Assuming Blues can find another LHD somewhere they accept

Blues accept no matter what

Deal

The Blues may be up to deal Scandella, but Larsson is not helping this offer at all and Steel is only mildly interesting. I don't know what these other guys are on about.

Another LHD in addition to Larsson? I figured that's who would take Scandella's spot, though not provide nearly the same kind of game.

I waffled a bit on adding to it. But with Scandella's age and term plus how young Steel and Larsson are, not to mention being former first rounders, this seemed pretty fair to me. In fact, I'm waiting for my fellow Ducks fans to chime in about it being too much.

Like I said, Larsson is of no value to the Blues. They already have other LDs better than him, and now Perunovich is ready to go, too. Steel could be of mild use, but Scandella is highly useful to the team. It doesn;t help the Blues any, even if the raw value may seem sufficient.

The Blues need a top four defenseman to pair with Parayko. Scandella can do it in a pinch but he's not a long term solution there, and obviously neither is Larsson. I'm fine with having Larsson on the team as a depth option but he's not going to be that guy. Ironically the guy I would like to have for that is Marcus Pettersson, who I know is a guy you ruled out.



The return of Larsson shouldn't be a consequence you're spending any time on in this deal. It's a depth defenseman that you can bury all but 75k in the minors with, and that's a guy we would have loved to have last year with all the injuries we had on defense. Steel is a solid prospect on an ELC and I'm not sure what version of Scandella is useful to this team, especially at that cap hit. The cap flexibility alone is a big win. This is a good deal for the Blues.

This is a very intriguing idea. I, too, have lost faith that Larsson is going to be a top-4 defenseman, and there have been times in the past two years when I wondered whether Sam is ever going to fulfill the promise of his draft-year 131 points. Because we now have two prime prospects at center that have already surpassed Steel in expectation, this is the very kind of farsighted deal that might turn out VERY well in the next couple of seasons. People may not agree with it, or your evaluation of the three players concerned, but this shows some real good vision.

1- At the very least, Larsson should be considered 1.2M they'd have to pay and/or account for on the cap. As such, I noted that adding Larsson subtracts from the offer, which is obviously true. He's wretched and all the Ducks fans here are saying he's pure trash. Larsson would be of no good use whatsoever, and would have been of no good use last season.

2- Steel is nearly 24 now, he is no longer a prospect. He's just a average-to-subpar 3C who is small and bordering on slow. And has one ELC year left, not a great boon or anything.

3- Scandella has strength, skates well and stands up the line. He moves the puck reasonably safely and understands the system already. Cap hit or not, he's obviously useful and it's not hard to see.

4- The cap flexibility is a good thing, but would have been far more useful a few weeks ago. It does absolutely nothing to help us actually win games now (or, quite possibly, in the future). This is not how the team operates. If there was another squad strengthening move to run behind it, sure. As is, I'd definitely find a better solution. This is not the only way to gain some cap flexibility.

It's extremely funny to me that you say Larsson is wretched and Scandella is useful when their profiles are extremely similar. Is it ideal to take Larsson back? It's not, but we would be shedding ten million in salary by getting rid of the rest of the Scandella deal, so taking Larsson back for a year and paying him 1.3M is, in the grand scheme of things, not a big deal for a team that's publicly committed to spending to the cap. And then you can just not qualify him next year.

I mean I said in my original comment it only makes sense if the Blues can use the cap space to find a different LHD. I'm not under any illusions that Steel is going to be a top six player on the Blues but he still has upside and he's cheap and I don't know how you can claim Scandella, a below average player making 3.25, is useful and then claim an NHL bottom six player making basically league minimum is not. Like, what do you think Marco Scandella is worth? Because it's not much more than that. I don't see a whole lot of mock rosters of people actively wanting Scandella.

He's useful in-so-far that he's an NHL body with experience in the Blues system, I guess. I feel like the bare minimum of an NHL defenseman is "skates, is strong, and stands up the line". Distinguishing that as some kind of pro is I guess technically true but like it's hardly worth mentioning. Scandella's skill is his puck movement and ability to break out rush chances, but he does this at the expense of solid work in his own end and depending on your mileage on Faulk three other defensemen on this team already fit that description and do it better than him. Perunovich could make a fourth.

Obviously I'm not arguing against the Blues seeking out a better deal but like I just feel like expecting there to be a line around the block willing to pony up for Marco Scandella and the ten million dollars he's still owed with the limited skillset he offers is wishful thinking.

Would throwing in a pick or even another depth d-man sweeten the pot? I feel like there's a deal to be made here. Also, I feel like your underestimating Steel a bit. I think, as Ducks fans, our expectations went a little crazy after his post-draft year in the Dub when he put up insane numbers so seeing his progression being where it is has felt underwhelming. But he's a good player and I think he might even flourish in another system. I fear he realizes his true potential with another team a la William Karlsson but I'm willing to risk that to maximize his value now instead of watching him run into the ground the someone like Peter Holland did (a player, thankfully, Bob Murray knew to get good value back before it was too late).

1- Which depth defenseman?
2- You are drastically overrating Steel. There is absolutely nothing to suggest he's anywhere near Karlsson. He's a middling 3C at this point. Besides, the Blues don;t need any more pass first players.

1. Guhle, Benoit, or Mahura. We don't need all three of them in our system, especially with some of the rooks we have coming up.
2. That's exactly what we all said about Karlsson when he got traded to Columbus. The similarities they share at this stage in their careers is worrisome since I actively want him to be moved to maximize his value. Columbus felt that way about him too since they left him exposed in the expansion draft. That's not to say Steel will end up like Karlsson but he definitely could. I'm just more afraid he'll end up like Peter Holland but chances are in lands somewhere in the middle.

1- Guhle or Mahura works better than Larsson (not that this is saying much).

2- Steel does not have Karlsson's speed or size, and he's a pass first guy anyway. Steel will not be turning into Karlsson 2.0, so you can put that worry out of your head.

I really don't mean to beat a dead horse but I get the impression you didn't watch a lot of Karlsson's game when he was a Duck. He blossomed into a completely different player once he went to the Knights. It's funny, he even had a game or two where he flashed that potential much like Steel has, which got us all hyped about these guys. And they're built exactly the same. I've stood next to Wild Bill, don't let that 6' measurement fool you. He is faster than Steel though, I'll give you that.

Yeah... A LOT faster. And measurements or not, Karlsson definitely has more physical impact.