As we enter the middle of March, the trade deadline is inching closer. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make?  We continue our look around the league with the St. Louis Blues.

While many before the season thought the writing was on the wall for an aging Blues team, a variety of breakout years have kept St. Louis on track this year. Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, and Ivan Barbashev are all having career-best years that are giving St. Louis some of the best forward depth in the league, and that’s not to mention a good rebound campaign from Vladimir Tarasenko. They’ve also gotten extraordinary goaltending from Ville Husso in recent weeks, keeping the team near the top of the Western Conference after a hot Jordan Binnington start cooled off. Now, they aim to create a roster that’s capable of giving the city of St. Louis its second Stanley Cup in four years.

Record

34-17-8 (.644), second in Central Division

NHL

Seven trades we want to see ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline

Deadline Status

Buyers

 

Deadline Cap Space

$113,333 today, $133,333 in full-season space, 0/3 retention slots used, 44/50 contracts per CapFriendly

 

Upcoming Draft Picks

2022: STL 1st, STL 3rd, STL 4th, OTT 4th*,  STL 5th, STL 6th
2023: STL 1st, STL 2nd, STL 3rd, STL 4th, STL 5th, STL 6th, STL 7th

* – Blues receive Ottawa’s 2022 fourth-round selection if Logan Brown plays under 30 regular-season games for St. Louis in 2021-22. Brown has currently played 21 games.

 

Trade Chips

The St. Louis Blues have absolutely no salary cap flexibility at this stage to make a trade. While they are operating with a full 23-man roster, meaning they can send a player down and be okay (likely Alexei Toropchenko, who doesn’t require waivers), they’ll likely only have around $1MM to work with on Deadline day. With that in mind, any deal they make likely involves a roster player going the other way.