ROR a Blue

[flyingnote38]

deal went down....berglund, Thompson, Sobotka, a first and a 2nd

[comradet01]

deal went down....berglund, Thompson, Sobotka, a first and a 2nd

Mixed feelings about how much they had to give up but this clearly pushes them over the contender line.


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[theohall]

Good move IMO.

Improvement by subtraction and clearing space sending Berglund and Sobotka away.

Glad they are gone.

With O'Reilly under contract for awhile, Thompson and those picks are worth the cost.

Schenn, O'Reilly, Thomas, Bozak is a good group at center.

[Toasted Oates]

Good move IMO.

Improvement by subtraction and clearing space sending Berglund and Sobotka away.

Glad they are gone.

With O'Reilly under contract for awhile, Thompson and those picks are worth the cost.

Schenn, O'Reilly, Thomas, Bozak is a good group at center.

Amen. Agree with every sentence.

Way to go, Doug. Never in doubt.

[cardsfan04]

It's a lot, but it's the kind of move we needed to have a chance to be more than just another decent team.

Berglund and Sobotka are fairly easily replaced. Thompson hurts some, but if he turns into a better player than ROR he's at the apex of his potential. Same thing with the draft picks. It's a lot, especially when I'm not sure he's that last missing piece. But, this at least makes us part of the discussion of contenders.

[glen a richter]

I like the trade, in particular the jettison of Berglund and Sobotka, and the theoretical way the lines will shake out next season. I’m also supremely confident that Yeo will find a way to screw it all up and that Bozak was a gross overpay for his role on this team, especially post O’Reilly trade. With buckets of cap space still there I’d like to see Army swing a trade to get Steen off roster for a pick or two and sign James Neal.

[JCShutout]

Good deal for both sides. Blues gave up a lot, and I like Tage, but you get 5 years of prime ROR. This trade changes everything. I'm less frustrated with signing Perron now (still don't like the term) Still think Bozak is a 3rd liner, too expensive and too long a term, and I think we still need to replace one expensive role player/fringy 2nd liner (Steen, Bozak, Perron) with another legit top6 talent, but I like this team on paper more than I did last year.

[theohall]

Another positive on this...

The 1st round pick is next season, but the 2nd round pick isn't until 2021.

So what? O'Reilly is under contract until 2023. And odds are that 2nd round pick winds up being re-acquired in some other trade over the next 3 years.

The Blues still have all their picks in 2020 and all but one of them in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

[Robb_K]

I'm ecstatic! What a great trade! Getting the Top 6 centre we need, not giving up our top 4 forward prospect, or a good young defenceman to do it, and then dumping two not-so-good contracts!!! Doug Armstrong won back the right to stay with The Blues. They are now a decent bet to do reasonably well in the playoffs, IF Allen just plays like an average starter (maybe that's a big IF?). But, now, I am looking forward to this season with optimism.

[Robb_K]

Let's also not ignore the fact that O'Reilly was the #2 in The NHL in faceoff % among regulars, with 58.3%. He should be out there for most of the key faceoffs. That means that our #1 Line will be on the ice more often, instead of our #3 Line, when we were using Sobotka for that purpose. That will make a big difference in offensive chances over the season. It also means that non-scoring a 3rd liner won't be on the ice during The Power Play. With Bozak and Perron added, Fabbri returning, and room for Thomas, and a tryout for Kyrou, The Blues' offence should be quite a bit better this season. Lots of upgrade on both PP units. We just have to hope they implement a better PP strategy.

[gaijin]

Looks like our opening day roster will look different after all. Especially up the middle.

I am very glad the Berglund and Sobotka (and Stastny) albatross contracts are gone. Now if we could also ditch the Bouwmeester contract...

And if the Perron and Bozak contracts turn out poorly, at least it's different players to complain about.

Also, I may have missed it, but what happened to Fabbri? Did he get moved as part of one of these trades? I'm not seeing him listed on the roster.

[flyingnote38]

Another positive on this...

The 1st round pick is next season, but the 2nd round pick isn't until 2021.

So what? O'Reilly is under contract until 2023. And odds are that 2nd round pick winds up being re-acquired in some other trade over the next 3 years.

