The latest linking Kevin Hayes to the St. Louis Blues
Tyler Yaremchuk was joined by Frank Seravalli to discuss some moves the St. Louis Blues could make leading up the draft on the latest episode of Daily Faceoff Live.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Kevin Hayes seems to be in no-mans land going, “I’m not sure what’s happening right now”. It seemed like the deal with the Blues was closed, Torey Krug doesn’t waive his no-trade clause and things kind of fall apart. What’s the latest on Kevin Hayes and the Flyers, is it also too early to say or they’ll make it work with the Blues?
Frank Seravalli: I think there is some kind of path for them to revisit it but here’s what I’ll tell you about the St. Louis Blues, they want to be one of the most aggressive teams here in Nashville. You’ve got a bunch of teams jockeying for that position, you’ve got the Winnipeg Jets, the Calgary Flames what’s up with Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli, Mikael Backlund, and Noah Hanifin. The Flyers with all of the pieces that they’re going to unload. Then you have the Blues who are sitting here with two additional first round picks, 25th and 29th overall. They don’t have a second round pick this year, I think when it’s all said and done on Wednesday night there’s a real chance that after Doug Armstrong makes the number 10 he doesn’t make any more picks until the third round.
Tyler Yaremchuk: They don’t have a second round pick but they have two picks in the third, with the 25th and 29th overall picks, even if they get Hayes is a first rounder going to be involved in the Hayes deal, like who are some of the pieces the Blues can be targeting outside of Hayes?
Frank Seravalli: I think they’re involved in a whole bunch of different markets. They want to reshape the view of their defense, obviously with Torey Krug potentially being moved out. They want to do it a little bit differently, Krug is an undersized guy who has been hurt for a quarter of the season all three years that he’s played in St. Louis. If Sanheim was part of that deal it tells you that they’re looking to change the shape of it and want to get a bit bigger on the back end.
The other part is, I think they want to remake and add to their forward group. They want guys that are 25 and under that they think can contribute to their team for a long time. Doug Armstrong wants to win, he has no interest in taking picks that will take five years to develop and make an impact on the Blues’ lineup. They want to win and they want to turn it around quickly and I think he may be my pick given how aggressive he will be for a guy that gets the most done this week.
You can watch the rest of the episode here…