Agreed.

To the point where I really think about protecting him this summer. He is one of the prime candidates for Vegas to take.
- carcus

Agreed. I feel like Tarasenko, Schwartz, Statsny, Perron, Berglund, & Steen are sure protects. Lehtera is protected by being paid 3mil too much lol. So what should have been his spot is up for grabs, and MPS, Jaskin, Yakupov, Brodziak, & Reaves are the people who would need it... and I think MPS gets it from those names. Brodziak & Reaves seem unlikely to be taken as older (comparatively) 4th liners.

I wish they would take Lehtera. I'd be fine with them taking Yakupov or Jaskin. My guess is they'll take Gunnarson. *shrug*

Agreed. I feel like Tarasenko, Schwartz, Statsny, Perron, Berglund, & Steen are sure protects. Lehtera is protected by being paid 3mil too much lol. So what should have been his spot is up for grabs, and MPS, Jaskin, Yakupov, Brodziak, & Reaves are the people who would need it... and I think MPS gets it from those names. Brodziak & Reaves seem unlikely to be taken as older (comparatively) 4th liners.

I wish they would take Lehtera. I'd be fine with them taking Yakupov or Jaskin. My guess is they'll take Gunnarson. *shrug*
- Antilles

Reaves or Lehtera would be ideal

Reaves is slightly overpaid for a fourth line guy

MPS has worked his way to a protect

who would have thought that was possible

Isnt he a FA though? So no need to protect him if he isn't signed

Reaves or Lehtera would be ideal

Reaves is slightly overpaid for a fourth line guy

MPS has worked his way to a protect

who would have thought that was possible

Isnt he a FA though? So no need to protect him if he isn't signed
- sycsam

I believe you are correct and I saw this in him a few times. But, as a young player he'd make one mistake and watch games. Under Hitch he never received the same benefit of the doubt as say a Fabbri or Schwartz did. It seems it takes some time for a number of Swedish players, hell Europeans, to get used to playing a physical game. Berglund now uses his immense size and strength. In my book he has become a legitimate second line center.

I think Barbashev is going to surprise a lot of you guys as well. His ceiling is a bit higher than a thought. His knock when he was drafted was his skating. Having seen him juniors I can say it is vastly improved. The plays him and Jaskin used to make were amazing in juniors. Back then Jaskin looked quicker and that was prior to Jaskin improving his skating.

Maybe it happens these play offs, maybe next year but with Hitch gone I think we will see Jaskin in a different light. Truly, again Armstrong is going to be forced to confront cutting veterans with salaries. After Lehtera that looks like Steen to me. But that locker room has to hold its cohesion and taking him out of the mix before these younger players are molded could be dangerous.

The Blues still have lots of depth. Neither Minnesota nor Chicago is missing a player of Fabbri's caliber and the Blues seem to getting better.

Which begs the question of what happened to that narrative without Backes and Brouwer the Blues lost too much? Because now you add another player and that is part of your top six in last year's play offs and you remove the press darling Shattenkirk and somehow this team looks better to me.

This means as we speculated for some years Hitch was the wrong guy. It also means a lot of the media does not watch the Blues so they build a narrative off of questionable sources.

JR might be a good guy, but he's still a basketball reporter learning about hockey and it is evident.

Reaves or Lehtera would be ideal

Reaves is slightly overpaid for a fourth line guy

MPS has worked his way to a protect

who would have thought that was possible

Isnt he a FA though? So no need to protect him if he isn't signed
- sycsam

Expansion team must select a minimum of 20 players who are under contract for the 2017-18 season.

They are taking 30 players, so up to 10 can be UFA/RFA without a contract. UFA would be silly, RFA would make sense as they would hold their rights even if not signed for arbitration, etc. UFA can sign with them during a period before the draft I believe, and they would count towards the player chosen from the previous team. If they want someone who will be an UFA, they would sign them during that period and not waste a pick and then not be able to sign them before July 1st.

So I think MPS would fall as potentially one who is taken if unprotected.

Cap Friendly has a great Expansion tool to play around with:
https://www.capfriendly.com/expansion-draft

As well as a FAQ that goes into detail the rules that pertain to the draft:
https://www.capfriendly.com/expansion-draft-faq

Even though I am not a big fan of Perron, his trade is looking like a great deal for the Blues that just took a little time.

Perron for MPS and a pick (Barbashev)

MPS struggles, but has now seemed to turn the corner and looks like the player that we were hoping for.

Barbashev looks to be a solid young NHLer. You can tell that he belongs at this level.

Perron, after bouncing around a couple of times, re-signs with the Blues to a cap friendly deal.

Basically, for a couple years of Perron away from the team, we get two solid, young players.