Congrats - you win worst trade I have seen on Leap Day

Rangers get blocked by all GM's after these offers.

No team would retain that much for 7 years. ANA doesn't need a regressing C for their young star in a rebuild. CBJ has no need to trade young prospects for older more expensive players given their rebuilding situation as well.

Wild moves?? Another word would be more descriptive. Thinking Zibs waives his NMC for Ducks. Thinking Blues retain over 4m for seven years.

Every team declines

Im aware that its heavy retention. thats why its two top prospects plus the first. The only type of deal that nets both of those players is something for someone like Mcdavid. Thomas isnt even a top 10 center. He's a very good center, I'd even say he's elite, but the only reason for those two prospects would be the retention.

I'll ignore the retention part for now,
ANA was open to moving zegras, his defensive liabilities are the reason hes been struggling. Mika is still very good defensively, putting him ahead of carlsson and McTavish would give them a much different roster composition and ready for the playoffs now, not in 4 years.

Iskhakov, Ruslan [RFA Rights]
2024 1st round pick (NYI)
2025 2nd round pick (NYI)

I dunno I just saw that as the offer for Zegras.

What the Jackets need is a coach that can figure out how special teams and defense work. They also need young players of Jiricek and Mateychuk's skill level to be around as key pieces when Fantilli is peaking. Trading away a player who actually fits the window when they're hoping to be a regular playoff contender for help today makes no sense.

Im taking about the one for Thomas

I dont disagree with the first point. I'll say that you can't have an entire team full of skill, and thats a big reason I think Lindgren would be a fit for CBJ, he would also be a really solid voice in the room who's been on a team in this exact situation.

I understood that. I'm saying that offers worse than the thomas one. The Thomas one at least is valuing the player appropriately and paying heavy. The argument im getting is on the retention.
Which is why im paying heavy.

What on Earth are you talking about, dude? Is this satire you're doing? Your "offer" does not come anywhere near paying for the retention you are NEVER getting from the Blues in a million years. Your "offer" does not come anywhere remotely near being enough for Thomas, who is untouchable. You genuinely imagine that one single low 1st is getting you an elite C who is locked down to a bargain contract until the next decade? Really?

Holy hell, man. Should we call you a doctor? You are either doing satire (a bit ham-fisted, even for this place), trolling or you've never watched hockey a day in your life. In fact, you may have just arrived on the planet this afternoon if this is meant to be serious comentary.

I don't disagree that he could help, but making the team better now just isn't the way to go. The play is to be patient and let their 23 and younger players mature and then build around them. Trading them away to help an obviously very deficient group of veterans is a recipe for failure.

You aren't paying heavy though. Remove the retention add 3 1sts and the Blues still don't do it. You're asking for an elite center that's 24 on a bargain contract as the cap is rising.

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.

Where in the world do you get this nonsense?

Untrue.


He was struggling because he tried to play the first 14 games of the season with a groin injury. He went on the LTIR for 6 plus weeks, came back for 5 games, and then three shifts into his 20th game of the season, broke his tibia. His defensive liabilities had nothing to do with his struggles. In the five games he was healthy this season, he had two goals and one assist and was even in plus-minus.

There is literally 0 chance the blues ever even consider trading Thomas unless they are getting back a player like Pettersson. Not to mention I don’t think the rangers him is dumb enough to trade all of their top prospects.

Except for the fact that we have snuggerud and dvorsky who are both better than Othman and likely on par with Perrault. This deal is terrible.

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.

1 - Uh, not they are not. Where on Earth did you get that delusional idea?

2 - Uh, no they did not. They moved out UFAs only. Because of course they would. They had more than three 1sts worth of value in UFAs and nowhere near the playoffs. That's not what a sell-off is.

3 - Hahahaha WHAT????? Snuggerud and Dvorsky are almost universally ahead of Perreault, and are rated waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay higher than Othmann. Seriously, where do you get these ideas?

4 - (sigh)

Do I need to go get the famous Alicia Silverstone GIF? You have no clue what you're on about. With any of this. The trade you proposed is so cartoonishly out of whack with reality it boggles the mind. Few have been wronger about a trade idea around here, and that is saying so much. Maybe don't pretend to be an expert on things you obviously missed the boat on and just listen to people who actually know a little something about it.

Thomas is the future captain. He should be captain now. It's already his team. You are not getting him out of STL without a Thanos-sized army. Real talk. Ingest it.

There are some veteran LDs I would certainly consider going for right now, so I wouldn't rule out that approach immediately. I'm not sure if Lindgren qualifies but he's not far off IMO. For me the sticking point is losing Mateychuk - I'd want to trade one of the forwards for such a guy.

What forwards would you be willing to part with. My concept is giving us another young D in a few years.

Well, I'm on the record as being willing to move someone like KJ if we can pick up someone like Adam Pelech.

Kj is actually a higher end forward than I’d want to acquire and Lindgren isn’t pelech.

Yeah, exactly. I want to aim higher.