Quoting: RClay321
1. Krug will be just fine. People over reacted to Faulk last year and he was our best D-Man this year. Krug also plays the left side and there is no top end talent behind him there. Dunn is not a top pairing Dman, moving him for a 1st if they can is the best option. Krug still had 32 pts in 51 games which is pretty damn good for a defenseman. A healthy Parayko next to him will only help
2. RNH is going to get somewhere around 7.5, no way he comes to STL where we already bury Thomas on the 3rd as far as center depth
3. 6.5 is not a crazy amount for a DMan, especially in a few years when the cap starts to go back up
4. Husso is perfectly fine being the backup, no need to spend 2.5 on another goalie
5. Tarasenko is the contract the Blues need to look at moving not someone from the D
I could argue - with stats to back it up - that Dunn is fully capable of doing exactly what Krug does right now, and will be better at it and cheaper for the next 6 years. I'm not saying that Krug isn't good, I just think the Blues would be better set up without him for the next 6 years - something I've thought ever since they signed him to do Dunn's job. It doesn't matter what I think though, they won't trade Krug so soon after signing him and they won't expose him to protect Dunn, who they obviously have no interest in long-term. I'll never understand why they opted for these contracts that take guys to like 36 yrs old but we're too chicken to give Petro the contract he wanted... oh well.
2018-2021 at 5v5:
Dunn 17 G, 16 A1, 15 A2 = 48 pts (1.0 P/60), 53% xGF%, 0.23 RelTM xG+-/60
Krug 8 G, 17 A1, 22 A2 = 47 pts (0.97 P/60), 50.6% xGF%, -0.03 RelTM xG+-/60
Running an STL PP this season:
Dunn 5 primary pts, 7 pts in 72 TOI on 2nd unit
Krug 8 primary pts, 13 ts in 144 TOI on 1st unit
This season was easily Dunn's worst defensive season of his career so far and his EV GA/60 was lower than Krug's.
Btw Husso was complete garbage. His GSAx/60 was the worst of any Blues goalie in 5 yrs aside from a few games of the Chad Johnson experiment. I see no reason why they should give him the backup role after looking at the free agent goalies this offseason.
Shedding Tarasenko's cap might help but would look really dumb if he got back to being a 30 goal guy and we used the cap space on yet another long-term, too-high AAV deal for an aging, non-elite player.