Quoting: slater417
Yup, thats exactly what Thomas is.
Now remind me how far into the playoffs he's carrying the roster you have?
STL is currently selling off. You sold off last year. You dont have any prospect better than the two being offered.
You're sitting in the dreaded middling of drafting. Not quite good enough to make the playoffs, not quite bad enough to get a bedard without an insane amount of luck, and youre also locked into contracts like Krug, which means you can't add another top end player from UFA.
So Yes the Blues should look at moving thomas now. Before he asks out and ruins any and all trade value, because you wont be able to make the playoffs in the next 5 years at this rate.
Now remind me how far into the playoffs he's carrying the roster you have? - Considering where we're at him and about 5 other guys are carrying the team to a potential wild card berth. By your reasoning here every team that isn't in the top 16 should be the Buffalo Sabres, see how well that's worked out?
STL is currently selling off. You sold off last year. You dont have any prospect better than the two being offered. We sold off expiring UFAs last season. Sure we're selling again or at least trying to. We're selling guys who don't fit our long-term plans. A 24 year old is far from that especially when he's paired with a 25 year old that was a top 60 point producer last season. The last statement is extremely subjective. By many accounts Snuggerud and Dvorsky are. Which is where another root of the problem lies, we don't need forwards that are 2-3 years out.
You're sitting in the dreaded middling of drafting. Not quite good enough to make the playoffs, not quite bad enough to get a bedard without an insane amount of luck, and youre also locked into contracts like Krug, which means you can't add another top end player from UFA. - Is this a dreaded middling? Sure we have contracts that would be beneficial to get out from under. They all generally expire in 2-3 years. Do you know how many teams in the last 10 years have been "lucky enough to draft a Bedard" without extreme development from the player/luck? 3 maybe 4 - Edmonton with McDavid, Toronto with Matthews, Chicago with Bedard, would accept Buffalo with Eichel as well. How many of those teams have won the Stanley Cup in those 10 years? There's something that is very much so overlooked by alot of paper rosters otherwise Buffalo/Ottawa etc would be perennial contenders, they aren't. Tag in that not every market is capable of undergoing a full on rebuild. St Louis ownership has been great and there's been a large growth in the fanbase in the last 5 years since the cup. But there were certainly some dark ages. These are businesses for some people, and our ownership has been great, i'd rather them not need to sell since Hockey isn't the major market in the area. Another fun question for you. What percentage of top UFA signings are extremely impactful? There's this ignorant misconception that cap space means you are going to A. get whatever free agent you want, and B. Get them at a contract value better than what your current contracts are at. it's extremely untrue most are the bad contracts that teams want to get out from under i.e. Krug because they are done so in desperation and need and don't always fit the same way in one place as they do in another.
This response was about as logical as the general premise that the Blues would retain on an already fantastic contract for 8 years on a 24 year old player who is doing everything for the team and doing everything at a very high level.