The St. Louis Blues, as well as the rest of the National Hockey League, went through an emotional and turbulent Trade Deadline on Friday. It took until the final hour for the Blues to be active, and they flipped the script on their entire future in that time.
In all of the madness, the Blues also had a late game against the San Jose Sharks, and won in overtime, 3-2. It was a solid showing, and it featured a group coming together without their leader.
This team has 20 games left to go, and with a record of 24-29-9 for 57 points, they are not mathematically out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, yet. But, it is just about a done deal.
The focus now is on the development of younger stars, calling up the future from the NCAA, AHL, and CHL levesl, and the transition from General Manager Doug Armstrong to Alexander Steen. All the while, the Blues stocked up on some Draft capital, as well as saved a good amount of salary cap space with the movement of Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk. Free agency could be a big moment for this organization.
Speaking of free agency, let's give a quick little look at what's in store for the Blues, now that the Trade Deadline has passed.
Early look
Jonatan Berggren, Dylan Holloway, and Matthew Kesell are Restricted Free Agents. Oskar Sundqvist and newly acquired Justin Holl are the Unrestricted Free Agents. That is not a bad list to sort through, and it could be very simple for the new head-man in waiting, Steen.
Aside from the guys in need of contracts, there are a couple of trade pieces that were not dealt at the deadline that could be revisited on July 1. The main catch now is goaltender Jordan Binnington, as his future with the organization is still unknown. Backup goalie Joel Hofer is seemingly the main guy now, but it is unclear if Binnington would want to ride the pine while he still has some years left to be a competitive starter. This could be the same situaton with Schenn, as he was unwilling to last through this upcoming rebuild period.
Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou are seemingly safe for now, but there could be some chatter in free agency. It all depends on how the rest of this season goes and what the Blues can accomplish in the draft. Justin Carbonneau should be making an appearance at the end of this season, and with Jimmy Snuggerud and Dalibor Dvorsky slowly developing into stars, the future top-six forwards might be figured out already.
The defensive side is still a mess following the departure of Faulk. This is where the Blues will likely use some of that available cap space, and try to grab a blossoming blueliner that just got into the UFA age range.