It feels like Jordan Kyrou's name has come up in trade rumors since the day he signed his eight-year, $8.125-million annual average value (AAV) contract extension with the St. Louis Blues back in 2022. It's a doozy of a contract, with full trade protections until its final year, nearly identical to the one signed by Robert Thomas a few months earlier. Ever since signing, Kyrou's name keeps coming up as a potential trade candidate.
As we approach the Olympic break and subsequent trade deadline, those trade rumors keep coming up--and in the latest version of The Athletic's trade board, Kyrou came in last on the list at number 35. Those trade rumors just won't go away.
Kyrou is a top-six winger who's scored 30 goals per year like clockwork and brings stout defensive play to boot; any team would be thrilled to have him in their lineup. However, as the Blues scuttle around the bottom of the NHL's standings, the 27-year-old winger finds himself on a team at a crossroads, and he's often been caught in the crosshairs--even finding himself a healthy scratch earlier this season.
Trading Kyrou would signal a massive shift in priorities for the Blues. Kyrou is one of their best players and in the prime of his career; you don't trade a player like that lightly, and it would mean a much longer and more painful rebuild is on the way. If this iteration of the Blues is losing this much with Kyrou in the lineup, imagine how much worse in the long term they'll be without him.
Kyrou's NTC does create some obstacles for GM Doug Armstrong to navigate; Kyrou would have to waive his trade protections to get a deal done, which means not every team will be able to make an offer. Depending on how many teams Kyrou would be willing to sign off on, Armstrong may not be able to get maximum assets in a trade. That said, it would still take a haul for a team to get Kyrou out of St. Louis--we're talking a premium pick and/or prospect, plus some B-level assets as well.
If the Blues are serious about turning the roster over to their younger players and positioning the franchise for the future, a Kyrou trade would make sense: the team will be worse in the short term as they jockey for draft position, and it opens up a role for younger players to step into. However, the Blues cannot trade him just to trade him--they need to get significant future assets to make that short-term pain worth it in the long run.
A trade this big will be a delicate process. Even if it feels inevitable, getting all the pieces in place could take some time. Maybe it won't happen until the off season--maybe not even until next year's trade deadline--but trading Kyrou would position the Blues well for the future, even if it hurts in the moment.