St. Louis Blues: Pros And Cons Of Trading Alexander Steen

The St. Louis Blues are rumored to still be active in the free agent market. However, their cap space is dwindling, so a salary trade might be in the works. Does a long-tenured forward make the most sense to deal?

The St. Louis Blues have had an up and down relationship with Alexander Steen over the past few years. However, he might – key word is might – be a prime candidate to leave should the Blues need to trade away salary to make a final move in free agency.

Steen has plenty of fans, as well he should. He has been a pretty steady contributor, with only a few hiccups along the way – usually due to injury. He has rarely lit up the scoreboard, but has been a regular scorer for the team in the overall sense.

Steen was even called the team’s best player in the playoff run of 2016. Oddly enough, that statement came when Steen and Ken Hitchcock might have been in their rockiest moments of that relationship.

On the downside, he is getting older and has not been performing up to the standards he set. So, does that mean he could be on his way out? Let us examine why he could and why he might not be.

Pros

Salary

At the top of the list of reasons Steen might be on his way out is his salary. He still has three years left on his current contract, which will end when he is 37. He is also counting as a $5.75 million cap hit in each of those years.

Even at Steen’s peak, a salary close to $6 million was probably too high. However, the Blues were rewarding him for service and there were not a ton of options there when the deal was signed either. You could use this as an example of Doug Armstrong overpaying his own players, but there was not a large outcry against the contract either.

Nevertheless, getting almost $6 million off the books as the team rises toward the cap is appealing. Having three years of space is also appealing since the other potential salary dumps are only on the books for 2018-19.

The Blues currently have $5 million in space. If you could get that number up to $10-11 million, you have plenty of room to re-sign Joel Edmundson, pay someone like Pat Maroon and also start planning to take care of your RFA’s for the season after.

Age and Production

Sports have a harsh reality, but as the saying goes, Father Time is undefeated. Steen is already 34 and coming off his most unproductive season in almost a decade (not counting lockout years).

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He only had 46 points in 2017-18. His point totals and goal numbers have gone down every season since 2014-15. There are extenuating circumstances for some of that, but those are the facts.

The Blues are not known for this mentality and it might be sacrilege in St. Louis, but you might want to take the New England Patriots approach. Cut ties while the player still has a tiny bit left in the tank before he gets to zero.

Again, if you take this approach, you are banking on the fact that Steen’s numbers are not likely to rebound. He very well might, but it is hard to imagine a player getting better from 34 to 37 that was not elite like Jaromir Jagr.

Keeping Space Open

If you trade Steen, you keep a spot available for one of the prospects to win. If he stays, then this becomes a much more veteran team.

While it seems incredibly unlikely, there is a small chance the Blues could afford Maroon, Edmundson’s raise and keeping Steen. However, that all but slams the door shut on someone like Jordan Kyrou making the team without an unbelievable training camp, and even then unlikely.

If you deal off a forward, of which Steen is really the only likely candidate, unless you package some fourth line players, then Kyrou or Robert Thomas still have every opportunity to make the team.

Restocking Thru the Draft

The Blues have traded away their first round draft pick in consecutive summers. While the player they got is probably going to be better than the one they could have drafted, that is not a long-term strategy for success.

Thus, re-adding draft picks is a necessity. Steen might not fetch you a first rounder by himself, but you could package late round picks for a first round pick later on if needed.

Cons

Pure Salary dump

While this is by no means a certainty, it would seem like the Blues could not add an NHL player in return for Steen. The only way that would be possible is if the player coming back made half of Steen’s salary or less.

While I am not Steen’s greatest fan by any means, it would seem a waste to trade him for draft picks. However, not everyone agrees with that sentiment. It merely does not fit my own feelings about trades. I have never liked trading players for picks alone, even as I have become more accustomed to that being the way of things.

Again, I fully understand the idea of cutting ties with a player that is slightly overpaid before he goes into decline. It just feels odd to not go like for like, unless you could steal a first round pick, but that seems unlikely.

Steen Is Technically More Productive

If you look at the pure numbers, then Steen is still technically better than Maroon. Steen’s worst season in a decade was three points higher last year than Maroon’s career best numbers.

Maroon brings intangibles that Steen no longer does, like going to the front of the net and screening, but you do have to ask how much is truly gained.

Maroon would cost significantly less, but is that monetary savings equal to the potential loss of production, which is something the Blues lack anyway.

Of course, the counter-argument is the prospects and new players pick up the slack. However, Steen is relatively consistent, so you’re giving up consistency for potential, which can be iffy.

Risk Of St. Louis Departure Curse

Thankfully a general manager will almost never consider this, or at least should never consider it. That said, as fans, we always worry about players that leave and do better.

There is a laundry list of guys that got traded or left in free agency and found greener pastures elsewhere. At 34, it seems less likely Steen would be one of those guys, but it would still sting to send him away and have him do better with another team, whether that means points or wins.

Overview

It should be said that there have been no real rumors that Steen is even being shopped around. It is simply a logical assumption made by myself and other Blues bloggers made on the idea that the team has to clear salary for a potential Maroon signing.

I have not completely made up my own mind about how I would feel about this. I have had my own issues with Steen. It never sat well with me how he was potentially involved in turning the team against Ken Hitchcock, but that was never substantiated and merely hearsay.

It cannot be denied that he has helped contribute to the Blues. He is one of the few core players that has had fewer nights off than almost anyone else.

That said, it might be better to get out in front of any potential decline before it happens and while his stock is still high. That also goes against most of my personal feelings, but sports are a business these days and loyalty rarely pays for either side – player or team.

Next: Early Guess At Blues Forward Lines

The main thing would be to keep a spot open for one of the kids. While the Blues are clearly in a win-now mode, you have to see what some of these guys have. They are still young enough that they have long careers in front, but growth can be stunted if you don’t allow them opportunity. We will see how it all plays out.