Oskar Sundqvist

Minor Transactions: 02/13/18

February 13, 2018 at 10:15 am CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

A busy night in the NHL, with 12 games on tap for tonight. Among them are some huge divisional matchups between St. Louis-Nashville and Philadelphia-New Jersey. Both games could have huge implications on the playoffs, with each team trying to take two points in regulation.

The St. Louis Blues have recalled Oskar Sundqvist from his conditioning stint ahead of their game. Sundqvist had been a healthy scratch for some time, so was loaned to the San Antonio Rampage to get into some game action. In six games with the AHL club this year, the 23-year old center has six points.
According to Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers, the Cleveland Monsters have loaned Andre Benoit to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for the remainder of the season. The veteran defenseman returned from Sweden to play in the AHL this season, where he has five points in 31 games.
The Colorado Avalanche have sent Andrei Mironov to the AHL, bringing up Duncan Siemens in his spot. Siemens has played just four NHL games so far in his career, despite his high draft position at 11th-overall in 2011. In 45 games with the San Antonio Rampage this season, he has seven points.
With the Canucks dealing with several injuries, including one to defenseman Chris Tanev, the team has recalled Philip Holm from the minor leagues. Holm was signed last May out of the Swedish Hockey League, and has found immediate success in the AHL with the Utica Comets.
Marcus Pettersson has been given his first NHL recall, brought up by the Anaheim Ducks in place of the waived Korbinian Holzer. Pettersson, a second-round pick from 2014, is in his first season in North America. In 44 games with the San Diego Gulls, the 6’4″ rangy defenseman has 14 points.

Western Notes: Little, Tanev, Stecher, Sundqvist

November 18, 2017 at 6:53 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

Winnipeg Jets’ forward Bryan Little has seen a lot over the 11 years he’s been with the Jets franchise. However, one thing he hasn’t seen is his team dominating out of the gate in a season. After Saturday’s 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils, Little finds his team boasting a 12-4-3 record good enough for second place in the Western Conference.

That may not be entirely true. Little was with the Atlanta Thrashers (before they moved to Winnipeg) and witnessed a 12-3-3 start, but that was the year before he joined the franchise, writes Winnipeg Sun’s Paul Friesen. Little, however, is thrilled to see Winnipeg finally work their way into a position where they are not chasing a playoff spot.

“It takes a bit of the pressure off,” Little said. “You’re able to play more relaxed and more confident. When you’re fighting to get back early in the season, it’s mentally stressful. You know you’ve got to win games, and that puts a lot of pressure on everyone.”

Steve Ewan of The Province writes that Vancouver Canucks defensemen Chris Tanev and Troy Stecher are closing in on returning to the lineup. Tanev, who is recovering from a thumb injury and has missed four games, and Stecher, who is recovering from a knee injury and has only appeared in eight games this season, are both expected to travel with the team on their upcoming roadtrip which opens in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Both skated with the team today, but skated late suggesting they are not expected to play tonight against the St. Louis Blues.
The St. Louis Post Dispatch’s Jim Thomas writes that center Oskar Sundqvist, who left Thursday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers after taking a puck to the foot, was a full participant in practice today and is expected to play in tonight’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: St. Louis Blues

September 3, 2017 at 4:16 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2017-18 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

St. Louis Blues

Current Cap Hit: $72,569,167 (under the $75MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Robby Fabbri (One year remaining, $894K)
F Zachary Sanford (Two years remaining, $875K)
F Ivan Barbashev (Two years remaining, $742K)

Potential Bonuses

Fabbri: $425K
Barbashev: $183K
Sanford: $50K

Total: $658K

Much of the attention of the youth will fall on Fabbri, who many are hoping will have a breakout season this year. The former 2014 first-round pick has already played two full seasons with the club and combined for 29 goals, but many people feel this might be the year where he takes that next step. He looked to be having a solid year last year, but tore his ACL in February and missed the rest of the season. Now healthy, many believe the Blues will move him to center to take control of a top line.

