weird thing is ive always thought of saad as a defensive/TWF type.

Still gotta think this hindsight changes a few things...
such as barbashev hitting his stride. Tarasenko would be a more obvious claim for SEA over Krug. I also think keeping Pietrangelo might have meant Parayko doesn't extend.

Saad has been generally okay defensively (last year a big aberration) but Schwartz was so dominant. Tracking back lower than most wingers, forcing turnovers, skating pucks up ice, and then even making things hard on D with his forechecking.

Yeah perhaps things change. My guess would be Seattle takes Husso or Mikkola or Sanford (I think most people thought Vladdy was washed in summer 21 and Seattle’s analytics people likely wouldn’t touch Barbashev) but there’s no way to tell. A lot of bodies broke down after the cup too and perhaps Armstrong thought pre-back-injury Parayko would be a $9 million D rather than a $6.5 D and that’s why he felt the need to prepare differently. Idk, the point is that almost everything else that Armstrong could have done would be better than this product and it’s so frustrating watching all these beloved STL players finding success elsewhere when they feasibly all could still be here.

I love the original post and I appreciate the intelligent observations the others have made. The Blues should not be in this predicament, but the Cup team has been gutted. Not a single All-Star on that roster, but they competed and they played for each other. Not really sure what the Blues can do now except rebuild. It was really, really fun while it lasted. So much wasted, unappreciated talent.