Blues Quiet As NHL Trade Deadline Passes
by Brad Lee on Mar 3, 2010 2:50 PM CST
72 comments
About 15 minutes after the NHL trade deadline ended at 2 p.m. St. Louis time, Jeremy Rutherford from the Post-Dispatch confirmed on Twitter what many fans were afraid of.
The Blues are done trading. No more deals will trickle through.
Granted, the Blues did trade Peoria captain Yan Stastny to Vancouver for fellow AHL player Pierre-Cedric Labrie and they shipped prospect Aaron Palushaj to Montreal for Matt D'Agostini. But that's all they did. They didn't touch one player on the NHL roster. They didn't acquire any draft picks or highly regarded prospects. They didn't cash in any players set to be unrestricted free agents in the offseason. Basically they stood pat. And I can see where that's a good thing. And I can see where that's a bad thing. For a team that has an interim coach and felt like it was in limbo as the Andy Murray era ended, this seems fitting.
The first implication from a lack of trades is that the Blues didn't want to break apart any piece of the team to hurt their chances for making the playoffs. They stand three points out of eighth, but they are one of five teams within three points of that spot. So with 19 games, it's going to be a hectic dogfight for that last spot. Subtracting any player on the NHL roster would have hurt that effort. So that's a good thing, right?
But the Blues didn't add anyone to the NHL roster beyond D'Agostini, a guy with two goals and two assists in 40 NHL games this year and a career plus/minus rating of minus-29. Don't tell me he counts. What that means to me is that the Blues are realistic and understand that they're not one or two players away from a deep playoff run. So they didn't deal any draft picks or highly regarded prospects for rental players. So while the team is pushing for the playoffs, they didn't help themselves reach that goal. So that's bad, right?
The one thing the quiet deadline shows is that the Blues are committed to their philosophy of growing from within. They aren't throwing picks and prospects around like the franchise did 10 and 15 and 20 years ago. This front office has much more patience than their predecessors. As we've written about before but are too lazy to link that this team for many of its 40-plus years has expressed a desire to build from within...and then the team never followed through on the plan. But they did trade Aaron Palushaj, a second round pick (144th overall) in the 2007 draft. He was lured out of college early at the University of Michigan and has been at Peoria this season. Either Palushaj just needs a chance to perform in the right situation, which would suck for the Blues, or they totally whiffed on a high draft pick, which would suck for the Blues' reputation in drafting and developing players.
This deadline day sure feels like the Blues are stuck in neutral. We joked that the trade value for Brad Boyes and Paul Kariya was small. We didn't know how right we probably were.
What's you're opinion, valued reader? Disappointed? Think the Blues made a mistake by doing/not doing something? Let us know...down below.
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how we will all remember
the yan stastny blues’ regeime? Heck i still rememer where i was when i heard about the trade.
on the toliet.
text message says “got stastny”
and i responded “paul i hope”
txt back “no yan”
crap.
still havent replied to the “no yan” message but its on the phone somewhere in memory… much like Yan!
A strong anvil fears no hammer
by Childhood Trauma on Mar 3, 2010 2:58 PM CST reply actions
So being on the toilet
Did you say “Crap” or did you actually crap? Inquiring minds want to know…
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.
thats the joke
it just aint funny :)
but thanks for playing along lolz
A strong anvil fears no hammer
by Childhood Trauma on Mar 3, 2010 3:48 PM CST up reply actions
they got no option on that
i think. with pk gone and many of us laughing at a 14% ticket increase, they don’t blow a buzz, they ain’t getting paid.
A strong anvil fears no hammer
by Childhood Trauma on Mar 3, 2010 3:00 PM CST up reply actions
Trauma, you make a good point about the timing with the ticket increase.
Something I mentioned in the Stastny trade post but not in this one.
www.stlouisgametime.com
Yeah
But PK being gone is going to get chewed up with Johnson/Perron’s raises I would imagine.
Not afraid to nitpick
*
It’s whether they are content being well under the cap vs. pushing payroll a bit.
Not afraid to nitpick
Keep in mind KT will probably be done, as well as Sydor.
I am also curious to see if they will be either moving or buying out Brewer. You know they will have to dump some of our Defensive corps will all the young guys coming up in Peoria…
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.
Right
But they also have to replace/re-sign Steen, a goalie as well as get deals done with Perron/Johnson. Isn’t it going to take 4-4.5M for Johnson?
