- After announcing that defenseman Colton Parayko would miss the next six weeks due to a knee injury, the St. Louis Blues were expected to make a recall on defense. The team announced that recall this morning, sharing that they’ve brought up Matthew Kessel from their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. The Phoenix, AZ native has already spent time as a seventh defenseman for the Blues this season, tallying three assists in 27 games while averaging 13:05 of ice time per game.
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Blues Rumors
New Jersey Devils Expressing Interest In Brayden Schenn
As originally reported by Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, and later confirmed by James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now, center Brayden Schenn has become a focus player for the New Jersey Devils today. Factoring in their reported interest in Nashville Predators’ Ryan O’Reilly, the Devils are aggressively pursuing a top-six center and are unafraid of any remaining term.
Schenn would check a lot of the same boxes that O’Reilly does. He’s a veteran two-way center who can play in New Jersey’s top six for the rest of the 2024-25 campaign before transferring to a third-line role once Jack Hughes returns next season.
He shouldn’t cost any more than O’Reilly, either. Schenn has three years at a $6.5MM cap hit remaining on his current deal with a full no-trade clause this season. That no-trade clause transitions to a 15-team no-trade clause for the last three years of his contract.
The native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, may not fill the offensive gap left by Hughes, but his physicality and defensive skills are exceptional. This season, he has scored 12 goals and accumulated 38 points in 63 games with the Blues, showing a slight improvement in points per game compared to his previous season, during which he recorded 20 goals and 46 points.
Meanwhile, Schenn has already eclipsed 100 hits on the season for the 14th consecutive year and is averaging higher than a 50.0% success rate in the faceoff dot. New Jersey is already 11th in the league in hits given this year with 1401, but their faceoff rate could use some work as they rank 24th with a team success rate of 49.05%.
Given the trade chatter surrounding Schenn the last several weeks, the Devils would undoubtedly have to part with their 2026 first-round pick in the hypothetical trade. St. Louis is known to be seeking additional assets, but a first-round pick is an imperative part of the deal. New Jersey appears inclined to make that a part of any package for a promising center, but they’ll pursue all other options before pulling the trigger.
St. Louis Blues Sign Colten Ellis To Two-Year Extension
The St. Louis Blues are retaining some of their organizational goaltending depth beyond this season. St. Louis announced they’ve extended netminder Colten Ellis to a two-year, two-way contract through the 2026-27 NHL season.
Ellis became property of the Blues when the organization selected him with the 93rd overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. The 24-year-old netminder was coming off an impressive season with the QMJHL’s Rimouski Océanic, managing a 27-15-2 record through 46 games with a .910 SV% and 2.47 GAA. Unfortunately, the Océanic couldn’t excel beyond the QMJHL playoff semifinals despite Ellis’s strong playoff performance.
The River Denys, Nova Scotia native spent a few more years in the QMJHL with the Océanic and Charlottetown Islanders before joining the professional ranks for the 2021-22 season. Until the current campaign, Ellis had frequently bounced around the AHL and ECHL. Due to his play with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds this season, it is unlikely that Ellis will play in the ECHL anytime soon.
He’s expected to finish his ECHL career with a 39-27-11 record in 82 games with a .904 SV% and 3.10 GAA split between the Worcester Railers, Tulsa Oilers, and Orlando Solar Bears. Not only has Ellis become the top netminder for the Thunderbirds this year, but he’s also becoming one of the best in the AHL. He’s managed a 19-7-5 record through 31 games and is second in the league with a .926 SV%. Barring a monumental collapse in their 18 remaining contests, Ellis should make his postseason debut in the AHL with the Thunderbirds ranked in the top six of the Atlantic Division.
Blues’ Colton Parayko Out Six Weeks After Knee Operation
In a massive blow to their defensive core, the St. Louis Blues announced Colton Parayko will miss the next six weeks after undergoing a scope on his left knee. Given that six weeks from today is two days after the Blues’ final regular season matchup, it likely means Parayko is done for the regular season.
The knee procedure was required after the team’s shootout win against the Los Angeles Kings last night. During the overtime period, Parayko fell awkwardly after an offensive zone faceoff, leading to his removal from the game for the remainder of the action.