The Blues still have all their picks in 2020 and all but one of them in 2019 and 2021, respectively.

we dealt next year's 4th rounder for Soshnikov

I think its a good trade. Forwards (for next season) are pretty meh after the top 6 unless......
Fabbri can stay healthy and return to form
one or more of the young guys (Thomas, Kyrou, Blais) can step in and play a major role

Given that our core of forwards are now 25 to 27 and are all entering their primes and with some solid offensive talents looking like a 2-3 year away time frame. The offensive could (should?) be pretty impressive in a couple seasons.

[WaukeeBlues]

Love it.

As others have said in this thread, the window is right now. I'm on record on this site on numerous occasions despising trading away future first round picks but in this case (and even Schenn) you got 2 centers you desperately needed and you either draft them or pay a heavy price to get them, as here.

This is the deepest and most talented centers we've had on this team in years. I'm so sick of guys who "can play center too" playing center for this team. Backes, Berglund, Steen, Sobotka... just over and over plugging in guys who aren't naturally there and just being "meh." Schenn is even a bit like that but more talented than the guys we just lost so it's still better.

Yea, we don't have a true elite #1 center but we're finally deep through the middle like we haven't been in ages. Love it.

[glen a richter]

You know who else is deep at center? Toronto... and Washington. Until the Blues employ a head coach who will extract as much offense out of his players as possible, we can be this deep at center and go to the 2nd round of the playoffs again, or replace Yeo and take the next step that many other teams are taking.

This is a good first step, though I'm afraid Robert Thomas will waste away as a 3rd liner all season... a good second step would be getting a new coach to work with the new look roster.

[theohall]

#YeoMustGo

Prediction: Blues start season on fire in October and November. Everyone singing their praises for the Blues and the trades. December hits. Teams now have film on this version of the Blues. The offense disappears for the 3rd season in a row. Allen struggles trying to be perfect when the offense disappears. Yeo fails to make mid-season adjustments to get the offense going, for the 4th time in 5 seasons as a head coach. Yet, everyone will blame Allen, who will likely deserve some, but wind up being the fall guy while Yeo gets another pass, in spite of his coaching record.

[Winning Unlimited]

One final salute to Sobocop!

[theohall]

Here is a crazy advanced stat number.

Using only centers (or center/wing) who played played in at least 40 games last season:

ROR ranked 164th in Offensive Zone start percentage, yet scored 24 goals and and 37 assists.

Compared to Berglund who ranked 158th in the same with his 17 goals and 9 assists.

It's not like ROR was playing for a playoff team.

Think about this. There are 30 teams. Technically, each team has 4 centers planned for each game. That makes 120. (I know this isn't an exact thing, but still) ROR was 164th.... on the friggin' Buffalo Sabres... Who was taking their offensive zone draws? Eichel, Reinhart, Girgernsons, Rodrigues, and frikkin' Jordan Nolan all had a higher percentage of offensive zone starts than ROR and played 40 or more games. Meanwhile, ROR as the defensive center wound up 2nd on the team in scoring. Talk about mismanaging a player completely.

(aside - seeing as Nolan played for Buffalo last season, I wonder if O'Reilly had some input in the Blues signing Nolan. Given Nolan's history, though, I still don't really like the signing unless he is just San Antonio depth)

I'm praying to the hockey gods Yeo doesn't pull the same crap Buffalo pulled in how ROR is used.

If one goes into all forwards and offensive zone start percentage, it's even more staggering that ROR put up 61 points last season on that bad Buffalo team.

All forwards: ROR 322nd in Offensive Zone Start percentage. If teams only played 12 forwards all season, there would only be 360 in the league, and ROR would be in the bottom 11% of offensive zone start percentage....

For comparison here are two top players we know better:
Tarasenko was 4th in the NHL in OZS%
Schwartz was 6th

Not jumping out on a limb, but ROR should put up better numbers than Schenn did last season on this Blues roster, if used properly. That's a big "IF" with our current head coach.

Hopefully, with the Blues top 4 centers, assuming Thomas makes the team, there shouldn't be any need to favor where centers take draws. Heck, Thomas was real good in the AHL in his own zone winning draws and getting pucks out, so Yeo shouldn't have to "protect" him the way the Sabres were handling their young centers.