The St. Louis Blues have acquired Alexandre Texier from Columbus

Doug Armstrong made his first trade on draft day, acquiring center Alexandre Texier from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for a 2025 fourth round pick. Following the trade, it was announced that Texier has signed a two-year contract extension with St. Louis worth 2.1M AAV.

In 78 games with Columbus last season, Texier scored 12 goals, 18 assists, and 30 points. He didn't play with Columbus at all in 2022-2023 as he went to Europe to play in the Swiss league while rehabbing an injury. Texier will probably play his way onto the Blues third line next season, unless other trades take place.

Acquiring Texier Fits the St. Louis Blues Retool Model

Texier is the exact type of player the Blues are looking for. It's been repeated time and time again by Doug Armstrong that St. Louis is looking for players that are in the 23-26 age range. Scoring 12 goals after going overseas in his return to the NHL is pretty impressive as well.

While acquiring Texier makes plenty of sense for the Blues retool model, it raises some questions. The Blues aren't short on the forward end, and if acquiring Texier solves the middle six center needs, that makes sense.

If you ask any Blues fan what the biggest offseason need is for the team, probably most of them would say defense. The other big question is what the Blues are going to do with Pavel Buchnevich. Acquiring yet another forward complicates things a little bit more. Could Doug make Brandon Saad expendable, or package Buchnevich in a blockbuster trade for an elite defenseman?

There's a lot at play for the Blues after acquiring Texier, and it could be the beginning of something a whole lot bigger. The automatic two-year extension makes me wonder if the Blues will look to move one of their forwards soon, particularly the two that are approaching expiring contracts.