Tkachuk & Resigning

Tkachuk

While many fans seem to want tkachuk back, the problem the blues have is whether or not they can bring him back and continue brining ready and available players into the fold. It's getting closer to that time where the blues have the "good" problem of having too mant talented players to fit onto one roster.

Paul Kariya, Brad Boyes, and Andy Mcdonald are a potential line 1. Perron, Berglund, and Oshie are a potental line 2. Line 3 if we take signed players are Steen, Backes, and Janssen. And line 4 right now has King on it. Thats 10 slots for certain filled with currently signed contracts, and we have Crombeen and McClement on RFA eligibility along with Winchester, Walt, and Hinote. All indications that are seen to the general public (me and you) indicate that McClement will be someone we want back, along with BJ Crombeen. The lack of interest from either one of those players in making it easy and another team signing an offer sheet could be the difference in whether or not Walt comes back If those two sign, you have 12 forwards under contract, 10 of which will likely be every day fixtures, and somehow i see Janssen and King suiting up for 65-70 of the games between the two of them.

My guess is walt coming back relies more on the blues needing to fill out the roster versus him willing to take a paycut of large proportions.

Free Agency

While Hinote clears 1mil in cap space, winchester clears, 600k, and Walt 4mil, that does not necessarily indicate that the blues will have room for the forward free agent market. The indication is that the blues are really only looking at a RW veteran, and with Andy Mcdonald signing a deal that pays him 1.6mil more annually plus a projected 1mil in additional Crombeen/McClement costs, the blues likely are only left with 2.5-3mil in space. This does not include the defensive FA's and RFA's (Polak RFA, Weaver UFA, Woywitka RFA).

Yan Stastny is likely to at least get a look on the 4th line rotation when the blues are looking at matching grinders up instead of fighters, so you may want to ink that in.

The blues also will be interested in finding another backup goaltender. This time, I believe the blues instead of finding the 1B type that they believed chris mason to be, they are simply looking for that 15-20 appearance goalie, and letting Mason take the bulk of the load. It's much cheaper to go that route, assuming they don't find a 1B that'll sign cheap (1B means a 30ish games guy to go with masons 50, rather than a true backup of 15 games with mason's 65).

All in all, it shapes up to be the blues signing a RW and a Goalie. If they make any other moves, it'll be a cut of Jay McKee that signals that event.