Just two seasons removed from lifting the Stanley Cup, the St. Louis Blues are still sticking with the same core but have continued to change the peripheral pieces, signing high-end free agents to significant contracts and swinging big on some veterans on minimum deals. And you can’t blame them for doing so! They were able to break a 50-year championship drought to the franchise and bring them their first ever Cup with this core, so why not try and keep the fun rolling for as long as they possibly can?
Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly, Brayden Schenn, Colton Parayko, David Perron, Robert Thomas, Jordan Binnington — all of the usual dudes are still at the front of the lineup, but this Blues team still feels vastly different from the stale existence of 2019.