hockey jedi wrote: ↑12 May 2025 14:35 pm
Army says he likes his top 4 defenseman for next year. I can't imagine the defense will be changing. I think the team will look pretty much the same as we finished this year.
Whether he says it or not, over on the right he has a 750 game defenseman, a 980 game defenseman with two years left who will look real ragged by the 1150 game mark and Tucker playing his offside and Kessel not seizing his opportunity. He also has an injury riddled prospect who needs a LOT of seasoning and is really inconsistent out there.
They don't NEED to do anything in the summer on RD, they could kind of muddle and patch it along. But him saying he likes his top 4 defensemen next year in a situation where if he says anything else he's publicly pointing at Justin Faulk is not to be taken at face value and used as real argument value IMO.
hockey jedi wrote: ↑12 May 2025 14:35 pm
Army says he likes his top 4 defenseman for next year. I can't imagine the defense will be changing. I think the team will look pretty much the same as we finished this year.
Whether he says it or not, over on the right he has a 750 game defenseman, a 980 game defenseman with two years left who will look real ragged by the 1150 game mark and Tucker playing his offside and Kessel not seizing his opportunity. He also has an injury riddled prospect who needs a LOT of seasoning and is really inconsistent out there.
They don't NEED to do anything in the summer on RD, they could kind of muddle and patch it along. But him saying he likes his top 4 defensemen next year in a situation where if he says anything else he's publicly pointing at Justin Faulk is not to be taken at face value and used as real argument value IMO.
Yup. There's a reason their contracts become partial NTCs in the last few years. I'd imagine he will be looking to get younger at RHD just like he did with Broberg last year. Doesn't mean it will happen, but it's clearly a need in the long term.
Keep in mind that to use all of Krug’s $6.5M cap hit in the LTIR pool, the Blues would need to create a roster the first day of the season that includes Krug and adds up to precisely $95.5M. Any dollar over is non-compliant and not allowed. Any dollar under is a dollar not able to be utilized via the LTIR pool.
solves both issues temp. Then maybe use some draft capitol to get young players
Wishful thinking, IMO. Army has said a 200 ft offensive player. That tells me he's maybe adding 1 UFA difference maker, the rest will be rearranging the deck chairs.
You're not adding to this D corps, and I doubt there are many takers for Faulk before UFA.
Duchene seems like a reasonable get. Bennett will get Schenn term and dollars, maybe more. Not sure he fits the Blues' salary structure.
Are we a Cap team next year? Has that been determined?
I think I read we have just under 6M in space, and that's not including Krug (who wasn't LTIR'ed this year?).
no the blues current cap is 87.2 the cap next year is 95.5 8+mil if we kept the exact team...but follow me here.
cap 87.2
---- 3.25 faksa
=== 83.955
---- .775
====83.185
so we are essentially looking at 12+ million not including 6.5 for torey Kruggg
So if army is serious we could move faulk get ekblad and go after duchene or bennet.
I think i would rather have 3 years of duchene and whatever of ekblad.
STL fan in MN wrote: ↑12 May 2025 14:53 pm
Keep in mind that to use all of Krug’s $6.5M cap hit in the LTIR pool, the Blues would need to create a roster the first day of the season that includes Krug and adds up to precisely $95.5M. Any dollar over is non-compliant and not allowed. Any dollar under is a dollar not able to be utilized via the LTIR pool.
It’s not just an automatic free $6.5M.
Definitely not. But given the very few roster holes that need filling, the Blues are not in any way in trouble cap-wise.
hockey jedi wrote: ↑12 May 2025 14:35 pm
Army says he likes his top 4 defenseman for next year. I can't imagine the defense will be changing. I think the team will look pretty much the same as we finished this year.
Whether he says it or not, over on the right he has a 750 game defenseman, a 980 game defenseman with two years left who will look real ragged by the 1150 game mark and Tucker playing his offside and Kessel not seizing his opportunity. He also has an injury riddled prospect who needs a LOT of seasoning and is really inconsistent out there.
They don't NEED to do anything in the summer on RD, they could kind of muddle and patch it along. But him saying he likes his top 4 defensemen next year in a situation where if he says anything else he's publicly pointing at Justin Faulk is not to be taken at face value and used as real argument value IMO.
I agree. I think DA has been looking to move Faulk for quite a while and will continue to look to move him. Besides 2C, RD is the area that he's gotta be very open to making a move if something presents itself.
Next season we're at 13F, 8D, and 1G with 5.9M in space before any LTIR usage.
