Realistic Offseason

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Created by: BluesReport18

Team: 2024-25 St. Louis Blues

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 14, 2024

Published: Mar. 14, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

The Blues remain inconsistent and have taken down 2 very good teams in their past 2 games. The combination of Binner and Hofer is truly an elite goalie tandem at this point. They're single handily winning games for this team. While it's great to see wins, it is almost impossible to catch Nashville, Vegas, or LA for a playoff spot so the Blues are just hurting their draft stock. I see the Blues drafting in the 9 to 14 range. If they get near 9 I would love to see them get a top ranked dman like Buium, Dickinson, or Silayev. The odds of them falling to 9 are low but you never know.

Going into the offseason, the biggest debate will be what happens with Buch. I think at the minimum he will want an 8x8 deal, which he deserves. I simply wouldn't sign him for that. I think the max term I would feel comfortable giving him would be 5 or 6 years, and he won't be happy about that. I think a lot more teams will be interested in him in the offseason and I think one of those teams will be Buffalo. Buffalo is loaded with prospects and they really need to push for the playoffs next year. A true top line winger and solid veteran presence to help guide the younger players on their team would be massive.

I think the Blues attempt to trade one of Krug, Faulk, or Leddy in the offseason. Leddy likely is the easiest to move due to his small contract and him playing top line minutes all year.

Pretty much all UFAs will likely walk for nothing which is a bummer but I just don't think they're a part of the long term answer here.

Lastly, I think the team looks to move one of Hayes or Saad to open up a spot for a younger player. If the right move doesn't present itself though they don't have to be moved.

Also, if Hayes is traded I would bring in a temporary 2C until Dvorsky is ready. In this case that is Stephenson. In this scenario, Stephenson gets a deal similar to when Taylor Hall signed in Buffalo on a 1 year 8 million. It's an overpay for sure, but the goal is to boost Stephensons value after a rough year this season. The Blues could move Stephenson to a contender at the deadline to continue to boost their future assets.

I debated playing Dean but for his development I think it would be better if he got time as the 1C in the AHL as opposed to the 4C in the NHL. Also, it will be a make or break year for Alexandrov and it would be nice to see him in a full time role.

Free Agent Signings

RESERVE LIST		YEARS	CAP HIT
Snuggerud, Jimmy		2	$925,000

RFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Abramov, Mikhail	2	$800,000
Alexandrov, Nikita	2	$800,000
Ellis, Colten	2	$800,000
Bitten, Will	2	$800,000
McGing, Hugh	2	$800,000
Perunovich, Scott	2	$850,000
Skinner, Hunter	2	$800,000

UFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Gaudette, Adam	2	$800,000
Peca, Matthew	2	$800,000
Rosén, Calle	2	$800,000
Stephenson, Chandler	1	$7,000,000

Trades

STL

Johnson, Ryan
Östlund, Noah
2025 1st round pick (BUF)

Additional Details:

Buffalo has a TON of prospects to give. I'd be interested in pretty much all of them but Ostlund really stands out to me. He needs to be a top 9 center in the NHL but Buffalo just doesn't have the space for all of their prospects.
Other forward prospects I would consider for Buch include Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, and Wahlberg. More or less value would be added to the offer based on the prospect included. For the guys I listed I would put Ostlund behind Savoie and Kulich.

Ryan Johnson is a sneaky good player, similar to Walman in my eyes. He should be available though with Dahlin, Byram, Power, and Samuelsson ahead of him as LHD.

BUF

Buchnevich, Pavel

STL

2025 2nd round pick (MIN)

Additional Details:

Leddy, who is from Minnesota, would be a valuable add for the Wild. For a top 4 defender he is cheap and durable, unlike most of the current dmen on the Wild.

MIN

Leddy, Nick

STL

2025 2nd round pick (TBL)

Additional Details:

Hayes would be a nice fit and cheap fit for the veteran Tampa team. Slotting Hayes in as your 3C making under 2 million is pretty solid.

