glen a richter wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 6:41 am
I've been thinking about the Blues as sellers and obviously that's the best move but once again they're hamstrung by all those damn NTC's.
If they can work around that problem by convincing any litany of players that it's in their best interest to be traded to contenders then by all means definitely do it but I think they're going to be handcuffed if say for example Tarasenko doesn't want to go to Vancouver or Parayko doesn't want to go to San Jose.
Right now I'd be actively trying to get rid of O'Reilly (more on that later), Tarasenko, Barbashev, Parayko, Krug, Mikkola and Binnington. No shot of them all being traded but that's the order I'd be pursuing.
O'Reilly would fit well on the Rangers, and I've been bandying this around in my mind... I'd love to get Brennan Othmann from them, the fact that he's their #1 prospect notwithstanding, O'Reilly plus one of our glut of defensive prospects (Beck, Galloway, Gaudet) and a later round pick for Othmann, a 1st and a conditional (?) 2nd. He goes 1st because he's the one devoid of a NTC so the easiest to move.
Tarasenko would fit well on the Islanders. They're a talented team that's had their scoring dry up big time and they've dug themselves into quite the hole in the 3 way race between them, the Rangers and the Devils for the title of most likely NY Metro area team to go deep into the playoffs. I'd offer Tarasenko for Beuvillier and picks. Their prospect pool is thin.
Barbashev, man they should have traded him last off season when his stock was sky high. The return now would be a pick, at best. What could work is packaging him with O'Reilly and get a bigger return from the Rangers, especially as I see it he'd more than likely re-sign long term with them so somewhere down the pike he could play with his brother if and when he makes it to the NHL.
Parayko, tough to move. That contract is a major albatross and his play hasn't just tailed off, it's fallen off the cliff. As much as I'd like to offload him, it'll be tough to find a team willing to take on the hit for a guy who only hits opponents by sheer accident and is obviously not the same player since he hurt his back. Krug, same deal--too much money for a small defenseman who has obviously lost a step.
Mikkola I'd move only on account of the fact that Tucker can take his spot, he's an impending UFA and would, IMO, be very easy to move. Shop him around and take whichever team is offering the best pick(s).
Binnington... what's there to say about ol' Jordan? He had a magical half season, was doing pretty decent up to until the league shut down, then came back a shell of his former self. He was about to rekindle the magic before Kadri took him out and then he's been an utter trainwreck this season, save for a handful of games where you get hope only to watch it get dashed all over again. He cashed in on the Cup run and they traded Husso instead, never mind Husso was supposed to be the goalie of the future and missed his shot because of his injury when they were forced to bring up Binner instead. Sometimes I wonder, if Husso had never gotten hurt in 18-19 what would the trajectory of this team have been now? What if Binner had gotten lit up against Philly instead of shutting them out? What team out there would be willing to trade for a guy who's paid like a starter but should probably be a 1A, a hot head who can't get out of his own way? Toronto? Buffalo? I don't think the return for him would be nearly what one would expect from a guy who was a Cup champion, arguably one of the biggest reasons the team won the Cup. He's just not him anymore.
End of the day, when the deadline has come and gone, I think two guys will be traded, we'll have a new prospect, a couple of extra picks and that's that. It's just too hard to move so many of these players. Army set the team back a decade with these NTC's, it's really as simple as that.
Also, I'm getting sick of hearing all these assclowns on Twitter screaming BEDARD! At the moment the Blues are 10th worst in the league. The separation is big though, there's no way they're finishing in the bottom 5 and there's no way they're winning the lottery if they're anywhere from 5-10. Will they get a really sweet draft pick? Yes. Will they get Bedard or Fantilli? Not a prayer.