REBUILDING 2005-06 ST.LOUIS BLUES

The 2005-2006 St.Louis Blues were the worst team in the NHL that season and ended up with the 1st pick in the draft.
If the Blues had a do-over i'm sure that they would have drafted differently as well as make a couple other changes.

This rebuild starts at the 2006 draft, where a few trades are made:

St.Louis Blues trade Doug Weight to the New York Islanders for 1st round pick 2006.
The St.Louis Blues are rebuilding and the Islanders would really want to add a number 2 center to play behind Alexei Yashin.
This is a win-win trade for both sides because both teams get what they need.

Keith Tkachuk is traded to the Atlanta Thrashers for 1st round pick 2008, 2nd round pick 2006.
St.Louis gets out a couple of draft picks, while the Thrashers add a perrenial 20 goal scorer.
On top of this St.Louis also gets to get out of the terrible contract Tkachuk has.

Lee Stempniak, Dallas Drake are traded to the Detroit Red Wings for Valterri Filppula, 3rd round pick 2008.
Dallas Drake and Lee Stempniak were not going to play a prominent role on the team in the future, so the Blues trade them for Filppula and a pick.
This isn't a major move but these are type of moves that can help win championships in the future.

St.Louis Blues trade pick 7 to the Philadelphia Flyers for pick 22, 1st round pick 2008, 2nd round pick 2007
St.Louis also trades pick 25, 31 to the Vancouver Canucks for pick 14

Changes in 2006 draft

1-Jonathan Toews
14-(from VAN) Michael Grabner
22-(from PHI) Claude Giroux
43-(from ATL) Jeff Petry
64-Brad Marchand
94-James Reimer
154-Andrew MacDonald

The St.Louis Blues don't sign Bill Guerin and Jay McKee in Free Agency because they are now in a rebuild.

The 2006-07 St.Louis Blues have a worse record than they did originally, with the loss of Weight, Tkachuk and Drake;
they end up with the 3rd pick in the 2007 draft.

At the 2007 draft, a few trades are made:

St.Louis Blues trade Petr Cajanek, Martin Ruchinsky, Radek Dvorak to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jason Chimera, 2nd round pick 2008.
The St.Louis Blues trade away some of their veteran players to make room for their young players coming in.
This trade allows the younger players to get top 6 minutes.

Manny Legace is traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Michael Leighton, 3rd round pick 2007.
The Philadelphia Flyers really need to add a stable veteran goalie, on the other hand, having a good goalie will affect the Blues tanking plan.

St.Louis Blues trade pick 3 to the Boston Bruins for pick 8, 35, 1st+2nd round picks 2008, 1st round pick 2009.

Changes in 2007 Draft

8-(From BOS) Logan Couture
18-Max Pacioretty
26-David Perron
35-(from BOS) PK Subban
41-(from PHI) Wayne Simmonds
66-(from PHI) Alex Killorn
85-Alec Martinez
100-Jake Muzzin

St.Louis Blues don't sign Paul Kariya and Andy MacDonald because it doesn't make sense to overpay for veteran players while rebuilding.

The 2007-08 St.Louis Blues finish with the 2nd worst record in the league with the loss of Manny Legace and the 5 of their top 6 scorers.

At the 2008 draft, the Blues trade down, they trade pick 19 to the Washington Capitals for pick 27, 58, 3rd round pick 2009.
They also trade picks 33, 34 to Florida Panthers for pick 31, 46.

Changes in 2008 draft

2-Drew Doughty
16-(from BOS) Jordan Eberle 
27-(from WSH) John Carlson
31-(from FLA) Jacob Markstrom
37-(from CBJ) Roman Josi
46-(from FLA) Derek Stepan
47-(from BOS) Travis Hamonic
58-(from WSH)-Braden Holtby
95-TJ Brodie
155-Cam Atkinson

The 2008-09 St.Louis Blues are are much improved from the season prior with the addition of young talents like Jonathan Toews and Drew Doughty,
They make the playoffs but are knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.

At the 2009 draft, the St.Louis Blues made two trades:

St.Louis Blues trade Brad Boyes to the Buffalo Sabres for 1st round pick 2009, 2nd round pick 2011.
Brad Boyes saw a dip from his 40 goal campain in 2007-08 but he still had 33 goals in 08-09,
he still has trade value as a borderline playoff team like the Sabres would love to add a scorer like him.

St.Louis Blues also trade picks 13, 17, 25, 48 to the LA Kings for pick 5

Changes in 2009 Draft

5-Brayden Schenn
78-Mattias Ekholm
85-(from WSH) Cody Eakin

By the 2010-11 season, the St.Louis Blues have assembled a playoff caliber roster,
but they need a few adjustments to make it all work.

St.Louis Blues trade Jeff Petry, Michael Grabner to the New York Islanders for 2nd round pick 2011, 2nd round pick 2012.
The Blues are loaded with high end talent, Petry and Grabner just won't fit in the lineup so the Blues might as well gets some picks for them.

James Reimer is traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Francois Beauchimen, 1st round pick 2011.
The Maple Leafs need a starting goalie, while the Blues need a top pair defenseman for right now.

This is how the lineup would look like:

A.Steen-J.Toews-C.Giroux
D.Perron-L.Couture-J.Eberle
V.Filppula-D.Backes-T.J Oshie
J.Chimera-J.McClement-W.Simmonds

F.Beauchimen-D.Doughty
B.Jackman-J.Carlson
A.MacDonald-T.Hamonic

J.Halak
B.Bishop

In the System: F: B.Marchand, M.Pacioretty, B.Schenn, A.Killorn, D.Stepan, C.Atkinson, C.Eakin
D: R.Josi, M.Ekholm, P.K Subban, J.Muzzin, A.Martinez
G: J.Markstrom, Holtby

With the moves made in the rebuild, the St.Louis Blues have now put themselves in position to be contenders for the next decade.