The St. Louis Blues need serious help on their blue line: five of their regular defensemen last season are on the wrong side of 30, and Ryan Suter is 40. Acquiring Philip Broberg by offer sheet last summer helped make them younger, but they need more young, high-end talent on the back end.
Enter the LA Kings. According to Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts, the Kings may make 24-year old, right-shot defenseman Jordan Spence available. Their logic is that they don't have space for both Spence and Brandt Clarke on the right side in the future. While Clarke isn't available, Spence presents an opportunity for the Blues to acquire a high-end, young blueliner--perhaps using their 2025 1st-round pick at 19th overall as the core of a trade package.
Spence, a rare Australian-born player, was taken in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL Draft at 95th overall. The 5-foot-11 defenseman has been an NHL regular for the last two seasons, putting up 24 points in 71 games in 2023-24, and 28 points in 77 games in 2024-25, averaging 16:47 of ice time in this most recent season. In that sheltered role, he was an outstanding play driver, to the tune of a 56.8 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and a 56.88 expected Goals-for percentage (xGF%) at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick. That's an even better statistical profile than Philip Broberg had the season before the Blues offer sheeted him.
If Spence is truly available, and the acquisition cost is reasonable (that 19th overall pick should be more than enough), getting him to St. Louis should be a no-brainer for GM Doug Armstrong. Spence is exactly the kind of play driving defenseman the Blues need on their back end: he's developed enough to hasten the retool right now, and young enough to be effective for the Blues for years to come.