The last time the St. Louis Blues missed the playoffs, they won the Cup the following year. Whether they retool and push again or tear it down will be a storyline to follow.
Justin Faulk, Torey Krug and Brayden SchennThe St. Louis Blues are one of the more curious teams in the NHL at the moment. The team itself is navigating its way through an off-season that could bring its fair share of surprises.
GM Doug Armstrong deserved praise this past season for recognizing the Blues would not be a playoff team and acting accordingly. He traded away veteran star forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko in separate deals that brought the team two first-round draft picks, one second-rounder and two third-rounders in the next two drafts.
This is why Philadelphia Flyers were so incensed by former GM Chuck Fletcher’s inability to make any moves of consequence at the trade deadline. If Armstrong could make big moves with looming UFAs who didn’t fit into the bottom line last season, Fletcher’s incapability to get anything for pending UFA James van Riemsdyk was indefensible.
That said, Armstrong didn’t totally wave the white flag in 2022-23.
He landed veteran winger Jakub Vrana from Detroit – with the Red Wings picking up half of Vrana’s $5.25-million cap hit through the final year of his contract this coming season – in a move that gives the Blues options to get more competitive in a hurry. Vrana thrived with St. Louis after the trade, generating 10 goals and 14 points in 20 games as a Blue.
Vrana’s status as a UFA in 2024 could be a selling point for Armstrong, just as it was for O’Reilly and Tarasenko. Armstrong probably won’t have the overall impact Tarasenko and O’Reilly had in their time in St. Louis, but Vrana could prove to be very attractive to other teams over the course of next season.
As per CapFriendly, the Blues have 18 players under contract for the 2023-24 campaign and just $7.5 million in projected cap space. It’s possible they use much of that money to bring back O’Reilly or Tarasenko, but the truth about the Blues is they could better spend their cap space on a veteran goaltender, as starter Jordan Binnington (3.31 goals-against average, .894 save percentage) needs some healthy competition to push him in net.
Youngster Joel Hofer could surprise people by stealing the understudy’s job in training camp next year, but a veteran like pending UFAs Cam Talbot or Joonas Korpisalo would provide more stability between the pipes, and neither goalie would cost them an arm and a leg.
The other area in which the Blues could make changes is on their blueline. Armstrong currently has all six of his top six blueliners signed through 2023-24, but if he really wanted to shake things up, Armstrong could make one of his D-men available for trade. Veteran Torey Krug has a no-trade clause, but he has a cap hit of $6.5 million for four more seasons. Rival GMs would leap at the chance to acquire him and try to convince him to waive his clause.
It’s important to remember that the Blues finished 14 standings points out of a playoff spot last season. They deserved to have changes made to their roster, and many things will have to go right for them to turn things around quickly this coming year.
But the Florida Panthers’ success in this post-season gives any GM reason for optimism that, so long as they squeeze into the playoffs, anything is possible. And keep in mind, the Blues have faced a situation before where their playoff window appeared to be closing; that was in 2017-18, when they missed the playoffs, and the following season when they were last in the league at one point. Surely enough, they turned it around and won the Stanley Cup in 2018-19.
For those reasons, Armstrong’s decisions on the lineup this summer will be fascinating to watch.