St. Louis Blues Must Decide Who To Move If They Want To Improve
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
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
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
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
Jaden Schwartz Suffers Shoulder Injury At The World Championships
Blues winger Jaden Schwartz sustained a shoulder injury on Thursday during Canada’s quarterfinal victory over Russia at the World Championships, notes Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The injury occurred during the third period of the game and he did not return. The injury will not require surgery but he will miss the final two games of the tournament which wraps up on Sunday. However, Armstrong noted that this is not believed to be a long-term issue and that he fully expects Schwartz to be ready in time for training camp in September. He’s far from the only St. Louis player that will be on the mend as defensemen Jay Bouwmeester (hip) and Carl Gunnarsson (knee) as well as wingers Robby Fabbri (knee) and Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder) are all currently recovering from their respective surgeries.
Western Notes: Former Stars, Turris, Kyrou, Heiskanen
After a disappointing showing in the 2017-18 season that saw the Dallas Stars fall out of the playoffs early, SportsDay’s Mike Heika takes a look at former Dallas Stars players who got an opportunity to compete in the playoffs, asking the question of whether trading away players is the way to go or should teams keep all their players?
He points out several former Stars, including defensemen Patrik Nemeth, Jamie Oleksiak, as well as Matt Niskanen, as well as the Vegas Golden Knights’ trio of forwards James Neal, Reilly Smith and Cody Eakin.
The scribe writes that while Nemeth was lost to waivers to Colorado, it was unlikely that he was going to get an opportunity to play, while Oleksiak who the team traded away to Pittsburgh for a fourth-round pick, also would have found playing time remote with their group of young defenseman like Esa Lindell, Julius Honka, and Stephen Johns.
Neal and Niskanen were both traded back in 2011 for Alex Goligoski. Heika points out that while that trade looks bad now, Goligoski was a major contributor for years with the Stars as one of their top defensemen. Eakin was lost in the expansion draft, but freed up enough cap room to add Martin Hanzal via free agency, although so far that hasn’t worked out as well as they wanted. Smith went to Boston to get Tyler Seguin, which no one would complain about, although despite having already played for four teams, Smith might be the guy they could use the most.
- Team Canada announced that they have added Nashville Predators center Kyle Turris for the IIHF World Championships in Denmark. He should add some veteran depth to a strong Canadian team. Turris, whose Predators were eliminated Thursday, had a solid year between Ottawa and Nashville, putting up 16 goals and 35 assists, but struggled in the playoffs. He failed to score and only had three assists in 13 games.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeff Gordon answers questions in a mailbag column, but says that St. Louis fans shouldn’t hold their breath when it comes to the status of prospect Jordan Kyrou joining the St. Louis Blues out of training camp next season. The 20-year-old center is one of the team’s most heralded prospects after putting up 109 points in 56 games with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting this past season. However, Gordon writes it’s far more likely that Kyrou will start the season in the AHL and shuttle back and forth to gain experience.
- Dallas Stars prospect Miro Heiskanen has been making his mark at the World Championships in Denmark for Team Finland. At 18 years old, the 2017 third-overall pick helped his team to a victory over Team Canada Saturday, which included a key save to a likely goal by Connor McDavid. His success on the ice likely means that he is ready to join the Stars next season. “It’s nice to face those guys and see where I am,” Heiskanen said. “It’s a good test to play them, maybe I will play them next year in the NHL. I want to play there as soon as possible, that’s my goal.”
Vladimir Sobotka Could Be A Trade Candidate This Summer
- If the Blues wind up dealing one of their centers this summer, Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests that Vladimir Sobotka is the one with the best chance of being moved. The 30-year-old has two years left on his contract at $3.5MM per season and is coming off someone of a quiet year with 31 points (11-20-31) in 81 games. While moving Patrik Berglund ($3.85MM per year through 2021-22) would free up more long-term cap room, he was the more productive of the two and also has a modified no-trade clause while Sobotka does not have any trade protection in his contract.
