2024 Offseason Preview ft. St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues just missed out on the playoffs again in the 2023-24 season, and finished the season with a total of 92 points, a 43-33-6 record; St. Louis is one of those teams that has no direction, as they are stuck with a lot of aging players with bad contracts and are stuck in mediocracy unless they can find a way to move some of those contracts. Moving forward the Blues' primary goals should be trying to unload their bad contracts to gain picks and cap space and retool through the draft.

St. Louis has 8 draft picks in the 2024 NHL draft, this is who they should select.

2024 NHL Draft:

16-Michael Hage (C)

48-Spencer Gill (D)

56-Carson Wetsch (RW)

81-Timur Kol (D)

94-Hagen Burrows (LW)

113-Felix Lacerte (C)

145-Dawson Cowan (G)

209-Jan Golcic (D)

211-Maxim Velikov (RW)

Though no big names jump out at you, this group of prospects is pretty solid and could play a vital role on the team a few years down the road. Retooling the Prospect pool is a long process, but the crop of players selected here will certainly help improve the situation. Michael Hage is the top prospect and is likely going to be making an impact in the NHL several years down the road. Several Big defensemen were drafted with Spencer Gill (6'3"), Timur Kol (6'3"), and Jan Golcic (6'5"); St. Louis has always like drafting those big, physical defensemen, and all three of these defensemen, fit that prototype. The Blues need to start figuring out a successor for Jordan Binnington, and one possible option could be Dawson Cowan, a top goalie prospect in 2024. Carson Wetsch, Hagen Burrows, and Maxim Velikov add to the prospect pool.

Heading into the 2024 Offseason, Detroit has approximately $15.64 Million in cap space for the 2024-25 season, with 2 RFAs due for an extension and 3 UFAs set to be a free agent.

Here are the list of UFAs in 2024 for STL:

Marco Scandella (D)-4yrs/3.28M per

Kasperi Kapanen (RW)-2yrs/3.2M per

Sammy Blais (LW/RW)-1yr/1M

St. Louis Blues don't re-sign Marco Scandella and Kasperi Kapanen.

St. Louis Blues re-sign Sammy Blais to a 1 yr deal worth 1M per

Before free agency begins, St. Louis Blues made a few trades:

St. Louis Blues trade Pavel Buchnevich, Oskar Sundqvist, Calle Rosen to the New York Rangers for Kappo Kakko, Ryan Lindgren, 1st round pick '25, 2nd round pick '26.

This trade makes sense for both teams, the Rangers get Pavel Buchevich to reunite alongside Artemi Panarin, along with Oskar Sundqvist and Calle Rosen, while St. Louis gets former No.2 overall pick in 2019, Kappo Kakko, Ryan Lindgren, a steady two-way defenseman, and a 1st and 2nd round pick.

St. Louis Blues trade Brandon Saad to the Pittsburgh Penguins for 3rd round pick '25, 2nd round pick '26; St. Louis retains 50% of Saad's contract.

The Blues don't need Brandon Saad anymore, with an emerging Jake Neighbours and more young players coming up in the pipeline, while Pittsburgh can benefit from Saads playoff experience.

A 3 team trade is made between the St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, and San Jose Sharks:

St. Louis Blues get Nic Robertson, Simon Benoit, Mitten Fraser, Luke Kunin, Jan Ruuta, 4th round pick '25 (SJ), 1st round pick '26 (TOR), 2nd round pick '27 (SJ)

Toronto Maple Leafs get Colton Parayko, Nico Sturm.

San Jose Sharks get Torey Krug, Calle Jarnkrok

St. Louis accomplishes a lot with this three-team trade; they get out of two horrendous contracts for Colton Parayko and Torey Krug, and also add some solid assets as well. Toronto needs a top pair defenseman to pair with Morgan Rielly, so this trade makes so much sense for the Maple Leafs. Since San Jose really doesn't have a true number 1 defenseman, Torey Krug would instantly be their best offensive defenseman, and could have a bounceback year.

