The Blues stuck to their plan during their busy few days and accomplished what they set out to do.
Doug Armstrong and Co. addressed pressing needs at the NHL draft. They stepped back when the doors to free agency swung open Monday and let other franchises spend more than $1 billion.
Fans crave sizzle, but the Blues stayed sensible at this midpoint in their retooling. They fortified their third and fourth lines with pragmatic trades, added a young veteran defenseman and locked valuable forward Pavel Buchnevich into an extension for $48 million over six years.
All that made sense, given the team’s clearly stated goals.
Ah, but fans saw what teams that finished just above or behind the Blues last season are doing:
The Nashville Predators made a bold “all in†push for Stanley Cup contention by buying Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, among others. The Chicago Blackhawks expedited their rebuild by surrounding Connor Bedard with more scorers and veteran leadership.
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The Seattle Kraken responded to their Year 2 flop by adding more offensive punch. Freed from the unfortunate Meruelo ownership in Phoenix, the Utah Hockey Club began spending big money to get into playoff contention.
Even the San Jose Sharks, who spent last season deliberately losing to improve their draft odds, made notable investments to upgrade.
This activity will give the Western Conference more competitive depth and create greater challenges for this Blues team.
This will test the patience of Blues management — and Blues fans — as the team continues to evolve.
The Blues’ overarching goal remains the same. The team aims to remain competitive in the near term while developing players who can lead the team back into contention in the longer term.
Jake Neighbours, Matt Kessel, Joel Hofer, Zack Bolduc, Zach Dean, Dalibor Dvorsky and Jimmy Snuggerud could all be part of the next deep playoff run.
By all accounts, the Blues added to that nucleus with a good draft. They selected defensemen with their first three picks to fill their organizational gap.
Adam Jiricek seemed destined to become a top 10 pick until he blew out his knee last season. That injury cost him a year of development time and attached some risk to his selection at 16th overall.
Second-round pick Colin Ralph has NHL size, but he will likely need three years of skill improvement at St. Cloud State to get ready for pro hockey.
The third defenseman, Lukas Fischer, was one of the youngest players in this draft class. He, too, could require extra time for physical maturation.
Long story short: None of these prospects will help any time soon. So there is still work to do on the blue line.
The Blues have long needed to infuse more youth into their defensive corps. Maybe free agent Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who just turned 25, could become that player.
The Penguins didn’t give him a qualifying offer after he played 52 games for them last season. Joseph was the 23rd overall pick in the 2017 NHL draft, so there might be something there.
The Blues freshened up their front lines with more substantial moves, subtracting lumbering forwards Kevin Hayes and Sammy Blais and acquiring Alexandre Texier from Columbus, Mathieu Joseph from Ottawa and Radek Faksa from Dallas.
(And yes, Mathieu is Pierre-Olivier’s brother. Nice twist!)
The new forwards can all kill penalties, and Texier, who turns 25 in September, offers some offensive upside as well.
There were much better scorers available in free agency, of course, but many were in the wrong demographic (29 or older) or they were commanding burdensome contracts.
Sean Monahan (five years, $5.5 million average), Chandler Stephenson (seven years, $6.25 million annually), Alex Wennberg (two years, $5 million per year) were just three examples.
Such deals didn’t make sense for the Blues. And they weren’t in position to strike some of the bargain deals signed Monday, such as Patrick Kane staying in Detroit (one year, $4 million plus $2.5 million in incentives), Matt Duchene staying in Dallas (one year, $3 million) and Jeff Skinner heading out to Edmonton (one year, $3 million).
All three of those guys were looking to win now. The Blues aren’t at that point, but they are trying to get there.
Overall, they could be better next season IF Jordan Kyrou plays to his ability for a full season, IF Buchnevich settles back into his point-per-game pace, IF a healthier Justin Faulk regains his previous form, IF the revamped supporting cast holds up and IF the team gets production from their assortment of developing youngsters.
Blues coach Drew Bannister was pleased to see Buchnevich get his well-deserved contract. He noted that the team’s forward lines gained more speed with Joseph and Texier.
“Now we can focus on the guys that are in between the four walls with us and get to work,†Bannister said, “(We can) believe in what we’re doing, continue to build on what we did towards the end of last year and our belief as a team moving forward in what we have to do to get where we want to be.â€