It’s an unfortunate end to what was becoming a career year for the St. Albert, Alberta native. Parayko was, and still is, leading all Blues defensemen in goals, assists, points, even-strength goals, shots on goal, average time on ice, blocked shots, hits, and takeaways. He had already matched his career-high of 35 points in 18 fewer games.
Still, it wasn’t a completely perfect season for Parayko. Although his possession metrics have improved from last year, he’s still averaging a 47.1% CorsiFor% at even strength, slightly below his career average of 48.3%. Meanwhile, his defensive metrics have taken a hit, as evidenced by his career low 89.8% on-ice save percentage at even strength, but much of that can be explained by his 59.0% defensive zone starts percentage.
Regardless of the moderately depressed defensive metrics, it’s hard to define Parayko’s 2024-25 campaign as anything short of an impressive rebound. He’s raised his On-Ice Goals % at even strength from 40.7% in 2022-23 and 46.2% in 2023-24 to a solid 53.2% in 2024-25, notably driving the Blues’ offense.
After appearing as a net loss contract a few years ago, Parayko’s $6.5MM salary through the 2029-30 season is becoming more of an ideal contract for St. Louis. Parayko had been floated as a potential trade candidate leading into Friday’s deadline, but interested teams will likely revisit in the offseason once he’s recovered from the knee injury.
Ryan Suter Plans To Continue Playing After This Season
In this week’s episode of The Late Shift on the St. Louis Blues’ YouTube channel, veteran defenseman Ryan Suter expressed interest in playing beyond this season- with his wife’s blessing. More specifically, Suter mentioned he’s eager to sign an extension with St. Louis and wants to help the team return to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Despite being considered an active team leading up to Friday’s trade deadline, there hasn’t been much chatter regarding the Blues’ interest in retaining Suter beyond this season. The 20-year veteran is not even a year removed from being bought out for a second time throughout his career and is currently playing on a one-year, league minimum salary.
To put it bluntly, Suter is a shell of the defenseman he used to be during his tenure with the Nashville Predators and early on in his 13-year contract with the Minnesota Wild. Still, he hasn’t been a detriment to the Blues’ defensive core this year.
His scoring is understandably down with one goal and 12 points through 61 games this season, averaging 20:19 of ice time. Whatever speed he displayed earlier in his career has been put out to pasture, but he’s still on pace to block approximately 100 shots and has a 91.2% on-ice save percentage at even strength. The latter statistic is on par with his career average.
Unless St. Louis trades defenseman Nick Leddy before the trade deadline or during the offseason, the Blues likely won’t have room on their blue line for Suter beyond this season. The team recently signed depth defenseman Tyler Tucker to a two-year extension, and he should be expected to take over in the bottom-pairing for Suter next year.
Depending on how adamant Suter is about playing next season, he may have to reconcile with taking on a lesser role in St. Louis or elsewhere. His reduced foot speed and scoring will preclude him from playing in any team’s top four and may extend through the bottom pairing. Still, a handful of teams could give Suter another shot on a league-minimum deal or even allow him to try out during preseason action.
Trade Deadline Notes: Boeser, Sharks, Schenn
Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser has reportedly turned down a five-year, $40MM contract extension per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, who adds that Boeser is looking for more term on his next deal. The $8MM cap hit on the rumored offer would be a $1.35MM bump from Boeser’s price tag this season.
Boeser is certainly due for a raise on his next deal, after posting the first 40-goal season of his career last year. His statement performance came after four straight seasons of failing to even reach 25 goals. It was largely helped along by a career-high 19.6 shooting percentage, over seven percent higher than his average of 12.7 percent in six seasons prior. And while Boeser has struggled to reach that same success rate this year, his 18 goals and 17.3 shooting percentage in 52 games suggest he may have really found a new gear to his scoring.
Boeser will be a top name leading into the Trade Deadline if Vancouver isn’t willing to commit to him for a longer term. His spike in scoring and inflated shooting percentage are certainly warning flags, but he could offer the experience of a 500-game pro for the cheap cost of a deadline rental. A short-sighted trade would leave Boeser open to pick his next team in unrestricted free agency, though if he’d get another $8MM offer could hinge on how well he scores through the end of the year.
