Screw The Blues, Please

by Rich of GASL on Jul 3, 2009 4:52 PM CDT Comment 20 comments

To this point I haven't minded that the Blues have made no other splash in the Free Agent market other than signing Ty "One On" Conklin. All Blues fans know the major pieces of the puzzle are working their way up through the organization (for a change), so we don't have to be real committed buyers, and that is a good thing. For starters, the Blues need not get into bidding wars for anybody. We are not desperate. Right now the Blues are the hot chick with the great body who isn't looking for Mr. Right and the long term relationship.

That being said, I sure wished the Blues would act like they want to get laid by Mr. Right Now.

All the signs point to this being a pretty weak market for free agents. All teams seem to be shy about running their budgets up to the cap, especially since they are not sure what it will look like next year. That is one reason why there was a flurry of activity as soon as the ball dropped on July 1. Teams knew what their wad was and they shot it. That is also why things have quieted considerably over the last 48 hours.

That is also why I think the Blues can afford to be a little more active. And I'd like them to sign a winger. (I'm thinking maybe a Ales Kotalik, Petr Sykora, or Alex Tanguay...if we wanted to be a skanky whore about it we could add Richard Zednik to that list.) Here is my reasoning:

Last season we lacked depth at wing. As a result we continually played natural centermen out of position (though some of that had to do with having rookie centermen I know). Adding another winger who can take some of the scoring pressure off the top line never hurts, and you have more insurance if we suffer another rash of injuries like last season.
The team is still carrying Janssen AND King. C'mon, the Blues have to be getting to a point where that situation is unhelpful.
I think we could afford to give this free agent a two year deal. This season is probably it for Tkachuk, and whoever we sign could fill that vet role after big Walt hangs up his skates (or at least fill part of that role.)
Adding a winger shouldn't really hurt upcoming players like Eller or Palushaj who can still fill in as needed without too much being demanded of them too soon. On the other hand it may mean we see less of Cam Paddock and Yan Stastny. (That's called a win-win.)

So, c'mon all you free agent wingers. Just look at this organization with her long legs and lascivious smile. You know she wants it.

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Well,..

Afinogenov is still out there.

Call me a fool but I really think that, give him a new opportunity and he’ll really hit the ice running.

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by drfrankentweed on Jul 3, 2009 5:36 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

IM A FOOL THEN TOO

with the players we have sign afinogenov cheap, and it could pay off, and honestly a 2 yr contract couldnt hurt that much, if he didnt pan out trade him. No harm no foul

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by DESTROYER on Jul 3, 2009 5:52 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You’re both fools, then! ;)

Seriously, Afinogenov — despite all his talent — has become a mess. I really, really wouldn’t touch him.

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by Dominik on Jul 3, 2009 10:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

LOL

You’re probably right.

I just have this feeling that he’s really going to bounce back.

LOL Guess it’s this foolish optimism I have!

BLUE SKIES - new St Louis Blues hockey blog.

"If you prick me, do I not...leak?"
"I could be chasing an untamed ornithoid without cause."
RIP Lt Commander Data

by drfrankentweed on Jul 4, 2009 5:21 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

maybe.

I’ll be sold on him if he’ll cut his contract almost in half. the agreement should go like this: you get $2 million for one season, with an option for a second at $3 million IF you earn it over the course of the first season.

if he agrees, then welcome to St. Louis

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by Dooks on Jul 4, 2009 10:48 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd

be more than happy with a deal like that for Afinogenov.

BLUE SKIES - new St Louis Blues hockey blog.

"If you prick me, do I not...leak?"
"I could be chasing an untamed ornithoid without cause."
RIP Lt Commander Data

by drfrankentweed on Jul 4, 2009 2:05 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i thought signing sykora was a good idea too…three years ago. whats the point now? we wont be able to give anyone of that ilk we sign enough ice time to really make it worthwhile anyway, and then when a player like a tanguay or kotalik doesnt perform here we’ll say he didnt fit into the blues “system” or he wasn’t down with our “blue collar” style of play and we’ll be trashing him until the end of his worthless deal.

Zednik would be the only player of those four that would make a bit of sense seeing as he’s already kind of used to being a 2nd/3rd line guy and he played on a team last year that didnt exactly inflate his stats. these tier 2 free agent guys arent going to do anything for us, we either need to go big or wait it out until kariya’s contract is off the books and chase down a big time winger next free agent frenzy.

by bzgea2 on Jul 3, 2009 6:12 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I dont know....I think we have all the 3rd and 4th liners we need.

It’s someone to help the top two lines we lack. And we could have made the same ice time argument last year, and then we lost Mac for three months and Kariya for the season. IN the modern NHL you just are not going to be so healthy that you can count on only having 6 scoring players on a roster.

Remember, the whole point here is NOT to get into a long term relationship. These players will at least merit two year deals (except for Zednik of course), but then we can walk away from them if the situation calls for it. It will add 20-30 goals to the roster, and it shouldnt break the bank.

