The NHL's trade deadline has passed, and the St. Louis Blues made two trades of consequence: defenseman Justin Faulk is now a member of the Detroit Red Wings, and captain Brayden Schenn has joined the New York Islanders. The Blues moved out veteran players for future assets, and are on their way to rebuilding.
They couldn't have picked a better time to take a step back. Even with the rosiest of lenses, this Blues team is outmatched by just about every team atop the Central Division now and in the years to come.
The Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, and Minnesota Wild are three of the best teams in the league--and between them, they have maybe five of the top ten players in the league; beyond the star power, these three teams have borderline elite supporting casts. Their Stanley Cup contention window is right now--and the coming years, too, with most of their stars under contract through the primes of their careers.
Even if the Blues did somehow manage to squeak into the playoffs this season as a wildcard, they would've been entirely outmatched. That talent discrepancy isn't changing anytime soon, either.
Other teams in the Central are on the upswing, too: the Utah Mammoth traded for MacKenzie Weegar, bolstering their backend. The Mammoth are no longer the laughing stock, Arizona Coyotes: this is a team stuffed to the gills with young talent on the verge of stardom, and ownership is willing to spend to build a winner. In Chicago, the Blackhawks are a team on the rise as well--management just has to build a winner around Connor Bedard. Maybe the Blues could've handled one of these teams in the playoffs this year, but as soon as next season, the script would likely flip.
The Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets are the only teams in the Central that perhaps Blues fans can relate to: the Predators are in decline, and GM Barry Trotz is stepping down at the end of this season after a few disastrous years at the helm. Meanwhile, the Jets are floundering this year after winning the President's Trophy last season--but they still have the greatest goaltender in the world in Connor Hellebuyck, and a turnaround next year isn't fully out of the question.
The Blues, for better or for worse, are bottoming out at perhaps the best time possible. The Central is a behemoth, no doubt the best division in the NHL, and the Blues simply do not have the talent to compete against these titans, now or in the near future. If they pull off this rebuild (or retool, however you'd like to describe it), they should be a franchise on the rise as teams like the Avalanche, Stars, and Wild start to decline.
It will take time, patience, and a little luck, but the Blues could become Cup contenders again just as the Central starts opening up for them.