Offseason checklist for the St. Louis Blues

It isn’t that Scandella is a particularly poor defender.  He’s a bit more of an older-fashioned rearguard who doesn’t jump into the play; he’s a stay-at-home player.  While those aren’t in high demand anymore, Scandella is a situational player who can play on the penalty kill.  There’s still a use for that type of player, just not at $3.275M.  With St. Louis having minimal cap space (less than $7M per CapFriendly), that is a premium for a sixth defender that they can no longer afford.

Of course, there aren’t many other teams that can afford that premium, either.  As a result, the Blues will have to incentivize a team to trade for Scandella, further adding to those aforementioned poor optics.  Alternatively, they may have to look into buying out the final year of his contract.  Such a move would save them $2.75M next season while adding $1M to the books in 2024-25.  In theory, they could waive Scandella and send him down in October, which would free up $1.15M in room. But most of that money would have to go towards a replacement body, making that scenario less than appealing in its own right.  Frankly, none of these scenarios are ideal, but if Armstrong needs some extra flexibility this summer, a move involving Scandella is their best chance to get it.

Add Forward Help

St. Louis will need cap space to add help offensively, for one thing.  The team parted with long-time veterans Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly prior to the trade deadline and while both players were potentially on their way out the door anyway as free agents, they didn’t exactly acquire impact pieces in those swaps, instead opting for futures-based returns.  They were a mid-pack scoring team this season and with those two gone (plus Ivan Barbashev), there are some holes to fill offensively.  They can hope for bounce-back years for Vrana and Kapanen, but those two alone aren’t going to fill the void.

It’s not a great free agent market this summer for teams looking to add impact pieces up front, but St. Louis does have three first-round picks at their disposal after acquiring top-rounders in both the Tarasenko and O’Reilly swaps.  The period leading up to the draft in June could therefore be an ideal opportunity to acquire a top-six piece that’s either signed or under team control for several more years, one who can help replace the production from the veterans that were moved out.

Additionally, the Blues could also stand to add some help down the middle.  They experimented with Pavel Buchnevich and Kapanen playing at center near the end of the season, to mixed results.  It’s unlikely that they view those players as full-season options at the position. Even among bottom-six options, those players would take up the bulk of the team's current remaining cap space.

Shop More Defense

Moving out Scandella fixes a short-term problem but St. Louis still has a particularly pricey back end.  Their top-four defenders (Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, Colton Parayko, and Nick Leddy) are all signed through at least 2025-26 at a combined cap hit of $23.5M.  That’s a lot of money, especially when you add in a minimum of three other blueliners to round out the roster.  While those four are certainly capable players, it would be fair to suggest that the Blues are not exactly getting the best bang for their buck.

On top of that, the Blues do have some promising youngsters that are on the cusp.  Scott Perunovich dealt with injuries for most of the season but should be ready to be a regular next season.  Tyler Tucker didn’t look out of place in his first taste of NHL action either and could be ready to be a full-timer on the roster a year from now.  Finding room for them would be ideal, giving St. Louis another reason to explore a swap.

The easiest of the four to move is likely Leddy.  It’s unlikely that they’ll want to move Faulk, Parayko’s term remaining on his deal hurts his value, and Krug is coming off a year to forget which would make it very difficult to move him for fair value.  Leddy is the one on the shortest deal (through 2025-26) at the lowest cost ($4MM) which would make him the logical choice if Armstrong decides to try to funnel more money into his forward group to tackle the needs up front.  There might be a short-term dip while Perunovich and/or Tucker get accustomed to a full-time spot but in the end, such an approach might be better for them in the long run.