Not afraid to nitpick
One thing to keep in mind
EJ is making 850k this year, but his cap hit is 3.7million. Next year if he signs for 4/5 million we’ll have to actually pay him that much. Big diff in salary for him and other maturing players that will be coming up like perron/Oshie in 2011.
then why
they claiming ejo and dp’s new salaries are the REASON for ticket increases? if they stay at same salary it really doesnt matter to your ticket price who the money goes to.
oh and p.s. team salary does not = ticket pricing. kinda a red herring there to sttart with :)
A strong anvil fears no hammer
by Childhood Trauma on Mar 3, 2010 3:50 PM CST up reply actions
They aren't staying the same
Perron is getting paid about 850k this year, but chances are he’ll be in the 2-3 million range next year would be my guess(someone else could tell you better i’m sure).
EJ is actually getting paid 850k this year, but next year he’ll probably make around 4.5 million. So thats an increase from 2 players currently being paid 1.7 mil all the way up to being paid 7 million.
Having an extra 4.3 million come out of your pocket for the same players is a big deal for a small market team like STL.
they are staying the same
if you subtract kariya adn give his money to 2 young guys. you stay the same. you cant go to the ticket buyers with a had out screaming about ej’s and dp’s cost UNLESS you replace kariya,
THAT was the point, you can’t (and the blues already are, even though costs and prices are NOT related) tell then fans the prices are going up for ej adn dp and tj and then go into free agency and say “build from within/ we can’t afford anyone cos of tj and ej and dp!”
since the blues are ALREADY playing the ej is worth extra money, i suspect they literally have no choice but to sign something big in the free agent market
A strong anvil fears no hammer
by Childhood Trauma on Mar 3, 2010 5:45 PM CST up reply actions
I can see their point, but its just sort of disappointing.
I guess seeing as we couldn’t move the guys we wanted to (Kariya, Brewer, possibly Boyes) it makes sense. But still, we were really heavily involved in rumors and trading a few scrapped parts for other scrapped parts really just sort of leaves me numb. Like someone said in the deadline GDT, its like winning the silver medal in the olympics. Sure its cool, but you know it could have been WAY more exciting.
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.
In case
you’re interested…Matt D’agostini is on facebook – and he does post occasionally:
http://www.facebook.com/mattdagostini
BLUE SKIES - new St Louis Blues hockey blog.
"If you've come to apologize, I forgive you for hitting me with your crutch. I'm so glad my head didn't break it."
"If you mean time traveling bunnies, then yes."
"Destiny John, is a fickle bitch."
Benjamin Linus - resident "Lost" badass and all round sexy dude.
so a french-canadian who uses social media is joining the blues
david perron is going to either be very happy, or very threatened
D'Agostini? French?!
Dude, if that name ain’t Italian, then I’m Pope Benedict.
"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." -- Don Marquis
The Bluenote Zone - Because you KNOW you want to know more about the St. Louis Blues!
hmmm
he surrenders on it and has animated frog gifs all over?!?
A strong anvil fears no hammer
by Childhood Trauma on Mar 3, 2010 5:48 PM CST up reply actions
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!
One Internet for you!
Let's go Blues!!!
by Milo. on Mar 3, 2010 8:27 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
Remember, Luongo (who I'm just going to call "Doucheweasel Fuckface" from now on) . . .
is from Montreal. French mother.
Might be the same thing here, because D’Agostini is most certainly Italian.
"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." -- Don Marquis
The Bluenote Zone - Because you KNOW you want to know more about the St. Louis Blues!
im going to use that name too… has a nice ring to it.
"I wanna be an achiever like Bad Horse.... I meant Ghandi" ~ Dr. Horrible
OK,
Doucheweasel Fuckface.
Let's go Blues!!!
by Milo. on Mar 3, 2010 9:16 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
I thought you preferred RageKitten?
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Are you sure?
Everything I’ve read says that he was born and raised in Ontario. Sault Ste. Marie.
"You suck, but at least you know you suck. That's what I like about you." -Brett Hull
Seeing as how he was living and playing in Montreal...
"If we do not prepare for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be nothing left but that of the anvil."
-- Otto von Bismarck, 1851
http://futurenotes.blogspot.com
by Tomorrows Blues on Mar 3, 2010 8:50 PM CST up reply actions
Just because he was born
outside of Italy doesn’t mean he isn’t Italian.
I’m half Italian and born in Kirkwood. It doesn’t make me less Italian.
Just seemed like an odd argument.
Hockey players wear numbers because you can't always identify the body with dental records.
It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. Laura Ingalls Wilder
Agreed.
I meant “Are you sure he was born in Quebec?” He’s Italian either way.
