What could Army land with Hofer+

[Harry S Deals]

I would ask the inverse, what can the Blues hand for Binnington?

Not trying to be crazy. The last three years made it clear that a cup win requires a goalie that can at moments be a god on the ice. Binnington is one of the few in the NHL that actually has that ability and has proven it. I can think of at least three cup hopeful teams that Binnington would be a dream player for. For the good of the future Blues is it better to move Binnington when a team might sell their entire future for him?

The Blues have playoff aspirations why trade Binnie, i get your point we could probably get a nice haul but thats moving backwards in my mind

[stlblue06]

The Blues aren’t letting Hofer go. He’s shown to be a very steady backup while having potential to grow more. Binner needs a backup to pick up games, end of story.

[theograce]

Change your title--What could Army land with Binnington. Keep Hofer and Ellis if someone really has to be traded. Otherwise don't trade Hofer---Trade one of the 20 or son decent recently drafted players.

This is right. Don’t care about Ellis, but Binnington isn’t getting younger

[theograce]

Hofer is one of the best puck managers in the World. Love watching him manage the puck. Love his size too

[TheJackBurton]

The Blues aren’t letting Hofer go. He’s shown to be a very steady backup while having potential to grow more. Binner needs a backup to pick up games, end of story.

Well they have about 11 days to get him under contract before things start getting interesting and I haven't heard a single thing about them being in talks to this point.

[brianstlou2]

The Blues aren’t letting Hofer go. He’s shown to be a very steady backup while having potential to grow more. Binner needs a backup to pick up games, end of story.

Well they have about 11 days to get him under contract before things start getting interesting and I haven't heard a single thing about them being in talks to this point.

If someone wants to overpay him, I’ll gladly take a first round draft pick for him. And anything under that, I think they would match. And if you lose him, then you have Ellis ready with the expectation that Blues would sign an experienced back up. I think k Hofer took a step backwards this year compared to last so I don’t think he’ll be that wanted. Yes he still has promise but not sure he’s the guy a team would want to spend $4m a year on.

[Wattage]

Looking at the Blues cap space i am not sure it makes a ton of sense to pay Hofer around the $4 million ish he may get or may get offered. If Army choses to trade Hofer before free agency for instance what could Hofer and a prospect of some sort land? Would Army be content to take the 2nd round pick if another team offer sheets Hofer, i think some sort of trade makes more sense, thoughts?

You’re going to spend at least 2 of the 4 you saved signing a backup that can at least stop a beach ball. For a mere $2M I’ll just keep Hofer

Not necessarily. Ellis just had a monster season in minors and we could give him backup role for league minimum

[TheJackBurton]

The Blues aren’t letting Hofer go. He’s shown to be a very steady backup while having potential to grow more. Binner needs a backup to pick up games, end of story.

Well they have about 11 days to get him under contract before things start getting interesting and I haven't heard a single thing about them being in talks to this point.

If someone wants to overpay him, I’ll gladly take a first round draft pick for him. And anything under that, I think they would match. And if you lose him, then you have Ellis ready with the expectation that Blues would sign an experienced back up. I think k Hofer took a step backwards this year compared to last so I don’t think he’ll be that wanted. Yes he still has promise but not sure he’s the guy a team would want to spend $4m a year on.

ehhh you'd hate to lose him for a 2nd round pick though. A 1st rounder ok, but a second rounder would be kind of tough to swallow. The problem is they could go the max of 4.8 million and the blues aren't matching that and tying up 11 million in goaltending.

Getting a back up would be no issue, but you'd hate to lose him for a 2nd rounder.

[IsDurbanodoingtime]

Something that Hofer has in his favor in resigning ( and that has been referred to already in this thread) is like Binnie is his puckhandling abilities. The consistency in both of our netminders in their ability to intercept dump in and initiate play is something that our D has gotten used to and a huge part of our game. Letting Hofer go and not having someone with comparable ability has to got to be a factor. One night you have Binne. And then another night (if you don't sign Hofer or someone with similar skills) you have D playing a total different game with respect to the outlet and leaving the D zone. Too much upside to get cheap and not overpay by a little to keep him.

[rbirules]

Hofer, Leddy or Faulk, Buch to Buffalo maybe add a few more mid prospects

for

McLeod and Power

Are you still least going to ask Buffalo to bend over, first?

Exactly. I'm not sure if they say no first or if Buch, Faulk, or Leddy invokes their NTC to kill the deal before it gets to that point.

[rbirules]

The more i read about Nemec, wow he has the potential to be the RHD anchor for the franchise after CP. Sometimes with Euro dmen it can take awhile to mesh it seems but thats a trade i would definitely make if its on the table. Look what happened to Broberg esp out of the gate last year he exploded with the Blues perhaps the Blues staff can unlock Nemec as well
There would be some uncertainty with Colton Ellis, Hofer had pretty good save pct in the AHL but Ellis's stats jump off the page a bit more .924 in 16 GP in '24, .922 in 42 games this year and a .933 save pct in the playoffs. This will be intriguing to see how this plays out

There’d certainly be risk involved with moving Hofer out as we just don’t know how well Ellis would do as a backup. This is an important season and we know Binner is at his best when he’s not overworked, so we need a competent backup. If they let Hofer go, I’d expect the Blues to sign a decent journeyman type. A guy that’s probably played a fair amount in the NHL but probably slots in more as a #3 in most orgs these days. That journeyman and Ellis can then battle it out in camp for the backup job. If one is consistently way better all season, then the job is theirs. However, I’d think the most likely scenario would be Ellis and the journeyman essentially sharing the role and both going back and forth between Springfield and STL.

