Matt Duchene back to DAL

[bluetunehead]

Definitely left money on the table, but maybe not years. Not sure how many teams would go 4 years for him. He’s turning 35 next season.

[STL fan in MN]

Definitely took a discount to stay in Dallas. Not a great playoff performer but the risk is mitigated at that AAV.

[stlblue06]

Mavrick Bourque would be a great target from Dallas for Blues at 3rd line center. He’s going to get offer sheeted if they don’t make space

Blues don't have a 2nd round pick, so they can either offer $1,544,424 to $2,340,037 for a 3rd rounder, or $4,680,076 to $7,020,113 for a 1st and 3rd rounder.

I agree, would be a nice pickup.

Doubtful we could get PIT to delay the 2nd we owe them yet another year. Better play would probably be to just try to trade for Bourque and not go the offer sheet route.

I expect Dallas to do everything they can to keep Bourque though. I think he’s going to be good.

We got Pitt to delay the 2nd a year because we tacked on other pick. It was a 6th or 7th rounder.

Shows the Blues had no plans to offer sheet EDM as of late June last year

[2forDiving]

What’s going to be interesting is how many different guys become available after the first couple days of free agency? If the rumors are true that all these teams at the cap limit are interested in Marchand, Marner, Tavares, etc, they are going to have to make current roster guys available. The risk in waiting to pounce on those options is if you get caught without a seat when the music stops.

[bluetunehead]

Mavrick Bourque would be a great target from Dallas for Blues at 3rd line center. He’s going to get offer sheeted if they don’t make space

Blues don't have a 2nd round pick, so they can either offer $1,544,424 to $2,340,037 for a 3rd rounder, or $4,680,076 to $7,020,113 for a 1st and 3rd rounder.

I agree, would be a nice pickup.

Doubtful we could get PIT to delay the 2nd we owe them yet another year. Better play would probably be to just try to trade for Bourque and not go the offer sheet route.

I expect Dallas to do everything they can to keep Bourque though. I think he’s going to be good.

We got Pitt to delay the 2nd a year because we tacked on other pick. It was a 6th or 7th rounder.

Shows the Blues had no plans to offer sheet EDM as of late June last year

Yeah I mean the offer sheets didn’t become a plausible scenario until after the Oilers signed a few other UFAs filling up their cap space. The Blues reportedly made trade inquiries about both players that Edmonton turned down so they were definitely keeping an eye on the situation, but probably weren’t expecting it to get that far.

[STL fan in MN]

Mavrick Bourque would be a great target from Dallas for Blues at 3rd line center. He’s going to get offer sheeted if they don’t make space

Blues don't have a 2nd round pick, so they can either offer $1,544,424 to $2,340,037 for a 3rd rounder, or $4,680,076 to $7,020,113 for a 1st and 3rd rounder.

I agree, would be a nice pickup.

Doubtful we could get PIT to delay the 2nd we owe them yet another year. Better play would probably be to just try to trade for Bourque and not go the offer sheet route.

I expect Dallas to do everything they can to keep Bourque though. I think he’s going to be good.

We got Pitt to delay the 2nd a year because we tacked on other pick. It was a 6th or 7th rounder.

Shows the Blues had no plans to offer sheet EDM as of late June last year

We paid more than a 6th/7th to get our 2nd back actually. We paid PIT an additional 3rd to get them to move the 2nd back a year. Doubt we want to keep paying that extra price..

[stlblue06]

Mavrick Bourque would be a great target from Dallas for Blues at 3rd line center. He’s going to get offer sheeted if they don’t make space

Blues don't have a 2nd round pick, so they can either offer $1,544,424 to $2,340,037 for a 3rd rounder, or $4,680,076 to $7,020,113 for a 1st and 3rd rounder.

I agree, would be a nice pickup.

Doubtful we could get PIT to delay the 2nd we owe them yet another year. Better play would probably be to just try to trade for Bourque and not go the offer sheet route.

I expect Dallas to do everything they can to keep Bourque though. I think he’s going to be good.

We got Pitt to delay the 2nd a year because we tacked on other pick. It was a 6th or 7th rounder.

Shows the Blues had no plans to offer sheet EDM as of late June last year

We paid more than a 6th/7th to get our 2nd back actually. We paid PIT an additional 3rd to get them to move the 2nd back a year. Doubt we want to keep paying that extra price..

Wow it was a 3rd!? In hindsight that’s a crazy price to pay to get rid of Hayes after being on the team for 1 year. It of course all worked out better than we could have imagined (so far). Still if you throw in the “sweetener” package that many forget of a 2028 3rd rounder and 2023 5th round draft pick Paul Fischer, the Blues didn’t simply give up a 2nd and a 3rd to EDM.

