One Big Name On Blues Remains In Trade Rumors

Changes have to be made to the St. Louis Blues, and some definitely will, but the right players have to be swapped out. This is a team with some solid young talent, but there are still some younger players that may not be part of the future. Jordan Kyrou may be one of them.

Nick Kypreos said, "Jordan Kyrou's been out there for the last little while. I also believe that he's open to looking at different scenarios on trying to win a Stanley Cup." At this point, the Blues may not be rebuilding, but they're in a couple years of rebuilding for sure, especially with the names that are being rumored outside of Kyrou, such as Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, Brayden Schenn, Jordan Binnington, Oskar Sundqvist, Mathieu Joseph, Robby Fabbri, and even Robert Thomas a bit. Not all of these players are going to be traded, or you can guarantee it's a rebuild. Doug Armstrong wants to reshape the team to make them competitive in the short term.

Possibly trading Kyrou, other than him not being too happy, is an odd move for the Blues. There are options in the top-6 and Kyrou is a top-6 right winger, but it's not easy at all to replace a player that has put up 30+ goals and 70+ points in three of the past four seasons. Young players like Jimmy Snuggerud, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Jake Neighbours aren't at that level offensively just yet, and Justin Carbonneau, the future top-6 RW, isn't even out of junior yet, despite dominating.

Kyrou's contract shouldn't get too much in the way as there are competitive teams with cap space and assets that would love to bring someone of his offensive abilities in for a number of years. The 27-year-old has a no-trade clause, so the destination would have to go through him, but the Blues are second-last in the NHL and it's not all that easy to get back to where they were. Even last season, they barely snuck into the playoffs.

Kyrou is signed for five more years at $8.125 million AAV and teams like the Carolina Hurricanes, Winnipeg Jets, Detroit Red Wings, Seattle Kraken, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Washington Capitals could all show interest, plus more. If Kyrou wants to leave and is lenient with a destination of a more competitive team, we could easily see a trade prior to the deadline, or at least in the early offseason.