Key RFAs and extensions:

Ryan Lindgren (D)-6yrs/4M per

Kappo Kakko (RW)-2yrs/3M per

Luke Kunin (RW/C)-2yrs/2.75M per

Nic Robertson (LW)-2yrs/2.5M per

Nikita Alexandrov (C)-2yrs/1M per

Scott Perunovich (D)-1yr/1M per

St. Louis Blues have 20.19 M in Cap space left, so they can make trades to add picks by taking on some bad contracts if they want to.

Projected 2024-25 St. Louis Blues

Z.Bolduc-R.Thomas-J.Kyrou

J.Neighbours-B.Schenn-K.Kakko

N.Robertson-K.Hayes-L.Kunin

A.Toropchenko-Z.Dean-S.Blais

R.Lindgren-J.Faulk

N.Leddy-S.Benoit

S.Perunovich-J.Ruuta

J.Binnington

J.Hofer

Spares: T.Tucker, N.Alexandrov, N.Walker

This Team likely would not make the playoffs, but they are in a good position to build upon their core players and grow the farm system.

FANTASY HOCKEY WAIVER WIRE PLAYERS TO PICKUP

C Sean Couturier -After missing 2+ years, Sean Couturier is back and it seems like he hasn't missed a beat. Believe it or not, Couturier has been one of the top centers in the league so far with his all-around play, putting up 2 goals, 3 assists, 2 PPP, 63 FW, 24 SOG, and 1 SHP. Despite showing that he is still an elite center, Couturier is only owned in 20% of fantasy leagues. Pick him up now, while you still can. Ryan Johansen - Serves as the Avalanche's 2nd line center and plays on their all-world 1st pp unit. Despite not being the player he used to be, Johansen is still a valuable fantasy asset because of the players he plays with. Johansen has 4 goals and 4 PPPs along with 63 FW so far this season. He is owned in 29% of fantasy leagues. Sean Monahan - Someone must have gotten a time machine and put Sean Monahan in it because he is playing like he was back when he was in his prime. Monahan has been arguably the best player on Montreal this year, with 3 goals, 6 points, 2 PP

FANTASY HOCKEY WAIVER WIRE PLAYERS TO PICKUP

Here are some players you should pickup in Fantasy Hockey, sorted by position. Center Colton Sissons Colton Sissons is one of the best 4th line centers in the league, but in fantasy hockey, he could be even more valuable than he actually is in real life because of what he provides in the peripheral categories. So far this season Sissions has 5 goals, 1 PPP, 1 SHP, 12 PIM, 20 SOG, 89 FW, 15 hits, and 9 blocks. This is a terrific stat line and although you can't count on Sissons scoring a ton, he will fill out the FW, Hits, and blocks usually. Sissons is owned in 6% of fantasy leagues, snag him up while you can. Nick Bjugstad Nick Bjugstad is having an excellent year so far with the Arizona Coyotes, in fact he has played so well that he earned himself a promotion to play on the 2nd line along with Mattias Maccelli and Lawson Crouse. Bjugstad also gets time on Arizona's 2nd PP unit and 2nd PK unit. Bjugstad may not be a name who stands out to casuals, but his fantasy stat line is

Fantasy Hockey Forwards to Trade For

Here is a list of Players who you should consider trading for in Fantasy Hockey. Tage Thompson Tage Thompson had very high expectations of him heading into this season but has been a massive disappointment to this point in the season with only 7 goals, 8 assists, 4 PPP, 60 SOG, and 99 FW. Thompson has been better after coming back from injury and you would think that he is going to eventually start putting points in bunches. Because of how bad Thompson's statline is this season. it would be a good idea to trade for him because you may not have to give up a lot in return. Elias Lindholm Elias Lindholm is another player who has had a slow start to the season with only 7 goals, 10 assists, 3 PPP, 68 SOG, and 297 FW so far this season. Lindholm is definitely going to want to play better if he wants to increase his value for his next contract and also showcase himself for a trade at the deadline. If Lindholm gets dealt to a contending team, his fantasy value would drastically improve b

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