Red Wings Expected To Show Interest In Signing Carter Hutton
- The Red Wings have a vacancy to fill between the pipes this summer and Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports that Blues netminder Carter Hutton is someone that they have interest in. Hutton is coming off of a career season that saw him post a 2.09 GAA and a .931 SV% in 32 appearances and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. However, he’ll undoubtedly be seeking a significant raise on the two-year, $2.25MM deal he just completed and Detroit is a team that is typically close to the Upper Limit of the salary cap so it will be interesting to see if there is a number that would work for both sides.
Jordan Kyrou Wins OHL Most Outstanding Player
The St. Louis Blues may have missed the playoffs this season, but they received some good news today when Jordan Kyrou was named the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player and awarded the Red Tilson Trophy. Kyrou, a Blues second-round pick from 2016, registered 109 points in just 56 games this season while also winning a gold medal at the World Junior Championship.
Kyrou is an outstanding skater who dominated the OHL this season, finishing just six points behind Aaron Luchuk for the scoring title despite playing in 12 fewer games. His 70 assists were tied with Morgan Frost for the league lead, helping him become the first Sarnia Sting player to ever win the Red Tilson. The trophy is a prestegious honor, with plenty of past recipients going on to long prosperous NHL careers. Alex DeBrincat, Mitch Marner, Connor McDavid, Connor Brown and Vincent Trocheck are the past five winners, with other names like John Tavares, Eric Lindros and Doug Gilmour all having taken a turn.
While it may be unlikely for Kyrou to duplicate some of those careers, many believe he’s poised to become a difference-maker at the next level. The Blues have several top end prospects ready to break onto the professional scene, with Kyrou leading the charge next season. Whether he begins the year at the AHL level or cracks the Blues out of training camp is still to be seen, but there is little doubt that the spotlight will follow him next season.
Amazingly, it’s not just Kyrou’s offense that is remarked on when scouts take in one of his games. Relentlessly effective in his own zone, he’ll be challenged at the next level to keep up his excellent defensive work ethic and become the two-way player many believe he can be. Junior hockey can sometimes fail to expose weaknesses in players who have a standout ability as Kyrou does in his skating, only to be revealed in the professional ranks against similarly skilled players.
Regardless, the Blues will be happy that Kyrou took the necessary steps forward this season to win the award. Many believed from the start of the year that he would challenge for the scoring title, and had he not spent time away with the Canadian national junior team, he likely would have. Though the Sting were eliminated in the second round of the OHL playoffs, Kyrou will have plenty of other chances in what is expected to be a long career.
KHL Notes: Ozhiganov, Valiev, Soshnikov
Dan Milstein, the agent for many of the league’s top Russian players including Nikita Kucherov and Artemi Panarin, spoke about some of his lesser known clients recently with Championat, a Russian publication. In the interview, he would not confirm that Igor Ozhiganov will sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs, only that the defenseman will make a decision in the coming days.
Ozhiganov, 25, was visited by Lou Lamoriello and Mike Babcock earlier this season, in much the same process as Nikita Zaitsev the year prior. Many have believed for some time that he is destined to sign with the Maple Leafs, though nothing is certain yet.
- Rinat Valiev, who was reported to be going to the KHL recently, has apparently not made that decision yet. Valiev will listen to offers from the Montreal Canadiens, as Milstein explained he was pleased when he got a chance at the NHL level. The former Maple Leafs prospect played in two games with the Canadiens after being traded midseason, and is a restricted free agent this summer.
- Nikita Soshnikov, another former Maple Leafs player traded this time to the St. Louis Blues in early 2018, is also not committed to heading to Russia just yet. Milstein explained that St. Louis has already offered him a new one-way contract, but Soshnikov is considering heading back. Also a restricted free agent this summer, his rights are owned by SKA St. Petersburg, one of the most powerful teams in the KHL.