St. Louis Blues: Weighing In On The Trade Speculations

The St. Louis Blues have been making the rumor mills in the trade scenarios ever since Vladimir Tarasenko went down with at least a five-month-long time table. So the questions are when, if, and who are possibilities?

The St. Louis Blues are in the midst of a lengthy winning streak after grabbing their seventh in a row in overtime over the Calgary Flames. Since the Tarasenko injury news, the St. Louis Blues have been scoring enough to win, albeit mostly in overtime it seems, and the pressure neither internal or external has been great to make any kind of move.

Even in the middle of a winning streak, the Blues name keeps coming up in rumors. We can all understand why. Losing a guy who is mentioned alongside Alex Ovechkin in terms of goal production warrants all the speculation in the league.

You aren’t going to replace someone like that internally majority of the time. The Blues have some nice prospects in the AHL in Jordan Kyrou and Klim Kostin that could come up, but it’s very unlikely they will make thoughts of Tarasenko out disappear.

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In fact, the only thing that makes bad news like that seem to fall to the wayside and become an afterthought is winning.

The Blues current roster is doing that. Without Tarasenko and now, without Alexander Steen who is ou 4 weeks with a high ankle sprain.

The Blues did make a trade. A trade requested by Robby Fabbri that finally found a partner in Detroit.

It’s a trade that wasn’t meant to do anything except benefit Robby Fabbri. It wasn’t a move to solve for the loss of Tarasenko or Steen, although Jacob De La Rose will bring a solid penalty kill background and can fill those minutes being vacated by Steen temporarily.

The Blues have been linked to players Chris Kreider, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and even Taylor Hall. All of which are UFAs at the end of this season with no contract talks bearing fruit.

I want to say first and foremost, the Blues are not trading for Taylor Hall and I highly, HIGHLY doubt we are kicking the tires on Kreider. Sure, both players would be great in Blue Note jersey, but the financials and the costs do not justify the means.

These players would require a prospect and draft picks. Draft picks the Blues, in my opinion, can ill afford to ship off. We have some talent in the AHL, but most of that talent is nearly NHL ready and will be making their debuts this season most likely, or making their second appearances in Mitch Reinke and Jordan Kyrou.

Secondly to these rumors the Blues would need to find a way to fit them under the salary once Tarasenko returns this season. If he returns of course. I believe he does as he has already shown a tremendous propensity to heal quickly.

So taking stock of the whole picture the Blues are winning without Tarasenko, heck even the powerplay has been better without him, but I think that is more a case of getting comfortable with Savard’s adjustments over time than Tarasenko being out.

The team is nearly at the cap limit when Tarasenko is on the team, and the prospects we would have to deal are too close to being NHL ready that I don’t see the Blues spending so much time and energy protecting these guys just to let them go for a rental superstar.

(Side Note

The St. Louis Blues just signed Troy Brouwer and Jamie McGinn to professional tryouts. I’m sure the social media sites are rejoicing at the potential Troy Brouwer return, but I’m sorry to say he isn’t the answer to this article either.

Good signings and if either does make the team it’s at a low cost and could, if all the stars align, maybe even add a little offense, but it would be just that. A little.)

Now that we have an accurate stock of what the current state is for the St. Louis Blues it really kind of debunks any of these trade rumors for now. What I will say is that if the Blues start putting together some losing streaks and see themselves falling out of the playoff picture then the rumors will start to take on some real lives of their own.

Even with some losing streaks, the rumors for Hall and Kreider will never be more than just that, rumors. I could see the Blues getting Pageau possibly. The cost won’t be as high and the guy can produce some solid offensive numbers for your club.

There are some upcoming UFAs though that I think the Blues very well could trade for and retain when Tarasenko comes back that could also make an impact. I’m surprised their names haven’t circulated as much yet, and that to me is encouraging.

Encouraging because we have all seen how under the radar Doug Armstrong is with his dealings. Typically he makes a trade and no one in the NHL knew it was even a possibility. So these names wouldn’t surprise me to be announced as new St. Louis Blues for the 2019-20 season.

Here’s my list Mike Hoffman, Evgenii Dadonov, Erik Haula, Tyler Toffoli, and Cody Eakin. Now Hoffman to me is the best fit. He’s a bonafide sniper with a fantastic one-timer on the powerplay the Blues would love to have.

The thing with Hoffman again becomes cap hit. His cap hit is roughly $5.2 million. The Blues could fit him in now, but when Tarasenko returns it gets dicey. The Blues would have the room to resign him for next season with the cap expected to increase with the Seattle club joining the league and Jay Bouwmeester becoming a UFA himself.

It’s a math equation for the front office and something I can’t speak on with any credibility. Evgenii Dadonov would be even harder for the Blues to fit so I think he is about as likely as Taylor Hall. That leaves Tyler Toffoli, Erik Haula and Cody Eakin.

Both of these players are producing right now and both are below the $5 million dollar cap hit. I strongly believe that one of these three guys will be who the Blues acquire in a trade if they make one at all.

My wish list is Mike Hoffman. I think he best fits the Blues team game and has the offense to make the biggest difference. Dadonov isn’t as defensive-minded and although he has the tremendous offensive ability and would definitely help in filling the void the cost to me isn’t warranted for the Blues current situation.

Haula has been on the upward trend and at only a $2.75 million dollar cap hit it could be the perfect fit if the Carolina Hurricanes are even thinking of moving him. They probably are not with the hot start of Haula and his low cost.

Tyler Toffoli has failed to produce the same promising numbers he had in 2014 and 2015 seasons, but at age 27 he could benefit from some new scenery and could come at a low enough cost.

I hope the Blues continue winning and there is no need to make any trades. I like this team and they have as I mentioned in a previous article have bought into the system on a nearly day in and day out basis. I think the guys in that locker room are battling to make it impossible for Army to make a move. I don’t think any of them wants to see any of the others or themselves be shipped off.

To make a trade always carries with it the risk of upsetting the current chemistry, but I believe the Blues have developed a leadership group that fosters the kind of environment that seems to just generate team chemistry and bonding as a byproduct fo the environment.

Most of us I’m sure have experienced it. You walk into a new job with new faces and something about the environment and the leadership there just seems to generate that all-inclusive feeling of teamwork. I think the Blues leaders have found that recipe and with that, they will inevitably survive and even thrive whatever kind of trade, if any, that may occur out of necessity.

Drop the puck!