In the end they gave up:
One 2nd round pick
THREE 3rd round picks (one to Pitt)
Prospect Paul Fischer

[noted]

Mavrick Bourque would be a great target from Dallas for Blues at 3rd line center. He’s going to get offer sheeted if they don’t make space

Blues don't have a 2nd round pick, so they can either offer $1,544,424 to $2,340,037 for a 3rd rounder, or $4,680,076 to $7,020,113 for a 1st and 3rd rounder.

I agree, would be a nice pickup.

I was saying Blues should trade for him before July 1. Aware of the offer sheet situation.

who ya offering for him?

I’d go as high as offering Blues 25 1st rd pick or Stenberg for Bourque.

Would first try to package prospects and cheap players Dallas could use now or relatively soon though depending what Dallas wants. Some combination of:
- Kaskimaki, Dean, Kessel, Loof, Stancl, Jecho, Mrsic, Toropchenko, Walker, Texier (50%)

[leedog68]

He doesn't have to pay state tax in Texas. I don't know all the complications since half of the games are on the road, but I'll bet it saves him a bunch of money compared to signing somewhere else.

[STL fan in MN]

Mavrick Bourque would be a great target from Dallas for Blues at 3rd line center. He’s going to get offer sheeted if they don’t make space

Blues don't have a 2nd round pick, so they can either offer $1,544,424 to $2,340,037 for a 3rd rounder, or $4,680,076 to $7,020,113 for a 1st and 3rd rounder.

I agree, would be a nice pickup.

Doubtful we could get PIT to delay the 2nd we owe them yet another year. Better play would probably be to just try to trade for Bourque and not go the offer sheet route.

I expect Dallas to do everything they can to keep Bourque though. I think he’s going to be good.

We got Pitt to delay the 2nd a year because we tacked on other pick. It was a 6th or 7th rounder.

Shows the Blues had no plans to offer sheet EDM as of late June last year

We paid more than a 6th/7th to get our 2nd back actually. We paid PIT an additional 3rd to get them to move the 2nd back a year. Doubt we want to keep paying that extra price..

Wow it was a 3rd!? In hindsight that’s a crazy price to pay to get rid of Hayes after being on the team for 1 year. It of course all worked out better than we could have imagined (so far). Still if you throw in the “sweetener” package that many forget of a 2028 3rd rounder and 2023 5th round draft pick Paul Fischer, the Blues didn’t simply give up a 2nd and a 3rd to EDM.

In the end they gave up:
One 2nd round pick
THREE 3rd round picks (one to Pitt)
Prospect Paul Fischer

Yep. We got them for a steal but it wasn’t just a 2nd and a 3rd. And we also got a 5th back from PIT, forgot about that part.

The full deal with PIT to get our 2nd back was:

Penguins Traded • 2025 second round pick (Blues pick) (?-?) • 2026 fifth round pick (?-?) to Blues for • 2025 third round pick (Senators pick) (?-?) • 2026 second round pick (?-?) on 2024-08-13

We got the Sens 2025 3rd for taking on Joseph and his contract on July 2nd. So we only owned that pick a little over a month.

[rbirules]

As a thought exercise, ignoring that we are division rivals, would you be interested in going after Robertson? If so what would you give up to get him? Keep in mind Dallas needs cheap assets back as they are up against the cap and still have several holes to fill, so Kyrou is probably a non-starter.

If you're interested in Bourque, and it seems several people are, what would a deal for both him and Robertson look like?

I assume we'd be giving up a cheap wing to start with (Neighbors or Bolduc, I'd like to keep Snuggerud off the list if possible), and then add a bit from there, just for Robertson. How much more I'm not sure, Robertson has one more year of control after 25/26, so you're getting two years of a top line winger (obviously with the chance to sign him to an extension in that window).

Robertson-Thomas-Buch
Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou
Neighbors/Bolduc-Bourque-Snuggy
Torp-Sunny-Walker (add Faksa to the mix?)

Joseph & Texier as depth and/or trade bait.

One of Neighbors/Bolduc gone in trade. Could flip Snuggy and Buch if you wanted to spread the talent and experience out over three lines more evenly. Dvo gets mixed into the third line at some point.

Doesn't change that much if you don't get Bourque. Probably bring back Faksa and start with Sunny as the 3C and mix Dvo in eventually, then Sunny makes the 4th line a four man rotation, while providing injury depth at C.

