The St. Louis Blues are in a dire position, sitting at the bottom of the Central Division and the Western Conference with a 6-9-4 record. It's well known that American Thanksgiving tends to be the cutoff point for most NHL teams and that, if you're outside the playoff bubble in late November, you'll likely remain there come the spring.
That said, there are three things the Blues can do to turn the season around. Let's get into it.
Make a goalie trade
There aren't too many goaltenders notably available at the moment, but that doesn't mean nothing can be done. The Buffalo Sabres seem to be in disagreement with their young, promising netminder Devon Levi. The 23-year-old has been playing well in the AHL, though his NHL chops do remain somewhat unknown. However, if the Sabres need to make space for him to play in the NHL, perhaps they'd be willing to move on from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Where there's a will, there's a way, and, given how poor the Blues' goaltending has been, GM Doug Armstrong probably has quite a bit of will to find a solution between the pipes.
Fix the penalty kill
The Blues have the third-worst penalty kill in the league, only preventing 70.8 percent of opposing power plays from scoring. Part of that is on the goaltenders for being incapable of stopping a puck, but the skaters should be doing a better job of protecting their goalies and stymying scoring chances. Improving the penalty kill would go a long way, considering the power play is clicking at 22.9 percent, which is middle of the pack.
Shakeup the roster
That's much easier said than done, considering the full no-move clauses many players on the Blues have, but it's not impossible. It's unlikely Jordan Kyrou or Robert Thomas are traded, given their NMCs, but moving on from a veteran player like Justin Faulk (celebrating 1,000 games this week), Cam Fowler, or--if truly desperate--captain Brayden Schenn could be the wakeup call the rest of the roster needs.
Would the Blues be getting much tangible value in return? Probably not, given all three players are past their prime and carry expensive contracts with terms beyond this season, but the value may not be in the return itself: the value could be the impact it has on the rest of the roster.
There's a serious risk, however, that trading a veteran could have the opposite effect and suddenly everyone quits on the organization and also wants out. This would have to be a true last-resort measure if no other options to getting things going in the right directions present themselves. Still, when you've dug yourself this deep of a hole early, the only way out may be through, and ripping off the Band-Aid by trading a veteran could be necessary.