I think the Isles are going to be content running out Robin Salo as LD3 but if they don't like what they see I could see this being a September trade.

Change the third to a fourth and that’s probably a done deal. A 3rd is too much for Mikkola imo.

Heh. A 3rd is too much. Funny stuff.

Look, man, I do not see Mikko as expendable, nor do I see why Leddy being around makes him more expendable. They fill entirely different roles. My theory is Army got spooked by the late season/playoff D stable injury crises we tend to suffer too way many times. I honestly think he's content to begin with 8 Dmen, because he thinks at least one injury is inevitable. I think he is dedicating himself to not getting caught short in crunch time anymore.

Of course, he's been kinda wacky and hard to figure the last several months, so maybe my theory is just some sort of rationalization for his behavior.

It’s very difficult to move salary rn so I don’t think ur right about a third being too much. Also when I watched him in the post season I thought he was the worst defenseman on the ice for the blues most nights.

I also know what the metrics say about Leddy but I also watched the blues forward core turn over the puck five times in a 3 minute span when Leddy was out there. Idea he is the problem is reflected by the numbers, but when you actually watched him he wasn’t the problem.

Leddy’s only bad play that series was when he got walked by Nate the Great. Mikkola is just a better version of Kurtis MacDermid.

1- First of all, truthfully speaking, nobody got "walked" by McKinnon on that play. Everyone out there had done two looong, hard-charging shifts out of three, and was totally gassed. Gassed gassed. I blame Berube for not having fresher legs out there. More importantly, it definitely wasn't his only bad pay. But I also never said he was bad, so I'm not even sure how we got here.

2- I don't even know what to say to that. It's just odd.

Second comment? Oh I just don’t like Mikkola lol.

1- Move salary? Trading Mikko is not a moving salary move, he don't even make that much. So I don't get what this is about.

2- Hmm. His most frequent partner in the playoffs was Parayko, meaning he was getting the toughest assignments. They allowed one even strength goal when together. Mikkola was also strong on the PK in the playoffs. Not sure what you saw, but okay. Rosen was the worst defender on the ice most nights, by a fair margin.

3- I watched every minute of every game he's played for the Blues. And again, why are you defending Leddy? I don't get it at all. He was decent. Not great. Not terrible. But my ENTIRE point is Leddy and Mikkola fill different roles in the defense. I have no clue why we're discussing Leddy so much. The topic is Mikkola, who is better and has at least a bit more value than you think. Actually, there's an argument to be made that he's the most tradable Blues defenseman apart from Perunovich.

When I watch Parayko and Mikkola together it always looked like Colorado was about to score lol

Mikkola always looks like he’s about to do something stupid and his penalty minutes reflect that tbh lol

Hmm. Plenty of his penalties are either necessary acts brought on by another's mistake or completely fictional nonsense. And often times, taking the pen and letting their great PK handle it is better than what would have happened had he not intervened.

Muh huh, I see. Care to explain how the Blues had a 53% chance share when they were together? Because to hear you tell it, it was a clown show.

Oh... btw... Parayko had a 40% chance share during the playoffs when he was not partnered with Mikko. What's more, with Leddy and Parayko together, the Blues had a 33% share of the chances. So either these stats are counterfeit or you're remembering wrong and/or wildly exaggerating. Which of those two scenarios seems more likely?

Eye test and analytics don’t always match up. I could absolutely be wrong but I’d have to go back and look at zone starts, quality of competition and everything else.

https://twitter.com/jfreshhockey/status/1531351476014030851?s=21&t=KlrefqnRqev1uDMr-gYKuQ

Of course they don't. But when the eye test is soooo far away from the analytics... and we both know you don't need to look at quality of competition for his minutes with Parayko. Again, one goal allowed in like 53 minutes together.

Oh well, if "Corey's microstat game score" says it!

Just saying someone else saw the same thing I did lol. Didn’t say I was right!