Blues fans are hoping the team makes changes to the team’s core this summer and it looks like at least one NHL analyst believes they’ll get their wish. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman discussed the Blues and what changes they might make near the draft and into July, and he believes changes are coming.
Here’s Friedman’s comments, as transcribed by Today’s Slapshot:
“St. Louis. That’s going to be a big one. I think what Doug Armstrong is doing – look, he knows he’s got to pay Tarasenko and that’s going to be a big number. St. Louis is not a cap team, they’re a budget team. So I think what he’s doing is figuring out look, ‘I’m turning my team over. I’m handing it to Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz and some of the forwards… Backes, Oshie, Berglund – are any of these guys going to be particularly difficult about not being the core top forward anymore, and if so, that player goes.’ I think you’re going to see Doug Armstrong is going to be very active.”
The Blues are at a crossroads. It’s pretty obvious that Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz are the ones who will push this team forward and they deserve to be in a role where they can do so. Will the team’s veterans fall into line and accept a new role? That all comes down to egos and that’s a topic we have very little information about.
Fans want to see changes made to the existing core. Personally, I think the two guys the Blues can afford to replace are T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund. I like what David Backes and Alexander Steen bring to the table and I think they’d be dominant in an adjusted role.
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