What Should The Blues Do With Their Free Agents?
by Brad Lee on Jan 29, 2010 11:00 AM CST
31 comments
Here we are at the end of January and there are only nine games left on the Blues' schedule before the NHL trade deadline on March 3. Thanks, Olympics!
In those nine games, the Blues will have a couple decisions to make. They'll have to decide what to do with Keith Tkachuk, Paul Kariya and Chris Mason. All three will be unrestricted free agents at season's end. All three are part of the core veteran group on the roster. All three could be seen as useful players on other teams. All three could be part of another late-season frantic push for the playoffs.
First of all, on 101 ESPN radio in St. Louis this week, team president John Davidson told host Bernie Miklasz that the standings will ultimately determine what the Blues do at the deadline. Keeping or trading players will be based on the team's level of play in these last nine games. If you remember last year the team was on the verge of sending Tkachuk to another team for the second time in his career before ultimately keeping him. If the team struggles in the next nine, it could be a different story. Let's break it down by player.
Chris Mason will be 34 in April. Like his predecessor Manny Legace, Mason has been a backup most of his career. He didn't find a starting job until the 2006-07 season in Nashville. He enjoyed that for one season and then was traded to St. Louis. He only has nine games of playoff experience, but he did show flashes last spring of being able to handle the pressure of carrying a team down the final stretch of the season. He might be in some demand. But if Mason is considered a player that can be traded, do the Blues really have enough faith to make Ty Conklin, another career backup, the starter the rest of this season? And what about next year? He'll be in the second year of his two-year contract. Youngster Ben Bishop probably isn't ready in Peoria. Making a change in Mason would have ripple effects over the foreseeable future making any decision involving him an important one.
Tkachuk has some value as a gritty center who can play in front of the net (even after visibly flinching when another T.J. Oshie shot climbed the ladder on him Thursday night). He's got a good reputation in the dressing room. He doesn't have much time left in the league and probably wants at least one more chance at a Cup. And he could always re-sign him in the summer if the Blues want him back one more year. The question is how much he has left in the tank. What the Blues could get in return, I don't have a clue.
Kariya is an enigma. He shows the speed and hands of old, but not the scoring touch. He could make most power plays around the league better and provide a boost to team speed. His line needs some size to help his unit get the puck out of the defensive zone, but Kariya can still play at a fairly high level. That said, I'm not sure what his reputation is around the league. He's fallen off the radar for the most part after spending most of last season on the injured list. I doubt the Blues will attempt to retain him beyond this season regardless of the Blues trading him at the deadline. If they're still competing for a playoff spot, they would risk losing some credibility with the fans by trading him in early March.
I hope the Blues are in position to compete for a playoff spot come deadline day. If so, maybe they try to add a piece. I would love to see a rugged stay at home defenseman added to the roster. But if they fall out of it, goodbye Big Walk, see you later Paulie.
I don't know what the Blues will do. Tell them what you think they should do and we'll see how this turns out.
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For the record
Carlo Colaiacovo, Darryl Sydor, Mike Weaver and Brad Winchester are also set to become unrestricted free agents after the season, but I felt like the big three should get the majority of the attention.
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Isn't Alex Steen unrestricted as well?
Because I think there are a lot of Blues fans (like myself) who would consider him the most imporant guy to re-sign
Breaking News: I'm currently in the process of writing "I will not say and/or type "that word" 1,000 times.
No.
He’s restircted with arbitration rights according to the NHL cap page linked on our front page.
www.stlouisgametime.com
In regards to these 4...
KEEP Cola & Weaves… No doubt in my mind, they’ve provided some awesome defense.
Sydor, while he’s played well, is expendable with the depth we have at Defense…
Winchester…guess he can go. He’s just so darn inconsistent…there are Peoria players who could easily fill that slot (Army for example) or we could get something in trade.
Put your big girl panties on and deal with it!
by BluesFanFromNE on Jan 29, 2010 11:50 AM CST up reply actions
See, this is the issue with bringing back both Cola and Weaver.
The Blues have stock piled so many high level young defensemen. We have EJ, Polak, Jackman, and Brewer are under contract. and bringing back both Cola and Weaver.means we have 6 defensemen, 6 D-Men who will probably get reguler PT. Jonas Junland owns Peoria. He deserves a shot at top 6 minutes. Then you have Stratchan and whoever else could be ready.
Course, the best option would be to buy out Brewer and re-sign them both, if you ask me.
