The St. Louis Blues were highlighted on Nick Kypreos' Early Trade Board, and it makes for a very interesting conversation after the quarter mark of the season has gone by. Jordan Binnington, Brayden Schenn, and Justin Faulk are the three big fish on that board, and General Manager Doug Armstrong might be considering this as an opportunity to turn this season around.
This list highlights a lot of big names, like Elias Pettersson and Kiefer Sherwood of Vancouver, former Blues captain Ryan O' Reilly, and Steven Stamkos of Nashville and Brandon Carlo from Toronto. That is a lot of talent there.
Should the Blues go ahead and try to get rid of any of those three players listed above to try to revive the season?
Trading away these players?
We have only hit the quarter of the season, and ESPN has already hit the nail on the head with their opening grade on the Blues team. With that said, is it time to start hitting the panic button and offloading players?
The trio of Binnington, Schenn, and Faulk all share the same thing in common: they are all past their prime, but not at the tail end of their career. They are not ready to hang up the skates, but their time in the 'Lou might be up due to the need for an overall change. This team is starting to focus on the younger players, which means that the older players might not have a place.
Of course, this team still needs experienced leaders to try to teach these younger players. But, if it is at a cost to the team's performance and hindering the salary cap, necessary moves have to be made. The names also have a lot of significance to their names as well. Binnington is the franchise's greatest goaltender, Schenn is the current captain of the team, and Faulk has proven to be the best member of the blueline multiple times this season.
Armstrong has a lot to think about, but there is every indicator that the Blues may be sellers at some point this season.