The St. Louis Blues decided to stay the course and not get active at the trade deadline. Doug Armstrong could’ve easily blown up the core and started a rebuild, but he isn’t ready to throw in the towel on his group. Despite trade rumors about players like Brayden Schenn and Jordan Binnington, the Blues held on to the former Stanley Cup Champions, hoping to make another run.
It looked like Armstrong’s decision could be made for him when Colton Parayko suffered a knee injury a few days before the deadline. The Blues had an outside chance of making the playoffs already, and losing Parayko for the rest of the regular season wouldn’t help matters. It also opened up the possibility of putting Parayko on long-term injured reserve and adding reinforcements. However, Armstrong decided to sit on the fence and not become a buyer or seller.
Will Armstrong regret not becoming a seller? In the long run, he could, as we saw the trade deadline become a seller’s market. After Scott Laughton landed the Philadelphia Flyers a first-round pick and a Nikita Grebenkin from the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s easy to imagine Schenn receiving a much greater return. They also could’ve landed a significant return for Binnington, fresh off leading Canada to the 4-Nations Face-Off crown.
Blues repaying their general manager’s trust
The Blues won their first game after the trade deadline, 4-3, over the Anaheim Ducks. They followed that result with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings and a regulation loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, their offense has been in fine form in their past two games, defeating the Minnesota Wild and Ducks on back-to-back nights with a combined 12 goals. If the Blues can find their offensive stride again for the stretch run, Armstrong will be content with his plan of staying the course at the deadline.
Schenn certainly seems like a weight lifted off his shoulders since staying in St. Louis. He scored two goals on the night of the deadline before going pointless in the following two losses. He found his form in the past two games, earning three points in the back-to-back victories.
Binnington’s form hasn’t been the greatest, but he bounced back slightly with a 23-save performance in the win over the Ducks. Regardless, all that matters for the Blues with their goaltending is whether they can secure wins, and Binnington has done that in six of eight games since the break. Armstrong is confident that his tandem of Binnington and Hofer will lead the Blues back to the postseason.
As the rest of the Western Conference wild card race falters, the Blues are the hottest team and are gaining ground quickly. St. Louis is 7-2-1 over its last ten games, one of only two records over .500 amongst the teams not in the top three of their respective divisions. It’s also interesting that the Blues are the only team among that group that doesn’t have a goal differential in the negatives, as they sit on March 18, 2025, with an even rating.
There is a path to the playoffs for St. Louis
The Wild might be out of reach with 81 points, but the Blues believe they are a better team than most battling with them for the second wild card. The Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, and the Utah Hockey Club have their flaws, and St. Louis can see a path where they have the highest points total of that foursome once the season ends.
According to tankathon.com, the Blues have the lowest strength of schedule for their remaining games in the entire league. This means St. Louis has the easiest schedule but has a small issue: They have only 14 games remaining, while the other teams they are competing with have a couple extra.
The good news is the team they are chasing, the Canucks, have the third-hardest remaining schedule, which includes games against the four top teams in the Western Conference. Even Vancouver’s easier opponents can be a problem, as the squads listed in that category are the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Blues’ most challenging games are against the Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche (twice), and the Edmonton Oilers. The remaining games are all in the “easy” category, including three against the Nashville Predators. The Preds’ season has been a disaster, and they want to finish the year on a cold streak to get the best draft lottery odds possible. The same goes for the Chicago Blackhawks and Seattle Kraken.
If you want to pick one team out of the four competing for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference, the Blues must be the one to circle.
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