Sanford and Barbashev are two youngsters who many feel may also take on regular roles in St. Louis this year. Sanford, a second-round pick in 2013 by the Washington Capitals, came to St. Louis in the Kevin Shattenkirk trade at the trade deadline last season. The 22-year-old joined the Blues for the final 13 games and scored two goals and five assists and many believe he should make a solid fourth-line center as he develops his game. Barbashev is a second-round pick from the 2014 draft and got a promotion for the season’s final 30 games. The 21-year-old picked up five goals and seven assists and showed that he deserves a chance to start, but may have to settle for a wing position to start the year.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Paul Stastny ($7MM, UFA)
G Carter Hutton ($1.125MM, UFA)
D Joel Edmundson ($1.05MM, RFA)
F Dmitrij Jaskin ($1MM, RFA)
F Kyle Brodziak ($950K, UFA)
F Magnus Paajarvi ($800K, UFA)
F Oskar Sundqvist ($675K, RFA)
F Beau Bennett ($650K, RFA)

Obviously the team has to make a decision on what it plans to do with Stastny as he’s the biggest name amongst the team’s pending free agents next season. Stastny has been a solid contributor at center, but hardly spectacular and is probably not worth the $7MM AAV that he has received from St. Louis when they signed him in 2014. Injuries have played a major role for the 31-year-old veteran as he has missed 42 games in three seasons. On top of that, he only took 112 shots, one of the lowest of his career and his 22 assists last year is his career low, not including the strike-shortened 2012-13 season. The team has put some effort into developing some of their youngsters at the center position, including Fabbri, Barbashev and Sanford likely in hopes of eventually finding a replacement for Stastny in the near future.

After Stastny, the talent level drops, but the team will have several restricted free agents who will be in line for more money next year. Edmundson, entering his third full year in the league, who has struggled with injuries in his two years. He played in 67 games in 2015-16 and just 69 games last year. He put up three goals and 12 assists last year, but should get more playing time with Shattenkirk gone and if he can stay healthy, should put up even better numbers. Sundqvist also came to St. Louis in a recent trade. Acquired from Pittsburgh in the Ryan Reaves trade, Sundqvist hopes to break camp with the Blues. He couldn’t crack the lineup in Pittsburgh, managing just 28 games over the past two years, but he did score 20 goals for the Penguins’ AHL squad this year. The center has a good chance to win a bottom six center position this year.

Jaskin has had trouble staying in the lineup for the Blues. The 24-year-old has been with the team now for four seasons, but has never been able to a steady contributor. He only managed to get into 51 games last year, for one goal and 10 assists. If he can’t put together a solid season, it may be his last in St. Louis. Bennett, who was signed as a free agent this summer, must prove he can make the team first. The 25-year-old wing scored eight goals in 65 games for the New Jersey Devils last year.

Among unrestricted free agents, the team may want to bring back Hutton, who has served the Blues well as their backup goaltender. The 31-year-old played 29 games and finished the year with a 2.39 GAA and a .913 save percentage. The 33-year-old Brodziak makes for a good fourth-line player, but this could likely be his last year in St. Louis, while Paajarvi split time between the Blues and the Chicago Wolves and also could be at the end of the line if he can’t make the team out of training camp.

Two Years Remaining

D Jay Bouwmeester ($5.4MM, UFA)
D Carl Gunnarsson ($2.9MM, UFA)
D Robert Bortuzzo ($1.15MM, UFA)
F Chris Thorburn ($900K, UFA)
D Nate Prosser ($650K, UFA)

This will be the year where the Blues will have to make some defensive decisions, especially with Bouwmeester, who will be 35 years old when his contract comes up. The deal he signed back in 2014 looked good, but three years later, he isn’t nearly as good and despite contantly being handed a role on the top defensive line, his time is fading quickly. Gunnarsson and Bortuzzo are bottom-line defenders and will likely be replaced by younger options.

Three Years Remaining

D Alex Pietrangelo ($6.5MM, UFA)
F Brayden Schenn ($5.125MM, UFA)
F Vladimir Sobotka ($3.5MM, UFA)

The team does have most of its top players already locked up for a significant amount of time and that includes Pietrangelo, who remains the team’s top defenseman. Of all the defensemen that benefitted when the team dealt Shattenkirk to the Capitals, the 27-year-old took advantage of the extra playing time. He had 30 points after his first 60 games, but after the trade, his numbers took off with 18 points in the next 20 games. He could have a breakout year. Schenn, acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers at a costly price of two potential first-round picks along with Jori Lehtera, should provide the team with some scoring. He has scored 51 goals over the last two seasons. Sobotka is the wildcard whose future is hard to project. After playing four years for the Blues, he left the NHL and played three years in the KHL before returning at the end of the season, signing a new three-year deal in April. He played in the team’s final regular season game, scoring a goal and then added two goals and six assists in 11 playoff games. The 30-year-old wing should be able to contribute to the team’s second or third line for a few more years.

