ANAHEIM — In a hallway outside the St. Louis Blues’ locker room, coach Jim Montgomery was coming out to do a pre-game interview with reporters and captain Brayden Schenn was getting ready for the matchup with the Anaheim Ducks.
The two shook hands and Montgomery told Schenn, “Glad to still have you here.”
Neither Schenn, nor anyone else on the Blues’ roster, was moved before Friday’s NHL trade deadline. There were 24 trades made around the league involving 47 players, including a few blockbusters with Mikko Rantanen going to the Dallas Stars and Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers. There were plenty of playoff teams and non-playoff clubs who exchanged players, too.
But the Blues stood pat.
During the day, I texted a prominent former Blues player, who still roots for his old team, and asked, “Am I wrong to think it’s OK if the Blues doing nothing?”
“What exactly are they going to do?” the player asked.
I didn’t need confirmation, but it backed up what I’ve been saying all along.
The Blues’ roster has been a mess for a few years due to some of GM Doug Armstrong’s decisions along the way, such as the long-term contracts and no-trade clauses. He’s acknowledged some miscues, but there’s no easy way out. He can untangle some of it with additions like Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway and putting Brandon Saad on waivers, but it’s still going to take time, and the deadline was not the time.
“Right now we’re (winning) on the scoreboard and the underlying stats and that’s something we haven’t done for awhile… The guys are giving us hope and belief.”
WATCH ➡️ https://t.co/YGnYf5kP3d https://t.co/YGnYf5kP3d
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 7, 2025
Most fans understood the Blues would likely stand pat, but some wanted Armstrong to add to a team that’s played well lately and even more hoped he’d sell off any tradable players.
The path that made the least sense would’ve been giving up assets to bolster the current roster, but let’s take a look anyway.
After their 4-3 win over Anaheim, the Blues are 6-1-1 since the 4 Nations Face-Off, but their overall record is 31-27-6 for 68 points (.531 points percentage).
The Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, who are directly ahead of the Blues in the battle for the No. 2 wildcard spot in the Western Conference and have multiple games in hand, are on pace for about 90 points. So to put themselves in good position, they’d need at least 22 points in their last 18 games, or a record of roughly 11-7 (.611 points percentage).
“It’s still an uphill battle,” Armstrong said. “We weren’t looking to use assets that we’ve acquired over the last couple of years — young players — for a stop-gap. Anything we would’ve done would’ve been more of a hockey trade, and we didn’t see a lot of those happen that we could be involved in. We weren’t looking for a Band-Aid this year.
“They’re playing really well, and that’s exciting because we do believe they can continue to push us, but I’m not naive to think it’s not an uphill battle — certainly with Colton (Parayko’s) situation.”
The Blues learned a day before the deadline that Parayko would need a scope on his left knee and be re-evaluated in six weeks, which means he’ll be out through the end of the regular season. There was some curiosity whether they would attempt to bring in some support on defense, but instead they recalled Matthew Kessel.
“If Colton was healthy, we still weren’t going to move one of our A prospects, or one of our first-round picks, or anything like that,” Armstrong said. “It gave us pause, but again, it’s an uphill battle with Colton; it’s an even bigger hill without him.”
Sure, the Blues could’ve traded for the San Jose Sharks’ Luke Kunin, who went to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fourth-round draft pick, or the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Luke Schenn, who went to the Winnipeg Jets for a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick. But remember, they moved a lot of their upcoming picks to get Broberg and Holloway on offer sheets, trade for Cam Fowler and dump Kevin Hayes’ contract. They don’t have a pick in Rounds 2-4 this summer, and don’t have a second-rounder for the next three years.
Per PuckPedia, here’s a look at the Blues’ available draft picks the next three seasons.
Passing along because when you see deals like Luke Schenn to Winnipeg, the Blues are without several picks because of the offer sheets for Broberg/Holloway and Hayes trade. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/Xz5UMPXtFJ
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) March 7, 2025
So, then, the question becomes should the Blues have moved out anyone they could?
Schenn was the player who the club considered trading and had value, but the veteran has a full no-trade clause. It’s not known if they asked him to waive it, as both Armstrong and Schenn declined to answer the question Friday.
After scoring two goals in the Blues’ win, Schenn said: “I feel like I couldn’t go out there and quit on my teammates. It’s important for us to keep on taking steps here and we’re going to do everything we can to get in (the playoffs).”
Regardless of whether the team was asking too much in return for Schenn, it was moot if he was unwilling to waive.
The Blues will have more flexibility for moves like that this offseason when the full NTCs for Schenn, Justin Faulk, Nick Leddy and Torey Krug become modified NTCs, meaning the players will only have a select number of teams to which they can stop a trade.
“We’re getting into that window with some of our veteran players, and it does open the door if we decide to do certain things with less restrictions,” Armstrong said.
On top after two thanks to the captain 🫡 #stlblues pic.twitter.com/N4dBWj8ZFd
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 8, 2025
So, as far as what the Blues could have done before Friday’s deadline, they could have traded Jake Neighbours or another promising young player, but they weren’t interested.
“We were in contact with teams on some hockey trades,” Armstrong said. “We felt what we could do, we weren’t comfortable doing, and what we were comfortable doing, other teams weren’t comfortable doing. We talked to a lot of people, we bandied around a lot of ideas, but we weren’t involved in anything that made sense for us.”
Many fans will say that, at the very least, Armstrong should have moved pending unrestricted free agents Ryan Suter and Radek Faksa. Perhaps the Blues could have received a couple draft picks in return, but a league source said neither would have fetched higher than a fourth-rounder. If that’s the case, they were worth more to the team down the stretch.
“The last couple of years, those depth UFAs, there’s not a lot of movement (at the deadline),” Armstrong said. “That’s not a disparaging thing against (Suter) at all. He’s played every game for us and played very well. But because of the Parayko injury, moving him for a later-round pick, if it was offered at all, wasn’t something that made sense to us.”
The Blues did the right thing by standing pat. Armstrong makes his most impactful moves in the offseason (as in the case of Broberg and Holloway). And just a few months ago, the GM already had his trade deadline. In December, he traded for Fowler and a 2027 fourth-round pick from Anaheim for a 2027 second-round pick and a prospect. In 34 games with the Blues, Fowler has seven goals and 21 points, and considering what other defensemen went for Friday, he would’ve cost more if the team had waited.
It’s understandable that everyone wants action at the deadline, but sometimes inaction is the best course of action. The Blues are playing well, and their limited options Friday would have produced limited results. Let’s enjoy how the remainder of the season plays out and then put a lot more pressure on the situation.
(Photo: Jeff Curry / USA TODAY Sports)
