Unexpected trades can happen in the NHL and in any other professional sports league during the season, but they also come in the offseason when there is so much player movement going on. For the St. Louis Blues, it would be tough to see many players move elsewhere in a shocking trade, thanks to all of the no-trade clauses that their key players own.
But there are still a few talented players on modified no-trade clauses, making them far easier to trade than those who currently have the former label attached to them. One player on such a clause who could be traded this offseason is Pavel Buchnevich, so for the purposes of this piece, he wouldn’t fit the ‘unexpected’ category in the same way another name would.
Kevin Hayes is also currently on a modified no-trade clause, and so is goaltender Jordan Binnington. And after giving it much thought, Binnington, while it would be a shocker in the eyes of many fans following the Blues, it also wouldn’t be overtly farfetched if general manager Doug Armstrong traded him.
A potential St. Louis Blues trade involving goalie is logical but shocking
If Joel Hofer didn’t enjoy the type of season he did in 2023-24, any potential trade involving Jordan Binnington would be beyond out of the question. Binnington, even as he heads into his age-31 season, continues to be one of the NHL’s better goaltenders, but Hofer is one of the NHL’s most intriguing netminders at age 24 and under.
Therefore, if the Blues wanted to keep getting younger at all positions, putting Binnington’s name on the trade block and trading him elsewhere for what could be quite a few assets of young talent wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Imagine a team like the Colorado Avalanche calling the Blues for Binnington’s services following what was an underwhelming year from Alexandar Georgiev or the Detroit Red Wings. Plenty of young talent in both of those prospect pools who will be in the NHL sooner rather than later, and you can even say the same about teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs, even if their prospects pool isn’t as intriguing.
Realistically, you would see Binnington sticking around in Gateway City, but it still doesn’t mean a trade wouldn’t occur if someone, especially a contender that needed to improve their play in the crease, offered Doug Armstrong an enticing price.