The St. Louis Blues had a lot of success dumping bad contracts off last season at the trade deadline. Losing Justin Faulk and ex-captain Brayden Schenn set them up nicely for all of the new and shiny additions from this summer in the draft and free agency.
For the 2026-27 season, there is another opportunity to do the same thing, and it is one that is going to hurt Blues fans' hearts. There is the very real possibility that goaltender Jordan Binnington will be moved in March of next year to a playoff contender.
Of course, there are a couple of layers there that have to happen for that ball to start to roll. The Blues have to be down and out of the playoff race, and the return for No. 50 has to be worth it.
Contract year as a backup
Binnington is entering his 10th year as part of this organization and has already achieved more than any other goaltender to ever wear the Blue Note in a lot of different categories. But this upcoming season is going to be different for him, as Joel Hofer will very likely be the starter in 2026-27.
This is uncharted waters for the Blues and for Binnington. For the longest time, every single Blues year had some hype behind it because of No. 50 in net, but things have changed since the debacle that was the 2025-26 season.
To make things a little bit worse, Binnington has to prove himself to Steen and the rest of the Blues brass in a limited role. He has always performed better with more rest, but he has not experienced the amount of rest he is about to receive next season, and shaking off that rust could be impossible.
Potentially be another contending team’s ace in the hole
Binnington could very well be the biggest trade deadline story in Blues history. Yes, that includes the trade for "The Great One", Wayne Gretzky, in February of 1996.
We have seen that former GM Doug Armstrong held out for an acceptable return package for his core group with the Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn, and Justin Faulk moves. Steen is very likely to have the same mindset, and there will be a team that is in a playoff hunt and is in desperate need of a goaltender who has a Stanley Cup under his belt.
The return can be franchise-changing.
No less, a game-7, all-or-nothing goaltender in Binnington can turn an organization into a contender overnight. For now, that organization is not the Blues, as there are just too many other issues and uncertainties in front of him to make them turn around so quickly.
With a new contract needed to remain a Blue, he might just want to take his talents elsewhere anyway.
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