Things change in a hurry in the modern NHL. The 2018-19 St. Louis Blues may be one of the best examples of that in recent memory.
The Blues entered the season as a potential dark horse contender that could challenge for the Stanley Cup. That was back in October. Now, just a little over two months later, the Blues have fired their head coach and are reportedly considering some massive changes.
The word “rebuild” hasn’t been specifically used, but when you hear that Vladimir Tarasenko could be one of those involved in a potential deal, it’s hard not to use that label.
But there may have been some wires crossed in all of the rumor reporting.
Armstrong is listening to anything. To my knowledge, the Blues have NOT called teams or informed teams that everyone is available. But some clubs are under the impression that Army would consider trading anyone, including Tarasenko.
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 12, 2018
The idea of trading Tarasenko is laughable. He’s a rare talent in the NHL that the Blues won’t find again easily. He’s under contract through 2022-23 and has made it clear that he loves living and playing in St. Louis. But, and there’s always a but, he’s going to need to be surrounded by players who can help elevate his game rather than detract from it.
On paper, the Blues should be a pretty decent squad. At the very least they should be better than 28th in the NHL. That obviously hasn’t been the case as the team has played some dreadful hockey that’s rife with mental errors and questionable effort. It’s been said multiple times – the Blues have a mentality issue and it’s not clear how to fix it.
Trading some of the existing core might be the solution, though the Blues don’t want to make too much of a knee-jerk reaction. Remember – all of this has played out over the past twoish months. That’s probably not enough time to accurately decide whether or not a rebuild is in order.
Things change in a hurry. Let’s hope the Blues make the correct decisions that don’t look bad two months from now.
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