The St. Louis Blues still boast a lot of over-30 talent heading into the 2024-25 season, but with quite a few full no-trade and no-movement clauses set to expire and become partial clauses, look for some of the team’s most seasoned veterans to move elsewhere for 2025-26 as this big roster retool inches closer to general manager Doug Armstrong completing it.
So, which three players will no longer be part of the Blues organization following the 2024-25 season? Keep reading for three household names, but one thing to remember is this: The list does not include players who signed with or who were traded to the Blues this past offseason, so names like Ryan Suter, for example, will be excluded.
Brandon Saad
Brandon Saad is the first of three players on this list who share a common denominator: Their full no-trade/no-move clauses will go to the wayside starting in the 2025 offseason. Those clauses will still be there, but they will revert to partial instead of full ones.
While Saad should remain an integral part of the Blues lineup this season, with Dylan Holloway now in the mix and eventually Jimmy Snuggerud and Dalibor Dvorsky, there needs to be odd men out, and Saad, as one of the older players, should see himself on the move via trade.
It also shouldn’t pose as too much of an issue for Saad should this occur, as he will be heading into his age-33 season when 2025-26 rolls around. Plus, if he enjoys another productive year in Gateway City, look for a potential contender to inquire for him, which will further stock the Blues prospect pool.
Nick Leddy
Philip Broberg is also officially in the mix to see time on the blue line, as he’s yet another young defenseman who Doug Armstrong either added this summer that will be ready to make the move to the big league, or was added via draft. And he joins a long list of hopefuls that also include Pierre-Oliver Joseph, Scott Perunovich, Matt Kessel, and Tyler Tucker.
Nick Leddy is one of three over-30 players in the Blues defensive rotation who will see their full no-trade/no-movement clauses lifted, and he would still bring value to a middle or bottom-pairing following the 2024-25 season, especially for an offensive-heavy team that lacks depth on the blue line.
Like Brandon Saad, Leddy will also be heading into the final season of his contract in 2025-26, meaning a contender looking to go “all-in” next season would likely call up the Blues.
Torey Krug
Finally, we got Torey Krug, and at this point, anything can happen with him this season, but we know he’ll likely miss a significant amount of time. This opens an opportunity for a young defenseman to step up and separate themselves from the pack, and in doing so, it may put Krug on the back-burner.
While he’s one of three over-30 blueliners on the Blues boasting a cap hit of $6.5 million, Krug gives the Blues the least value. Now, you could make the argument that this is what would keep him around as opposed to someone like Justin Faulk since it would be tough to trade Krug, but it also makes him a more legitimate buyout candidate.
That said, I’m more inclined to put Krug on this list with roughly a month to go before camp begins than Faulk. Unless Krug makes his way back to the team this season and puts up gaudy production, there’s no way he’s returning to Gateway City for 2025-26.