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Paul Stastny Interested In Returning To St. Louis

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Despite being shipped off at the trade deadline after four years with St. Louis, veteran center Paul Stastny said he would be open to returning to the St. Louis Blues during a radio interview on 590 The Fan in St. Louis.

Known to have loved his time in St. Louis, the 32-year-old supposedly thought long and hard before agreeing to waive his no-trade clause to go to the playoff-bound Winnipeg Jets. With the Blues struggling and unlikely to reach the playoffs, the team sent Stastny to the Jets for a 2018 first-round pick (the 29th overall pick), collegiate prospect Erik Foley, and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2020.

“Absolutely,” Stastny told Hockey Sense host Andy Strickland during the interview. “I don’t think I’ve closed the door on anything. I know it’s a business, getting older, you see it. I always keep everything open because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Stastny put up solid numbers with the Blues, posting 12 goals and 40 points in 63 games for the Blues before being dealt on Feb. 26. However, once with the Jets, he added another 13 points to his totals in 19 regular season games playing alongside Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers. Then in the playoffs, he took off, tallying six goals and 15 points in 17 games, leading the team to the Western Conference Finals.

While he enjoyed his time in Winnipeg and said it was worth it, Stastny also admitted it wasn’t easy to leave St. Louis.

“Trades are tough,” Stastny told Strickland. “I think when you’re so emotionally invested in a team and you think your an important part or your battling with the guys all year, you don’t expect that.”

While Winnipeg wouldn’t mind bringing Stastny back on a short-term deal, the Jets are going to be dealing with plenty of cap issues now they have to re-sign goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, defenseman Jacob Trouba and a number of other restricted free agents. St. Louis, however, who remains in need of help down the middle, could be a possible destination as well.

Of course with the need of centers throughout the league and Stastny likely being the second-best unrestricted free agent on the market (behind John Tavares), the veteran has quite a bit of leverage to score another big contract. While the Jets have indicated they would like to bring him back on a one or two-year deal to compete for a Stanley Cup, other teams would likely offer more years and more money. Would the Blues want to pay a big price to bring Stastny back? He just completed a four-year, $28MM deal. Desperate teams like the Montreal Canadiens might be willing to go quite high as they have the need and enough cap space to make it happen.

Despite Thin UFA Market, St. Louis May Be Better Off Holding Onto Jake Allen

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Even though the free agent goalie market is rather thin, Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests that the Blues should not try to use that to their advantage and look to move Jake Allen this summer.  Allen struggled this past season, putting up the worst numbers of his career while Carter Hutton, a pending unrestricted free agent, thrived; his numbers were the best in the league.  Even though Allen has a decent track record as a starter, St. Louis would be selling low if they were to move him now.  Instead, it wouldn’t be surprising if they simply look to re-sign Hutton and run with the same tandem they’ve had for the past two years.  However, they will have some competition for his services as Hutton should garner a lot of interest around the league if he makes it to the open market.

St. Louis Blues, New York Islanders Extend Partnership With ECHL Affiliates

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The St. Louis Blues have announced a one-year extension to their affiliation with the ECHL’s Tulsa Oilers. The two organizations worked without the benefit of an AHL partner last season, something that will be remedied this year with the agreement between St. Louis and the San Antonio Rampage for the 2018-19 season and beyond.  Oilers’ Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Rob Murray spoke highly of his arrangement with St. Louis:

Having been affiliated with the Blues over the years in both Alaska and Tulsa, I have become very familiar and comfortable with the management team in St. Louis. The partnership got off to a great start last season, as the players we received from St. Louis were key to our success. We’re excited to continue into next season, especially as the Blues begin their AHL affiliation in San Antonio.

Similarly, the New York Islanders have announced an extension with the Worcester Railers through the 2019-20 season. The Railers played their first season in the ECHL last year, going 37-27-8 while qualifying for the Kelly Cup playoffs. Unfortunately knocked out by the Adirondack Thunder in the first round, Worcester will come back with more Islanders prospects next year and try to continue the good start to their franchise.

