How the St. Louis Blues can still move one or more of its blueliners this summer

Jacob Punturi of SI.com listed defenseman Nick Leddy as one player for the St. Louis Blues to trade in 2024-25. The problem is, Leddy, like Colton Parayko, Torey Krug, and Justin Faulk, has a full no-trade clause, and there’s a good chance he or any of the players listed above will refuse to waive it unless they’re going into a favorable situation. 

With Krug out of action for the foreseeable future, there’s little to no chance he goes anywhere, but there’s still Parayko, Faulk, and Leddy. While it would make little sense for general manager Doug Armstrong to move all of them unless he wanted to simultaneously give Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Matt Kessel, and Theo Lindstein chances, moving one or two of his blueliners elsewhere has its benefits. 

For one, think about how much value they would get in someone like a high-end prospect for a contender that needs another impact player on the blue line right now. And think about how enticing it would be for a player like Parayko, Leddy, or Faulk to have an almost guaranteed path to the playoffs as opposed to playing for a retooling Blues team. 

St. Louis Blues need to put their defensemen into better situations

At this point in the summer, it would be tough to see Doug Armstrong trading anyone unless a team either believed they must upgrade their blue line or if another team has a defenseman go down with an ailment similar to what we’ve seen from Torey Krug. But if Armstrong received an inquiry for someone, the only way Parayko, Leddy, or Faulk would agree to go elsewhere would be if they believed that team to be a contender. 

Recently, the Detroit Red Wings tried trading for Jacob Trouba, but failed, so maybe Steve Yzerman isn’t finished trying to bring one more blueliner to the Motor City. Given the way the Blues are retooling and the Red Wings are one solid defenseman from an all-but-guaranteed playoff berth, they would be a team one of those three healthy blueliners on no-trade clauses should be fine playing for. 

The Edmonton Oilers are another team that may want one more player for their blue line, and there’s always that potential surprise team that inquires seemingly out of nowhere. Regardless of whether Armstrong gets any inquiries, the only certainty is if he’s interested in moving one or two of his older defensemen, it’s not happening unless he has a deal in place to move them to a better team.