Other Trade Deadline notes from out West:
- An NHL executive pointed out the potential chemistry between the San Jose Sharks and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram to Sheng Peng of NBC Sports. The 23-year-old Byram has been loosely circulated around trade rumors and could be a perfect addition to San Jose’s rebuild. The Sharks also have plenty to give up for the top-pair defender. Peng shares that there’s a sense Buffalo could use more size and grit. That motivation could make Sharks prospects like Quentin Musty or Kasper Halttunen enticing options. Both top prospects are performing well in the OHL this season. Musty has 43 points in just 26 games and Halttunen has 29 points in 27 games and 13 in his last 10. With the right mix of draft capital, either name could be enough to swing Byram away from Buffalo – though Peng notes he still doesn’t sense San Jose would pay such a price. He shares that the team could instead try and leverage some of their first-round draft picks to land big additions.
- The St. Louis Blues could be asking for as much as two first-round draft picks for captain Brayden Schenn, per Seravalli in his latest trade board. That’s notably the same price St. Louis asked for Pavel Buchnevich, who has five more points than Schenn this season, at last year’s Trade Deadline. The Blues couldn’t find a suitor, and it’s hard to envision they’ll make a match for Schenn at this price either. With Schenn boasting a full no-trade clause, it may take a silver tongue to convince veteran Blues GM Doug Armstrong to trade his captain… once again.
Blues Sign Tyler Tucker To Two-Year Extension
The St. Louis Blues have signed defenseman Tyler Tucker to a two-year, $1.85MM contract extension. The deal will carry a $900K salary in year one and a $950K salary in year two. Tucker was set to be a restricted free agent this summer.
The Blues drafted Tucker with the 200th-overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. He followed his draft selection with 59 points and 105 penalty minutes in 68 games during his age-19 OHL season. The performance stamped Tucker as a bruising enforcer – a role he embraced in full when he moved to the pros two years later. Tucker played his rookie AHL season during the shortened 2020-21 campaign and posted a quaint seven points and 34 penalty minutes in 27 games as a result. But he came to life in 2021-22, leading the Springfield Thunderbirds with 114 penalty minutes in 72 games – over 40 more than anyone else on the team.
Tucker made his NHL debut in the following year and very quickly found his role as St. Louis’ bruiser in reserve. He split the 2022-23 season between recording four points and 31 PIMs in 26 NHL games; and posting 21 points and 79 PIMs in 41 AHL games. He returned to the role of seventh-defender last season, posting two points and 42 PIMs in another 26 games – though routine injury held him to just six AHL games. Tucker has found a better balance between scoring and penalties this season, with four points and 30 PIMs in 20 NHL games and 10 points and 39 PIMs in 19 AHL games.
Tucker’s 72 career NHL games are more than anyone else drafted in 2018’s seventh round. His impact has proven fairly minimal, and is often limited to the defensive zone, but the Blues have clearly taken to the physical presence he brings to the lineup. Tucker is still only 24 years old. With a lineup spot carved out, this two-year deal will represent a chance for him to truly hone his style and push for routine minutes before he hits his prime years.
Teams Exploring Uniting Brayden Schenn, Luke Schenn Via Trade
The Trade Deadline is right around the corner and the list of difference-makers on the open market is few and far between. Of the list of names circulating trade rumors, only two players offer the experience of being a 1,000 game veteran, former Stanley Cup champion, and wearing a letter for their team – Nashville Predators defenseman Luke Schenn, and St. Louis Blues forward Brayden Schenn. With both players seemingly expendable options on teams that aren’t headed for the playoffs, other teams are beginning to wonder what it’d take to acquire both brothers at the deadline, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on the latest Saturday Headlines.
The Schenn brothers have each continued their consistent, impactful play through their mid-30s. Brayden has served as St. Louis’ captain for the last two seasons, while supporting the team’s middle lines with center and wing flexibility. He has 11 goals and 32 points in 56 games on the year, while adding 48 penalty minutes, a minus-seven, and a 50.1 faceoff percentage. St. Louis acquired Brayden ahead of the 2017-18 season, and quickly pushed him into a top-six role. He embraced the opportunity out of the gates, netting a career-high 28 goals and 70 points in his first year in St. Louis. He’s leveled out as a routine mid-50s scorer in the years since, ultimately averaging 52 points a year with the Blues – though he did reach 65 in the 2022-23 campaign.
Brayden also been a stout playoff performer in the Blue-note, with 26 points in 51 games over four postseason appearances with the Blues. He has found his groove as an impactful, two-way centerman with the versatility to fill a wide variety of roles, even at 33 years old. Those traits, and his Cup-winning precedent, will make him a desirable deadline option.
