The St. Louis Blues finally did it. The club ended months of speculation by trading Jordan Kyrou. However, this trade didn’t happen with one of the long-rumored teams. It actually happened with a bit of an unexpected squad.
The Blues jettisoned Kyrou to the Washington Capitals for the 16th-overall pick in this year’s draft, RFA forward Connor McMichael, and prospect Milton Gastrin.
There’s a lot to unpack here.
First, the 16th-overall pick was a huge win. The chatter had been that teams were unwilling to pay a first-rounder for Kyrou unless the Blues ate some of his cap hit. Well, that didn’t happen. The Caps took on Kyrou’s full $8.125 million cap hit, and still paid the first-round pick.
Granted, the pick is a mid-first-round. But bear in mind that this pick now becomes the fourth first-rounder. As it stands, the Blues would pick back-to-back at 15th and 16th. Yikes!
In fact, I would say that just trading Kyrou, regardless of the other pieces, is a slum dunk. Dumping his full cap hit while landing the first-rounder is a fantastic move.
But it gets better.
Connor McMichael was one of the pieces the Caps kept getting asked for at the NHL trade deadline. All the teams Washington wanted to do business with reportedly asked for the 25-year-old. However, the Caps balked at including him in any trade.
It seems Washington is whistling a different tune.
McMichael is a UFA and needs a new contract. The Capitals don’t seem to have cap issues, but ended up moving him anyway. Perhaps the Caps didn’t feel confident they could re-sign him. So, the best thing to do was turn him into a player with cost-certainty like Kyrou.
The former 25th-overall pick scored 14 goals in 78 games last season. He is one year removed from a 26-goal campaign. So, you would have to think that with regular top-six minutes, McMichael could get back to 20+-goal range.
As for the last piece in the deal, Milton Gastrin, he’s the piece that could make this trade look silly down the line. Gastrin was a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. He was believed to be a first-rounder, but slipped to the second.
Now, his numbers aren’t overly impressive. He scored 10 goals and 24 points in 39 games playing in the Swedish league. He then scored two goals and four points in 12 international U20 games for Sweden.
Those aren’t the sort of numbers that make your eyes pop. But what if he becomes a solid middle-six center? At 6’1” and 194 pounds, it’s not hard to envisage Gastrin becoming a decent 3C playing a balanced role in the Blues’ lineup.
Yes, there are a lot of moving pieces here. But the fact that the Caps took on Kyrou’s full cap hit, while also paying a first-round pick, is enough to declare this trade a massive win for the Blues.
If McMichael and Gastrin reach their potential in St. Louis, this trade could become one of the all-time most lopsided trades ever.
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