Four Or More Years Remaining

F Vladimir Tarasenko ($7.5MM through 2022-23)
F Alex Steen ($5.75MM through 2020-21)
D Colton Parayko ($5.5MM through 2021-22)
F Jaden Schwartz ($5.35MM through 2020-21)
G Jake Allen ($4.35MM through 2020-21)
F Patrik Berglund ($3.85MM through 2021-22)

Most of the team’s top talent is already locked up long-term. Tarasenko is signed for the longest and fortunately for the team, he’s also their best player. The 25-year-old has scored 116 goals over the past three years and still has the potential to get better. Many believe that despite having Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester, Parayko might be their best defenseman of the future. Already locked up for five more years, the 24-year-old blueliner is coming off a 35-point season and many feel he will only improve. Schwartz, who will likely team up with Tarasenko, is coming off a 55-point season with 19 goals. At 25, he should continue to develop alongside of Tarasenko.

Allen has steadily developed into a quality goaltender over the past few years and he really took off as the starter this year. He played in a career-high 61 games last year, putting up a 2.42 GAA and a .915 save percentage. However, he got even better once new coach Mike Yeo came aboard in February. In his final 25 games, he was 16-7-2 with a .938 save percentage. He should continue to put up good numbers for the next several years. The team took a hard loss earlier this offseason when Berglund underwent surgery on his left shoulder and will not return until December. The 29-year-old wing had a career-high 23 goals last year. Perhaps one of their worst deals, Steen still has four years at 33 years old. He has had a couple of down years after putting up 31 and 24 goals, respectively, but has managed just 33 goals in the last two years combined. Still, he put up 51 points last year and did have a broken bone in his foot during the playoffs, so maybe he deserves a break.

Buyouts

None

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Still To Sign

None

Best Value: Tarasenko
Worst Value: Steen

Looking Ahead

This will be Yeo’s first full season in St. Louis, so he should have even more control than last year’s team that survived a round of the playoffs before losing in the second round to the Nashville Predators. With the additions of Sobotka and Schenn as well as the continued development of Tarasenko, Fabbri, Parayko and Pietrangelo to name a few, the Blues seem to have a bright future ahead of them. They are in solid shape cap-wise and should still be able to pick up a few free agents in the future if they can keep things going.

Blues Snapshots: Steen, Parayko, AHL, Fabbri

August 5, 2017 at 4:57 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

Don’t be surprised if the St. Louis Blues move on from Alex Steen, eventually. While St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Rutherford answered questions on the newspaper’s website, he added that while he’d be surprised to see Steen moved at this point in the offseason, he wouldn’t be shocked if the Blues were to look into trading him at the trade deadline next year or in the offseason.

The 33-year-old Steen’s new contract that he signed last offseason will be kicking in this year. He signed a four-year, $23MM contract and while his production has been consistently solid over the last couple of years (33 goals and 70 assists combined in last two years), the veteran is suddenly beginning to get in the way of the Blues massing core of young wingers, including Vladimir Tarasenko (25), Jaden Schwartz (25), Dmitrij Jaskin (24), Robby Fabbri (21 — although he could move to center next season — see below), Oskar Sundqvist (23) and Beau Bennett (25).

Rutherford adds the team still needs a veteran like Steen to provide the leadership to the youth, but there will be a point in which the team will be confident in its young wingers that it’s unlikely he’ll finish out his contract in St. Louis.

In the same piece, Rutherford writes that he expects young defenseman Colton Parayko to step up this season for the Blues and become the star defenseman they were hoping for. While his goals scored dropped from nine to four last year, his points still went up, finishing with 35 points compared to 33 two years ago. The scribe writes that with Kevin Shattenkirk finally gone, Parayko should be able to raise his scoring numbers and develop into a No. 1 defenseman.
Rutherford also writes that with the team agreeing to AHL agreements with the Chicago Wolves (Vegas’ affiliate) and the San Antonio Rampage (Colorado’s affiliate), the team will send prospects to either team, but are likely to have little say about playing time for their prospects. Both Vegas and Colorado will be putting a priority on their own prospects, leaving any Blues prospects to force their way into playing time.
Former 2014 first-rounder Fabbri is currently penciled in as the team’s third-line center behind Paul Stastny and new acquisition Brayden Schenn. However, if they feel he is ready to put up a big season, Rutherford writes that it is likely he’ll be moved up to be a wing on the second line and force Steen to move to the right side.

Blues Youth Movement Is Already Here

July 8, 2017 at 5:26 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 3 Comments

When you think about the St. Louis Blues team, youth isn’t necessarily the first word that comes up. While the team is hardly old, the Blues roster is full of veteran players like Paul Statstny, Alexander Steen, Jay Bouwmeester and Patrik Berglund. They also have a group of players entering their prime now, names such as Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Pietrangelo and the recently acquired Brayden Schenn, who they traded their first-round pick for.

