Expansion Draft Preview: St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues haven’t done much since winning the Stanely Cup in 2019.

They lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2020 to the underdog Vancouver Canucks and then got swept in the first round in 2021 by the Colorado Avalanche.

With an expensive, ageing core, the Blues appear as though they could use a shake-up this summer. The Seattle Expansion Draft could give them an opportunity to do so.

Eligible Forwards

@Vladimir Tarasenko, @Ryan O’Reilly, @Brayden Schenn, @David Perron, @Oskar Sundqvist, @Samuel Blais, @Kyle Clifford, @Zachary Sanford, @Alex Steen, @Robert Thomas, @Ivan Barbashev, @Jordan Kyrou, @Mike Hoffman, @Tyler Bozak, @Jaden Schwartz, @Mackenzie MacEachern, @Tanner Kaspick, @Sam Anas, @Nathan Walker, @Curtis McKenzie.

Eligible Defencemen

@Justin Faulk, @Torey Krug, @Colton Parayko, @Marco Scandella, @Robert Bortuzzo, @Vince Dunn, @Steven Santini, @Jake Walman, @Carl Gunnarsson.

Eligible Goaltenders

@Jordan Binnington, @Ville Husso, @Evan Fitzpatrick, @Jon Gillies.

Exempt Players

Jake Neighbours, Klim Kostin, Keean Washkurak, Hugh McGing, Nikita Alexandrov, Tyler Tucker, Colten Ellis, Joel Hofer.

What should they do?

At a quick glance, it would seem the Blues should use the 7-3-1 protection scheme.

They could protect Tarasenko, O’Reilly, Schenn, Perron, Kyrou, Thomas, and either Barbashev or Sundqvist up front, Faulk, Krug, and Parayko on the blueline, and Binnington in net. That would leave Seattle with their pick at one of Barbashev or Sundqvist or Vince Dunn on the blueline.

But, as I mentioned earlier, St. Louis has worked themselves into a difficult salary cap situation and a shake-up after two poor playoff results might be the move.

St. Louis could opt to expose an expensive veteran to Seattle. Vladimir Tarasenko has two more years at $7,500,000 on his contract and has played just 34 games over the past two seasons. Justin Faulk is a fine defender but is overpaid at $6,500,000 annually.

Either of those players coming off the books would make it much easier for St. Louis to re-sign their free agents (RFAs Dunn, Kyrou, Thomas, and Sanford and UFAs Schwartz and Hoffman) and would give them some space to make an addition in free agency.