"You suck, but at least you know you suck. That's what I like about you." -Brett Hull
Tkachuk
I got a good laugh when I read from some media guy (can’t remember whom) that Boston was chasing Tkachuk. How many years in a row can you recycle the same idea? How many times can you flirt with a date without sealing the deal?
Lighthouse Hockey: Under contract through 2021, knees and hips be damned.
I'm convinced that comes up every year...
… just because Walter’s from there – no other reason. I like how everyone was ignoring his NTC, and the fact that he basically said after he was re-signed that he wanted to retire a Blue (or really explicitly hinted at it).
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.
the reasons for no trades is pretty simple
bad contracts. the blues have a ton of them.
kariya? too much money for a shitty rental. ditto for boyes.
walt? no-trade clause for a guy who is not in the long term plans.
brewer? no-trade clause and a bad contract.
if the blues would stop giving every player over 30 a NTC and show some fiscal sense (just wait a few years when that andy mcdonald deal looks like ass), some deals could be made. right now the blues trade-able assets are all building blocks for the future.
I have two responses
- Andy McDonald is an angel.
- Jay McClement’s birthday was yesterday. Send him a card?
www.stlouisgametime.com
And
I agree for the most part that they have some crappy contracts. But none of them are super long or super big. So they’re not good contracts, but not horrible.
Yeah, optimism!
www.stlouisgametime.com
but crappy contracts seem to be a disease with this organ-I-zation
keith tkachuk (first deal), jay mckee, paul kariya, brad boyes, brewer, dutchie, etc.
just wonder when the day will come that they A) stop giving out NTC’s and B) don’t overpay for guys.
well....
- The first Tkachuk contract was Wal-Mart money and under no cap. Doesn’t count.
- Jay McKee, they admitted straight out that they overpaid. Worst team in league had to for signing anyone.
- Kariya did create some buzz and sell tickets. And in the end was probably regrettable.
- Boyes didn’t look bad even last year with 33 goals. But it’s just $4million…
- Brewer’s not making much more than $4million which we’ve established is just $4 million.
- Dutchie signed for what, three years about $10M? For a guy who was looking like a 30-goal scorer, it was ok at the time.
Ok, you probably have a point, but not all of them were bad at the time. And you could argue a couple haven’t been crippling.
www.stlouisgametime.com
contracts are not crappy
IF the contractee produces. and maybe that is luck. scouting. greed. totally different topic
BUT my issues isnt the ntc per se or anythign else, it is WHY the contracts are re-upped. I’ll go into the brewer area yet AGAIN. not only is his contract crappy, its the third one we gave him, and really, seriously, did he ever do more than play 3 solid weeks under murray’s original halycion days to earn any of the contracts?
jackman? won the award for bing the prototypical player the new nhl was desinged to destroy. think it was ‘the old school calder of doom’ or somehtingsimilar
sigghhh. what pk do? noooooothing. (dude we gotta overpay em to come to the looooo!!!! —-um dude he was in NASHVILLE somehow i think we could be a valid option without a nmc) and nashville was in trouble of moving to kansas city at the time!! not the predators. the whole damn city.
what kt do? move here. stay here. love everything about st louis but the cardinals. get really old and occasionally forget that donuts were not the food for training camp regiments. eh. I am ALMOST ok with that considering the others :)
so i wouldnt have minded a ntc to boyes after last season. after this season i’d wanna kill someone if we gave him one.
do a minimum of two seasons of stuff. that is all i ask. two seasons to be rewarded. and that reward is REASONABLE money with a ntc OR a little too much money and no trade clause or a long term deal. one of the three, maybe MAYBE two of the three if your great with kids.
NEVERt three of the three! if ya want all three give me 3 1/2 seasons of good things and be like 26 years old. and no one we gave them to did long term great work in the note while being young.
A strong anvil fears no hammer
by Childhood Trauma on Mar 3, 2010 4:14 PM CST up reply actions
Isn't there still a waiver wire period we could pluck a someone from?
Why is patience a virtue and procrastination a sin...I mean whats wrong with patiently procrastionating?
I think waivers ended this morning.
Could be wrong, but there are no waiver trades like in baseball.
www.stlouisgametime.com
Palushaj
Did anyone else watch the Blues play pre-season hockey? Palushaj played on a line with Armstrong and Porter, and they dominated. It was just pre-season but still.
Honestly, I don't think them trading away Palushaj is a statement that he won't live up
I think it’s more of a statement that the Blues management see’s something they like in D’Agostini. When we got Alex Steen, he was underperforming too, and a lot of people wrote him off saying we did the trade to get Cola, but right now, which of the 2 looks more like they are going to be part of our long term plans? Iunno, the guy has proven he can score on the AHL level, he’s just 23, and it seems like a lot of prospects succeed once they get out of Montreal/Toronto.