The point is that no one thinks of the Blues as a young team, yet Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that surprisingly, St. Louis may have as many as nine or even 10 players who are 24 years old or younger on next year’s roster next. Somehow, it seems that the Blues are developing a lot of young players despite their veteran success in the NHL. Rutherford suggests that Robby Fabbri, Oskar Sundqvist, Ivan Barbashev, Zachary Sanford and Dmitrij Jaskin all could find themselves in the Blues forward rotation plans in various ways, while youngsters Joel Edmundson, Colton Parayko, Jordan Schmaltz and Petteri Lindbohm all have a chance to crack the lineup on defense. And that doesn’t include 2017 first-round pick Klim Kostin, who just recently signed his entry-level contract.

Fabbri, a 2014 first-round pick, has already established himself as a quality prospect. He opened his rookie year two years ago with an 18-goal season. While the 21-year-old is coming off a torn ACL injury he sustained in February, he still put up 11 goals in 51 games last year and could be a top candidate to take over at center next year while Bergeron sits out due to shoulder surgery until December. Jaskin has been with the Blues for a while now. The 2011 second-rounder has been in and out of the lineup for four seasons now. The 24-year-old wing played in 51 games last year and finished with 11 points. He must make the next step if he wants to hold off other youngsters coming up. Barbashev could be one of those players. He was drafted in the second round after Fabbri, got into 30 games for the Blues a year ago and showed promise, producing five goals and 12 points and at 21, may be ready for an increased role.

The team has also been very prudent, trading the occasional veteran for prospects.Several of their young players came over via trade. Sundqvist, traded to St. Louis from Pittsburgh a few weeks ago in the Ryan Reaves trade, hopes to carve out a regular role with the Blues. He’s only played in 28 NHL games, but had a hard time breaking into the lineup. He did score 20 goals with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL last year. Sanford, a second-rounder from 2013, was acquired from Washington at the trade deadline in the Kevin Shattenkirk deal, and could work his way onto the roster. Sanford played 39 games in his rookie season after coming to the NHL from Boston College. He put up just eight points, but did get into four playoff games for the Blues.

On defense, the 24-year-old Edmundson has already established himself as a solid defensive presence after two solid seasons in a row. The former 2011 second-rounder played 67 games in 2015-16 and put up three goals and 12 assists in 69 games this past season. Parayko, 24, also has put together two solid seasons on defense as the third-rounder of 2012 put up four goals and 31 assists last year. Both have worked their way through the system and have paid off. Schmaltz, 23, is right on their heels. The former 2012 first-rounder got into nine games this year and could surprise some people and make the team. Lindbohm, 23, has made appearances in three straight seasons as a depth defenseman.

Headlines

Oskar Sundqvist

Minor Transactions: 02/13/18

Western Notes: Little, Tanev, Stecher, Sundqvist

Salary Cap Deep Dive: St. Louis Blues

St. Louis Blues

Entry-Level Contracts

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

Two Years Remaining

Three Years Remaining

Four Or More Years Remaining

Buyouts

Retained Salary Transactions

Still To Sign

Looking Ahead

Blues Snapshots: Steen, Parayko, AHL, Fabbri

Blues Youth Movement Is Already Here

Paul Fenton Hired As New GM Of Minnesota Wild

Toronto Maple Leafs Announce Kyle Dubas As Next GM

Carolina Hires Rod Brind’Amour, Removes Interim Tag From Don Waddell

Lou Lamoriello Will Not Return As GM Of Toronto Maple Leafs

Buffalo Wins The 2018 Draft Lottery; Will Select First Overall

Buffalo, Montreal, Carolina Early Winners In Draft Lottery

Bill Peters Exercises Out Clause, Leaves Hurricanes

Calgary Flames Fire Glen Gulutzan

Nazem Kadri Suspended For Three Games

Ken Hitchcock Announces Retirement From Coaching

Ryan Stoa, Andy Miele Sign In KHL

Goaltender Interference Decisions Staying In Toronto’s Situation Room

Samuel Morin Out Until February With Torn ACL

New Jersey Devils Extend ECHL Affiliation With Adirondack Thunder

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

Colorado Avalanche Re-Sign Gabriel Bourque

Edmonton Oilers Expected To Hire Glen Gulutzan, Trent Yawney

Evander Kane Re-Signs With San Jose Sharks

Toronto Maple Leafs Hire Laurence Gilman As Assistant GM

Roman Cervenka, Kevin Klein Staying In Switzerland

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