Don't think I'd be too happy with that return for Buch to be honest with you.

Blues can retain 50% on Buch but the return imo would be

Bourgalt
Broberg
2024 1st
2025 1st

Then Ken should make a more enticing offer.

Gross.

Ya'll are overvaluing the hell out of Buch. That's pretty much the equivalent of 3 first-round picks for a winger who only has 1 full season left on his deal and is due for a massive raise that most teams probably wouldn't like to pay. He's not even top 10 at his position in the league. Not to mention he'll be 30 by the time that new contract kicks in. I actually can't think of a player that has been traded for that much in the past decade. Timo Meier, who is probably the best comparable prior to this season, wasn't even traded for that much, and he was younger and an expiring RFA. There's no way you actually think he'd return more if he were traded. If you don't think he'll get traded because he's an invaluable asset, you could just say that.

He isn't being shopped, so that essentially it. Just setting expectations.

Holy all these moves would be horrendous for Edmonton and man blues fans are delusional massive overpay for buch

We keep saying this, but sure, why not one more try: there is a difference between value to one team and value to another. Not all teams are valuing the same things at the same level, because they all have different needs and different stocked positions to deal from and different cap situations and different competition statuses. Nobody is suggesting there's not a ton of value; they keep saying when it's the wrong type of value to meet current Blues needs.

And on top of that, let's not forget the Blues aren't trying to trade Buch. They don;t want to trade Buch. He's not on the market or available. Therefore, someone needs to put up an offer Army cannot refuse. It's that simple. Why would he make concessions on what he would require to let go of a top line player he wants to keep?

I genuinely had no idea that they weren't trying to sell him. Between a tweet that I saw and the increased Buch trade ACGM's, I kind of just rolled with the narrative. My bad.

Doug's willingness to pay Buch a big contract through his 30s is the only reason I can still see a trade happening. I'm sure you'd know more about that topic, but I also feel that the Blues are still a few years away from becoming a team that can compete for the Cup. A player like Buch can be momentarily replaced by someone of lesser skill, while the assets received for him can be used at a time when the team is ready to compete for the cup.

I don’t think that the 1sts are as valuable as you would tend to think.

I would shoot for something similar to what Meier got. However, Edmonton doesn’t have those pieces.

1st
Mulmahdullin
Zetterlund
Ohkutiuk
2nd with possibility of upgrading to a 1st.

There is no comparable in the oilers system for Muk
I guess you could argue Broberg would be close for Ohkutiok
Then young roster forward who is scoring at around a 40-50 point pace?

Mukmahdullin was in my eyes the best piece in that deal. What do you consider a comparable?

1 - Heh. No worries, man. I do not blame you, the way the misinformation mill runs around here and in the hockey world, in general. If I was out of town, I'd probably get the same impression.

2 - Yup. That or a crazy offer he can't turn down.

3 - This is another thing that gets said so often in the bubble, and even in STL, that just becomes "accepted fact" when it really isn't. The Blues should not be three years away - did Vancouver look better than this Blues team does now last season? Did the Jets?

A lot can change in an offseason, and if the Blues could offload Krug and replace him with a legit Parayko partner (say, Forsling), this team looks entirely different. From one change. The Blues are one beautiful D change and a supplemental scorer away from being really scary. Well... and probably a smart new head coach hire, too, but some may disagree with that.

What is that ridiculous offer for Tanev? Did a flames fan make this post? Conroy is struggling for anyone to even offer one 1st let alone 1st++

I think we’re going to have to have more than one supplemental scorer added.

While I’d imagine at least one of the young guys makes the team next season it’s hard to count on one of them to play at a 2nd line role.

I think it’s very hard to argue that we have any 2nd liners currently.

Schenn is a ghost 75% of the time.

Neighbors goal total is in a really good spot, I’d give him the benefit of the doubt if he was the 2nd or 3rd option in the offensive zone. He’s a great agitator and net front presence who plays very hard. But I don’t know if playmaking is there.

Saad like Schenn is a ghost most of the time, but you know what you’re getting with him.

Hayes is a 3rd liner.

We direly need some consistent secondary scoring to supplement that first line that’s been really good

Supplemental scoring is easy to grab. Stephenson is a UFA, so is Frenchy. It's not a dire need until the real dire needs are sorted out. And by then, these kids might be contributing. What I do not want to do is spend assets and block the kids while our LD situation still needs fixing.

Besides, our "offense problem" isn't really about how they play in the O zone. It's about being sloppy with the puck in the other two zones, which puts us on defense instead of offense far too often. Our system is intended to control the puck, and we only do that hot and cold. Krug = sloppy. Schenn = sloppy. Kessel and Faulk both = sloppy (though I suspect Faulk's is quite injury related). We self-inflict so many goals out of thin air. If we care for the puck properly, we score just fine. How many times this season have we dominated play and lost? I'm sure it has happened, but I cannot think of one off hand.

Forcing Colt/Leddy to carry bottom 6 lines and forcing RobTom's crew to run with Krug so much ain;t helping, either - imagine what Thomas/Kyrou/Buch could do if their D wasn't coughing up the puck so much. We've sold out offense for defense because our puck handling issues put us on defense so much.

My only issue with solely blaming the defense is it’s all of them when it’s bad. Colts not as guilty on awful turnovers, but his passing certainly isn’t snapping on the tape most of the time. Krug has notoriously been a good passer throughout his career. Yet here it’s the same out of sequence issues. All of our blue line has. And it’s not every night which is the odd thing

Colt's passing has been quite good this season, and certainly better than Krug's. Which obviously is an issue.

And yeah, it's not every night. But it's too much. We love to bunch bungles together in the same game.