Breaking News: I'm currently in the process of writing "I will not say and/or type "that word" 1,000 times.
for the record
no credibility would be lost (from my point of view) if management traded Kariya now . . . I have wanted to see him go since early December . . . the guy has talent, I just don’t think he has or will fit in the Blues organization (it is a bit scary to know if we trade him to a team like VAN that he and the team will get better) . . . a line like Kariya. Backes.Oshie , should be averaging at least a goal a game (I personally think that is a low expectation) . . . they are still well below that, with PK being the worst of the three. . .and unlike guys like Walt or Syd, PK does not seem to be a leader among the youth here
I say get as much as you can, since we were on the road and he had a chance to look good for the scouts. . .
If we can’t trade him, then some how he has to be inspired to score at home. . . he has a grand total of 8 assists in 7 games at Scottrade (2 assists in the home Sweden game) with a -rating over the course of the 7 games (a -3 against TBL) . . .
In regards to these 3 IMO...
Trade Kariya. He is not the Kariya of the past, he can’t seem to score goals, and lately I don’t think he’s even set up the best of passes. He’s a more of a playmaker anymore than a sniper, and as fun as it was to get him to come here, I think his time has passed. We may be able to get something decent for him, you never know. I do not think he’s worth what we’ve been paying him, thats for sure.
We need to keep Walt. I know I’m a Tkachuk fan and would hate to lose him, but thats not the basis for my statement in keeping him. We need to keep him for the leadership he provides, for the grit he still has on the ice, for what he still contributes to the team. With a team built of so many young and inexperienced players, we need to keep someone around who’s “been there, done that” (minus a cup of course).
As far as Mason…that all depends on what we can get for him. While I won’t deny he’s been a fantabulous goalie, he’s also been patchy…but what goalie isnt? I don’t know if we have enough depth right now thats READY on the goalie position to afford to trade Mason off. I’d be afraid of what would happen there. Mason & Conks have kept us in a bunch of games that we otherwise should have been blown out in or ultimately lost. (reference Conks in Calgary in the last 5 min) Overall, goalie slot, I just don’t know. I guess it depends what can come our way if we decide to move Mason. If we do, I’ll miss the beard :(
Put your big girl panties on and deal with it!
by BluesFanFromNE on Jan 29, 2010 11:47 AM CST reply actions
Hmmm
Much as I’m sometimes overawed by his cuteness, we need to get Kariya’s ass out of there. He’s still fast…but something is definitely missing. Get what we can for him – but I think the Blues will wait till the last possible minute (mainly due to his cap hit).
I want to see Tkachuk stay – but…I’d love to see him win a Cup before he retires. If the chance is there for him…I think the Blues will let him go. Maybe re-sign him in the summer if he decides to play on.
As for Mase…I think Conklin can bear the weight of being starter for the remainder of the season…but it’s what we get in return that would be the issue – not to mention what would happen next year. But if the Blues don’t feel Mason can carry them all the way, then I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut him lose and went hard after another guy.
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by drfrankentweed on Jan 29, 2010 12:19 PM CST reply actions
Apparently ATL's shopping Lehtonen.
If for whatever reason we move Mason, we’re going to have to compete with this. Or, if for some reason we move Mase, Lehtonen could be a possibility.
One that I hope we don’t consider, but he could still be out there.
Reporter: There`s a "stamp out the Beatles movement" underway in Detroit. What are you going to do about it?
Paul McCartney: We`re going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit.
Carey Price might not be in Montreal too much longer either
you smell that? that's what a winner smells like....
by stonewall jackson on Jan 29, 2010 1:42 PM CST up reply actions
That's a bit of a crapshoot.
Price, I think, would be solid if he were far the hell away from Montreal. Lehtonen’d be amazing if his back and groin weren’t made of glass. That, and the opportunity for him getting pudgy(er) in StL is high what with concretes and toasted rav.
Reporter: There`s a "stamp out the Beatles movement" underway in Detroit. What are you going to do about it?
Paul McCartney: We`re going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit.
As good a time as any for a Jan recap/rant/manifesto...
(Editor’s Note, the following post continues gratuitous use of the royal “We”)
First of all, aren’t there only 8 games left? Or did you write that before last night’s game? I count : Columbus, @Chicago, San Jose, Chicago, @Colorado, Detroit, Toronto, Washington.
It’s not my intention to come of as a Negative Nancy, skip down to the bottom if you want to get to the brief part where I actually deign to address the original post. But I haven’t been impressed with the play of the Blues over the last month, specifically the last two weeks. The Payne era started rough, somewhat understandably, picked up speed with that four game streak, then crashed.
