St. Louis Blues: Don't Expect Big Changes Over Draft Week

The St. Louis Blues are doing everything to improve. They just are not going to do it the way we want it to happen.

It’s an exciting time for the St. Louis Blues and the NHL right now. With the expansion draft upon us and the entry draft days away, there is expected to be a flurry of activity.

Last year, there were only a few deals made and most of it involved swapping draft picks. Teams were interested in protecting themselves and their situations for the expansion draft.

Nobody wanted to pick up a big piece for fear of having to leave them exposed to Las Vegas. Some teams ended up in that situation anyway, but most knew it would happen since they began formulating their lists well over a year ago.

Now teams are more comfortable wheeling and dealing. That said, don’t expect the Blues to be part of that.

The Blues appear to be settling on the idea of David Perron no longer being on the team after June 21. That would be disappointing, but semi-beneficial.

The disappointing part comes from Perron being the team’s fourth leading goal scorer with 18. He had a very good regular season and would be a fantastic third-line scorer if still in the note.

However, he was one of many that completely disappeared in the playoffs. One assist in 11 playoff games in 2017 is not cutting it any way you slice it.

The beneficial aspect comes in freeing up $3.75 million. That’s a good chunk of change to add toward Colton Parayko‘s extension, while potentially leaving more of the current projection of $6 million in cap space free to spend elsewhere.

Beyond just the Perron rumors though, the Blues seem content being who they are despite knowing they have not been good enough to win. While I am personally a supporter of Doug Armstrong, he seems to have too much of a mind on the long term at the expense of the present.

Armstrong has basically said he has no interest in trading anything to get Vegas to take Jori Lehtera. Unless that was a smoke screen, he said he did not understand the idea of trading away pieces just to lose a player.

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A fine sentiment overall. However, dropping Lehtera’s $4.7 million, getting rid of a guy that is not going to turn things around in St. Louis and keeping Perron, who is capable of actually scoring seems beneficial. We all knew it was not going to happen, but to hear it won’t still stings.

In addition to that, I no longer think anything will happen at all this week. Armstrong seems set on keeping what he has.

“We’ve transitioned our team over the last two trade deadlines not to give up picks and to gain prospects and we’re staying down that path,” Armstrong said. “We’re not giving up picks or giving up prospects.”

That statement is rather infuriating. Yes, you have to keep building for the future. That has been Armstrong’s strong suit, being one of the few GM’s actually concerned with the team and not his own job security.

You owe it to the current players to attempt winning now. There is no need to mortgage the future for this year, but to stubbornly hoard your picks and prospects is just as short sighted.

Nobody knows which guys are going to pan out. Some guys are not built for success in the NHL.

Maybe they are just good college or minor league players. The longer you hold on to them, the more the rest of the league catches on that they have not been featured in the NHL.

Picks are worse than a coin toss. This year’s draft is expected to be rather thin anyway. Why not attempt to turn two first rounders into a viable NHL asset?

Maybe telling ourselves nothing will happen will put some reverse psychology on the Blues. We all convinced ourselves a nice trade was going to occur during last year’s draft only to leave empty handed.

Or maybe it’s a St. Louis thing to overvalue your farm system. The St. Louis Cardinals seem to be doing that these days while their major league team falls farther behind. The Blues might be following suit.

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St. Louis really is not that far away if they play at their best. They do have to add though. It’s hard to keep relying only on what you already have when they have shown that is not quite enough already.

Maybe I’ll be wrong. I wouldn’t buy into any rumors though right now and I’d expect the Blues to come out the other side minus one NHL player and plus whichever players they draft. I don’t see any moves coming. Hopefully I’m wrong.

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St. Louis Blues: Don’t Expect Big Changes Over Draft Week

By Todd Panula | Jun 21, 2017

The St. Louis Blues are doing everything to improve. They just are not going to do it the way we want it to happen.