St. Louis Blues
Why they make sense: Could you imagine Vladimir Tarasenko and Erik Karlsson on the same team? Oh boy. Plus, factor in Colton Parayko and Alex Pietrangelo and you’ve got yourself a Stanley Cup contender.
Feasible trade: Much like the Penguins, the Blues have two cliques. One of them consists of players who have a huge cap hit. The other consists of players who make less than nine figures or at least close to it. So, much like Pittsburgh, the Blues would have to move out someone who makes significant money to fit Karlsson in.
You can rule out Vladimir Tarasenko and Brayden Schenn. Jaden Schwartz as well. The Blues aren’t breaking up their top forward line, especially when they rely so heavily on them. Patrik Berglund and Alex Steen both make sense, but both have no-trade clauses.
Vladimir Sobotka ($3.5 million cap hit through 2019-20) is the most logical candidate among forwards. Joel Edmundson makes sense, as he’s a young NHL caliber defenseman. Toss in Robert Thomas and the Blues have a pretty reasonable offer. Include that 2018 first round pick they got from Winnipeg plus an additional second-round pick and this works.
Why it won’t happen: St. Louis typically stays away from crazy trades. Jori Lehtera was a special case.