It’s not so much the record that bothers me, but how they’ve played in those games. There are two words I’d use to describe their play: Sloppy and Inconsistent. We’ve got some talented players, physically. But on the ice they’re unfocused, undisciplined, and uncoordinated. Its a mental thing. Me, I’m a clumsy guy, physically uncoordinated. But at least half of the clutzy shit I do stems from a careless inattention to what the fuck I’m doing. This careless inattention is what I’m seeing from our players. The simple basics of playing sound hockey are eluding them because they don’t appear to be focused on what they are doing.
Time for specific examples. I’m going to try to avoid picking on Boyes, because he’s a popular target at the moment, and although he deserves it, this is not just about him. In the last game at Vancouver. One of our Dmen (I forget which) set up behind our net with the puck, both teams were changing. When he went to make a pass to start the break out, he fanned completely. Nothing bad happened, but its mind blowing to me at least that a professional, under no pressure from the opposition, can botch such a basic play. Last night, a similar play with Brewer. He’s waiting in his own zone for a line change. He waits and waits and overwaits and now the Oilers are in pressuring him. Eventually he coughed up the puck behind the net leading to a scoring chance.
It’s easy to harp on specific instances, there are bad plays in every game. But I see this happening consistently. How many of our breakout passes have you seen picked off at our own blue-line this year? How many times have you seen it happen twice, thrice during the same breakout attempt? How many times have we passed out into our own slot and had it intercepted? How many careless intercepted neutral zone passes? This sort of thing not only hurts our defense, and our goaltenders, but its part of what cripples our offense.
The Blues are 7-5-2 so far in Jan. That’s good. But they’re 3-3-1 over the last two weeks. That’s bad. But what’s got me particularly piqued at the moment, is that relatively speaking our January schedule has been soft. Only the Blackhawks, Sharks, Kings, and Cannucks had respectable records. It’s easy to feel better when you just look at the goals and scores. Like the Calgary game, 2-0, clearly a dominating performance from the boxscore, not so when actually watched. Of our skaters only TJ and Cam showed up that game. We were frequently penned in our own zone for extended periods, and our offense was sputtering and almost absent. We scored two goals but two goals doesn’t win you a lot of games. Conklin carried us that night. The Flames and Oilers are weak, mired in horrible streaks of losing, and the best we can do is 2-0 and 2-1? Our Jan schedule was soft, and we did okay. I wanted more.
Particularly because our Feb schedule is not soft. Toronto is easy meat (hopefully), but we should be concerned about Detroit and Colorado. We also play Chicago twice, San Jose and Washington. If we play against them like we played in January, they will eat our lunch.
Now to directly address the point of the post. Our February schedule is rough, and naturally management is going to see how the team performs before making moves. But really most of my opinions won’t change regardless of how we play.
- Mason: Barring a ludicrous offer, Mason stays. He may let in the semi-regular soft goal, but he makes monster saves. While he may not be the proverbial #1 goal-tender, he’s the closest thing we’re likely to get in the short term. Conklin’s a great backup, but we need Mason.
- Walt: I value Walt highly, not necessarily in terms of trade value, but as a person. Whatever he wants, I say we give him. If he wants to go, trade him, if he doesn’t keep him. If he wants to play next year, bring him back.
- Kariya: Unless he scored a couple goals while I wrote this post, trade him. Trade him for whatever you can get for him. Regardless of how he performs in Feb, I think in both the long and short term we’d get more value out of more playing time for Berglund and or playing time for whoever we’d bring up from Peoria.
- Boyes: I know I said I wasn’t going to harp on Boyes, but … If it were possible I’d ship him out of town in a Crate marked “Postage Due” and feel good about the deal.
by PersonalJustice on Jan 29, 2010 12:29 PM CST reply actions
I think it's more of a case of what should they do and what will they do
What they should do: Trade ‘em all. Trade Walt, trade Kariya, deal Mason and Weaver. If you can find someone to take Sydor, trade him, too. If you aren’t going to sign Colaiacovo in the offseason, trade him as well. Trade ‘em all for some picks. This team isn’t going anywhere. If it somehow gets a playoff spot, do you really think it can make a run against Chicago or San Jose? Please. Deal all the pending FA’s and play for next year. See what Junland has. What Bishop or Ears has. Is Strachan good enough to replace Weaver? Can Eller play in the NHL? I don’t even care what the return is, just open up some roster space. Let’s face it, none of those guys are going to get the team what it really needs — a No. 1 goalie and a bonafide goal scorer.