Then again, maybe D’Agozstini just sucks and teh Blues don’t think Palushaj has NHL potential. Who knows.
Breaking News: I'm currently in the process of writing "I will not say and/or type "that word" 1,000 times.
Dags fits the description of buying someone low
He’s never scored more than 25 goals in a season [05-06].
He’s kinda young [an ‘86 — 23 years old] but I think it’s unreasonable to think he’ll start scoring at a higher rate just because he’s changed scenery.
When’s his contract up?
What I don’t like is giving up on an ’89 [20 year old] that Jarmo selected and projected into becoming a top 6 scorer.
I don’t feel like the team’s any better today.
ok, I like Palushaj...
But as of right now, he’s not looking like a potential top 6 scorer, maybe more of a 3rd line energy player, and we have planety of guys like that. He has 5 goals on the season in the AHL. Even if he is young, that’s an awfully slow start.
I’m not saying I would have done this trade, but I am saying be patient before you declare it a wash. He was a guy stuck in the Montreal coaches doghouse, not playing a decent ammount of the time, and when he was playing not getting very many minutes. He’s not even 25 yet. At least wait to see him play in the Bluenote for a while, then declare him terrible if he is.
Breaking News: I'm currently in the process of writing "I will not say and/or type "that word" 1,000 times.
huh, one thing leading to another.
After atting D’Agostini to the Blues roster in NHL 10, I came up with the idea to play world tournament but all the worst countries in the game, playing as Denmark, and found out that Lars Eller is in the game. Gonna have to add him to Peoria’s roster…
yeah, that’s all
Breaking News: I'm currently in the process of writing "I will not say and/or type "that word" 1,000 times.
JD interview up on the PD
Basically he says 2 stories worth of nothing. They thought Dagger could help them now and they scouted Habs a lot and thought he was worth it. They cut Stasny lose because they want to make room in peoria for younger players and Yan wasn’t gonna get a chance to make it here.
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
If Palushaj was a "whiff", then so be it.
Drafting is not an exact science, and Jarmo’s recent drafts have been better than average. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to accept that the success rate might be something less than 100%.
have they?
Jarmo’s recent drafts have been better than average
not trying to be an ass, but have they? it seems like the draftees who have made the blues have all been first rounders and backes was a second-rounder. doesn’t seem like a lot of 3-7 round talent (outside of … Polak? is he it?) have made it through.
How many 3-7 actually make it to the NHL?
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Bishop was a third-round pick, Stempniak a fifth-rounder...
As far as recent drafts go — 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 — there were exactly 19 players chosen in third round or later in those drafts who had played so much as a single NHL game at the start of this season.
They are as follows:
Matt Beleskey ( ANA 112 / 2006) ……………….. 2 GP, 0- 0- 0, 0 PM
Luca Caputi (PIT 111 / 2007) ……………………. 5 GP, 1- 0- 1, 4 PM
Cal Clutterbuck (MIN 72 / 2006) ……………….. 80 GP, 7- 11. 18, 76 PM
Matt Halischuk (NEJ 117 / 2007) ……………… 1 GP, 0- 1, 1, 0 PM
Dustin Jeffrey (PIT 171 / 2007) ………………… 14 GP, 1- 2, 3, 0 PM
Jonas Junland (STL 64 / 2006) ……………….. 1 GP, 0- 0, 0, 2 PM
Jonathon Kalinski (PHL 152 / 2007) ……….. 12 GP, 1- 2, 3, 0 PM
Andrew Macdonald (NYI 160 / 2006) ……….. 3 GP, 0- 0- 0, 2 PM
Spencer Machacek (ATL 67 / 2007) …………. 2 GP, 0- 0- 0, 0 PM
Maksim Mayorov (CBS 94 / 2007) ……………. 3 GP, 0- 0- 0, 0 PM
John Negrin (CGY 70 / 2007) …………………… 3 GP, 0- 1- 1, 2 PM
Oskar Osala (WAS 97 / 2006) ………………….. 2 GP, 0- 0- 0, 0 PM
Theo Peckham (EDM 75 / 2006) ……………… 16 GP, 0- 0- 0, 61 PM
Kevin Quick (TMP 78 / 2006) ……………………. 6 GP, 0- 1- 1, 0 PM
Tom Sestito (CBS 85 / 2006) …………………… 1 GP, 0- 0, 0, 17 PM
Zack Smith (OTT 79 / 2008) …………………….. 1 GP, 0- 0- 0, 0 PM
Yannick Weber (MTL 73 / 2007) ………………. 3 GP, 0- 1- 1, 2 PM
Petteri Wirtanen (ANA 172 / 2006) …………… 3 GP, 1- 0- 1, 2 PM
Steve Mason (CBS 69 / 2006) …………………. 61 GP, 33-20-7, 10 SO, 2.29 GAA
Of those players, only Clutterbuck and Mason have played more than a handful of games, or made any kind of impact.
