The Blues are
looking for ways to set themselves up for success in this league long term.
Having a pipeline of talented young players is a great start to making that happen.
Trading away older players on expiring contracts for younger and more
controllable pieces is another way to help. Beyond just getting young
talent into your system, those players need to be managed properly in order to
find the type of sustained success the Saint Louis fanbase longs for and
deserves.
The one
player who most sticks out to me as a Trade Piece option is Devan Dubnyk. Right
after taking over as GM, Dubnyk sustained an injury. It wasn’t particularly
serious (maybe a week or so), but it helped drive home the fact that he should
probably be rested until after the trade deadline to ensure he’s fresh,
healthy, and ready to go for a potential trade partner.
Some of the Blues
line pairings weren’t helping set their younger players up for success. There are
players who probably could have spent another year or two on the farm before
making their debut, and those players had gotten a bit buried on the depth
charts. Their stats were suffering as a result, and they were unlikely to
have the type of favorable rerates that they deserve. We made a position change
request for 74 OV 20 YO Samuel Honzek (who was a 4th
line C when we
took over). He will be a 2nd line LW for us after the change is made. 73OV 18 YO Konsta Helenius
was a 3rd
line RW, and has been moved up to the 2nd line.
The increase in ATOI could help those players get into the next level of rerates,
which I’m hoping is a way to help the franchise succeed long term.
Combining acquiring
young players with using them properly is a big piece of how I hope to find
success in this league. I’ve been making moves toward that goal in my first
week at the helm.
9/8/2026 - 313 words
