3 Blues Players that Could Hit the Trade Block this March

With just a couple months and change until the 2024 NHL trade deadline, the St. Louis Blues could potentially shed a couple of players in exchange for players that further bolster an already decent lineup. In this year's quest to retain as much cap space as possible, who can St. Louis send to other squads and who may they be offered in return for them?

Sammy Blais

While Blais is one of the Blues' top checkers, there is one major problem he has - a lack of racking up points. Some of this is due to him also being a healthy scratch on more than one occasion.

Gritty players like him could fare better in Detroit, which is a team currently lacking in such physical prowess. Blais is expected to become an unrestricted free agent after this season anyway, so it probably can't hurt to put him on the list of players slated for the trade block.

Now, this won't quite be a back and forth deal with the Wings, as because of now, Detroit doesn't have any viable replacements. This could be successfully worked out if the Blues were to receive maybe a small handful of draft picks for later this year or perhaps in 2025.

Kasperi Kapanen

Since arriving in St. Louis after coming from Pittsburgh, where he spent half of 2022-23 with those two teams, Kapanen hasn't quite had the numbers he possessed with his last seasons with the Pens and before, the Maple Leafs. The 27-year-old Finnish winger logged 63 games total in 2022-23, which is ok, but just last week, the Blues placed him on IR for the next 4 weeks.

In his first full season in St. Louis, Kapanen has identical numbers to his 2022-23 campaign with the team. He's got 4 goals and 9 assists for 13 points compared to 8 goals and 6 assists for 14 points last season.

He's expected to become a UFA prior to 2024-25, but his stock will be low with the time he's missed. Like the case with Blais, the Blues could be working out another draft pick swap with Detroit following this season. For someone who's spent almost a full decade now in the NHL, a resurgence in play prior to the deadline might need to happen.

Jakub Vrana

Vrana has not had the best start to his 2nd season with St. Louis. A fellow 27 year old winger like Kapanen, Vrana was acquired by the Blues from the Red Wings after just 5 games played in 2022-23.

He'd only play 20 for the Blues that year and is now at that same number this season. The Prague native has done almost the same in the Blues' system, mainly with the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds, putting up numbers like he's done with the Blues in 2023-24.

It's a far cry from when he used to be a star player with the Washington Capitals for the first 5 years of his 8 year career, but that is why he could be on his way back. Teams always think they can be the one to right the ship on a guy that showed flashes. Vrana could fit in with a squad like the New York Rangers, though they might not need any more playmakers given how stacked they are.

There are a couple more players St. Louis could send packing before that March 8 date, but these are the most probable ones. Time will tell if St. Louis can score big in free agency in just a couple of months from now.