Let's Go Blues

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=454364

They say we should go after Vanek, Eric Staal, or Spezza in a trade.

I would take

1) Staal
2) Spezza
3) Vanek

In that order, although the first two have AWFUL +/-, but that probably wouldn't be as bad on the Blues.

checked out his "possible Blues roster" for next season as armchair GM on Capgeek; looking at missing names and added names.....

we get Spezza and subtract Berglund, Cole, Rattie (assuming no pick is involved from our end, maybe)

let Morrow, Roy and Ott walk (ok)

resign Cola which isn't happening and sign Joe Vitale (who?)

lower our cap number by about a Mill in all the moves

not sure I'd call this a solid offseason.

flyingnote38 wrote:checked out his "possible Blues roster" for next season as armchair GM on Capgeek; looking at missing names and added names.....

not sure I'd call this a solid offseason.

Agreed. I guess you could say this is one of the guys (I've run into a few other such neutrals) who think the Blues can/will progress naturally next season. I'm not so sure of that and don't have a lot of confidence of an improved result with the only significant addition being Spezza.

dmiles2186 wrote:I would take

1) Staal
2) Spezza
3) Vanek

In that order, although the first two have AWFUL +/-, but that probably wouldn't be as bad on the Blues.

Steve Ott says high.

I still can't believe how he continued to rack up -'s on the Blues.

I would piss myself if we got Eric Staal. Hell I didn't even know he was available?

SteveO wrote:

dmiles2186 wrote:I would take

1) Staal
2) Spezza
3) Vanek

In that order, although the first two have AWFUL +/-, but that probably wouldn't be as bad on the Blues.

Steve Ott says high.

I still can't believe how he continued to rack up -'s on the Blues.

Good point. I still can't believe we're trying to re-sign that guy (at least what the rumor mill is saying).

Ott did make a really slick no look back pass that almost resulted in a goal in game 5. A lot of players could've been better!

Berglund
Oshie
Steen
Backes
Miller

Walk Ott, Walk.

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:Ott did make a really slick no look back pass that almost resulted in a goal in game 5. A lot of players could've been better

Ott's tenure with the St. Louis Blues: he made a slick pass once.

dmiles2186 wrote:

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:Ott did make a really slick no look back pass that almost resulted in a goal in game 5. A lot of players could've been better

Ott's tenure with the St. Louis Blues: he made a slick pass once.

LOL..I know he's not Gretzky and you guys are right on how the Blues should dump him. How much of a salary cap hit is he?

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:

dmiles2186 wrote:

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:Ott did make a really slick no look back pass that almost resulted in a goal in game 5. A lot of players could've been better

Ott's tenure with the St. Louis Blues: he made a slick pass once.

LOL..I know he's not Gretzky and you guys are right on how the Blues should dump him. How much of a salary cap hit is he?

He was $2.95M on his expiring deal, which is way too much for him. I know people have tried to justified his re-signing by saying A) he's good at faceoffs (which he is, and that's good) and B) he's a physical presence who can muck it up. And while the faceoff thing is valuable, over half of our roster is filled with guys who have a physical presence. It's not like he's an elite grinder. Unless we get him on a sweetheart deal for depth, I'm okay just cutting our losses with that trade and moving on.

dmiles2186 wrote:

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:

dmiles2186 wrote:

JesusNEVERexisted wrote:Ott did make a really slick no look back pass that almost resulted in a goal in game 5. A lot of players could've been better

Ott's tenure with the St. Louis Blues: he made a slick pass once.

LOL..I know he's not Gretzky and you guys are right on how the Blues should dump him. How much of a salary cap hit is he?

He was $2.95M on his expiring deal, which is way too much for him. I know people have tried to justified his re-signing by saying A) he's good at faceoffs (which he is, and that's good) and B) he's a physical presence who can muck it up. And while the faceoff thing is valuable, over half of our roster is filled with guys who have a physical presence. It's not like he's an elite grinder. Unless we get him on a sweetheart deal for depth, I'm okay just cutting our losses with that trade and moving on.

I don't like Ott. At all. I'm harsher than most Blues fans when it comes to him but he provides next to nothing we don't already have in spades on this roster. His hands are atrocious from what I've seen, and he's not even that good at being a grinder IMO. He wants to come back for a contract similar to Porter? Happy to have him. $2.95 million or anywhere close to that? *handshake* good luck to you.

By some measures, Ott, post acquisition, was the worst player in the NHL. And that didn't constitute much of a drop off from where he was pre acquisition since he's been one of the worst players in the NHL over the past few years. There is no reason to bring him back.

http://www.extraskater.com/players/poss ... 5&team=stl

here's some advanced data from last season for the Blues. I have them ranked by Corsi For % relative which compares the percentage of shots for when the player is on the ice to what happens when they aren't.

There is good news. The majority of the guys who are liabilities will not be back. Taking all the players with negative CF% rel of at least minus 4 we have 8 such players: Porter, Stewart, Morrow, Polak, Cole, Ott, Reaves, and Lapierre. This reflects usage to a small extent (eg being played as a defensive stopper say against the other teams star players) but for the most part these players are bad.

Some rumors involving Spezza mention Cole as a possible substitution for Rattie. Berglund and Cole for Spezza sounds pretty good to me.

The bad news is the 2 worst players (reaves and Lapierre) not only will be back but will likely see their ice time increase. Unless the goalie coach can explain to the GM why they shouldn't.

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dmiles2186 wrote:[tweet][/tweet]

At least his wife is pretty good looking. I'm not saying that to be a creepo. I think there's a commandment about coveting thy neighbors wife's lady parts or something. I'm not doing that. I'm just saying she's an attractive woman. Harmless. Settle the hell down. Geez.