Will the St. Louis Blues go all-in this summer?

In 2011-12, the St. Louis Blues took the step from middle-of-the-pack to one of the NHL’s best clubs. That meant a leap from 87 points in 2010-11 to 109 points the next season, finishing just two points behind the Vancouver Canucks in the race for the President’s Trophy. They then finished third in the West in 2012-13, and did so again this past season with 111 points.

That’s three seasons in which the Blues have dealt with playoff expectations, and the only thing they have to show for it is a single series win in ‘11-12. That’s a problem.

Last season they got bumped by the Los Angeles Kings in round one in dramatically similar fashion to their exit at the hands of the Blackhawks this season. Check this out:

This year was supposed to be different.  

So what now? The Blues are not a team that’s built to naturally improve based on age, this is a group that was supposed to be ready to win yesterday.

They’ve assembled a beautiful d-corps, certainly the type that could contend for a Cup, and they’ve got them all under contract for at least one more full season. While youth may not be a general asset for the Blues, Alex Peitrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk help make up a group that are more part of the solution than the problem.

It’s up front that something has to be done.

The good news is, there’s going to be the opportunity to do something, but that “something” won’t be easy - they need elite scoring.

Nothing has been more evident over the past few playoff seasons than the fact that the Blues lack the type of elite game-breaking talent that’s been beating them. They scored just 12 goals in regulation time over six games against Chicago (just six in the last four games), while names like Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane, and Patrick Sharp rolled over them. The year before, it was the Kopitars and Carters doing damage.

The “something” the Blues are going to have this summer is opening cap space and roster spots. 35-year-old Brenden Morrow is a pending unrestricted free agent, opening up $1.5 million in room. 31-year-old Steve Ott and his nearly $3m are coming off the books. So too is the $4m of 30-year-old Derek Roy. Combine those dollars with a salary cap that’s moving up to somewhere in the $71 million range, and they should be able to afford some talent, even with a raise coming for Jaden Schwartz.

But as I said earlier, adding that is easier said than done, because elite talent isn’t readily available, and if you buy it on the open market, you’re generally going to pay out the backside.

30-year-old Thomas Vanek is poised to receive the second massive contract of his career, but do you want to buy the decline years of an offense-only player for an ungodly sum? Well, here’s where you start making decisions. If this is a team built to win and win now (and it is, with really only Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz being regular forwards below their peak output years), maybe you roll those dice. This team isn’t far off.

Past Vanek, there aren’t too many names who fall into the category of the Blues major need - top-end talent. Matt Moulson is another 30-year-old due a big payday. Paul Stastny is an underrated commodity at 28. …After that you’re kinda stuck. You can grab Jaromir Jagr at 43 or Jarome Iginla at 37, but I think that’s already a step away from the “elite” forwards I’m talking about here.

The issue of goaltending will be easier to solve. Between Jaroslav Halak, Thomas Greiss, Ryan Miller, Jonas Hiller and a boatload of other names, they should be able to get that taken care of.

So, it’s decision time up front. The Blues roster is more or less “pot committed” to use a poker analogy, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go all-in on the Austrian playmaker. They’re going to be a great team again next year, but success in the regular season is no longer good enough. What they do this summer will show how serious they are about making a push for the Cup.