Again, Hayes doesn't have to be moved. If he stays as the 3C next year so be it.

TBL

Hayes, Kevin ($1,785,714 retained)

Retained Salary Transactions

Kevin Hayes: $1,785,714 (50%)

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2024
2025
2026

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
22	$87,500,000	$73,409,880	$0	$412,500	$14,090,120

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Neighbours, Jake $835,833$835,833 LW, RW RFA - 1	Thomas, Robert $8,125,000$8,125,000 C, RW UFA - 7	Snuggerud, Jimmy $925,000$925,000 RW, C RFA
Bolduc, Zachary $863,333$863,333 ($412,500$412K) LW RFA - 2	Stephenson, Chandler $7,000,000$7,000,000 C, LW UFA	Kyrou, Jordan $8,125,000$8,125,000 RW UFA - 7
Saad, Brandon $4,500,000$4,500,000 LW, RW NTC UFA - 2	Schenn, Brayden $6,500,000$6,500,000 C, LW NTC UFA - 4	Toropchenko, Alexey $1,250,000$1,250,000 LW, RW RFA - 1
Walker, Nathan $775,000$775,000 LW UFA - 2	Alexandrov, Nikita $800,000$800,000 C RFA	Sundqvist, Oskar $1,500,000$1,500,000 RW, C UFA - 2
MacEachern, Mackenzie $775,000$775,000 LW, RW UFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Johnson, Ryan $925,000$925,000 LD RFA - 1	Parayko, Colton $6,500,000$6,500,000 RD NTC UFA - 6	Binnington, Jordan $6,000,000$6,000,000 G M-NTC UFA - 3
Perunovich, Scott $850,000$850,000 LD RFA	Faulk, Justin $6,500,000$6,500,000 RD NTC UFA - 3	Hofer, Joel $775,000$775,000 G RFA - 1
Krug, Torey $6,500,000$6,500,000 LD NTC UFA - 3	Kessel, Matthew $800,000$800,000 RD RFA - 2
Tucker, Tyler $800,000$800,000 LD/RD RFA - 1

Mar. 14 at 1:50 p.m.

Dmaz026

Joined: Feb. 2021

Posts: 332

Likes: 93

I dont mind that deal at all for BUF.

Mar. 14 at 1:55 p.m.

littlejerryseinfeld

Joined: Nov. 2017

Posts: 27,806

Likes: 14,530

Would need an extension to consider, but I don't hate it. Might insist on Rosen instead of ostlund after trading mittelstadt

wojme liked this.

Mar. 14 at 2:02 p.m.

BDHockey

Joined: Nov. 2023

Posts: 984

Likes: 418

I don't mind the Buffalo/Buch deal either

noted liked this.

Mar. 14 at 2:10 p.m.

CantStopWontStop

Joined: Jan. 2023

Posts: 1,034

Likes: 474

I think it’s extremely likely that buffalo moves a lhd prospect having acquired Byram for a center.

RJ is the pick that buffalo got from the Orielly trade with stl.

Works for me.

noted liked this.

Mar. 14 at 2:31 p.m.

Tjm220

Sabres fan

Joined: Jul. 2020

Posts: 4,880

Likes: 3,042

I don’t love giving up Ryan Johnson, but Bryson has no trade value to me, and I don’t see them trading Samuelsson either. I wouldn’t give up Ostlund because he is a center prospect still, and Matt Savoie is beginning to look like a winger at the pro level. Rosen would be the player I would be prepared to part with, but only if Buchnevich already has a reasonable extension.

AntiAnalytics liked this.

Mar. 14 at 3:09 p.m.

AntiAnalytics

Joined: Jul. 2023

Posts: 5,614

Likes: 3,744

Quoting: BluesReport18

Ryan Johnson is a sneaky good player, similar to Walman in my eyes. He should be available though with Dahlin, Byram, Power, and Samuelsson ahead of him as LHD.

