Selling off our veterans - Be prepared to LOSE draft picks

[a smell of green grass]

Anyone willing to wager?

I will bet that by April Fool's Day 2026, the late-season "winning" against the other NHL teams that are laying down will cause many BluesTalkers to talk about the "DYNASTY" that is taking shape. They will claim that there is no need for elite talent.

THEY WILL EVEN CLAIM THAT THE BLUES HAVE A CHANCE IN THE PLAYOFFS AGAINST COLORADO -- BECAUSE COLORADO LOST QUITE A FEW IN MARCH.

How do I know this? Because I hear the same blah, blah, blah every year.

You heard it here first, Sports Fans!!!! Book it.

[Jeff Goldblum]

Why would anybody make a bet with you? You have no integrity and dont honor your bets.

[Cahokanut]

Buch is only gonna move if desperation hits a pretender contenders gm.

But moves need to happen. Just so the youth and the two pickups can continue to bring more excitement to the game.

Though I suspect both of those guys games get lost on defense after the break and Monty explains, 'the right way.

[BleedingBleu]

The important thing here is that Army has stated he is looking for players in that age group. He did it with ROR and Schenn not long ago. So, not only has he done it before, but he is likely at this moment seeking a similar type of trade. With the current players (Not Lehtera), he likely wouldn't need to include two 1sts, and/or could get a great young player.

I'll notify Islander fans that they should NOT be happy about having young Matthew Schaefer on their team. He's way too young for their core group. I'll tell them that Army told me so.

The islanders didn’t trade for the pick they used on Schafer. They won it in the draft lottery. Relatedly, they finished 10th from the bottom when they won the lottery. We are 6th from the bottom right now. The season is going exactly like you want. Why are you so upset all the time?

These are great points. It does beg the question, what will selling at the deadline guarantee? Guarantee being the operative word over “accomplish”

Thanks to ongoing discussions about the team’s trajectory, salivating over the Top Picks in the Draft (again), the actual roster make-up + farm, and the deja-vu being experienced from last year’s club, I truly don’t know what trading a Faulk and/or Schenn, and/or other rostered skater buys us.

Make no mistake, this team is not good. However, despite having absolutely awful statistics (GF, GA, GD), and residing at bottom of the standings for most of the season, they aren’t so awful to be truly considered out. But why?

The 3 Biggest Arguments are:
1.) Defensive 3rd Line (Mailloux, Kessel, Tucker)
2.) Goaltending (Binnington has been awful .874 Sa%, 3.40 GAA)
3.) Injuries to the Top 9 (Snuggy, Kyrou, Holloway, Suter, Torp)

I guess you could make the argument for 0-8 after regulation, or inability to retain a lead, but that’s really more impacts from the variables listed above.

So, what the heck should management do with this team?

1.) Do we as fans want a trade(s) because the we’re afraid of a less-successful 2nd Half Surge that either sees the team either face the Av’s in the First Round or barely misses the playoffs?

2.) Do we as fans accept this team will remain in the basement for the entire season, retain the vets to shepherd the young players and move toward the offseason with a potential Top 5 Pick, and renewed belief that 2026/7 will return to playoff contention?

3.) Do we as fans accept the 2024/5 club was a perfect storm of schedule, health, team chemistry, that elevated expectations a year or two ahead of original predictions and advocate for continued rebuilding by selling aging assets at their Peak Values?

4.) Other

It’s fascinating, because to sell the Captain, or a veteran RH Defenseman having a career resurgence, or even sell an asset low (Kyrou/Buch) may expose more problems (set backs, low depth, fan confidence) than it solves (sheltered development for young players, fan excitement).

I enjoyed reading your commentary. In the middle of your bottom points there, I thought about how the Avs moved through a rebuild situation where they were good one season, but for whatever reason/circumstance terrible the next and drafted Landeskog/MacKinnon/Makar/etc. in a non-linear fashion with winning seasons between.

There's always a bit of luck involved (ex: top player goes down = better draft pick), but it shows that direction isn't always clear year to year.

+1

Yeah, the Av’s in the 2010’s decade were pretty “meh,” outside of one season where they accumulated 112 Points. Even in that season, they were a First Round Punch-out by Minnesota (of all teams). Other than that, the Av’s really didn’t spend much time qualifying for the playoffs until the later part of the decade.

They basically had a 3-year slide (including two Top 10 Picks) that culminated in a really bad season (2016/7) featuring a lot of youth and last place finish (48 points). Despite falling to #4 in the Draft Lottery, they were able to draft Cale Makar, and almost immediately rebounded to playoff contention.

The Av’s got really lucky when the 2019 First Round Pick from a trade with Ottawa in 2017 (Matt Duchene for Kyle Turris) turned into the #4 Pick.

Unrelated… the top of 2019 Draft was a dog.
1.) Jack Hughes
2.) Kaapo Kakko
3.) Kirby Dach
4.) Bowen Byram
5.) Alex Turcotte
6.) Moritz Seider
7.) Dylan Cozens
8.) Philip Broberg
9.) Trevor Zegras
10.) Vasily Podkolzin
11.) Victor Soderstrom

and 26-31 was nothing but misses.