{"id":469427,"date":"2025-05-29T15:17:55","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T19:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=469427"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:17:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T19:17:55","slug":"nhl-rumours-st-louis-blues-to-shake-up-centre-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/05\/29\/nhl-rumours-st-louis-blues-to-shake-up-centre-position\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: St. Louis Blues to Shake Up Centre Position?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to NHL Rumours! We have crowned an <\/span>Eastern Conference Champion<\/span><\/a>. We will soon have a <\/span>Western Conference Champion<\/span><\/a>. As the Stanley Cup Final takes shape, we have a rumour regarding a Central Division team. Chris Johnston of\u00a0<\/span>The Athletic<\/span><\/em> believes the St. Louis Blues could shake up the centre position by trading a key player.<\/span><\/p>\n

NHL Rumours<\/span><\/h2>\n

Blues to Shake Up Centre Position?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Rumour: <\/span>Johnston’s article<\/span><\/a> consisted of a list of players who could be on the trade market this season. Included in that list was Blues captain Brayden Schenn<\/a>, whose named <\/span>popped up last season before the trade deadline<\/span><\/a>. While the Blues chose to hang on to Schenn, Johnston believes a trade could happen this summer. This is because of a change in Schenn’s no-trade clause and a possible interest in upgrading the centre.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Analysis:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Schenn played in all 82 regular-season games for the Blues last season. He scored 18 goals and was a <\/span>key member<\/span><\/a> of a Blues team that returned to the <\/span>Stanley Cup Playoffs<\/span><\/a>. General manager Doug Armstrong made the right decision and hanging on to Schenn and keeping the team together for the playoff push. However, the Blues are looking to be better in 2025-26. While some Blues fans may not want to hear it, a Schenn trade would make sense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why It Makes Sense<\/span><\/h3>\n

Blues Need a 2C<\/span><\/h4>\n

While Schenn was an effective second-line centre, the Blues might be looking to upgrade at that position. The team has quite a few top-six scorers who would benefit from the addition of a true offensive-minded centre. Sam Bennett<\/a> is a name that comes to mind, and the <\/span>Blues were linked to Bennett in a rumour<\/span><\/a> a few weeks ago. The Blues have an elite top centre in Robert Thomas<\/a>. Their offence could take a big step forward by adding a true second-line centre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No-Trade Change<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Johnston mentioned that on July 1st, Schenn’s no-trade clause changes from a full to a modified no-trade clause. This means that Schenn will be able to submit a 15-team no-trade list but will not have the full ability to veto any trade. This will give Armstrong more flexibility to move Schenn should he choose to do so.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Clearing Roster and Cap Space<\/span><\/h4>\n

If the Blues are interested in adding a second-line centre, they will need to create a spot for him. Trading Schenn would help do that. Furthermore, trading Schenn would also free up cap space to sign a new centre. The Blues may have to retain some of <\/span>Schenn’s $6.5 million contract<\/span><\/a> that runs through 2028, but the money they do save would be key. The Blues are likely to have an additional $6.5 million as a result of Torey Krug<\/a> likely <\/span>remaining on long-term injured reserve<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assuming the Blues retain the maximum on Schenn’s contract, which is $3.25 million, they would have an additional $9.75 million to spend on just money saved from Krug and Schenn’s contract. The Blues could sign a second-line centre with this money alone and still have funds to re-sign <\/span>unrestricted free agents<\/span><\/a> or extend <\/span>restricted free agents<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Schenn Would Bring Back Good Return<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Blues rightfully placed a high price tag on Schenn last season for any interested teams. Based on what Schenn still brings to the table at age 33, there is no reason to think that price will come down. What a return for Schenn would like depends on the interested team. Attempting to predict a trade is nearly impossible, so we will not even try to do that. However, high draft picks or even prospects could be in play for the Blues captain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For an organization focused on a youth movement, how great would it be to attract young capital and establish a secondary centre?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It Makes Sense, But Will It Happen?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Armstrong has always been a long-term planner and not afraid to make a seemingly unpopular choice. Armstrong traded Kevin Shattenkirk<\/a> in <\/span>2017<\/span><\/a> and Paul Stastny<\/a> in <\/span>2018<\/span><\/a> because he felt the team was not a Stanley Cup contender.\u00a0 Following the 2016 season, Armstrong was willing to let captain David Backes<\/a> walk because he believed a long-term contract would not be beneficial for the team’s future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, who knows what will happen? Anything should be on the table for Armstrong. While fans may not want to lose Schenn, it may be in the team’s best interest moving forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Connor Hamilton- Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to NHL Rumours! We have crowned an Eastern Conference Champion. We will soon have a Western Conference Champion. As the Stanley Cup Final takes shape, we have a rumour regarding a Central Division team. Chris Johnston of\u00a0The Athletic believes the St. Louis Blues could shake up the centre position by trading a key player. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":469429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4321,4547,4548,32],"tags":[505,2801,1727,1535],"class_list":["post-469427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rumours","category-hockey","category-nhl","category-blues","tag-brayden-schenn","tag-doug-armstrong","tag-sam-bennett","tag-torey-krug"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469430,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469427\/revisions\/469430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}