St. Louis Blues Sign Niko Mikkola To Entry-Level Contract

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The St. Louis Blues have signed one of their 2015 draft picks, inking defenseman Niko Mikkola to a two-year entry-level contract. Mikkola has spent the last few seasons playing at the highest level in Finland, but could now journey to North America to join the Blues organization.

Mikkola, 22, was selected in the fifth round of the 2015 draft but has quickly turned into an imposing presence in the Finnish Liiga. Standing 6’5″ he may be best remembered for being part of Finland’s 2016 World Junior gold medal club, where he was part of an excellent defensive corps that included Olli Juolevi, Sami Niku and Joni Tuulola. That team, led up front by Sebastian Aho, Jesse Puljujarvi and Patrik Laine (not to mention Kasperi Kapanen and Mikko Rantanen) was an unstoppable force that Mikkola part of.

It’s not clear what the Blues’ plans are for Mikkola next season, but there’s little doubt that he’s turned himself from late-round flyer to legitimate NHL prospect. Though never known as an offensive threat, his solid defensive play in Liiga should have St. Louis fans excited for what he could do in a similar role for their club down the road.

Todd Nelson, Mike Van Ryn Join NHL Coaching Staffs

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Two top AHL coaches are leaving for the NHL, as reports have surfaced from Sean Shapiro and Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic that Todd Nelson and Mike Van Ryn will be joining the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues respectively. Nelson had been the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings’ affiliate in Grand Rapids, while Van Ryn was the head coach of the Tucson Roadrunners, affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes.

Nelson took over from Jeff Blashill as head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2015, and led them to an AHL Calder Cup championship in his second season. Though the Griffins took a slight step backwards this season, they still posted their third straight 40+ win season under Nelson and made the playoffs. Knocked out by a tough Manitoba Moose squad in a five games, they’ll have to look for a new leader behind the bench to try and overcome their playoff disappointment.

Van Ryn, 39, finished his playing career in 2009 with the Toronto Maple Leafs and quickly moved into the coaching ranks. Spending time in both the OHL and AHL, he was given the head coaching job in Tucson last summer after previously serving as director of player development. Once a first-round pick of the New Jersey Devils, Van Ryn tallied quite a few successful seasons in the NHL before having his playing days cut short by injuries. Joining the Blues is the next step in a coaching career that seems destined for an NHL head coaching job eventually.

Blues Expected To Name Mike Van Ryn As An Assistant Coach

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  • The Blues are expected to add Mike Van Ryn to their coaching staff, reports Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link). He has spent the last two seasons with the Coyotes, serving as a development coach in 2016-17 and head coach of their AHL affiliate in Tucson this past season.  The 39-year-old is no stranger to the St. Louis organization as he spent parts of three years with the team at the start of his career, playing in 69 total games with the Blues.

St. Louis Blues Must Decide Who To Move If They Want To Improve

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One reason the St. Louis Blues struggled this past season was their lack of quality players in their top-six. If the Blues want to upgrade their center position this offseason which is believed to be their biggest need, the team must be willing to move some of their assets to do that. Some potential possibilities to fill that gap could range from the Buffalo Sabres’ Ryan O’Reilly to the Edmonton Oilers Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

In a mailbag segment, St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeff Gordon writes that the most obvious trade asset the team has is on defense. The team is loaded there with captain Alex Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko, Joel Edmundson, an expected bounce-back season of veteran Jay Bouwmeester, and the improved play of rookie Vince Dunn. The most obvious trade chip would be Parayko, a promising draft pick back in 2012, who has put up three solid seasons, but hasn’t taken that next step into a star player. Already locked in for another four years at $5.5MM AAV, the team may still not be ready to move on from him as their expectations are high on him.

Gordon writes if the team decides to make Parayko off-limits to teams, then the team would have to consider moving other key assets such as Edmundson and Dunn as well as a few of their young forward prospects such as Tage Thompson, Klim Kostin and Samuel Blais as well as the Winnipeg Jets’ 2018 first-round pick which they got in the Paul Stastny deal. While the preference would be for the team not to trade off any of their talented prospects, if they want to upgrade their roster, the team must consider moving some of them. While the team has made Jordan Kyrou, who is coming off an elite season in juniors, and Robert Thomas, their 2017 first-round pick who has dominated in the junior playoffs, the team might have no choice but to consider using Thompson, Kostin or Blais to bait a team into a trade.