But as is natural, the older brother can boast the better numbers. Luke has played in 55 more games, and won one more Stanley Cup, than Brayden while serving as a journeyman defensive-defenseman for the last 17 seasons. Luke’s career started when Toronto drafted him fifth-overall in the 2008 NHL Draft. He joined the Leafs in the following year, and quickly jumped out as a heavy-hitting, low-scoring shutdown option – stamped by his 206 hits in 70 games as an NHL rookie, an NHL record for rookie defenders at the time. Luke tamped down his hitting and penalty minutes in the name of more scoring through the first seven years of his career, but it became apparent as he entered his prime years that his best impact came in his own end.
Through trips to Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Arizona, and more – Schenn built up his propensity for winning the title of heavy-hitter everywhere he went. He averaged 15 points, 53 penalty minutes, and a staggering 245 hits each season through his 20s – stout enough to land with the golden age of the Tampa Bay Lightning when he turned 30 in 2019. Schenn only played in 63 regular season games across two years in Tampa Bay, but his bottom-pair role was enough to earn a name on both Stanley Cups when the Bolts accomplished their back-to-back wins in 2020 and 2021. Luke has continued his wandering career in the years since, leaving Tampa for Vancouver following the second Cup win, then returning to Toronto, and now spending the last two seasons in Nashville.
Brayden has been granted long-term stability, while Luke has moved seemingly every other year – but one more move could await the Saskatchewan brothers. Luke carries a manageable, $2.5MM cap hit through the end of next season, while Brayden’s $6.5MM cap hit through 2027-28 might be a bit tougher to bring in. St. Louis has all of their retention spots available, and could support the finances of a Schenn deal with the right sweeteners – though they’d have to carry the dead cap through the next three seasons. Logistics aside, the on-ice impact of the Schenn brothers likely wouldn’t command too rich of a return. Brayden has settled in as a capable third-line forward with second-line upside, while Luke seems more comfortable serving from the depths of his team’s blue-line. Both are important roles to fill when planning out a long playoff run – and finding a way to land both brothers could be a quick way for postseason hopefuls to shore up their front and back ends.
Trade Deadline Primer: St. Louis Blues
With the 4 Nations Face-Off now complete, the trade deadline looms large and is just a few 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.
The St. Louis Blues find themselves in a similar position to the last two seasons. They aren’t good enough to make the playoffs, but they are too good to bottom out and collect a top draft pick. It’s a position not unlike the one the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves in. Both teams are recent Stanley Cup Champions that haven’t moved into a full rebuild yet. St. Louis is currently eight points out of a playoff spot and would need to leapfrog three teams to land the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Given their position in the West, it’s fair to assume that they will be looking toward the future at this year’s NHL Trade Deadline.
Record
25-26-5, 6th in the Central Division
Deadline Status
Sellers
Deadline Cap Space
$6.025MM on deadline day, 0/3 retention spots used, 45/50 contract spots used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2025: STL 1st, STL 5th, STL 6th
2026: STL 1st, STL 3rd, STL 4th, STL 5th, PIT 5th, NYI 5th, STL 6th, STL 7th
Trade Chips
St. Louis doesn’t have many pending unrestricted free agents of note but will try to move the handful they do have.
Veteran defenseman Ryan Suter could be traded to a team looking for a depth defenseman, but wouldn’t fetch much of a return at this point. The 40-year-old is a shell of the player he once was, but for a team looking for a veteran presence on the backend, they could do worse. Suter has remained healthy for almost all of his late 30s, and while he isn’t the minute eater he used to be, he could certainly fill the role of a seventh defenseman.
Forward Radek Faksa is another name the Blues could look to ship out. The 31-year-old would bring a strong defensive presence to any acquiring team but wouldn’t provide much in the way of offense. He does have a modified five-team no-trade clause, but it’s hard to see that being an issue at this point. Faksa is a free agent on July 1st and with a $3.25MM cap hit, he should be moveable if St. Louis is willing to retain. Trading Faksa won’t recoup all the draft pick capital St. Louis has moved away this year, but it should allow them to bring in a mid-round pick. Faksa has just three goals and seven assists in 44 games this season, but he has garnered Selke Trophy consideration in four of the last seven seasons.