As for Afinogenov…he’s kinda fragile, no? I’d be afraid we would need to get more depth to cover our so-called depth.

by Rich of GASL on Jul 3, 2009 6:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i think thats where we are disagreeing here. im of the mindset that the blues arent really at that point where our depth players need to be anymore than the depth players that we already have. take a situation like pittsburgh this year where their “depth players” were guys who had maybe first line/mostly second line skill sets. thats what you need to do if you’re a team like the pens who pretty much have the top two lines on lock (or at least have 2 guys who will give you 100 points a season). i think we still have a little more work to do on the front line before we worry about our relief, and a two year deal for a sykora or tanguay, i feel, wont pay off for us until a few years down the line if things keep developing at the rate they have been over the past few seasons. in short I guess I dont think the blues are quite as sexy as you do right now. maybe in a few more beers.

by bzgea2 on Jul 3, 2009 7:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Depends on what you mean by sexy

…1) We made the playoffs without contributions from Kariya and EJ, and with significant other players out for long stretches, AND we have highly regarded talent coming up. (Every major media following the NHL have the Blues in the top 3 or 4 talent wise.) We can be choosy….we dont have to rely on free agents the way we did ten years ago.

2) Right now (according to nhlnumbers.com) we have the most players signed (22) and we still ahve over 12Mil in space. (I know not all of that is open as there are offers to RFA’s outstanding….still compare that to the Senators who also have 22 players signed and have only $4.6m, or the Devils who also have $12m to go but who only have 16 players under contract for next season.) Availble cash is damn sexy to free agents.

by Rich of GASL on Jul 3, 2009 8:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

for me, for the blues to do something like this it would take a first round series win and then being bounced in no less than six in the second round. that, I think, is a fair signal of team that is just a few steps away.

of course things change season to season and success one year doesn’t automatically lead to success in the next, but for the sake of argument I would say thats the point where I would pull the trigger on your idea.

you make a good point about the cap space though (and its nice to see another nhlnumbers.com acolyte) but the cap isn’t necessarily our ceiling in terms of salary, at least it hasn’t been for a while. EJ and Perron’s entry deals are up this year which will bite into that 12 mil, thought EJ is already sitting at 3.7 which is nice for us, perron however is only at .918 against the cap, and that number will increase dramatically. with kariya off the books next year, plus that 12 mil that exists that leaves us with 18 mil, minus Polak (hopefully) minus EJ, minus Perron, minus a goalie whether it be mason or someone of equal or greater cap value. then we get into Oshie and Berglund next year and it gets messy and that potential 18 mil doesn’t look like that much if we want to keep everyone on board and happy.

to make a long story short what I’m getting at is that we’ve got too much in the air now to grab up some second liners. i don’t know how to say this without sounding too terrible, even to my own ears, but making the playoffs last year, arguably ahead of schedule, could potentially be a pitfall in terms of the development of the organization. it may accelerate our growth rate to a point where we’d actually be trying to run before we’ve gotten a solid hold on walking.

thanks for the discourse, by the way, i like thinking about this stuff almost as much as I like thinking about the game itself.

by bzgea2 on Jul 3, 2009 9:19 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

If I recall…Afinogenov missed a chunk of games in 2002ish when he took a puck to the head and suffered concussion…and last year I think he had groin issues.

There’s just something about the guy – he needs someone to take a chance on him – I think the Sabres have basically given up on him. I wouldn’t want to pay much…but I think he could surprise a few people.

BLUE SKIES - new St Louis Blues hockey blog.

"If you prick me, do I not...leak?"
"I could be chasing an untamed ornithoid without cause."
RIP Lt Commander Data

by drfrankentweed on Jul 3, 2009 6:53 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

He's got the skill...

…but he’s gotta be considered a crap shoot. Still, maybe he would think about a one year deal.

by Rich of GASL on Jul 3, 2009 8:25 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh yeah

He’s a definite crap shoot. But sometimes it’s fun to roll the dice. You never know how it’ll turn out.

BLUE SKIES - new St Louis Blues hockey blog.

"If you prick me, do I not...leak?"
"I could be chasing an untamed ornithoid without cause."
RIP Lt Commander Data

by drfrankentweed on Jul 4, 2009 5:20 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Patience

We’re still early enough in the FA season that players and their agents are sitting back, dreaming of the fat contract they’re about to get. In a couple weeks, the unsigned players are going to start getting antsy, and will look around and realize that there are more players left than roster slots. THAT’S when you find the players willing to take less money for a short-term deal.

Besides, Andy Murray is still the coach of the team. What’s the point of paying someone to sit in the press box while the Cam Brothers get their normal minutes?

by BleedBlue42 on Jul 3, 2009 10:45 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I'll leave you folks to hash out the FA stuff

just email me the FTP link for them hot leg pics

Dum spiramus tuebimur

by spectr17 on Jul 4, 2009 12:07 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I remember hearing somewhere that Zednik's going all KHL on Florida's ass.

Is that legit?

I’d sort through TSN’s list of available UFAs and see what’s the what, but they haven’t updated it since before July 1st. Good job, Canadians. Just because you had a holiday on Wednesday doesn’t mean that you can’t update a UFA tracker.

Slackers.

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by hildymac on Jul 4, 2009 1:43 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs