RFA Centers: Voronkov (CBJ) & McTavish (ANA)

[UseLogic]

Dmitri Voronkov - looks like he played more wing than center this season.

Mason McTavish - north of 50% FO pct this year.

both rfa centers... anyone have an opinion?

[TheJackBurton]

Anaheim will absolutely be extending McTavish he was great for them this year.
On top of that they have a ton of salary cap room so there is no issue whatsoever to extend him.

Voronkov I don't anything about because other than the 2 games they played against us I don't think I watched a single Blue Jackets game.

[callitwhatyouwant]

You have to assume McTavish is part of Anaheims future. He has been one of their consistent young guys and last year was a really good 2 way season for him. 50 points and a 0 on 80 point team. The Ducks were flirting there for a bit with competence and he was one of the main reasons why. They have some good pieces with Carlsson Gautthier McTavish Zegras and Dostal. But that team isn't a "young" team. They will still be searching for a year or 2 on what to do.

[netboy65]

Cap going up, Blues pulled that off last year. I really don’t see much movement RFA-wise this year

[bluetunehead]

Anaheim would be foolish to let McTavish go. It's not like cap space will be a concern for them.

[STL fan in MN]

McTavish would be perfect. That said, there’s about a 0.01% chance Anaheim won’t be extending him or wouldn’t match any offer sheet. He’s a future star.

Voronkov played some C his rookie season but primarily LW this season. Good young player with massive size but I see no reason CBJ would let him go.

[kimzey59]

Anaheim is not letting MacTavish go.
That said, I would be curious on the availability of Ryan Strome. One would think he might shake loose with Carlson and MacTavish taking the top spots and Tim Washe coming out of college.

[UseLogic]

Anaheim is not letting MacTavish go.
That said, I would be curious on the availability of Ryan Strome. One would think he might shake loose with Carlson and MacTavish taking the top spots and Tim Washe coming out of college.

Ryan Strome is 31... idk. Tavares even older - 34 - and like Sam Bennett, only 28, will likely command big dollars.

I didn't realize McTavish was a 3rd overall pick.

Good remarks; thank you.

[kimzey59]

Anaheim is not letting MacTavish go.
That said, I would be curious on the availability of Ryan Strome. One would think he might shake loose with Carlson and MacTavish taking the top spots and Tim Washe coming out of college.

Ryan Strome is 31... idk. Tavares even older - 34 - and like Sam Bennett, only 28, will likely command big dollars.

I didn't realize McTavish was a 3rd overall pick.

Good remarks; thank you.

Strome has 2 years left on his deal at 5 mil per.

I MUCH prefer that to dropping 7 plus mil on Bennett or Tavares.

[TheJackBurton]

Anaheim is not letting MacTavish go.
That said, I would be curious on the availability of Ryan Strome. One would think he might shake loose with Carlson and MacTavish taking the top spots and Tim Washe coming out of college.

Ryan Strome is 31... idk. Tavares even older - 34 - and like Sam Bennett, only 28, will likely command big dollars.

I didn't realize McTavish was a 3rd overall pick.

Good remarks; thank you.

Strome has 2 years left on his deal at 5 mil per.

I MUCH prefer that to dropping 7 plus mil on Bennett or Tavares.

he has ended the last 3 seasons with the exact same point total of 41. Can't imagine that has happened too often.

[STL fan in MN]

Anaheim is not letting MacTavish go.
That said, I would be curious on the availability of Ryan Strome. One would think he might shake loose with Carlson and MacTavish taking the top spots and Tim Washe coming out of college.

Strome would be a decent vet to go after with 2 years left on his deal…but 41% at the dot? Yuck.

[JoshInFenton]

Tavares will probably be about 7m, think that number is right given his age and what happens to players his age.

Bennett i'd bet is well above the 7 that was posted here. by at least 1m, maybe 2m, per season. Gotta look at the other premium players on the market, think he's one of the best options for playoff help amongst the available players. He's not worth that number in terms of production.

If we go after one, i'd prefer Tavares and at a short term higher dollar amount than 7M.

I still think the blues are more players for buy low hope for more types on at least one of there potential upgrades that we project them to kinda need long term. Kupari as a 2 year deal Center for the middle 6 (Jets), Bernard-Docker (BUF), a couple others out there that you can either work out a trade for or throw an offer sheet at and see what they want to do about it. I don't think there is that 'guy' that is at the level of what we got this year, but there are certainly some options out there more affordable than what is going to be happening in Free Agency.

[Red7]

Do the Blues even have the draft picks available this year to go RFA shopping? My understanding is the picks must be your own. That’s why Army made the deal to re-acquire one of their picks last offseason.

[STL fan in MN]

Do the Blues even have the draft picks available this year to go RFA shopping? My understanding is the picks must be your own. That’s why Army made the deal to re-acquire one of their picks last offseason.

The only 2026 pick the Blues are missing is their 2nd, which once again belongs to the Penguins.

I don’t expect a successful offer sheet from any teams this season. With the cap going up, teams won’t be as hard pressed against the cap and should be able to match pretty much whatever they want. And it’s now not seen as quite so taboo so teams will be sure to defend against it and not back themselves into a corner like EDM did a year ago.

[TheJackBurton]

Do the Blues even have the draft picks available this year to go RFA shopping? My understanding is the picks must be your own. That’s why Army made the deal to re-acquire one of their picks last offseason.

The only 2026 pick the Blues are missing is their 2nd, which once again belongs to the Penguins.

I don’t expect a successful offer sheet from any teams this season. With the cap going up, teams won’t be as hard pressed against the cap and should be able to match pretty much whatever they want. And it’s now not seen as quite so taboo so teams will be sure to defend against it and not back themselves into a corner like EDM did a year ago.

Yeah. I'd say if it's August and an RFA isn't signed, it is most likely because the drafting team is no longer interested or are extremely confident that if they get an offer sheet they'll easily match.

Last year was just the perfect storm. Team against the salary cap, made sure to lock up veterans before RFAs, team had plenty of cap space, had the draft picks, was able to give an amount that didn't require too much compensation, a team had just signed its GM, and it was late enough in the year that multiple other teams were backed up against the salary cap wall.

To expect any of that to line up like that again is likely very rare.

I would imagine that most teams will lock up their RFAs they want to keep as quickly as possible then deal with UFA.