[stlblue06]

Mavrick Bourque would be a great target from Dallas for Blues at 3rd line center. He’s going to get offer sheeted if they don’t make space

Blues don't have a 2nd round pick, so they can either offer $1,544,424 to $2,340,037 for a 3rd rounder, or $4,680,076 to $7,020,113 for a 1st and 3rd rounder.

I agree, would be a nice pickup.

Doubtful we could get PIT to delay the 2nd we owe them yet another year. Better play would probably be to just try to trade for Bourque and not go the offer sheet route.

I expect Dallas to do everything they can to keep Bourque though. I think he’s going to be good.

We got Pitt to delay the 2nd a year because we tacked on other pick. It was a 6th or 7th rounder.

Shows the Blues had no plans to offer sheet EDM as of late June last year

We paid more than a 6th/7th to get our 2nd back actually. We paid PIT an additional 3rd to get them to move the 2nd back a year. Doubt we want to keep paying that extra price..

Wow it was a 3rd!? In hindsight that’s a crazy price to pay to get rid of Hayes after being on the team for 1 year. It of course all worked out better than we could have imagined (so far). Still if you throw in the “sweetener” package that many forget of a 2028 3rd rounder and 2023 5th round draft pick Paul Fischer, the Blues didn’t simply give up a 2nd and a 3rd to EDM.

In the end they gave up:
One 2nd round pick
THREE 3rd round picks (one to Pitt)
Prospect Paul Fischer

Yep. We got them for a steal but it wasn’t just a 2nd and a 3rd. And we also got a 5th back from PIT, forgot about that part.

The full deal with PIT to get our 2nd back was:

Penguins Traded • 2025 second round pick (Blues pick) (?-?) • 2026 fifth round pick (?-?) to Blues for • 2025 third round pick (Senators pick) (?-?) • 2026 second round pick (?-?) on 2024-08-13

We got the Sens 2025 3rd for taking on Joseph and his contract on July 2nd. So we only owned that pick a little over a month.

Oh ok, yeah I forgot those details. I remember everyone being extremely confused when that trade was first announced. Like Army has truly lost it haha.

It was all forgotten when the offer sheets were announced shortly after. I probably remembered the throw in for getting our original 2nd back as not a big deal (something like a 7th) because we only moved 2 rounds back and it was a pick we just got for taking Joseph.

[Harry S Deals]

As a thought exercise, ignoring that we are division rivals, would you be interested in going after Robertson? If so what would you give up to get him? Keep in mind Dallas needs cheap assets back as they are up against the cap and still have several holes to fill, so Kyrou is probably a non-starter.

If you're interested in Bourque, and it seems several people are, what would a deal for both him and Robertson look like?

I assume we'd be giving up a cheap wing to start with (Neighbors or Bolduc, I'd like to keep Snuggerud off the list if possible), and then add a bit from there, just for Robertson. How much more I'm not sure, Robertson has one more year of control after 25/26, so you're getting two years of a top line winger (obviously with the chance to sign him to an extension in that window).

Robertson-Thomas-Buch
Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou
Neighbors/Bolduc-Bourque-Snuggy
Torp-Sunny-Walker (add Faksa to the mix?)

Joseph & Texier as depth and/or trade bait.

One of Neighbors/Bolduc gone in trade. Could flip Snuggy and Buch if you wanted to spread the talent and experience out over three lines more evenly. Dvo gets mixed into the third line at some point.

Doesn't change that much if you don't get Bourque. Probably bring back Faksa and start with Sunny as the 3C and mix Dvo in eventually, then Sunny makes the 4th line a four man rotation, while providing injury depth at C.

No i dont think any of that is necessary i wouldnt trade Neighbours hes a heart and soul guy and Bolduc may be as good or better than Robertson who knows perhaps a more well rounded game at least.
I dont see the Blues doing anything that major yet they just need a center or two, or if the market is too crazy perhaps they could just go with Sunny, Dvorsky and Dean for the bottom two positions see who sticks and sign a cheap veteran 4th liner.
I wouldnt want to the Blues to pay crazy money or term for a middle of the pack or average or old center right now

[TheJackBurton]

As a thought exercise, ignoring that we are division rivals, would you be interested in going after Robertson? If so what would you give up to get him? Keep in mind Dallas needs cheap assets back as they are up against the cap and still have several holes to fill, so Kyrou is probably a non-starter.

If you're interested in Bourque, and it seems several people are, what would a deal for both him and Robertson look like?

