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St. Louis Blues: Tough decisions lay ahead

By Dave Stevenson

May 7, 2017; Nashville, TN, USA; St. Louis Blues players during the national anthem prior to game six of the second round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
May 7, 2017; Nashville, TN, USA; St. Louis Blues players during the national anthem prior to game six of the second round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /
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The St. Louis Blues are going to have to make some very tough decisions this offseason if they want to improve. 

The St. Louis Blues went into the 2016-17 NHL season with a very awkward situation behind the bench. Not only did they have head coach Ken Hitchcock, the team also hired Mike Yeo as an assistant coach and declared him to be Hitchcock’s successor. This went over about as well as expected, as it blew up in their face. On Feb. 1, the Blues fired Hitchcock and Yeo started his job as head coach a few months earlier than expected.

This switch at head coach worked beautifully. From the start of February, the Blues tied the Washington Capitals for the best record in the NHL (22-8-2). Goaltender Jake Allen, who struggled under Hitchcock, found his game under Yeo. With 93 goals, the St. Louis Blues were tied for ninth in the league in scoring. Their 60 goals allowed were the fewest in the NHL.

After beating the Minnesota Wild in the first round, the Blues felt like nothing could stop them. Unfortunately, they ran into the Nashville Predators in the second round. The Preds proved to be the hotter team, dominating the Blues. Eventually, Nashville beat them in six games. Now the Blues face a long offseason.

Where do they go from here?

Ideally, St. Louis would love to optimize their roster for Yeo’s system. They need to add more two-way forwards. However, this will be complicated, if not next to impossible, because of their salary cap situation. Not only do the Blues have zero major unrestricted free agents, they also have minimal cap space to deal with.

Assuming the current $73 million salary cap ceiling is stagnant, the St. Louis Blues have $4.469 million of cap space before factoring in their free agents. The big one is restricted free agent defenseman Colton Parayko. He’s arguably their best blue liner and the heir apparent to Kevin Shattenkirk. While signing him long-term would be ideal, the Blues probably don’t have enough cap space to sign him for longer than four years. A bridge deal makes much more sense.

However, St. Louis has one trump card – the Vegas Golden Knights. If the expansion team takes one of their expensive players (such as Carl Gunnarsson or Patrik Berglund), this clears up a bit of space for them. The Blues would need a bit of luck, but they could feasibly clear enough cap space to sign a familiar face in T.J. Oshie. He would be an excellent fit in Yeo’s system as a phenomenal defensive forward who can chip in on offense.

Hope for the future

The Blues can rest easy knowing they don’t have any huge holes to fill this offseason. A lot of teams would love to be in this situation. Thanks to Paryako being exempt from the expansion draft, no matter what happens, the Blues aren’t losing a valuable player. Not all teams are going to be quite as lucky.

Next: Each NHL Team's Biggest 'What If' Moment

Most of their core is locked up long-term. Alexander Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz are each locked up long-term. Robby Fabbri will be back after an injury cost him this season. He should be an important piece for them, as few of the Blues have the offensive potential of him. Ivan Barbashev is an intriguing talent who could be very important to their success moving forward. Combined with Tarasenko and Fabbri, the Blues have an exciting trio of players capable of scoring.

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