Blues make SURPRISING move... - This has MAJOR implications | St. Louis Blues News

The St. Louis Blues have made a surprising move that no one saw coming and it has major implications on the team, not just next season, but heading into future seasons. And not only that, they are now rumored to be targeting one of the hottest targets in the entire league. We're going to break that all down in this episode of Blues Digest. But before we do that, a quick reminder to hit that subscribe button. If you're part of the 80% who has not hit that subscribe button, go down below and hit that free subscribe button because this is the place to be for all your daily St. Louis Blues news. And of course, you guys have been unbelievable. We really appreciate all the support. The subscriber count just continues to climb day in and day out. And we love making the content for you guys. But Mark, we have something crazy to get into today because the Blues have made a move that no one really saw coming. And I mean, the thing is, we're seeing this defensive core that added Logan Mayhew, but we got reports coming from Elliott Freeman today that Nick Letty has been placed on waivers. Now, you're past the waivers where you cannot use this as a buyout window, but it gets very interesting on St. Louis looking to kind of revamp this defensive core. We've seen rumors flying around that maybe Letty would go, Falk would go, but it seems like Doug Armstrong is hoping that Nick Letty does get claimed. Frank Serafelli went out to say as well, the $4 million left on the deal. They've been working together to find a trade partner. We're going to get more opportunity. Nothing was materialized as a swing on waivers. Effortless skater. And the biggest thing is moving out Letty if claimed by another team and a couple options we have. I mean, the San Jose Sharks is a team looking to hit the cap floor. Maybe a team takes a swing on Nick Letty, but Darius, what are your thoughts on clearing up $4 million if we see Letty claimed tomorrow? Well, you clear up $4 million and we've been talking about clearing out cap space because this team is right up against the cap. We know that obviously they made some contract extensions and some signings over the last couple of days, and they're right up against it. They're going to have to make some moves. And obviously you bring in Logan Miu, and we're going to talk more about that in a video later today. We actually got Josh Goss from Habs Digest to talk about Miu to give you guys a better idea of what exactly the blues are getting. So that's going to be an exciting one. Stay tuned for that video on the channel. But you know, obviously you make that move, you free up some salary cap space when moving out. Bull Duke, excuse me. And of course, Nick Letty. Now we weren't sure what was going to happen with him. He could have returned next season. We were kind of expecting that to happen at this point, but it was in the back of everyone's heads that, you know what, this decor is aging. Maybe you do look at moving him and it seemed like maybe they couldn't move him. And now he's going on waivers. And I think it's interesting because I'm a big fan of Tyler Tucker. He's coming in in that spot now. And not only that, it looks like Miu might actually start the season. We don't know exactly what the plan is yet, but because of the cap and all that stuff, Miu might actually start the season on the team as well. So you got a pretty young third pairing there, which is okay. That's all right. Falk is a great defenseman as well. And Broberg is just coming into his own in the league right now as well. So that's totally fine. Still a very strong defense core, but it's an interesting move. You free up 4 million. And I wonder now, Mark, if they're going to be targeting somebody else to come in and play defense. I wonder if it's not Tyler Tucker that's going to start the year. I'm a big fan of his, but I do wonder if they're targeting another defenseman around the league. Because, I mean, looking at Falk, before we get into this player that every Blues fan should be excited for, we do know right now, Tyler Tucker, Miu, you do probably need to add a bit. These are two kind of inexperienced players jumping within the lineup, unless Miu jumps up with Broberg. We know this is a team, and Nick Letty was a big part of this team. We've seen him go have his injury, but it kind of derailed his season. He never got back to true form. We know the stats he put up last year in 31 games, putting up 5 points, putting up 1 assist in 7 games. I do like the tidy work of trying to clear things up. There's a lot of teams that are going to take a player. This is not going to be a buyout. You don't have to worry against any of this on the cap. This is Doug Armstrong looking to move Nick Letty to a new franchise. He gets a bigger opportunity. This helps clear up cap space. With the room they have right now, this you do get 6.5 from this, plus your tiny bit you have left. The 4 million, that opens up 11 plus million and a bigger range for this Blues team to bolster not only this defense, but you can also add more forwards. We've seen Nick Bukestad add him. Maybe they want to go out and get a Bulldozer replacement via trade or free agency. What's your guys' thoughts on this? What's your thoughts on Letty going to Waverick? Do you think the team claims him? Where do you think I think there's a lot of teams looking for a veteran defenseman on this contract. The San Jose Sarah, as I said, have about 40 million in cap space. They have to do something. Maybe this is the player they look at, but it does segue into we know Bowen Byram has been linked