I know you specifically said, you aren't talking about Allen, but if you move Hofer and a prospect for Nemec, you just fixed your RHD with an ELC and have plenty of cap space to fill the backup goalie position, and not much else. Why not get a solid/top backup in Allen? Is it because you then can't "platoon" that position to give Ellis some reps and you want to start preparing him for the future? Allen seems like he would be the ideal short term solution, but it might hinder preparing the medium to long term solution in Ellis, which I'm guessing is your hesitation with that route.

[netboy65]

Looking at the Blues cap space i am not sure it makes a ton of sense to pay Hofer around the $4 million ish he may get or may get offered. If Army choses to trade Hofer before free agency for instance what could Hofer and a prospect of some sort land? Would Army be content to take the 2nd round pick if another team offer sheets Hofer, i think some sort of trade makes more sense, thoughts?

You’re going to spend at least 2 of the 4 you saved signing a backup that can at least stop a beach ball. For a mere $2M I’ll just keep Hofer

Not necessarily. Ellis just had a monster season in minors and we could give him backup role for league minimum

We’ll see what happens in camp, but I don’t think the team is ready to give him 25 games yet

[MiamiLaw]

Hofer, Leddy or Faulk, Buch to Buffalo maybe add a few more mid prospects

for

McLeod and Power

Are you still least going to ask Buffalo to bend over, first?

Maybe if he adds D’ags, Cole, a 3rd and about 10 more middling or negative assets then maybe Buffalo will say yes to it.

Or they could "step up" like you used to be able to do in NHL videogames. Start with a guy who was a 75 and trade him for a 76. Then trade him for a 77 and on and on until you turned Basil McRae into Fedorov.

[STL fan in MN]

The more i read about Nemec, wow he has the potential to be the RHD anchor for the franchise after CP. Sometimes with Euro dmen it can take awhile to mesh it seems but thats a trade i would definitely make if its on the table. Look what happened to Broberg esp out of the gate last year he exploded with the Blues perhaps the Blues staff can unlock Nemec as well
There would be some uncertainty with Colton Ellis, Hofer had pretty good save pct in the AHL but Ellis's stats jump off the page a bit more .924 in 16 GP in '24, .922 in 42 games this year and a .933 save pct in the playoffs. This will be intriguing to see how this plays out

There’d certainly be risk involved with moving Hofer out as we just don’t know how well Ellis would do as a backup. This is an important season and we know Binner is at his best when he’s not overworked, so we need a competent backup. If they let Hofer go, I’d expect the Blues to sign a decent journeyman type. A guy that’s probably played a fair amount in the NHL but probably slots in more as a #3 in most orgs these days. That journeyman and Ellis can then battle it out in camp for the backup job. If one is consistently way better all season, then the job is theirs. However, I’d think the most likely scenario would be Ellis and the journeyman essentially sharing the role and both going back and forth between Springfield and STL.

I know you specifically said, you aren't talking about Allen, but if you move Hofer and a prospect for Nemec, you just fixed your RHD with an ELC and have plenty of cap space to fill the backup goalie position, and not much else. Why not get a solid/top backup in Allen? Is it because you then can't "platoon" that position to give Ellis some reps and you want to start preparing him for the future? Allen seems like he would be the ideal short term solution, but it might hinder preparing the medium to long term solution in Ellis, which I'm guessing is your hesitation with that route.

You have a fair point. Would depend on what someone like Allen would ask for. He made just under $4M this season but he’s not getting that much on his next deal IMO. Even with the expanding cap.

But yes, you are correctly interpreting my mindset. My thought with a journeyman is that it would likely be someone we could put on waivers and most likely not lose - something that may be needed to give Ellis some games unless the Blues will have the ability to have 3 goalies on their 23-man roster. Someone like Allen would be more likely to get claimed…unless he makes enough to where most teams just wouldn’t have the cap room to be able to claim him. But he’d also mitigate risk better as he’d be…better. So yeah, it’s a pretty interesting risk and reward scenario the more I think about it.

[Red7]

Hofer might land a 2nd round pick as an RFA if the Blues don’t match. That being the case, I might be on the phone with the Penguins to see if they’d be interested in Hofer to get our 2nd round pick back. If they have their second round pick back, they could offer someone else an OS.

[rbirules]

Hofer might land a 2nd round pick as an RFA if the Blues don’t match. That being the case, I might be on the phone with the Penguins to see if they’d be interested in Hofer to get our 2nd round pick back. If they have their second round pick back, they could offer someone else an OS.

Do you have an OS target in mind? (I know Bourque has been a popular target.) Not sure I would lock in a 2nd round pick as compensation for Hofer just to have the opportunity to OS somebody (which seems less likely to be successful with the rising cap).