Easy no for the blues

There's very little benefit to the Blues doing this. We lose out on the opportunity to extend Buch, we severely downgrade, cut almost no salary (which is completely fine), and we are only compensated with a late 1st and most likely a late 2nd and a couple of mid round picks.

I would say drop the 3rd and 4th and add in Willander/Lekkerimaki + Woo/Bruscewitz and condition the 2nd to bump based on Canucks success. You're getting asking for an elite player on a bargain of a contract for 2 cup runs. If it's too much that's fine, there's no reason at all for the Blues to sell Buch short this season and most likely i'd imagine he gets extended pretty reasonably.

So you would ask for 1st 2024 + 1st/2nd 2025 + Willander/Lekkerimaki + Woo/Bruscewitz? I understand that you aim high but that's ridiculous.

I understand that there's no reason to move Buch and you'd be happy to keep him. But what are the odds that a) Buch wants to re-sign in STL and b) STL wants to commit big money and term to a 30 year old winger?

I think Buch would be happy to come back to St. Louis but I agree I'm not sure the Blues want to go long term with him as he doesn't really fit our window for contention.
I think realistically if the trade is with Vancouver, the Blues will want Lekkerimaki or Willander coming back. Now if either of those 2 are in the package I don't think it's going to be a TON else like listed above but still if the Blues decide to trade Buch there will be a bidding war for him and the Blues will likely get a ton. So a teams top prospects have to be on the table in a serious discussion.

Not sure. But in all reality that’s a very similar return that I asked for that Timo Meier got as an expiring RFA with a 10m QO. You’re asking for an 1st liner at half of a normal 1st liners cap hit all while having us take on additional year on the Garland contract which is an ok contract but certainly does nothing to help us reach our goals.

Hell what you proposed is much worse than Horvat just netted you guys as an expiring UFA.

Baseline for my thinking was

Willander > Mukmahdullin
Woo/Brusc = Ohkotiuk
Johnsson was a one year cap dump not 3
And there’s no Zetterlund

Big ol' miss. The Blues are going g to prioritize young players and prospects over draft picks.

Taking on the Garland contract is a fair point and requires some value attached to it besides STL hypothetically liking him as a player. But also consider that
a) Buch has a M-NTC (could angle his way to 2-4 particular teams)
b) Most teams that would be interested in Buch do not have cap space (this was listed as a major reason why we got Zadorov for cheap despite CGY not wanting to move him to us)
c) Other interested teams may not have prospects as good as Lekkerimaki or a contract they can easily move to make cap space.

The thing with Willander and Bruscewitz is that they are RHD, which is a premium asset and the kind that never gets moved. Every team in the league that offered a valuable piece to NYR in the last 2-3 years has asked for Schneider (including us with Miller probably) and it hasn't happened, young RHD just don't get moved. Consider further that RHD is an area of need for VAN and we have barely had any in the system at all over the last number of years, let alone prospects as good as those guys look right now. I don't think they can be compared to the Makmahdullin or Ohkotiuk (especially cause SJS clearly went for quantity over quality in that specific deal). I understand Buch is a premier asset and you have to ask high, but in reality VAN isn't including one of those guys let alone both.

I think Garland + Lekkerimaki + 1st 2024 for Buch is at least a solid framework for a deal with the understanding that the market will dictate if anything else needs to be added.

While I mostly agree with you. RHD wasn’t the focal point but however is the focal point of your prospect group. We are just so stocked at forward prospects that it shouldn’t be a priority. Kyrou and Thomas are signed for 8. Schenn for 4-5. Neighbors looks great so far. Then we have Dvorsky, Snuggerud, Bolduc, Stenberg and Dean who are likely to become NHLers.

It’s a good fit but a bad fit if premiums are being thrown on.