Blues won't extend Tarasenko contract till after

[goon attack]

I'll call it now: Pietrangelo will never win the Norris. He's good, but to win the Norris he'd have to be Lidstrom quality since he's not physical.

I like him, but I don't love him. The dude's got no mean streak at all. What a waste of size. Meh.

[Fradi]

I don't know. Really like him, and he put in a decent performance over the last few years, but I feel he'll never reach his true potential, that is, being a Norris-calibre player. Besides, as mentioned before, we have the defensive depth coming up for the future, so a few bodies would need to be moved sooner or later anyway. As much as he's an important figure for the team, if the right offer comes in, Army should really think about offloading him to be honest.

[cprice12]

I don't know. Really like him, and he put in a decent performance over the last few years, but I feel he'll never reach his true potential, that is, being a Norris-calibre player. Besides, as mentioned before, we have the defensive depth coming up for the future, so a few bodies would need to be moved sooner or later anyway. As much as he's an important figure for the team, if the right offer comes in, Army should really think about offloading him to be honest.

Overall I don't think he played particularly well last year at all, and he has been worse this year...aside from the last 7 or 8 games where he has played better.
His problem is consistency.
He can look great for a period, then make a bone head play (and I really mean a bone head play) that leads to a goal against, which cancels out his good play from the period before.
Petro...like Jackman...far too often has issues with clearing the zone on a PK...which is irritating as hell. Get it and fire it out, don't screw around with it, don't stickhandle for a few strides, just get it the F out. It's not rocket surgery.

[glen a richter]

we're worried about having a Norris candidate in Pietrangelo when we already have a Norris candidate in Shattenkirk. If trading Pie frees room and scores us some sweet assets, I'd say go for it.

[Fradi]

Overall I don't think he played particularly well last year at all, and he has been worse this year...aside from the last 7 or 8 games where he has played better.
His problem is consistency.
He can look great for a period, then make a bone head play (and I really mean a bone head play) that leads to a goal against, which cancels out his good play from the period before.
Petro...like Jackman...far too often has issues with clearing the zone on a PK...which is irritating as hell. Get it and fire it out, don't screw around with it, don't stickhandle for a few strides, just get it the F out. It's not rocket surgery.

Exactly. It's just that it hurts a little to know that all the while he would be capable of much better play than that. Not sure what he needs to reach that level, but I'm afraid we'll never see that. Thinking more and more about it, a trade might really do good for him too.

[ecbm]

Every d-man we drafted was a long term project. If we see any of them in the note at all it won't be until they're 22 or 23 years old.

Fair enough-Hakanpaa is 22 and Edmundson and Schmaltz are both 21. They should be ready soon so that would allow a clear-out of the lower pairings.

As for Petro, he's still a real good player and young enough to be having ups and downs especially considering the giant responsibilities he's been handed on this team. I wouldn't move him at all aggressively. I would, however, consider moving anyone not named Tarasenko or Schwartz if I thought I could really improve the squad in some needful way. I don't think that's going to happen by trading Petro but I could be wrong. I don't think he's the sort of player you move for picks or kids; I'd much rather see that done with Bouwmeester if deemed necessary, which I don't think it is. Again, I'd love to add Chara/Weber/Suter but there's nobody like that available. Which brings me back to my desire to see what some of these D kids we have in the system can do. Hopefully one of them will have puck skills good enough for the top 4 while prominently featuring some sandpaper and both the will and ability to clear the crease.

[glen a richter]

The purpose of trading Pie, I assume, would be to clear money for retaining Tarasenko. The organizational depth at D makes it possible and the anticipated return for Pie makes it such that we wouldn't get fleeced by a trading partner.

[cprice12]

The purpose of trading Pie, I assume, would be to clear money for retaining Tarasenko. The organizational depth at D makes it possible and the anticipated return for Pie makes it such that we wouldn't get fleeced by a trading partner.

We shouldn't have to trade Petro to sign Tarasenko...assuming budget for the salary remains the same or goes up slightly with the salary cap.
There are much better and easier ways to free up space.

[Oaklandblue]

I wouldn't trade Pie. You sit down, look at the stats, do the math and even when he is terrible, he is one of the best D-men in the league. He just has to find consistency in his play and I think he will once he finds consistency in his mind. That's entirely my opinion and I'm stretching abit from more opinion than fact, but on paper, when he's rolling, Pie is the D-man of choice and I'd rather have him than 3-5 roster players of limited skillsets.

[ecbm]

The purpose of trading Pie, I assume, would be to clear money for retaining Tarasenko. The organizational depth at D makes it possible and the anticipated return for Pie makes it such that we wouldn't get fleeced by a trading partner.

There are so many better ways of doing that though. Let Jackman walk and find a taker for Ott (hard but not impossible) and you free up $6.7M. That number goes over ten if you can move Berglund, though I can't see that without eating some of his contract but still, $8M might be possible. Make that at least $9-ish as I'm pretty sure Goc will be allowed to leave and Jaskin will get those minutes next season. That's just low-hanging fruit. If I'm moving a piece of the core to clear room, again I'm moving Bouwmeester-totally doable as his contract is reasonable. He's basically an older version of Petro/Shattenkirk. There's no need to move a young player with huge upside under contract for years at a good rate to create cap space.

