Insider Reveals: Everyone around the hockey world knows that the St. Louis Blues are open for business, as GM Doug Armstrong is ready for a big shakeup after his team has gotten off to a dreadful start to the season. Another loss on Tuesday night, in overtime to another struggling team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, has left the Blues sitting at 6-9-5, in 7th place in the Central, and one of only five teams in the NHL with a below-.500 record.
Several big names like Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou are on everyone’s team’s radar, but there are four players that are essentially off limits, according to insider Frank Servalli on his latest Bleacher Report Insider Notebook. Despite the impending shakeup in St. Louis, these four will NOT be traded:
My understanding is that there is a very small list of non-negotiables, as far as ‘protected players’, so to speak, in St. Louis. I believe that list includes Jake neighbors. I believe it includes Dylan Holloway I believe it probably includes Robert Thomas, although that’s not an absolute stone-cold guarantee. And maybe Colton Parayko. But outside of that, I think all bets are off on the St. Louis Blues roster and what could happen moving forward.
Neighbours, the 23-year-old up-and-coming forward, had six goals in eight games before going down with a leg injury at the end of October. Insider Reveals He’s due back this week, and is seen as a key piece for the Blues for the future, as is Holloway, who broke out big-time last season after being offer-sheeted by St. Louis.
Thomas and Parayko have been top players for the Blues for years, and are both in the middle of long-term eight-year deals that, in the new cap environment, are very team-friendly numbers ($8.125M cap hit for Thomas, $6.5M for Parayko).
But Seravalli’s speculated list would leave players like Kyrou and Schenn, as well as Pavel Buchnevich, Justin Faulk and even Philip Broberg available for the right price.
The Blues, of course, have been a huge disappointment this season, after a second-half surge last year that saved the sort of sell-off that’s now being contemplated. The team made a late rush into the playoffs, and fell agonizingly short in a Game 7 double-overtime loss to the top team in the regular season, the Winnipeg Jets.