What they will do: Nothing. As has been mentioned before, this team needs some money. I see the Blues standing pat and maybe making a minor deal — Sydor or Weaver — and trying like hell to get the 8th spot. Those two home games mean money and I think that’s what they will shoot for.
I don't think there's much of a market for them -- most teams are in the same boat we are
Watching and waiting to see which way things go.
Even if the Blues move into eighth place in the conference or higher, if another team’s making an offer for them, I’d accept anything reasonable.
I’d be surprised if any brought a return greater than a 3rd round pick.
I doubt someone’s offering players from their NHL [or AHL] rosters for them and if they are, I’d rather have something from our own fridge in Peoria than another team’s unwanted leftovers.
we need a cerified lamp lighter
2 goals against Edmonton? Thats just not enough. Too bad we arent gunning for Kovalchuk.
you smell that? that's what a winner smells like....
by stonewall jackson on Jan 29, 2010 1:41 PM CST reply actions
Poni and Stajan are available...
… they’re both having good seasons. They’re not Kovy, but they can get the puck at least somewhere remotely near the net.
Reporter: There`s a "stamp out the Beatles movement" underway in Detroit. What are you going to do about it?
Paul McCartney: We`re going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit.
Thank You Brad!
Good conversation starter with this article. I really want to say thank you for being another big Blues fan but what made this special to me is that you didn’t make an assumption on how Kariya is viewed by his teammates “in the room”. Too many people assume they know when in fact they have no fucking clue.
Also, talked to Gravy this afternoon. I got freaked after the GDT mention of him last night. I’m a worrier. He’s on his way back and headed to one of his Shorty’s basketball games.
WERD
North Co! North Co! North Co!
Here's my idea
Kariya, Winchester, Sydor and Weaver can all be replaced.
Tkachuk – I really think we can trade him and resign him again if we need to.
Mason – On the fence depends what he wants for next years contract.
Keep the rest.
No one knows why, but second only to eating the brains of the living, the dead love affordable pre-fab furniture.
what about
the non-ufa’s IF the blues get bids on oh backes or berglund how interested should they be?
A strong anvil fears no hammer
by Childhood Trauma on Jan 29, 2010 7:06 PM CST reply actions
Backes is big, young, mean. He skates well, is strong defensively, and scored 30 goals last year. Plus he beats up Canadians which is just bonus. The blues should have the same level of interest in trading backes as they do in having a mob of angry drunken fans burn down the Scottrade Center.
Berglund? I hate to give up on the guy so soon. And really considering the amount of playing time he’s gotten, 7G 7A isn’t that bad compared to the rest of the team. He’s not on the short list of untradeables, but I’d keep him unless the offer is just too good.
by PersonalJustice on Jan 29, 2010 8:33 PM CST up reply actions
Who we trade depends on buying or selling.
I think we gotta ditch King no matter what. I hope we don’t trade Janssen and keep King. DJ can fight but Cam can play and theres no room on the roster for both of them to play 4 minutes and sit out every night.
You have to look at our roster and consider what would make it better. We have 2 top lines, the Jay/Steen/Cromb line should not be fucked with. That leaves the fourth line of Winchester+people who got bumped off their real line. Winny is the person who gets moved down to make room if we obtain a forward for some reason.
If we are buyers what do we actually need?
Goalie+Offensive D-Man.
We have goalies in the system were counting on to be our future and Mason is doing a pretty good job of being a starter but hes not lights out. Who is not gonna overcharge us for an upgrade? Maybe if we can get one of the following id consider trading for a goalie but it just doesn’t seem like the situation is ideal for us obtaining one. Price/Halak, Rinne/Ellis, one of the ATL goalies? Chicago is taking Niemi to arbitration, I wouldn’t mind having him play for us. Otherwise there aren’t a lot of upgrades to be had out there.
Offensive D- Aside for Souray whos got one of these for sale? Kaberle from Toronto seems like it might work. We send Sydor off to the old horse farm and call it a day.
If we are sellers assuming we take prospect/picks.
Walt I believe has a NTC so he only moves if he wants to. Kariya can go whether we are buyers or sellers. Mason won’t get traded unless we are upgrading the goalie spot in return anyway. Boyes is a 40 goal scorer whos having a bad year.