[cprice12]

I don't know. Really like him, and he put in a decent performance over the last few years, but I feel he'll never reach his true potential, that is, being a Norris-calibre player. Besides, as mentioned before, we have the defensive depth coming up for the future, so a few bodies would need to be moved sooner or later anyway. As much as he's an important figure for the team, if the right offer comes in, Army should really think about offloading him to be honest.

Petro...like Jackman...far too often has issues with clearing the zone on a PK...which is irritating as hell. Get it and fire it out, don't screw around with it, don't stickhandle for a few strides, just get it the F out. It's not rocket surgery.

Petro did it again last night. In our own zone, killing a penalty, he grabs the puck and for some reason starts to skate with it instead of getting it out and it quickly gets poked away and goes right to, I think Forsberg, for a a chance in alone that Elliott, who made a big save.

Your first thought should be to get the puck out, not dick around with it.
Oshie has issues with this as well...but being a forward, you expect it from time to time I guess. Petro is a defensman and should know better.

[ecbm]

I don't know. Really like him, and he put in a decent performance over the last few years, but I feel he'll never reach his true potential, that is, being a Norris-calibre player. Besides, as mentioned before, we have the defensive depth coming up for the future, so a few bodies would need to be moved sooner or later anyway. As much as he's an important figure for the team, if the right offer comes in, Army should really think about offloading him to be honest.

Petro...like Jackman...far too often has issues with clearing the zone on a PK...which is irritating as hell. Get it and fire it out, don't screw around with it, don't stickhandle for a few strides, just get it the F out. It's not rocket surgery.

Petro did it again last night. In our own zone, killing a penalty, he grabs the puck and for some reason starts to skate with it instead of getting it out and it quickly gets poked away and goes right to, I think Forsberg, for a a chance in alone that Elliott, who made a big save.

Your first thought should be to get the puck out, not dick around with it.
Oshie has issues with this as well...but being a forward, you expect it from time to time I guess. Petro is a defensman and should know better.

Defensive-end turnovers have been epidemic this season and I can't figure out why. Shattenkirk handed them their fourth last night. Seems like teams have changed how they're forechecking the Blues, seem to be taking a page out of LA/CHI's book and putting them under max pressure immediately. They're getting some joy out of it.

[cprice12]

I don't know. Really like him, and he put in a decent performance over the last few years, but I feel he'll never reach his true potential, that is, being a Norris-calibre player. Besides, as mentioned before, we have the defensive depth coming up for the future, so a few bodies would need to be moved sooner or later anyway. As much as he's an important figure for the team, if the right offer comes in, Army should really think about offloading him to be honest.

Petro...like Jackman...far too often has issues with clearing the zone on a PK...which is irritating as hell. Get it and fire it out, don't screw around with it, don't stickhandle for a few strides, just get it the F out. It's not rocket surgery.

Petro did it again last night. In our own zone, killing a penalty, he grabs the puck and for some reason starts to skate with it instead of getting it out and it quickly gets poked away and goes right to, I think Forsberg, for a a chance in alone that Elliott, who made a big save.

Your first thought should be to get the puck out, not dick around with it.
Oshie has issues with this as well...but being a forward, you expect it from time to time I guess. Petro is a defensman and should know better.

Defensive-end turnovers have been epidemic this season and I can't figure out why. Shattenkirk handed them their fourth last night. Seems like teams have changed how they're forechecking the Blues, seem to be taking a page out of LA/CHI's book and putting them under max pressure immediately. They're getting some joy out of it.

Shattenkirk and Petro do like to handle the puck, so I guess that is comes with the territory now and then...but yes, it is happening too frequently. But when killing a penalty especially, it should be slap the damn thing out, don't try and carry it couple strides, don't try and go around a guy at the blue line, just...get...it...out. They teach you that in pee wee hockey for Christ's sake.

[glen a richter]

I was thinking about Tarasenko the other day and it occurred to me that the potential exists for some team who doesn't have cap problems to give him a big offer sheet and kind of screw us in the process. I think with a talent like his, perhaps trying to solve his contract situation ASAP would be advisable.

[ViPeRx007]

As with any trade involving any player, it really depends on the return. I wouldn't be actively looking to trade Pie, especially if it's salary related, but if someone came with a killer offer you'd be dumb not to consider it.

As others have said, there are many others I'd also be more apt to try to move before Pie if it's purely a salary issue.

[cprice12]

I was thinking about Tarasenko the other day and it occurred to me that the potential exists for some team who doesn't have cap problems to give him a big offer sheet and kind of screw us in the process. I think with a talent like his, perhaps trying to solve his contract situation ASAP would be advisable.

Nah, I don't think a team would do that.
The thing with offer sheets is this...
If someone signs Tarasenko to an offer sheet in the offseason, and we don't match it, then we get compensation. The amount of compensation depends on how much the contract is for.