So the answer to Icion’s question above is:
Not very many, at least not within the first three years or so after they’re drafted.
B.
"If we do not prepare for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be nothing left but that of the anvil."
-- Otto von Bismarck, 1851
http://futurenotes.blogspot.com
by Tomorrows Blues on Mar 3, 2010 9:28 PM CST up reply actions
so i guess jarmo hasnt been above average ...
just average?
im just wondering how good jarmo is. the swing and a miss on the 44th pick of the draft is a pretty big deal to me. as i said to brad earlier either palushaj is a bum, which is a bad draft pick or he goes to montreal and is awesome, which is a bad front office decision. either way, dealing him makes the org. look bad in my eyes.
Nah it makes him great
Your getting upset because a single non first round pick isn’t completely panning out how you expected. Maybe he will be good but not great in montreal and we still make the deal cause we really like Dag. How many other teams draft absolutely crappy first rounders year after year or are lucky to find a single good player in the first, much less the second? Only about 33% of second rounders make the NHL.
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
im not really upset about palushaj
im genuinely interested in how jarmo the draft guru stacks up with other draft experts.
for years we have heard how awesome he is, and i really just want to know if that’s true. unlike brian/tomorrows blues im not immersed in the draft and really just want to know if jarmo is great, average or not good.
that being said, i fail to see how trading a second-rounder for a role player makes jarmo great. jarmo does the drafting, pleau and jd and armstrong do the trading.
Im saying
Hes good because we have come to expect our first and second rounders to pan out or atleast show potential. A lot of teams don’t even have that going for them.
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Aside from the 2 listed.
Almost none of them have even played 10 games. Trading your 3rd rounder for a decent nhl player seems like a crazy good idea. Stempniak for a 3rd? You make that trade because your thirds gonna suck.
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Heres an article 'From the Rink'
http://www.fromtherink.com/2010/2/10/1303480/after-the-first-round-nhl-draft-is#storyjump
It has a table that shows where most of the current NHL rosters were drafted. 33% of rosters are made up of first rounders, 15% from the second, 10% from the third and 5-6% from the rest.
Or
This many picks make the NHL.
1 in 3, Firsts
1 in 6, seconds.
1 in 10 thirds.
1 in 20 rest.
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Can you push it back a year or two and tell us how many 3d rounders pan out? Perhaps another year or 2 of growth makes a significant difference.
I was troubled by the report I read [sorry, no link] that APush was slightly built and pushed around by grownups [paraphrasing]. He’s only 20, so maybe he needs a year [or 2] of sprints, dips & pull-ups.
It just feels like we’ve given up too early.
I don’t know anything about new guy except that he’s never scored more than 25 goals in his life [and that was in junior] and is a “work hard” sort of guy when what the Blues need is and has always been punch [goalscoring, not Cam-Cam punch].
He makes some good goals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl5dWGSEjjI
Im turning my opinion from oshie lite to Steen. And honestly if we could clone the Silent Nosebeen line and roll that as our 3rd and 4th we sure as fuck would.
He raged at the world, at his family, at his life. But mostly he just raged.
Honestly, we did exactly what I expected.
We didn’t do much outside of minor league moves last season either… I figured Boyes’d stay put because of price and lack of output, and I didn’t see folks falling all over Kariya. The only UFA that really had a bunch of value as a rental was probably Cola, and either we didn’t get an offer that we liked, or we realized his worth and that we should probably look at re-upping that contract ASAP.
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.
Remember there are two sides to every trade
For whatever reason, the Blues wanted D’Agostini, and had to give up something Montreal wanted to get him. That turned out to be Palushaj. That doesn’t necessarily mean the draft pick was a bust, or that it was a bad front office decision. Just bidness.
The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. But that's the way to bet. - Damon Runyon
Good points, sir...
…that sometimes get lost in the emotion over trades that are made (or not made).
B.
"If we do not prepare for ourselves the role of the hammer, there will be nothing left but that of the anvil."
-- Otto von Bismarck, 1851
http://futurenotes.blogspot.com
by Tomorrows Blues on Mar 4, 2010 9:17 AM CST up reply actions
On business like this
The front office knows a lot more about what’s going on than we do.
Not afraid to nitpick
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