I assume we'd be giving up a cheap wing to start with (Neighbors or Bolduc, I'd like to keep Snuggerud off the list if possible), and then add a bit from there, just for Robertson. How much more I'm not sure, Robertson has one more year of control after 25/26, so you're getting two years of a top line winger (obviously with the chance to sign him to an extension in that window).

Robertson-Thomas-Buch
Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou
Neighbors/Bolduc-Bourque-Snuggy
Torp-Sunny-Walker (add Faksa to the mix?)

Joseph & Texier as depth and/or trade bait.

One of Neighbors/Bolduc gone in trade. Could flip Snuggy and Buch if you wanted to spread the talent and experience out over three lines more evenly. Dvo gets mixed into the third line at some point.

Doesn't change that much if you don't get Bourque. Probably bring back Faksa and start with Sunny as the 3C and mix Dvo in eventually, then Sunny makes the 4th line a four man rotation, while providing injury depth at C.

No i dont think any of that is necessary i wouldnt trade Neighbours hes a heart and soul guy and Bolduc may be as good or better than Robertson who knows perhaps a more well rounded game at least.
I dont see the Blues doing anything that major yet they just need a center or two, or if the market is too crazy perhaps they could just go with Sunny, Dvorsky and Dean for the bottom two positions see who sticks and sign a cheap veteran 4th liner.
I wouldnt want to the Blues to pay crazy money or term for a middle of the pack or average or old center right now

Listen I like Bolduc, but the odds of him being a ppg player aren't very good. He could be a perennial 20 goal 30 assist guy and there's not a single thing wrong with that, but he isn't Jason Robertson who has 2 80 point season 1 109 point season and a 79 point season.

If I had to give up Bolduc to get Robertson I'm doing it and not even blinking an eye.

[zamadoo]

As a thought exercise, ignoring that we are division rivals, would you be interested in going after Robertson? If so what would you give up to get him? Keep in mind Dallas needs cheap assets back as they are up against the cap and still have several holes to fill, so Kyrou is probably a non-starter.

If you're interested in Bourque, and it seems several people are, what would a deal for both him and Robertson look like?

I assume we'd be giving up a cheap wing to start with (Neighbors or Bolduc, I'd like to keep Snuggerud off the list if possible), and then add a bit from there, just for Robertson. How much more I'm not sure, Robertson has one more year of control after 25/26, so you're getting two years of a top line winger (obviously with the chance to sign him to an extension in that window).

Robertson-Thomas-Buch
Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou
Neighbors/Bolduc-Bourque-Snuggy
Torp-Sunny-Walker (add Faksa to the mix?)

Joseph & Texier as depth and/or trade bait.

One of Neighbors/Bolduc gone in trade. Could flip Snuggy and Buch if you wanted to spread the talent and experience out over three lines more evenly. Dvo gets mixed into the third line at some point.

Doesn't change that much if you don't get Bourque. Probably bring back Faksa and start with Sunny as the 3C and mix Dvo in eventually, then Sunny makes the 4th line a four man rotation, while providing injury depth at C.

No i dont think any of that is necessary i wouldnt trade Neighbours hes a heart and soul guy and Bolduc may be as good or better than Robertson who knows perhaps a more well rounded game at least.
I dont see the Blues doing anything that major yet they just need a center or two, or if the market is too crazy perhaps they could just go with Sunny, Dvorsky and Dean for the bottom two positions see who sticks and sign a cheap veteran 4th liner.
I wouldnt want to the Blues to pay crazy money or term for a middle of the pack or average or old center right now

Listen I like Bolduc, but the odds of him being a ppg player aren't very good. He could be a perennial 20 goal 30 assist guy and there's not a single thing wrong with that, but he isn't Jason Robertson who has 2 80 point season 1 109 point season and a 79 point season.

If I had to give up Bolduc to get Robertson I'm doing it and not even blinking an eye.

You're probably right, but the Blues don't have the cap room for him either. Maybe if we could send back Joseph/Tex and move out Leddy. Would 1st, 3rd, Bolduc, Buchinger, Joseph get it done for Robertson and Bourque?

[bluetunehead]

He doesn't have to pay state tax in Texas. I don't know all the complications since half of the games are on the road, but I'll bet it saves him a bunch of money compared to signing somewhere else.

This is way over-simplified, but you figure it this way:

Total contract is 18M
For a non-Texas player, average state income tax is around 7%
18M x .07 = 1.26M

For Duchene:
Subtract 6M in Texas-based signing bonuses
Subtract 6M in Texas-based home games

6M remaining is subject to state income taxes for his road games

6M x .07 = 420K

That’s a savings of 840K over the length of the contract. Not massive considering his career earnings, but nothing to scoff at either.