If the contract is between $6.7 - $8.4 million per year...which I am guessing that is what it will have to be for us not to match it.... then we will receive Two 1st’s, one 2nd, one 3rd round pick from whoever signed him to the offer sheet.
If he signs an offer sheet for more than $8.4 million, then we get 4 first round picks as compensation.

I don't think any team is going to sign him to an offer sheet for that kind of money because, 1) That's a lot of money (I'm thinking it would have to be at least $7 million per before we'd consider not matching it) ....and 2) That's a lot to give up in compensation if we don't match.

Of course, some team could try to screw us by signing him to a contract for more money than we want to sign him for, hoping that we will match the offer sheet to give us cap issues. But that team also runs the risk of us not matching, and they'll have to fork over a lot of good draft picks...which are like gold.

The question is...if someone signed Tarasenko for $8.5 million...would you want the 4 first round picks? ...or would you want them to match the offer sheet, which may give us cap issues?

With where we are as a team, and with how long we have waited to get a guy like Tarasenko...I'd match the offer sheet and hope he progresses as we predict he will...but man, that would suck. I'm not interested in "the future"...this team is poised to win right now. I'll be concerned about the future later.

[cardsfan04]

I was thinking about Tarasenko the other day and it occurred to me that the potential exists for some team who doesn't have cap problems to give him a big offer sheet and kind of screw us in the process. I think with a talent like his, perhaps trying to solve his contract situation ASAP would be advisable.

Nah, I don't think a team would do that.
The thing with offer sheets is this...
If someone signs Tarasenko to an offer sheet in the offseason, and we don't match it, then we get compensation. The amount of compensation depends on how much the contract is for.

If the contract is between $6.7 - $8.4 million per year...which I am guessing that is what it will have to be for us not to match it.... then we will receive Two 1st’s, one 2nd, one 3rd round pick from whoever signed him to the offer sheet.
If he signs an offer sheet for more than $8.4 million, then we get 4 first round picks as compensation.

I don't think any team is going to sign him to an offer sheet for that kind of money because, 1) That's a lot of money (I'm thinking it would have to be at least $7 million per before we'd consider not matching it) ....and 2) That's a lot to give up in compensation if we don't match.

Of course, some team could try to screw us by signing him to a contract for more money than we want to sign him for, hoping that we will match the offer sheet to give us cap issues. But that team also runs the risk of us not matching, and they'll have to fork over a lot of good draft picks...which are like gold.
for
The question is...if someone signed Tarasenko for $8.5 million...would you want the 4 first round picks? ...or would you want them to match the offer sheet, which may give us cap issues?

With where we are as a team, and with how long we have waited to get a guy like Tarasenko...I'd match the offer sheet and hope he progresses as we predict he will...but man, that would suck. I'm not interested in "the future"...this team is poised to win right now. I'll be concerned about the future later.

Man, tha'ts a lot of money. I can't see him getting an $8.5M offer sheet, but if he did, I'd want to match it too. 4 1st rounders is sick. Getting 2 1st rounders for 4 straight years, wow. That sets a team or maybe even lets them trade some picks for a similar talent. But, here's the thing. I hate making bold predictions about a player when he's had 1 breakout season. So, I'm not going to, but I'll go right up to the line of it. If he can repeat this season a bunch of times throughout his 20s (and I don't think that's a ridiculous thought), he'll have his name in the rafters and a statue out front. I mean, that's a tall order. Maybe this is an outlier year or something. But, I think he's special. The kind of player you don't let get away. No. Matter. What.

[drwoland]

Well, we ARE paying Alex Steen ~$6m/yr or so and Stastny ~$7m/yr. Going to be eeenteresting.

[theohall]

Match and deal with the cap issues. Right now, Berglund, Stastny, and Ott are over-paid for their roles. Yes, Stastny has done more before he was with the Blues, but right now he is playing liked he did the past two seasons and that's not worth 7m/yr.

[ecbm]

I think there's some whistling past the graveyard here. Indeed, in a league where Stastny commands $7M at 29 years old and GMs do things like give Shea Weber 14-year offer sheets it is quite possible someone will give one to #91 at $6-8.5M per. There's also a tendency to assume that the methods of the last couple front offices here will continue to be successful forever. Fair enough, but worth considering that #91 represents a different level in terms of hockey and marketing upside from anyone else the Blues have had come through lately. And consider that the sort of team with cap space to make that kind of offer will likely have a stockpile of picks and a GM who might immediately have the thought I did: 2 firsts, a second and a third can equal Berglund, Paajarvi, Jay McClement and Chris Butler. I'd have no problem giving up that for generational talent like Vlad even if you might lose the odd Oshie or Erik Johnson in there-especially if I had a stockpile of picks and/or worked for a team that had had nothing to be excited about for years.

Not saying it's going to happen but after the Sobotka debacle last year and the panic moves that cascaded from that-I would hope the Blues FO is at least somewhat rethinking how they approach contract negotiations.