Outside of Suter and Faksa, the Blues don’t have any remaining UFAs but do have some veterans with term left on their contracts who could be moved. Brayden Schenn’s name has popped up in trade rumors for weeks now, and given his resume it’s no surprise that there has been interest in the 33-year-old forward. There is no doubt that there has been a regression in Schenn’s game the past two seasons and with three more years at $6.5MM per season his market at the deadline will be limited. There is also the concern that Schenn’s defensive game has fallen off, which could scare off some teams who view him as more of a third-line option. St. Louis might wait until the summer to move Schenn if they don’t find an offer to their liking but given that it is a seller’s market right now, they could be able to convince a desperate team to overpay in the next two weeks.
St. Louis has some other veterans on expensive long-term deals who have underperformed the past few seasons, which could make significant moves difficult. Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou have both had their names mentioned as potential trade candidates and the Blues would probably be more than happy to move on from some of their veteran defensemen as well but will likely be handcuffed by varying trade protections. Nick Leddy, Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk and Cam Fowler all make north of $4MM per season and have at least one year left on their current contracts. Couple that with the no-trade clauses and the Blues are in tough to make substantial changes if that is the direction they want to go.
Team Needs
1) Offensive Forwards – St. Louis has top forwards who can score (Kyrou, Buchnevich, and Robert Thomas). However, their depth scoring has been a huge issue this season (25th in the NHL in goals). If the Blues elect to retool this summer, getting offensive depth forwards should be at the top of their shopping list. St. Louis has not received much offense from their bottom six forwards, and it has allowed teams to focus more attention on the top six and prohibit them from scoring at their usual rates. Buchnevich, Kyrou and Thomas are all having down years and insulating them with more depth might force teams to divide their attention more when defending the Blues’ best forwards. At the very least, more offensive options should provide some help to the top six by taking the pressure off of them to chase the game when the Blues find themselves behind on the scoreboard.
2) Young Defensemen– The Blues backend is one of the oldest in the NHL, with just two defensemen under the age of 31. Philip Broberg looks like he should be a top-four defenseman for St. Louis, but outside of him, their top prospects Adam Jiricek, Theo Lindstein and Lukas Fischer are still probably two or more years away from making an NHL impact. The direction the Blues decide to go in will ultimately determine the urgency with which they will try to find young defensemen, but it is very clear at this stage that the team needs to get younger. The Blues aren’t a bad defensive team (20th in the NHL), but having a more mobile unit will help the forwards get the puck in more advantageous positions and open them up to focus more on the offensive side of the game.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Minor Transactions: 2/20/25
Minor moves will continue across the league Thursday as teams dial in their rosters coming out of the 4 Nations break. We’ll keep track of those moves here as always:
- The Blues announced Thursday they’ve called up forward Zachary Bolduc from AHL Springfield. The move was widely expected after they assigned him to the minors for the first time this season at the beginning of the 4 Nations break to get playing time while St. Louis was off. The 2021 first-round pick rejoins the club after posting 6-12–18 with a +10 rating through 46 games to begin the year. Bolduc, 21, posted a pair of assists and a minus-three rating in four games with Springfield over the last two weeks.
- The Devils announced they’d recalled goaltender Nico Daws from AHL Utica and reassigned forward Chase Stillman to Utica and goalie Tyler Brennan to ECHL Adirondack in corresponding transactions. Brennan and Stillman were recalled Tuesday to practice with the Devils while some of their players were returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off and were expected to return to their respective minor-league clubs in the coming days. Daws comes back up to serve as Jake Allen’s backup coming out of the break until starter Jacob Markström is ready to return from his MCL sprain, which is set to keep him out for another two weeks. The 24-year-old won his only start of the season against the Penguins on Feb. 4, stopping 25 of 27 shots for a .926 SV%. He also saved all seven shots he faced in relief of Allen against the Sabres on Feb. 2.
- The Lightning announced they’ve reassigned left-winger Gabriel Fortier to AHL Syracuse. Tampa recalled him Tuesday to serve as an extra practice player as their contingent of 4 Nations players works their way back to Florida, but it won’t result in any NHL playing time. The 2018 second-rounder hasn’t suited up for the Bolts since 2022-23 and has 10-7–17 in 37 AHL games this season with a plus-five rating.
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