Once you put Krug to LTIR, you have 12.4M in space with 13F, 7D, and 1G. If Hofer takes 3M you've still got 9M left to replace or re-sign Faksa and Suter. The Blues are fine.
and that's if they keep everyone. Leddy is very much a candidate to basically be given away in a trade which would free up 4 million.
I assume one of Texier and Joseph is likely given away as well so that would potentially free up about a 1.5 million or so as you would have to replace them.
Next season we're at 13F, 8D, and 1G with 5.9M in space before any LTIR usage.
Once you put Krug to LTIR, you have 12.4M in space with 13F, 7D, and 1G. If Hofer takes 3M you've still got 9M left to replace or re-sign Faksa and Suter. The Blues are fine.
and that's if they keep everyone. Leddy is very much a candidate to basically be given away in a trade which would free up 4 million.
I assume one of Texier and Joseph is likely given away as well so that would potentially free up about a 1.5 million or so as you would have to replace them.
Yeah we don't need Leddy when we have Broberg, Fowler, and Tucker. Certainly not if they bring back Suter for another season. Not to say they have to move him, but he only has a partial NTC and his cap hit isn't prohibitive anymore for most teams.
solves both issues temp. Then maybe use some draft capitol to get young players
Wishful thinking, IMO. Army has said a 200 ft offensive player. That tells me he's maybe adding 1 UFA difference maker, the rest will be rearranging the deck chairs.
You're not adding to this D corps, and I doubt there are many takers for Faulk before UFA.
Duchene seems like a reasonable get. Bennett will get Schenn term and dollars, maybe more. Not sure he fits the Blues' salary structure.
Are we a Cap team next year? Has that been determined?
I think I read we have just under 6M in space, and that's not including Krug (who wasn't LTIR'ed this year?).
One key is the extra guys, if we add to the roster there won't really be spots for Texier and Joseph(really isn't anyway) and the is 5 million dollars.
According to Spotrac, its 7.7 million BEFORE Krug LTIR.
solves both issues temp. Then maybe use some draft capitol to get young players
Wishful thinking, IMO. Army has said a 200 ft offensive player. That tells me he's maybe adding 1 UFA difference maker, the rest will be rearranging the deck chairs.
You're not adding to this D corps, and I doubt there are many takers for Faulk before UFA.
Duchene seems like a reasonable get. Bennett will get Schenn term and dollars, maybe more. Not sure he fits the Blues' salary structure.
Are we a Cap team next year? Has that been determined?
I think I read we have just under 6M in space, and that's not including Krug (who wasn't LTIR'ed this year?).
One key is the extra guys, if we add to the roster there won't really be spots for Texier and Joseph(really isn't anyway) and the is 5 million dollars.
According to Spotrac, its 7.7 million BEFORE Krug LTIR.
And that only includes 20 players, one of them being Schueneman. Make any sort or reasonable 23-man roster and the cap space shrinks real quick.
That said, the Blues do have some cap space to play with. But not a ton.
I for one do not expect them to go after the biggest fish like Bennett and Ekblad.
I’m sure Dallas would want to keep Duchene but if he makes it to UFA he’d be one to kick the tires on for sure.
Tavares seems unlikely to come here or be affordable but it’s worth a phone call to check.
Maybe Brock Nelson or Yanni Gourde?
The sneaky get at RD to me is Dante Fabbro. All depends on how much term and AAV it would take to get him though.
Other pending UFA RDs would be Jokiharju, Hamonic, Ceci and Perbix.
Brock Nelson intrigues me, always liked his game but not sure how much he has left in the tank.
Regarding RD, both Jokiharju and Perbix are solid on my list. In that they're "gettable" and bring a solid 3rd pairing game to the table.
I like Nelson too…but it’d suspect he’s going to command more term and dollars than I’d be comfortable committing to a guy that’s going to then 34 right as the season starts.
Agree either of those 2 RDs should be getting, not break the bank and would be better than our current 3RD options.
The thing people are forgetting is that the Blues aren't the only team whose cap is going up. All teams have more to spend. That causes inflation. You might be surprised how much someone like Ekblad gets.
On another note, if they were looking at a splash, and Krug knows he is done, maybe he would approve a trade to someone that has the cap space so the Blues would have it all to play with in the off season. That has happened in the past.
Duchene signed cheap deals with Dallas due to still being paid by Nashville. Is he really going to forego another extension to sign for super cheap after putting up a ppg season? I doubt it. Dallas really can't afford even what they paid him this year unless they unload a big contract.
