After last night's embarrassing blowout loss to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks, the St. Louis Blues are in a bad way. They're only a handful of points out of a wildcard spot, but they're not far from the absolute bottom of the standings, either, and their minus-43 goal differential is the worst in the NHL by a significant margin--the next worst is the Vancouver Canucks, with a minus-28. The Blues also have no games in hand, with their 44 games played tied with the Utah Mammoth for the lead in the Western Conference.
It should come as no surprise, then, that a whopping five (5!) Blues appear on the latest iteration of The Athletic's trade board. That's more than any other team on the list, and there are only 35 players mentioned!
Leading the way at number nine is defenseman Justin Faulk, who plays the coveted right side, eats minutes, and is sound defensively. He has a 15-team NTC and one additional year remaining on his contract, so a contender could see the appeal of getting two playoff runs out of the veteran defender.
Coming in not far behind at 11 is a bit of a surprise: Robert Thomas. If the Blues are willing to move on from Thomas, then the front office is preparing for more than just a retool--they're headed for a longer term rebuild. With a full NMC, Thomas controls his destiny, and it would likely take a haul to get a deal done.
At 18 and 25 are Jordan Binnington and captain Brayden Schenn, respectively. Both are in the latter stages of their careers, and while Binnington has been awful this season, he's known as a "big game goalie," and a change of scenery could be quite the boon for the veteran netminder. As for Schenn, contending teams are often desperate for centers, and they'd be able to shelter him over the remaining years of his contract.
Last on the board at 35 is Jordan Kyrou, who's been in trade rumors for what feels like forever. Like Thomas, he has an NMC, and trading Kyrou would signal that the Blues are prepared to go further down the rabbit hole of a rebuild.
We're two months out from the trade deadline, with a freeze in effect during the Olympic break in February. Plenty of time for the Blues to turn it around but, if they don't, we could be in for a big deadline.