[btimbit]

Just July 1st, I'll give a solid A-

Johnson signing is a slam dunk as far as getting a dependable backup you can count on when needed, or to hold the fort reliably if your starter gets injured. I would have liked to see it be a 2 year deal, going into next summer with no goalies again makes me uneasy (although I'm sure an Elliot extension happens well before the draft next year) But do we not need to have someone signed into the next year to expose for the expansion draft? Maybe I'm wrong on that

Brouwer. I'm huge on this player. I watched a lot of St Louis last year from the trade deadline on, and especially in the playoffs, and Brouwer was an absolute force the entire time. He adds so much for this team, the biggest stuff you can't even see on a stat sheet. I don't even mean 'locker room character' or 'intangibles' (although he is loaded with both of those things, fwiw) but he goes hard into the corners, plays great along the boards, retrieves pucks well, uses his size to his advantage and never, ever gives less than 110% on a shift. He also doesn't get injured.

Colborne signing elsewhere: Gone back and forth on this, but I think having no Colborne at all is much better than having Colborne at the rumored 3.5+ mil he wanted here. Kind of unfortunate that it opens a hole on the left side in the middle 6, really hoping a prospect can step up this year. Not too upset about losing Colborne, I really liked the guy but not sure he really brought what the team needs going forward. Not getting an asset for him sucks, but with Colborne trade rumours going around for a while, I think other gm's just knew not qualifying him was an option and they could get him for free on July 1st. Who knows, whatever the case, good luck Joe

Only thing that kept me from rating the day higher was that extra $500k on Brouwer's contract. If he signed for a little less than Frolik then that would be a slam dunk deal. But still, we got a player we needed, so I won't complain.