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On the draft, Shattenkirk rumors, Tarasenko's future |
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Sorry for the long wait Blues fans. I enjoyed my vacation and, as much as missing the draft sucked, I may be glad I did. The Blues didn’t make any moves to move up in the draft and took their six picks. None of this really shocked me. I didn’t think that the Blues were going to shop any players for a first round pick with the exception of maybe, Patrik Berglund. This would be a pure cap dump situation. If Vladimir Tarasenko had be resigned to a new deal, things could have gone very differently. I think that is what is holding up Doug Armstrong in making any deals to dump a significant amount of cap. He is only willing to trade roster players for similar players in AAV and if he thinks it will improve the Blues. That deal probably hasn’t shown through. Remember the Rick Nash deal? It was done on July 23. There is still plenty of time to get things done, but with the way big names are being shipped around, I hope he has a jump on things. Get Tarasenko signed early this summer, build the rest of the team.
Regarding Tarasenko and his contract, I believe he will at least ask for an AAV of $7 million. He is the Blues' top offensive player and he will want to be paid the best, and at the very least his agent will. Any less than that is a bonus to the Blues in my opinion. Jake Allen, Robert Bortuzzo, Magnus Paajarvi, Jani Hakanpaa, and the newly acquired, Konrad Abeltshauser are the remaining RFAs the Blues have the rights to. AHL forward Cody Beach resigned a two way deal today.
The Blues made a trade yesterday with the Sharks for 22-year-old defenseman Konrad Abeltshauser. He’s got a ton of size at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, and shows he has a ton of skating ability and offensive upside at times. Can he do it at the NHL level in the future will be the question. He is rumored to not be as physical as he should on the wall and in front of the net. The Blues gave up a conditional seventh rounder next year. Good deal in my eyes.
Interesting to hear rumors of Kevin Shattenkirk’s name being thrown out at the draft by GM Doug Armstrong. One rumored deal was to Edmonton for the 16th pick. That would be ridiculous, but it is surprising to hear his name being put out there. Could it just be Armstrong seeing what teams would open up to giving up? Or was he seriously thinking about moving him.
Vince Dunn was the Blues' top draft pick in this year’s draft class out of the OHL. He was taken in the second round and is a smaller offensive defenseman at 5’11” 187 lbs. He is said to be defensively responsible and calm with the puck in his own end.
The Blues took two centers in the fourth round of the draft on Friday out of the WHL in Adam Musil and Glenn Gawdin. Both have a long path to prove themselves to be NHL players. The Blues had two fifth round selections. With the first, they took big Finnish defenseman Niko Mikkola (6-foot-4, 185 pounds). He will need to fill out his big frame before he has the chance to make the jump to the big league. With the second pick of the fifth round, the Blues selected Effingham, Illinois native, goalie Luke Oplika. He is only 6-foot-1 and with the size of NHL goalies today and the Blues goalie depth within the organization, it will be tough for him to ever make it to the Blues. That said, I wish him luck and hope he becomes great and proves me wrong. The last selection the Blues made in draft was in the 6th round. Big left winger Liam Dunda out of the OHL was the selection. He is an American born player playing for Owen Sound. Will any of these picks pan out to be diamonds in the rough? We can only hope as fans that one or more does.
Tomorrow is the most exciting day in the offseason of hockey. Once 11 a.m. hits here in St. Louis, it will be hard to keep me off of my phone at work that is for sure. Hopefully we see some of the RFAs sign deals tomorrow, or at least Tarasenko. I have a feeling more will happen for the Blues tomorrow. Be back then.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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