We need to start a new thread about what the blues should do during the off season instead since there isn’t much to talk about with us trading.
fuck all this shit wh7 dont we keeo all the players and implement shock treament on all thew ones that arnet worksing right we want thwm to play goood thats what electrodes are for to shock the good into them
"I wanna be an achiever like Bad Horse.... I meant Ghandi" ~ Dr. Horrible
by Carnie on Jan 29, 2010 11:50 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
I am guessing somewhere closer to pirate hooker than drunk
Barret Jackman is my hero.
Fueled. These new shores burn. Shadow, my sweet shadow, to you I look no more.
Crosby and Malkin. Two girls, one cup.
Just my opinion . . .
Walt: Keep him. Not a bad guy to have around whether or not you make it into the tournament. And he might come back for a low-risk investment.
Kariya: If you CAN trade him, do it. He’s not coming back, so why keep him if you don’t have to?
Masonry: As much as I love the guy, if there’s a deal to be had, it has to be done. But is he really in demand? He’s basically a 1A amongst another 1A around here, and I’m sure the rest of the league knows that. If he goes elsewhere, it’s not like he’ll be a starter or savior or anything.
Everyone else: pretty much keepers.
"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." -- Don Marquis
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mason could go
lots of 1a’s go at deadlines and offseason moves, the thing will be how many teams are injured in net and how many are scared (chicago?!?) i doubt mason is tops on any list UNTIL the odd knee blows up…
A strong anvil fears no hammer
by Childhood Trauma on Jan 30, 2010 10:37 AM CST reply actions
come on, its the blues. when have they ever done anything to dramatically improve this team at the trade deadline that has actually worked? the days of getting number ones for vet rentals are over so that bird has flown for us. also, when have they ever done anything to solidify their weaknesses (in this case goal scoring) in a timely manner to compliment their currently above average areas of play (goaltending? defense? actually the only area we seem to be above average at is bottom six forwards, which as everyone knows, is the building block of teams that lose in the playoffs.)
it sucks to be negative, but come on, we make some weird decisions, and our timing as an orginization sucks. when we’ve got the goaltending, we dont have the defense or scoring, when we have the scoring our goalie is a sieve, when we have the goaltending and the scoring we throw the puck into our own net.
no one has really mentioned the fact that doug armstrong is taking over for pleau starting next season. this seems like another middling move on the part of the blues. i was kind of excited about this when he came on board because i thought he was a guy who at least had the stones to trade for brad richards and get his team into the conference finals. nope! not him. this guy won ONE playoff series when he was running the show in dallas. Sure he picked up Ribero and Hagman for a steal, but that shit happens, even keenan found demitra for nothing. In one off season (2006) Armsrong signed a post-good lindros, an old sydor, jeff halpern, matthew barnaby and jaroslav modry. the rest of his moves arent exactly impressive either.
lets face it, the blues are afraid to make the big move, which, if they want to grow from within, is fine, but you cant do shit like draft 3 offensive minded defenesmen with your number one overall pick three years in a row and expect to find a 30 goal scorer in your farm system anytime soon. and if they dont make the playoffs this year without eller and junland getting some decent minutes up in the show then this season is essentially a loss, which means more development time, which means more entry level and second (backes) contracts burning up valuable years, and more years of the fans being frustrated that things arent coming together right.
and one last thing after that way too long post: watch for us to go after marty turco. the stars dont want him, and he’s armstrongs boy. 2+2= turco in blue.
I can’t see Mason being traded. He can play at a great level, and even though he gives up the occasional soft goal, but there is no one better out there to carry us. Unless we get some amazing deal that comes up, I can’t see him moving.
Tkachuk-I think he stays. Sure he’s not the offensive threat he used to be, but he can still play a physical game, and he provided the veteran leadership we need. Again, unless there is some amazing deal or if he says he wants a trade, he stays. I am really thinking he’s going to retire after this year anyway, so why not have it be as a Blue.
Kariya-Gone. As much as I like him, he just isn’t the player he used to be. I say hawk him at the deadline for whatever you can get, and never look back. He could be a good piece to a cup contender, so see if you can’t pick someone up for him.
As far as the others, Steen and Cola are the two I say we really push hard to resign. Possibly Weaver as well, although I think Strachan could fill that void. The others seem replaceable, and there is so much talent in Peoria, I think we could fill those roles.
It seems to me our big target in the off-season/trade deadline is a legitimate offensive threat. If there is some great goalie that becomes available, then possibly go for them, but as I said, I think a goal-scorer is what we need to target.
Barret Jackman is my hero.
Fueled. These new shores burn. Shadow, my sweet shadow, to you I look no more.
Crosby and Malkin. Two girls, one cup.
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