Well, so the St. Louis Blues retooling plan is in high gear and working like a charm, to use the old cliche. And as of Friday, their recent win over the Vancouver Canucks has put the Blues into that second wild card spot.
For many fans, it’s been a long time coming, given the team’s inadequate play over the past two seasons and even for portions of 2024-25. But, they improved to the point where we can officially call them playoff contenders, and not just a team in outer orbit.
Still, not every player in this lineup will last through the entire rebuild, and there is a trio who we won’t see taking the ice for St. Louis come the 2025-26 season. But that’s the business of hockey, especially for a team that is still technically remaking itself like the Blues.
1 - Ryan Suter
You can’t help but credit Ryan Suter, given his longevity in the league. For context, he’s been in the NHL since I was a freshman in high school. Ironic, since I actually dug out the old yearbook the other day, before laughing at the ‘universal assumption’ that they were the best four years of my life.
Yeah, far from it. Anyway, few in NHL history have maintained such steady production as Suter throughout the last 20 years. And note that I said ‘solid,’ so I’m not counting elites in this category. And this year was no different, with Suter scoring a goal and 13 points so far through 70 games.
He’s got a plus-5 on the season for a Blues team that wasn’t supposed to be that good, and he’s maintained a sense of knowing where the puck’s going most of the time. No, he’s not the physical player he once was, but that’s about the only knock on Suter.
Still, he’s nothing more than a stopgap as the Blues retool their defensive rotation. And two youngsters in Tyler Tucker and Matt Kessel will get precedent over Suter starting next season, meaning he’s either going somewhere else or retiring.
2 - Torey Krug
Before the season began, I would’ve said Torey Krug will return to the Blues following 2024-25. Now, that may not be the case, as Cam Fowler happens to be the same age and has put up a gaudy season in Arch City.
Further, Krug’s full no-trade clause is up after the season, and if there’s a team willing to take a chance on him following a career-threatening ailment that caused him to miss the 2024-25 season, look for them to inquire.
Even if Krug can’t go and if he can’t restart his career, I’m still expecting one of those ‘dump-off’ trades in which another team absorbs his contract. This would mean his situation is closer to Carey Price’s (who has been open to a trade) than Gabriel Landeskog’s, in which there’s still a chance he can return.
If the Blues didn’t have some up-and-comers both at the NHL and lower levels, I’d be more willing to believe they would hold onto Krug if there was a chance for him to return. But that doesn’t look like the case right now. In an absolute best-case scenario regarding Krug, he’ll end up back on LTIR on the Blues roster and nothing more.
3 - Nick Leddy
Yep, we got three players who are entering their final month with the Blues, and all three of them are blueliners. Like Torey Krug, Nick Leddy hasn’t been healthy this season, even if he’s seen 20 games worth of action as of Friday afternoon.
Leddy, though, has seen his role diminish this season, going from 22:22 of average total ice time to just 18:49 this season, and he hasn’t been producing points. Last season, Leddy snagged 28 points with three goals in 82 contests, good for roughly 0.33 per game.
Through his time in 2024-25, he has just two points and a goal in 20 contests. He also hasn’t gotten in front of anywhere near as many shots on goal per game, with a meager 16 blocks, or 0.8 per. Last season, he had 127, close to 1.5 per.
So yeah, as you can see, we got an influx of young talent coming into Gateway City as these older names fall off into the wayside. I already mentioned Tyler Tucker and Matt Kessel, but knowing Doug Armstrong, if he has a chance to import another blueliner the same way he did with Philip Broberg, expect it. And it will take the still-retooling Blues even further once he moves Leddy.