Edmundson will be a restricted free agent this summer and while he has been hampered by injuries, he’s proven to be an excellent defensive blueliner. Dunn had a great first season as well. Thompson, the team’s 2016 first-rounder, split time between the Blues and the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. He could earn a bigger role next year, but scored just three goals in 41 games in the NHL last year. Kostin, the team’s other first-round pick in the 2017 draft, struggled adjusting to the North American game as an 18-year-old in the AHL, but is considered to have great skills. Blais also split time between leagues, but managed to get into just 11 games with the Blues.

However, the real question is what will they be willing to give up for a top-six center? Or is there another way to get one.

 

Offseason Keys: St. Louis Blues

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With just two teams still playing, the rest have already started their offseason planning.  What storylines lie ahead around the league?  Our Offseason Keys series continues with a look at the St. Louis Blues.

2017-18 was full of highs and lows for the Blues.  Carter Hutton emerged as a top goaltender while offseason Brayden Schenn vastly exceeded expectations.  On the flip side, Jake Allen struggled between the pipes and they had more than their fair share of injuries.  In the end, it added up to missing the playoffs on the last day of the regular season, sending them back to the drawing board this summer.  What will they be looking to do this offseason?

Decide Hutton’s Fate

After being a decent backup for the last few years, Hutton took his play up quite a few notches this past season.  He started to steal starts away from Allen and wound up posting the best save percentage (.931) and goals-against average (2.09).  That’s quite a performance heading into unrestricted free agency.

Given the season that Allen had (2.75 GAA, .906 SV%), the Blues would undoubtedly like to have some form of insurance behind him and Hutton is the logical choice to try to keep around.  The question is, can they afford to?

Hutton will certainly be seeking a raise on the $1.125MM cap hit he played under in his two seasons in St. Louis.  With top backups reaching (and in some cases, surpassing) $2.5MM in recent free agent markets, it’s reasonable to assume that this will be the minimum benchmark he’s looking to get.

Is that too rich for the Blues?  They have some money to play with this summer but have a couple of key restricted free agents to re-sign (more on one of those shortly) and they will be on the lookout for another top-six forward, an area they were looking for help in throughout this past season and that was before they dealt Paul Stastny to Winnipeg.  If they can’t afford to bring him back, then they will need to decide whether or not to go with one of their prospects in Jordan Binnington or Ville Husso or if they’d be better served going after one of the other veterans on the open market.

Short-Term Or Long-Term For Fabbri

Two years ago, winger Robby Fabbri looked like he was on his way to becoming a key player rather quickly.  He put up 37 points in 72 games as a rookie and followed that up with a comparable sophomore campaign with 29 points in 51 contests, giving him a slightly higher point-per-game average.

However, that’s when the injuries started.  Fabbri tore his ACL in February of 2017, ending his second full NHL year prematurely.  He was expected to be ready for training camp and was going to be counted on to provide St. Louis with some secondary scoring.  Unfortunately, he wound up re-tearing the same ACL which ended his 2017-18 season before it even started.

A year and a half ago, he looked like a prime candidate for a long-term deal once his entry-level contract expired but that’s not the case now as he hits restricted free agency this summer for the first time.  Given how much time he has missed, a short-term bridge deal seems like the logical outcome.  However, this could be an intriguing buy-low opportunity for St. Louis.  Given the uncertainty that follows when a player misses a year and a half with multiple knee surgeries, there’s a chance that Fabbri may be willing to take a bit of a lesser salary to get some long-term security.  If they can find the right dollar amount on that deal, this could be an opportunity to get a top-six talent signed for a below-market value although there obviously would be some risk.  The bridge contract is still the likelier outcome but it wouldn’t be surprising to see GM Doug Armstrong investigate a long-term pact as well.

