The St. Louis Blues are in an interesting place as a franchise right now. They missed the playoffs last season and are slipping out of the race right now. However, they have a bunch of players with contracts that have no-trade clauses over the next several seasons. General manager Doug Armstrong has struggled to keep the franchise’s Stanley Cup window open since the departure of defenseman Alex Pietrangelo in 2020 and it’s closed right now.
With the state of the Blues, they could look to make a serious move by moving out a star like Jordan Kyrou or Pavel Buchnevich. Blues insider Jeremy Rutherford was on St. Louis sports radio station 101 ESPN and put a 50 percent chance on the club moving Kyrou before his no-trade clause kicks in 2025. Let’s look at where Kyrou is at right now and where the Blues could trade him if he’s dealt.
Kyrou is an Underrated Player
It’s been an interesting season for Kyrou, who was booed by Blues fans in December based on comments he made after the firing of head coach Craig Berube. Outside of that, his production has been down, but the eye test has shown a clear improvement in his overall game.
After scoring 37 goals and not defending well last season, he’s got 19 goals in 57 games this season and has noticeably improved on that end. He’s also up to 45 points in 57 games after a slow start where he scored three points in the first nine games of the season. I think there’s something to the idea that fans take him for granted a bit. He’s a highly skilled forward and the Blues haven’t had somebody with his speed and scoring ability in quite some time.
He has 83 goals in the last three seasons and 63 of those have come at even strength. He’s likely going to score 30 goals again this season with 25 games left. Even with all of this, it’s not the craziest thing to think that the Blues could explore trading him sometime within the next year.
Trade Destinations for Kyrou
There aren’t any substantiated rumors out there about a Kyrou trade right now. If he’s on the block, I’m sure there will be several teams calling. The teams that come to mind right away are the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators. The Rangers could swap a young forward such as Kaapo Kakko and assets for Kyrou, but his contract would be tough to fit into their salary cap structure. He has a cap hit of $8.125 million through 2031 with a no-trade clause that kicks in at the end of next season.
Related: 3 Deadline Moves the Blues Could Make to Surprise Fans
The Senators make sense if they are looking to retool their roster and move out a couple of NHL-level players for Kyrou. I don’t think the rumors about Brady Tkachuk being on the block are fully accurate, but the Blues would likely jump at the chance to acquire him if they are. The club has been linked to Jakob Chychrun for a while and the Senators could move him, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the two made a deal sometime soon that doesn’t involve Kyrou. Outside of the Rangers and Senators, I’m not sure what teams could have real interest in him based on the contract and long-term commitment required after acquiring him.
Blues Must Be Smart at Deadline
Armstrong has put the organization in a tough spot with some of the moves made since 2019. They don’t look like a real contender, but they also don’t have the same level of rentals as last season’s deadline. They can listen to offers on Kyrou and Buchnevich, but I don’t know who else will garner interest from other teams. The smart way to approach the deadline is to listen to offers on every player except for Robert Thomas, who is the future of the franchise. That logic probably applies to Jake Neighbours, who is breaking out at 21 years old. The Blues will be a major topic of trade discussion over the next few weeks.
