The St. Louis Blues have shown serious interest in several players this summer. However, missing out is not always a bad thing.
So, the St. Louis Blues may have inadvertently helped the Buffalo Sabres restock. With the haul the Sabres got in return for Ryan O’Reilly, they already had quite a different team. Now, after August 2nd’s big deal, the Sabres are no longer a laughing stock of the Eastern Conference.
In case you missed it, the Sabres picked up Jeff Skinner in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes got prospect Cliff Pu and some draft picks.
Clearly, most fans will feel the Sabres got the better of that deal. However, in reality, the Blues might not be so sad they missed out.
Any fan with some sense would like to have Skinner on their team. The Blues have definitely improved this offseason, but they have not gotten much faster. The addition of Skinner would have changed that narrative.
Skinner is a speedster with the capability of putting the puck in the net with a decent regularity. However, he is not consistent in terms of being able to rely on certain numbers. He has had as many as 63 points and as few as 31 in full seasons.
More from Editorials
- St. Louis Blues Need Kasperi Kapanen To Be On Best Behavior
- Hayes’ Debut And Other Bold Predictions for the St. Louis Blues
- St. Louis Blues Captaincy Is Suddenly A Huge Problem For 2023-24
- St. Louis Blues National Games Cause More Problems Than They’re Worth
- St. Louis Blues Brayden Schenn Has To Be An Impact Player In 2023-24
The reality, for the Blues anyway, is that a healthy Robby Fabbri could potentially give you exactly what Skinner could. Of course, we have no proof that he can or will stay healthy and you’d like to have two of those players, but Skinner is not going to put the Blues over the top by any means.
Also, you have to take into account the prospect. Pu has had 86 and 84 that last few seasons in the CHL. He also had 17 points in 15 playoff games.
So, while Doug Armstrong could certainly have managed to do some bargaining, the Blues would likely have been expected to give up Klim Kostin or Jordan Kyrou. We have been through this multiple times at this point, but the Blues were smart to not give up on their main prospects.
You’ll never know how good they can be until you use them. While gaining a proven commodity is great, the main thing Skinner would have brought was NHL experience. His ceiling is where it is. For all we know right now, the Blues prospects could all be Skinner or better with their own production. Additionally, Skinner will be a free agent after the season, so you would have no guarantee of his services after 2018-19.
With all the addtions the Blues already made, I’d rather roll the dice. If St. Louis had not picked up O’Reilly or given themselves more center depth, I would be much more open to the idea.
However, at this point Skinner would just be another decent piece and you might be giving up better than that.
There are still fans out there that want the Blues to make more moves. However, this is not fantasy hockey or a video game. It is hard to expect a team to make that many changes and come together immediately. You do have to have some holdover from the previous seasons as your anchor.
St. Louis should probably be done this offseason unless something falls into their lap. So, unless a team is willing to give up a gigantic deal in favor of St. Louis, Colton Parayko and the main prospects should be off the table.