19

Likes: 6

Quoting: Lancebmx

I think the Blues are stuck with that defence. I don't know if there will be much interest let alone the players approve a move to that team.

Maybe wherever bedard goes will open some of their opinions

Mar. 22, 2023 at 8:48 p.m.

Lancebmx

Joined: Oct. 2020

Posts: 10,667

Likes: 8,265

Quoting: salami_investor

Maybe wherever bedard goes will open some of their opinions

I don't disagree, never know what they want to do. There is also the process of moving the contracts. Krug's, Leddy's and Faulk's would be extremely difficult to move. Parayko probably easier.

salami_investor and OldNYIfan liked this.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 8:50 p.m.

mokumboi

Joined: Apr. 2019

Posts: 29,503

Likes: 11,417

Bro, if they can move Krug, they will spend that cap on a new top 4 LD, which is convenient because there will be loads available this summer. They will not go spend it one year of a meh winger.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 8:59 p.m.

salami_investor

Thread Starter

Joined: Jul. 2022

Posts: 19

Likes: 6

Quoting: mokumboi

Bro, if they can move Krug, they will spend that cap on a new top 4 LD, which is convenient because there will be loads available this summer. They will not go spend it one year of a meh winger.

Doug Armstrong said he is not buying in free agency. The last thing he wants is to get a defensemen. Again, we want to give tucker and perunovich an opportunity. He said during a press conference that the goal for 2023/24 is to find a top 9 winger, and that is it. I chose tatar due to being a cheaper fit, and if the blues are fringe again, we can trade his contract for picks

Mar. 22, 2023 at 9:20 p.m.

mokumboi

Joined: Apr. 2019

Posts: 29,503

Likes: 11,417

Quoting: salami_investor

Doug Armstrong said he is not buying in free agency.

The last thing he wants is to get a defensemen.

Again, we want to give tucker and perunovich an opportunity.

He said during a press conference that the goal for 2023/24 is to find a top 9 winger, and that is it.

I chose tatar due to being a cheaper fit, and if the blues are fringe again, we can trade his contract for picks

1 - Heh. Do you really think Army is going to lay out his strategy in interviews? He likes to work in shadows. If he tells what he's gonna do (beyond the glaringly obvious), he's probably not necessarily gonna do that thing. Besides, it's hardly a good negotiating ploy to announce you are shopping for such and such.

2 - No clue how you got that idea. He has been trying to move a D-man so he can get a more suitable D-man.

3 - Neither of those players is capable of playing top pairing minutes (in quality AND volume) next to Parayko, which is what the team needs desperately more than anything. Actually, more than everything else combined. And Scotty hasn't even played NHL hockey in nearly a year, so I would not expect so much from him just yet.

4 - Huh? When was that? Last time I heard, he said this...

“I think we’re going to be looking ideally at a centerman, but if we have to get creative, we can,” Armstrong said.

Because, ya know, they just traded their 2nd and 3rd and 4th line centers. The Blues have wingers falling out of their ears. Why do you think Chief is testing out Buch at center?

5 - If we waste that cap space on Tatar instead of a D-man, then we will definitely be fringe and selling off again at the TDL. I'm gonna pass on that one, thanks.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 9:38 p.m.

#10

AC14

Joined: Dec. 2022

Posts: 2,830

Likes: 1,441

Quoting: mokumboi

Don’t love the Tatar signing. Don’t hate it with it only being one year.

I don’t see why there is such a strong push to get Perunovich playing time, pretty sure he has another season where he is free of waivers. If Krug were moved though, I would love to see him on the 3rd pair running the PP because I don’t think any of our other defensemen are capable of doing so.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 9:43 p.m.

#11

mokumboi

Joined: Apr. 2019

Posts: 29,503

Likes: 11,417

Quoting: AC14

Faulk and Parayko both can run a PP just fine.

OldNYIfan and salami_investor liked this.

Mar. 22, 2023 at 10:01 p.m.

#12

AC14

Joined: Dec. 2022

Posts: 2,830

Likes: 1,441

Quoting: mokumboi

Faulk and Parayko both can run a PP just fine.

Both are mainly shooters not QBs. Parayko on the PP doesn't really work we've seen

Mar. 23, 2023 at 1:17 a.m.

#13

mokumboi

Joined: Apr. 2019

Posts: 29,503

Likes: 11,417

Quoting: AC14

Both are mainly shooters not QBs. Parayko on the PP doesn't really work we've seen

Actually, that's not the case. Parayko’s on-ice PP goals for rate is right in line with both Petro and Krug, and better than Dunn's. Faulk's rate is solid even though its about 40% lower than that top trio because he's also the one who has spent nearly all his PP time with the second unit. The others have all had majority top unit time out of their minutes, with Petro and Krug almost exclusively PP1. In Faulk's rare PP1 time, his rate is near Dunn's.

Mar. 23, 2023 at 1:01 p.m.

#14

salami_investor

Thread Starter

Joined: Jul. 2022

Posts: 19

Likes: 6

Quoting: mokumboi

I understand some of your comments here, especially the last one, but as the title of this armchair gm suggests, I am looking at a retool. If the blues wanted a playoff push, yes I agree, a center would make the most sense, but the blues cannot afford to lock up another older player long term right now.

The way we are stuck with 4 defensemen for at least 3 more years with nmcs, with all of them being in their mid/late thirties when contracts expire, I can see too many issues arrising.

I want the blues to win as much as the next fan, but I just feel if some changes aren’t made, fringe then bottom of the league will come before fringe then playoff bound. But who knows.

And after the deadline was over, during that interview, army said he doesn't plan on spending in free agency this offseason, and he is looking for someone in the top 9 next season.

It seems he wants it to come from someone internally, like blais/torpo/prospects, but, again, I chose tatar so that if blues are worse than I thought, tatar becomes a trade asset. There may be better options earlier in free agency, but that choice was made due to the idea that the krug trade happens late free agency.

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