NHL Trade Rumors: St. Louis Blues willing to listen to offers for anyone
According to the latest NHL trade rumors, the St. Louis Blues are open for business as sellers.
To say the St. Louis Blues have been the most disappointing team this season might be an understatement. Everyone projected them to be serious contenders after an aggressive offseason saw them trade for Ryan O’Reilly and sign Tyler Bozak, David Perron, and Pat Maroon. However, they’ve been one of the worst teams in the league. And when you’re as bad as the Blues have been, you’re going to be the subject of a ton of NHL trade rumors.
In a recent interview, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic discussed the Blues. Around the 8:00 mark, he dropped a pretty significant nugget. Several teams around the league are hearing that everyone is on the trade block, including Vladimir Tarasenko.
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If this is true, the Blues are open for business. They are unquestionably a rebuilding team if they go through with it. And, as the saying goes, if you’re going to rebuild, you better do it from the ground up.
Now, are the Blues going to go scorched earth and trade Alex Pietrangelo, Tarasenko, O’Reilly, Colton Parayko, and everyone else who isn’t nailed down? Crazier things have happened, but don’t bet on it.
The biggest takeaway from this is the Blues are willing to listen to offers for anyone. This doesn’t mean they’ll trade everyone. Certain players, such as Parayko, Pietrangelo, O’Reilly, and Tarasenko, are going to require a king’s ransom.
Last season, the New York Rangers were able to jumpstart their rebuild that started about a year too late. Perhaps the Blues were taking notes. If they play their cards right and don’t trade any of their big name guys without getting a worthwhile return, they could be right back in the thick of contention sooner than many people think.
The Blues are by a wide margin the most interesting team in the NHL right now. In what might turn out to be a seller’s market, they’ve got leverage and assets on their side. But what makes them so interesting is their most valuable pieces are guys who are more than just rentals.
Pietrangelo and Brayden Schenn each have an additional year on their contracts after this season. Tarasenko is under team control for four more years (and his full no-trade clause kicks in on July 1, 2019). Parayko has three years. Jaden Schwartz has two years left, along with a modified no-trade clause, which kicks in on July 1, 2019. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Blues at least explore trading Tarasenko and Schwartz because they’ll soon lose a ton of leverage with them.
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It’ll be interesting to see how the market plays out with so many teams close to a playoff spot. But one thing’s for sure – the Blues are in a pretty good position to determine how the market plays out.
For updated NHL trade rumors, be sure to check out our Rumors page!