Headlines

  • Latest On Nikolaj Ehlers
  • Hurricanes Acquire K’Andre Miller In Sign-And-Trade With Rangers
  • Alex Delvecchio Passes Away At Age 93
  • Sabres Sign Ryan McLeod To Four-Year Deal
  • Rangers, Will Cuylle Agree To Two-Year Deal
  • Kings Sign Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin, Anton Forsberg
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Utah Mammoth
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Trade Deadline Primer: St. Louis Blues

February 28, 2024 at 6:30 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 6 Comments

With the All-Star break in the rearview, the trade deadline looms large and is now less than two weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the St. Louis Blues.

Last year, the Blues were one of the more active teams at the trade deadline, moving out Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly, and Ivan Barbashev in separate deals. Outside of selling off pending unrestricted free agents, St. Louis did prepare to compete for this season, acquiring Jakub Vrana from the Detroit Red Wings and claiming Kasperi Kapanen off waivers, both of whom are still with the organization. With a lack of expiring contracts for star players, the Blues will not likely sell as much as they did last year, but could still trim their roster along the edges.

Record

30-26-2, 5th in the Central Division

Deadline Status

Conservative Sellers

Deadline Cap Space

$2.21MM of cap space on deadline day, 0/3 retention slots used, 47/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.

Upcoming Draft Picks

2024: STL 1st, STL 2nd, TOR 2nd, STL 3rd, NYR 3rd, STL 4th, STL 5th, STL 7th, NYI 7th
2025: STL 1st, STL 2nd, STL 3rd, STL 4th, STL 5th, STL 6th

Trade Chips

Last week, there were reports that St. Louis was not necessarily shopping forward Pavel Buchnevich, but was listening to offers, easily making him their top trade chip heading into the deadline. Given that Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan have each commanded a first-round pick to acquire, Buchnevich could easily fetch a similar return given that he is still signed for one more season at $5.8MM. Now in his third season with the Blues organization, Buchnevich is once again performing at a first-line level, scoring 23 goals and 47 points in 56 games so far this year.

Outside of Buchnevich, there are a few players in St. Louis currently on expiring contracts that would allow the Blues to add to their draft capital over the next two seasons. For a contending team looking to beef up their bottom-six forward group, Oskar Sundqvist, and Sammy Blais are both physical players that could add some grit to any lineup. Throughout this year, the two have combined for 223 hits in 102 games, and are sixth and first on the team in that category, respectively.

On the back end, Marco Scandella is the only pending unrestricted free agent in St. Louis, and could seamlessly transition into any team’s bottom-pairing. Although dealing with some injury concerns over the last two seasons, Scandella is still one of the better defensive defensemen in the league as evidenced by his 92.2 on-ice save percentage in all situations this season. Given that Scandella is no longer a top-four option on the blue line, he should only command a mid-round pick at this year’s deadline.

Team Needs

1) [Continue To Get Younger] – After last year’s selloff, the Blues got considerably younger, especially by adding two more first-round pick at last year’s draft. With Zachary Bolduc, Zach Dean, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Dalibor Dvorsky ready for full-time roles in the next few years, St. Louis needs to trim around the edges to open up roster spots for these young prospects. With only nine points separating 6th and 12th place in the Western Conference, the Blues could take advantage of a very competitive conference as soon as next season. Suppose the organization is amenable to moving out all of Kapanen, Blais, and Sundqvist within the next week. In that case, this should open up the necessary roster spots to start moving their prospects in.

2) [Look Into Capitalizing On Goaltending Market] – If the Blues are willing to become very aggressive at this year’s deadline, they could look into moving Jordan Binnington to one of the several goalie-desperate contending teams. Binnington has been solid this year for St. Louis, producing a 20-16-2 record in 41 games played, coupled with a .909 SV% and a 2.93 GAA. However, the team seemingly has an heir apparent ready to take over the starting role in 23-year-old Joel Hofer, whom the team drafted 107th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft. In his first full season with the Blues, Hofer has earned a 10-10-0 record in 22 games while producing a .910 SV% which places him at 14th in the league for goaltenders who have played in 20 or more games.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Deadline Primer 2024| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals| St. Louis Blues

Injury Notes: Capitals, Terry, Seider, Soucy, Joshua
Main
Vancouver Canucks, Elias Pettersson Making Progress On Extension
View Comments (6)

Comments

  1. mbart33

    1 year ago

    Sell

    1
    Reply
    • bighiggy

      1 year ago

      Please sell. If someone will take binner and his contract for like a 4th let it be done. Or blues retain to get a better pick. Vrana, kapenen,blais, scandella, gaudette( scoring a ton in the minors but still doesn’t get a chance here) for anything. Saad and Krug could also go if anybodys offering anything. I’d be inclined to keep sundquist because he’s the perfect 4th liner but if anybody comes asking he can go too and hopefully resign in the off-season. And man has Blais turned into a pumpkin after last year’s hot finish.

      Reply
  2. Gbear

    1 year ago

    Are the Blues even trying to make the playoffs despite where they sit currently in the standings? Watching that team gives one little indication that they are. Case in point tonight: they went over 55mins of regulation plus OT without scoring a goal. How does a team allegedly battling for a playoff spot play that anemic?

    Sell.

    1
    Reply
  3. User 318310488

    1 year ago

    Sell, Sell, Sell!

    Reply
  4. Gary R

    1 year ago

    I wish the Blues would go to Saskatoon.

    Reply
  5. kitkat40

    1 year ago

    Sell and go younger.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Latest On Nikolaj Ehlers

    Hurricanes Acquire K’Andre Miller In Sign-And-Trade With Rangers

    Alex Delvecchio Passes Away At Age 93

    Sabres Sign Ryan McLeod To Four-Year Deal

    Rangers, Will Cuylle Agree To Two-Year Deal

    Kings Sign Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin, Anton Forsberg

    Ducks Sign Mikael Granlund To Three-Year Deal

    Islanders Sign Jonathan Drouin To Two-Year Deal

    Mammoth Sign Nate Schmidt, Brandon Tanev To Three-Year Deals

    Blue Jackets Re-Sign Ivan Provorov To Seven-Year Deal

    Recent

    Ducks Finalize Coaching Staff

    Latest On Nikolaj Ehlers

    Hurricanes Acquire K’Andre Miller In Sign-And-Trade With Rangers

    Islanders Sign Simon Holmstrom To Two-Year Deal

    Alex Delvecchio Passes Away At Age 93

    Penguins Sign Justin Brazeau, Caleb Jones To Two-Year Deals

    Hurricanes Sign Mike Reilly

    Golden Knights Sign Dylan Coghlan, Jaycob Megna, Cole Reinhardt

    Two-Way Deals: 7/1/25

    Maple Leafs Sign Travis Boyd, Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Dakota Mermis

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Mammoth Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • 2025’s Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents
    • Sam Bennett Rumors
    • Nikolaj Ehlers Rumors
    • Mitch Marner Rumors
    • Marco Rossi Rumors

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    • Support Pro Hockey Rumors And Go Ad-Free
    • 2025 Free Agent Focus Series
    • 2025 Offseason Checklist Series
    • 2025 NHL Free Agent List
    • 2026 NHL Free Agent List
    • Active Roster Tracker
    • Coaching Staff Directory
    • Draft Pick Tracker 2025
    • Key Offseason Dates
    • Offseason Trade Tracker
    • Pro Hockey Rumors On X
    • Pro Hockey Rumors Polls
    • Waiver Claims 2024-25

     

     

     

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Commenting Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version