Trade-deadline primer for Blues

Forward Radek Faksa is another name the Blues could look to ship out. The 31-year-old would bring a strong defensive presence to any acquiring team but wouldn’t provide much in the way of offense. He does have a modified five-team no-trade clause, but it’s hard to see that being an issue at this point. Faksa is a free agent on July 1st and with a $3.25M cap hit, he should be moveable if St. Louis is willing to retain. Trading Faksa won’t recoup all the draft pick capital St. Louis has moved away this year, but it should allow it to bring in a mid-round pick. Faksa has just three goals and seven assists in 44 games this season, but he has garnered Selke Trophy consideration in four of the last seven seasons.

Outside of Suter and Faksa, the Blues don’t have any remaining UFAs but do have some veterans with term left on their contracts who could be moved. Brayden Schenn’s name has popped up in trade rumors for weeks now, and given his resume, it’s no surprise that there has been interest in the 33-year-old forward. There is no doubt that there has been a regression in Schenn’s game the past two seasons and with three more years at $6.5M per season, his market at the deadline will be limited. There is also the concern that Schenn’s defensive game has fallen off, which could scare off some teams who view him as more of a third-line option. St. Louis might wait until the summer to move Schenn if it doesn't find an offer to its liking but given that it is a seller’s market right now, it could be able to convince a desperate team to overpay in the next two weeks.

St. Louis has some other veterans on expensive long-term deals who have underperformed the past few seasons, which could make significant moves difficult. Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou have both had their names mentioned as potential trade candidates and the Blues would probably be more than happy to move on from some of their veteran defensemen as well but will likely be handcuffed by varying trade protections. Nick Leddy, Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk and Cam Fowler all make north of $4M per season and have at least one year left on their current contracts. Couple that with the no-trade clauses and the Blues are in tough to make substantial changes if that is the direction they want to go.

Team Needs

1) Offensive Forwards – St. Louis has top forwards who can score (Kyrou, Buchnevich and Robert Thomas). However, its depth scoring has been a huge issue this season (25th in the NHL in goals). If the Blues elect to retool this summer, getting offensive depth forwards should be at the top of their shopping list. St. Louis has not received much offense from its bottom six forwards, and it has allowed teams to focus more attention on the top six and prohibit them from scoring at their usual rates. Buchnevich, Kyrou and Thomas are all having down years, and insulating them with more depth might force teams to divide their attention more when defending the Blues’ best forwards. At the very least, more offensive options should provide some help to the top six by taking the pressure off of them to chase the game when the Blues find themselves behind on the scoreboard.

2) Young Defensemen– The Blues backend is one of the oldest in the NHL, with just two defensemen under the age of 31. Philip Broberg looks like he should be a top-four defenseman for St. Louis, but outside of him, their top prospects, Adam Jiricek, Theo Lindstein and Lukas Fischer are still probably two or more years away from making an NHL impact. The direction the Blues decide to go in will ultimately determine the urgency with which they will try to find young defensemen, but it is very clear at this stage that the team needs to get younger. The Blues aren’t a bad defensive team (20th in the NHL), but having a more mobile unit will help the forwards get the puck in more advantageous positions and open them up to focus more on the offensive side of the game.