We are going to jump right back into it with one of the biggest disappointments of the season so far, the St. Louis Blues. Coming into the season, the Blues were regarded as one of the deepest teams in the league, coming off of a tough loss in the playoffs to the Colorado Avalanche last season. The Blues' forwards have been non-existent this season with the exception of Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and an injury plagued Pavel Buchnevich. They've seen injuries and lack luster production hit them where it hurts at every position this season. The biggest let down for the Blues starts with their goalie, Jordan Binnington. Binnington had a great end of the season last year, but was hurt in the series against the Avalanche and has not been the same since. He has an 18-18-5 record and a GAA of 3.27 and Save Percentage of .892. This is uncharacteristic of Binnington and has left the Blues kicking themselves for letting Ville Husso go in the offseason. The play of Binnington and the rest of the team leaves the Blues on the outside looking in and labels them as "Sellers" in the upcoming trade deadline. One of the names that has been thrown around in trade talks was just traded an hour ago, Vladimir Tarasenko. Tarasenko has been the Blues leading goal scorer for the past several years and is on the last year of his contract. The Rangers acquired Tarasenko and defenseman, Niko Mikkola, in exchange for forward Sammy Blais, 2019 1st round pick, Hunter Skinner, a conditional 2023 1st round pick, and a 2024 4th round pick. The other names being floated around in trade talks are forward and team captain, Ryan O'Reilly and forward Ivan Barbashev. Both of these players play their roles very well, but have been having disappointing years. O'Reilly has been injured since December 31. The Blues would be able to fetch a good return for each of these players and could help kickstart the mini rebuild that seems to be on the horizon for St. Louis. Both players are on expiring contracts and could prove as useful rentals for teams looking to bolster their lineups for a playoff run. At the beginning of the season, no one would have thought they would see the Blues in this state at this point of the year.
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