3 strategies the St. Louis Blues can pursue in the 2024 offseason
While the St. Louis Blues aren’t out of the playoff picture, it’s still never too early to start talking about their options in the 2024 offseason.
The St. Louis Blues may not be out of the playoff race yet, but the odds still aren’t in their favor, and they need to win more than their fair share of games while other teams must lose more than they’re winning.
So, let’s assume for the sake of this article that everything remains equal and the Blues miss out on the playoffs, meaning they will be the ninth-best team in the Western Conference. And with a lineup that has underperformed this year, yet one that has shown it can at least contend for a wild card, it leaves the organization in quite the dilemma.
On one end, they can add more talent since they will have enough cap space to fit a quality player onto the roster, even following inevitable qualifying offers and potential re-signings. Since there are very few pending unrestricted free agents coming up this offseason and the following offseason, there is a good chance they take this route.
There are three potential strategies the St. Louis Blues can take in the 2024 offseason
Then again, general manager Doug Armstrong also needs to be honest with the way this team has played over the past two seasons. They have shown they can be playoff-caliber this year. But we also need to ask ourselves whether he should just sell key assets while he can get something valuable for them and bring in an influx of young talent through the draft and the prospects pool.
Armstrong didn’t do this at the NHL trade deadline, and it could foreshadow that he doesn’t plan on taking this route in the offseason. There is also a hybrid role he can take, which entails selling off an asset or two to create space for a few more youngsters and rolling with a ‘retool’ instead of a full-scale rebuild.
Adding another player or two could set the stage for a fun 2024-25 season
If everything remains equal in the standings, the Blues will finish this season with 88 points and outside of the wild card. Even if they gained ground on the Vegas Golden Knights and the Nashville Predators, it’s still tough to see them jumping either team and sneaking into the postseason, especially given the moves Vegas made at the deadline.
However, it indicates that the Blues may just need that last piece of the puzzle that can make them competitive once more. Hockey may be a game of shifts, but look at the number of contenders, and even those on the bubble, who gave up a lot to land that ‘one player’ to hopefully put their team over the top.
If one, or in some cases, two players, didn’t make such a difference, the frenzy we see at every single trade deadline wouldn’t exist. The way things have gone for St. Louis this season, you can classify them as a bubble team, so it would make sense to keep the team as is, bring in one, possibly two players, and gear up for a run.
The downside? If Armstrong went this route and it didn’t work, the Blues would be in trouble, especially if he acquired a player and signed them to a long-term extension.
Selling key assets in the offseason could fuel a rebuild
Given this team’s shortcomings over the last two seasons, a contingent of fans would love to see a rebuild occur. Even some of the most valuable players on this team haven’t taken them far lately, so hosting a sale comprising blockbuster trades that could have occurred during the deadline week would also make sense.
While it’s unrealistic that Armstrong would ‘sell’ all of his current talent in one offseason, completing two or three big trades between July and September, and another round at the 2025 trade deadline, would flood the organization with high-end prospects and draft picks.
While the Blues don’t have a high quantity of picks, they do have a solid number to work with already. This gives them a base and potential for far more if they host such a ‘sale’ during the offseason and the subsequent trade deadline, allowing them to restock their prospects pool while systematically recalling talent from the AHL throughout the season.
This strategy also comes with a downside since the Blues would be one of the worst teams in hockey in the foreseeable future. That said, Armstrong and company would need to find a way to maintain fan interest in the interim.
Under-the-radar moves while promoting prospects would be fun to watch
This would be the hybrid approach and perhaps even the one that makes the most sense. It would involve perhaps just one blockbuster trade in the offseason, a move that will bring in a high draft pick for 2025, and ideally, an A-prospect and a B-prospect.
But that would be it, and maybe with a trade that would also free up more cap space if Armstrong also opts to bring in a young stopgap or two via free agency. But there would also be room to call up younger talent full-time, and the Blues seem to be in the process of doing that with so many now with the big club.
The recent contract extension involving Matthew Kessel is another indicator that Armstrong could be going in this direction. If he lets his few unrestricted free agents walk and doesn’t look to make many big trades this summer, it provides even more evidence that he’s going in this direction.
The downside here is that the Blues wouldn’t be serious contenders next season, or at least that would be the case on paper. But if they want to replenish the lineup without looking as though they are tanking, this hybrid route would be the way to go.
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