FIRST,
Sabres aren’t trading assets like this for a guy with just ONE year remaining- there would have to be an extension.
How much is he looking for?
I don’t think the Sabres are looking to add a huge contract
The reason we traded Mittelstadt was bc he wanted too much $$$

2- every LD you named for us also plays the right side, same with Ryan Johnson. So yes, we have 5 LD, but that doesn’t mean we are looking to move one of them necessarily
And if we are-IF- then it’s probably for a RD & not a forward

Mar. 14 at 4:17 p.m.

mokumboi

Joined: Apr. 2019

Posts: 29,290

Likes: 11,366

My main issue with the Buffalo trade is the deferred 1st. I'll assume it will have some protection, which means it probably slides to 26. I'd rather have their 24 2nd than a 26 1st because that helps us trade up this summer.

Johnson, Ostlund or Wahlberg and their 24 2nd would be worth considering for me.

Mar. 14 at 5:01 p.m.

sabres89

Joined: Feb. 2017

Posts: 8,256

Likes: 6,241

There would need to be an extension, but something along these lines would work for me. As far as the players- I would probably do ostlund here- I would think the Sabres would not do savoie, ostlund and kulich are probably equal value, and rosen is the player I'm most comfortable giving up (which means stl will want one of the others). Wahlberg is one of our bigger forward prospects, I've seen him projected as a power forward, which is probably an extreme reach, but I'd still rather see where it goes. Johnson and Samuelsson both have plusses and minuses. Ryan johnson is a great skating puck mover, he's earned more playing time than he gets, he doesn't put up any counting numbers really, and I still would rather a defensive, physical player, preferably two, on the back end. Samuelsson has already gotten paid, he's a big body, not particularly physical, more a player who uses his reach, and looks to pass on zone exits. Last year, Samuelsson checked the box for defensive d, but he's had a rough year, and frankly, he's not particularly physical, so I can see moving on from him too. There's nothing particularly wrong with either defensive player, I just very much would prefer to add some grit, and neither player would be somebody that couldn't be traded- for the right return.

BluesReport18 liked this.

Mar. 14 at 6:06 p.m.

Lactic_Flaccid

Joined: Aug. 2022

Posts: 164

Likes: 71

Ducks fan here, what would the cost be for Faulk? Someone else proposed Hayes and Faulk for the EDM 1st and two thirds. Does that get it done? I feel like Ducks need to add a bit, but curious what STL would be looking for in a return (Strome is available for cents on the dollar imo)

Mar. 14 at 6:16 p.m.

#10

BluesReport18

Thread Starter

Joined: Feb. 2023

Posts: 215

Likes: 38

Quoting: Lactic_Flaccid

I think they would love to get a first for Faulk at the end of the day. The Blues will likely look to move one of Faulk, Krug, or Leddy, not necessarily because they're bad players but because the Blues need to get younger and cheaper. The problem with all 3 though is they all have a full NTC meaning they would likely turn down a trade to Anaheim. If I was trading Faulk I'd be looking for a 2nd and B prospect while taking back some sort of salary to make the deal feasible.

Lactic_Flaccid liked this.

Mar. 14 at 6:26 p.m.

#11

Lactic_Flaccid

Joined: Aug. 2022

Posts: 164

Likes: 71

Quoting: BluesReport18

Cap space is not an issue in Anaheim for the next two years, but Strome would be the guy sent back in my opinion if we were to dump salary. I feel like he could assume Hayes role if the Blues were willing to take his contract. Jackson Lacombe could also be available at LHD if STL is looking for a young, NHL ready defenseman. Ducks are also not likely to sign a lot of their RFA forwards, so could add like a Jones or Lundestrom as a sweetener. I think Faulk would be a great mentor pairing with Mintyukov and his contract is pretty ideal for Anaheim too. I would assume Anaheim is on his no trade list, but with him on the roster I think they could compete for a playoff spot, so could maybe convince him to waive

BluesReport18 liked this.

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