Outlook going into the season

Everyone thought for sure STL was moving their bottom 2 1st rounders. No cap space and they need another top 6 winger. If they're in on ROR, they need to dump some cap too. Going to be an interesting offseason for this club, and it only got more interesting after today. Almost like even more questions than before.

The Hayes acquisition killed ROR coming back for sure. I don't expect this team to be very good. Maybe they gel nicely and are sneaky good but would take a lot of luck. I'm almost kinda relieved to get a bit of security about where we're headed though. Had a great draft with some solid TDL assets to sell with retention in Vrana/Kapanen/Scandella/Blais assuming it doesn't work out.

The last thing the Blues really need is a top 6 winger. The only thing conceivable that the Blues could do right now is rework the defense a bit. I don't think ROR was ever in the plans. He's earned a bigger contract than we could afford even if we did move Krug and Scandella. ROR was a fantastic player and i and i'm sure most would love to have him back but it's not realistic. He's towards the last 3-4 years of his career and our outlook for the next 2-3 years is questionable at best.

In all reality, today and I'd say moreso towards the Hayes trade solidified the direction this team is going to go unless some miracle falls in their lap. Our defense will most likely remain the same and our forward group outside of a 4th line center is pretty complete. If i had to guess the Blues will add a veteran 4th line center who is heavier to play against and a good character guy to leave the door open for a guy like Dean or Alexandrov to take the 4th line center spot out of camp. We are one high end defensive prospect away from having an extremely competitive core coming up, easier said than done sure, but missing the playoffs next season would be just as, if not more beneficial than making the playoffs next year. It's essentially a win-win. Our forward core longterm looks really really good. Thomas and Dvorsky as top 6 centers in 2 years for probably the next 5 years out after that is a very solid base. You add in high compete and character guys like Stenberg, Snuggerud and Neighbors and there's a winning formula there. The high octane offensive ability is also there with Kyrou and to a lesser degree Bolduc. Now i'm sure someone out of that group doesn't stick or hit their ceiling, but Stenberg, Neighbors and Snuggerud are all puck hounds who one way or another are going to make it to the NHL. Dvorsky is a pretty surefire lock to be at least a middle 6 center and he's probably the youngest player in that draft, so there's conceiivably more there than what the eye can show you now.

Linstein is probably a #4 defenseman at best but he's also a pretty surefire bet to be an NHLer. Our current group most likely isn't going anywhere which is not ideal, but it's fine. Parayko for all the hate he gets around here is at minimum an anchor of a 2nd pairing shutdown pair. Faulk is at minimum an offensive 2nd pairing guy. Krug is a specialist, but he's good at what he does, he just is bad at negating goals against. Leddy is whatever, but regardless of the eye test i'll still standby the fact that he had a pretty good season last season results wise even if I or others dont like his game.

Hayes, Kapanen and Vrana are all pretty decent NHL players even if they aren't top 6 guys (Vrana is a top 6 guy but his question marks are a bit different). Hayes will probably be here for a while, which is fine he seems like a high character guy and his contract is pretty cheap relative to market for a middle 6 center. Kapanen and Vrana most likely bring back a decent return at the deadline if we stink which is likely, but filter that in next off season with a one or two season stop gap and we're in a pretty good spot overall.

Agreed with everything. I'll post my response to a local group to add to my stance.

"I’m disappointed but also moreso relieved that we didn’t use any of the picks to acquire anyone to help us short-term. Like this whole summer I was thinking it would be amazing to dump any of Krug/Leddy/Scandella and acquire someone like Hanifin or Ferraro with intention to re-sign. Now it’s kinda looking like we won’t do much to try and fix the D, but we can try to play it out and bounce back Krug’s value a bit and try to move him again next year. Plus we have expiring contracts in Vrana Kapanen and Scandella that we can retain on and sell for solid assets assuming we aren’t going for it. Just nice to have a solid draft and get a bit of closure on where we’re headed. With our current prospect pool and great assets to come going into next draft, we could be competitive again in just a few years, with all homegrown talent."

I agree with you, this team is probably in a transition year, doesn't seem likely they make the playoffs or get very far. Just surprising considering how badly they were looking to move those 1st round picks.