St. Louis Blues: Offseason might be scary but will be fun

Hello, St. Louis Blues fans. I hope everyone is having a great summer offseason so far. There are some key points we should go over as it could be an interesting time for the Blues.

The St. Louis Blues will have their core back next season, but it could be an interesting summmer. The 2017 free agents will be Nail Yakupov, Scottie Upshall, Colton Parakyo and Magnus Paajarvi.

Obviously there will be some changes going into the next season. Nail Yakupov might be someone interesting for the upcoming Vegas Golden Knights. He is a restricted free agent, so the Blues might have to swing some sort of deal to get the Golden Knights to bite on that bait. If they could do it, that would ease the fears of losing someone else but it would free up no cap space.

Scottie Upshall is an asset to the Blues with his 110% he gives every shift. Whether he comes back depends on how much he wants and what the Blues can squeeze in.

Colton Parakyo is one of our best defensive players out on the ice and has a great shot. He is clearly the team’s highest priority. He is a polite young man, but the Blues better hope he doesn’t ask for the moon.

Last, but not least, Magnus Paajarvi is a great, speedy player and had a huge impact in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He may have left things too late though, so it’ll be interesting to see how much his end of season impacts the Blues interest.

The Blues made some good moves during the year already, even if some don’t agree. I believe signing Vladimir Sobotka for three years was a great idea by the staff. It is a good start leading into a positive look on the next season with all the ups and downs we had 2016-17.

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Looking back, we managed when Robbi Fabbri was injured for the rest of the season. I think Jaden Schwartz, Joel Edmundson and Parayko played excellent in the playoffs and we should see those two defensemen paired up again next season. Mike Yeo did a great job of putting the boys back in their game when we all thought that they weren’t even going to make the playoffs.

Next season has a lot of things to look forward to beyond this summer. We might even be able to see an appearance by Tage Thompson, who signed a 3-year deal.

It’s also great to see Steve Ott return even if he will be filling the role of an assistant coach instead of player. He has the charismatic trait that everyone needs to hear. Even though he was known as an enforcer and instigator, he has a big heart for St. Louis and is excited to be joining the club once again.

“There was a lot of factors going into this, but the organization, I know first-hand obviously from wearing the jersey, the classiness of the St. Louis organization, the respect I have for Army and also the team on the ice,” said Ott. “I believe in these players, and to possibly have the chance to win a Stanley Cup as now a coach would mean just as much as a player because I really do believe in this group and going forward I think that’s a really key factor.”

Next: Robby Fabbri's Health Will Determine The Blues Success

We can look forward to a great season once again and maybe even make it further into the playoffs. I don’t think we are far from winning the most prized possession in all of sports history with the talent and rise of St. Louis hockey.

Not all seasons are perfect. With the uncertainty we may have during the summer with talk about trade deals, free agents and upcoming prospects, we still are a great, developing team that has much potential leading into another great season for hockey and has me pretty excited about the future.

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