Add Top Six Help

Throughout 2017-18, the Blues were looking for a top-six winger thanks to Fabbri’s injury.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have the cap space to make that type of in-season addition.  Stastny’s departure opens up another vacancy in there that needs to be filled, even with Fabbri returning.

During the season, the team tried centers Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka in that role but both are better suited for a third line position.  With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Armstrong look to deal one of those two players; Sobotka would be the easier to flip with him not having any no-trade protection and two years left on his contract.

With the salary cap expected to be increased for next season, St. Louis should have enough space to make a splash in free agency.  While they were looking for help on the wing during the season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them look at the centers either considering that Stastny needs to be replaced.  The way things look now, there is likely to be at least one notable newcomer in their lineup come October.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Western Notes: Pettersson, Fabbri, Blues, Skinner

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The Vancouver Canucks top prospect Elias Pettersson received a gold medal today at the IIHF World Championships. While the 19-year-old center did not  play after fracturing his thumb last week in a game against finals opponent Switzerland, there is also no word on whether he intends to sign his entry-level deal with the Canucks either, according to Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal.

Dhaliwal said he believes that Pettersson has yet to make up his mind about whether he wants to sign with Vancouver or stay another year in the SHL and play another year for Vaxjo. There is no timetable when the 2017 fifth-overall pick will make his decision.

  • In a mailbag edition, St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeff Gordon writes that the best option for both the St. Louis Blues and restricted free agent Robby Fabbri is a one-year deal. Fabbri who hasn’t played a game since Feb. 4, 2017, is recovering from a torn ACL injury and had to undergo surgery a second time in training camp this year when he reinjured the same knee. Gordon writes with his value at an all-time low, as many players have trouble coming back from double surgery to the same knee, so both teams would want a one-year deal, including Fabbri who would want to prove to everyone he’s healthy if he wants to cash in on a lucrative contract.
  • Sticking with the Blues, The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford (subscription required) writes that the St. Louis Blues continue to shop some of worst contracts in hopes of clearing some cap space, including Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka and goaltender Jake Allen, although it’s unlikely they would be able to move any of those contracts. The 29-year-old Berglund has a $3.85MM AAV deal for another four years. Sobotka has two more years at $3.5MM AAV, while Allen has three more years at $4.35MM.
  • The Athletic’s Allan Mitchell (subscription required) evaluates the play of Edmonton Oilers goaltending prospect Stuart Skinner, who has been a solid prospect, but had a really good stretch after he was traded to the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos. The 2017 third-rounder posted a .932 postseason save percentage in 26 games, leading Swift Current to the WHL title. Is he the goalie of the future for the Oilers? Mitchell compares the prospect to other top goaltending prospects, but still admits its too early to know how good he could be. Regardless, the Oilers have something to look forward to in the future.

 

Toronto Maple Leafs Lead Bonus Overages List

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It looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs are at the top of at least one list. CapFriendly released a list of teams with Bonus Overages for this year, which result from players on their entry-level contracts hitting their standard bonuses. Nine teams’ performance bonuses went over the salary cap with the Maple Leafs leading with $2.55MM, which will now count against their 2018-19 cap. The bonus overages range from Toronto’s $2.55MM to the Minnesota Wild’s $25K.

The Maple Leafs’ bonuses came from just three players from the entry-level contracts of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander which totaled the $2.55MM. Since the team had no remaining cap room in 2017-18, it pushes over to the following year. Most of the nine teams were at the cap threshold, while others like the Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues and the Tampa Bay Lightning had some cap room to take a part of the bonus hits.

Two teams bonuses could still go up as Boston’s Jake Debrusk and Tampa Bay’s Mikhail Sergachev could each receive bonus if they are named to the All-Rookie Team.

Here is the nine-team list:

Toronto Maple Leafs: $2,550,000
Chicago Blackhawks: $1,232,500
Vancouver Canucks: $852,847
Boston Bruins: $774,000
Detroit Red Wings: $755,000
St. Louis Blues: $150,988
Tampa Bay Lightning: $142,947
Washington Capitals: $82,500
Minnesota Wild: $25,000

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