to the team. We're seeing quotes coming out from Buffalo. Kevin Adams did say that he's absolutely matching any offer sheet for Bowen Byram, but with Doug Armstrong having this extra money, if Letty is claimed, taken by a new team, if you have 11 million, this is the opportunity to look at Buffalo and say, bet, match our whatever contract. This could be seven, eight million. We know how good Bowen Byram would be on this team, but Darius looking at Byram with this extra cap space win, and if Letty is cleared, could you see this be a possibility? We did a full video on Byram. There are teams looking at offer sheets. I think there's something in the works here. There's two times already in the last little while that the Buffalo Sabres have said, we do not want to trade this player, and then they have traded him. It'll last two months. I feel like there is smoke there. We've heard from multiple insiders that the Blues are in on Bowen Byram, that this is something that could happen. We've taken a look at his projected salary, and it's probably somewhere, at most, he's probably making seven million, I think, Mark, at this point. It's nothing that you couldn't really stomach if you have 11 million dollars in cap space, like you just mentioned, because they're moving off of Letty. Of course, Tory Krug is going to be hitting LTIR. I think that Kevin Adams just got a WhatsApp request from Doug Armstrong that says, hey, let's talk right now, because let's make this happen, because anytime they say we're not trading a player, that means they're definitely available. I think Doug Armstrong is calling on him, and it's going to be interesting. I wonder if it's probably going to be a trade at this point. I don't think you want any business doing an offer sheet at this point in time. I think it's too late, at least, but the Blues don't shy away from offer sheets, but I just don't know if you want to give up the compensation for what the salary is going to be. That boat buyer is going to get the compensation that matches the salary. It's going to be very interesting. I do wonder if they look at a trade, and even in a trade there, you could offload some more salary, like we've been talking about. I think the biggest thing is, if you're going out on an offer sheet, I believe at the seven million threshold, you're giving up a first and a third. The Blues can go this route, but this is something that we could see Buffalo immediately match. They've made it clear, and we've seen the statements, that they're absolutely going to match, but I do think he's on the move, and looking at the future of this team on the defensive end, adding Bowen Byram to this top four gives you room to move Falk down. Mayhew can still play on this team. You have a strong left side, and Bowen Byram can grow with Mayhew, with Broberg, Fowler, Pareto, and Tucker can still be big parts of it, and Falk is expiring at some point soon, so I think adding to the back end, the cap is going to go up. It's going to continuously rise and rise and rise, to the point where these seven million dollar contracts are starting to look like three and a half and four million dollar contracts in the current league, but I do think this is something. I mean, Darius, once again, looking at this team, if you're adding in a top talent like Bowen Byram into the top four, Mayhew and Falk take the bottom six role, or even Byram takes this bottom role, what is your thoughts on the defensive I think it's one of the most underrated in the league, even without Bowen Byram. Even without Bowen Byram, this is a good defense court, right? Make no mistake about it. Going into the season, I would feel very confident with just this, but if you add Bowen Byram, he's a Stanley Cup champion. He played a ton of minutes for the Avalanche the year they won the Stanley Cup. He's been pretty good in Buffalo, considering it's the Buffalo Sabres, and he doesn't have, he didn't ever have a role, really, with the Buffalo Sabres. I think that's the biggest thing that people are glossing over. They have a ton of left shot defensemen, right? So he didn't even really wasn't playing in the proper role. So if you do put him in a different role, maybe in St. Louis, maybe you give him some more minutes. I think he can really flourish, and I think that he's a great defenseman, and he would just make this defense court way, way better. It would be the most underrated, I think, in the entire league, and it might be close to one of the best, at least in terms of, you know, you have your contenders, your top three teams, and you know, guys, you know, teams that have won the Stanley Cup, and then I think the Blues would be right there with everyone else. But I mean, Blues fans, what's your thoughts? What's your thoughts on Nick Letty going to waivers? What team do you think claims them? What should Doug Armstrong do with this new acquired cap? We're about to see almost 11 or 11 on the dot million to use on this team, with the cap even rising next year, you can still go spend more money and not worry about it. What is your thoughts on this Bowen-Byron stagger? Do you think this is the perfect fit, or do you rather them go out and maybe get a fewer right-handed defenseman instead of someone left-handed? Go let us know down in the comments. Once again, big shout out to you, Blues fans, for watching this content. The growth's been insane. We love doing these videos, and we're happy you guys enjoy it too, so go ahead and leave a comment, leave a like, subscribe, share this with your friends. We'll be back with another episode of TPI for that. But I've been your host, Mark, with my co-host, Darius, and take care.