In the Central Division Notebook in March, we questioned whether the St Louis Blues were ready to accept their reality with an aging roster and poor team results the past few seasons. They answered that question, at least for now, at the trade deadline as they dealt Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk.
Does the Blues 2026 trade deadline signal a shift in long term strategy? Perhaps. Doug Armstrong will officially hand the reigns to Alex Steen on July 1. We may even have a better sense of the direction Steen intends to take the roster before he officially takes over depending on how the Blues handle the draft.
The Blues own three picks in the first round this summer after their Schenn and Faulk deals each returned a first round pick as part of the package. It bumps their success odds up nicely in 2026 and their prospect pipeline is slightly above baseline overall. The pipeline is in great shape to feed a team that is already in contention or close to it. The Blues aren’t that team though, having played one lone playoff series in the past four seasons.
The good news for the Blues is they have a considerable amount of prime aged and younger players impacting the NHL roster already. They may have hung on to their 2019 Cup winning core longer than they should have, but they’ve moved on in a meaningful way after their deadline deals this season. Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou are now at the leading edge of a developing core that they were able to supplement two summers ago with the offer sheet additions of Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.
Broberg and Holloway have been revelations since arriving in St Louis, with Broberg signing a 6 year extension in January and Holloway signing a 5 year pact last week.
While I have the Blues at the start of a rebuild on the timeline shown off the top, it’s not inconceivable that they could use their current draft capital to further supplement the early prime/developing cohort and put themselves into the Develop phase of the timeline quickly. Jonatan Berggren was another piece acquired in the Faulk deal and he fits that cohort nicely, so perhaps that’s the group Steen has his eye on to build around. In either case, continuing the move out players that are past their prime to regenerate assets is imperative to continue building in the right direction. The next couple of months should be interesting as we find out what plans Steen has up his sleeve.
