Offseason Outlook: The same Blues are coming back next season

With the offseason underway for a number of teams, with the remainder to join them in a few weeks, we're looking at what's in store for each club in the coming months.

2016-17 Grade: B-

It was a tale of two seasons for the St. Louis Blues.

Check out what a wild ride 2016-17 was in Missouri:

Of note:

• Head coach Ken Hitchcock, thought to be in his final season behind an NHL bench before retirement, was fired on Feb. 1, with his replacement, assistant Mike Yeo, taking over sooner than expected.
• Hitchcock was dumped after a disastrous January that saw St. Louis allow five or more goals in seven of its eight losses. Starting goalie Jake Allen's save percentage in six January starts: .841. Backup Carter Hutton was better in six starts, but still bad, at .904. Hitchcock - a terrible goalie, clearly - paid the price.
• The change worked, though, as the Blues won seven of eight as Yeo took over. The club allowed two goals or fewer in six of those seven wins, with Hutton posting two shutouts and Allen one. Goalies, right?
• Then, all of a sudden, the offense dried up. The Blues scored six goals during a five-game losing skid, before winning nine of 10 in March.
• So, actually, it was a tale of about eight different seasons for the Blues these past few months.

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

In the end, the Blues won a playoff round, beating the Minnesota Wild in five thanks to Allen's heroics - he stopped 174 of 182 shots, for a .956 save percentage. Eventually, St. Louis bowed out to the Western Conference champion Nashville Predators in six games, with Allen posting a .909 mark in the second round.

While there's no shame in losing to a Cup finalist, there won't be a lot of turnover in St. Louis, and the players are looking at their second-half run and playoff success after a rather tumultuous season as a sign of things to come.

As Vladimir Tarasenko put it, the team stuck together, and that means something, because the same group is coming back for another go in 2017-18.

Free Agents

After trading Kevin Shattenkirk to the Washington Capitals at the deadline, the Blues have one player who will be an unrestricted free agent: Scottie Upshall. He'll turn 34 in October and is unlikely to return.

A year after letting captain David Backes and forwards Troy Brouwer and Steve Ott walk in free agency, and trading pending UFA goalie Brian Elliott ahead of July 1, there will be little turnover on the roster heading into training camp.

Draft Picks

The Blues have seven picks in the coming draft, including two in the first round - their own and Washington's, acquired for Shattenkirk.

Summer Priorities

1. Lock up Parayko

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

With Shattenkirk gone, the focus shifts to getting restricted free agent defenseman Colton Parayko's signature on a contract extension. Only 24, the kid's going to be a star.

Parayko averaged 21:12 of ice time during the regular season, behind only captain Alex Pietrangelo and veteran Jay Bouwmeester. That jumped to 23:44 in the playoffs, where Parayko chipped in offensively with five points in 11 games.

The question is: Bridge contract or long-term, big-money deal? Doug Armstrong views Parayko as a "cornerstone player," and would prefer to keep him around for a while, but he's got Pietrangelo at a cap hit of $6.5 million (through 2019-20), Bouwmeester at $5.4 million (through 2018-19), Carl Gunnarsson at $2.9 million (through '18-19), Robert Bortuzzo at $1.15 million (through '18-19), and Joel Edmundson at $1.05 million (he'll be a RFA on July 1, 2018, took some major strides in the playoffs, and is only 23).

The core of this Blues team is Tarasenko, Alex Steen, Jaden Schwartz, Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka, Robby Fabbri, Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, Gunnarsson, Bortuzzo, and Allen, all signed through at least 2018-19 and beyond (Fabbri's a RFA ahead of 2018-19, but the 21-year-old isn't going anywhere). Armstrong has to figure out where Parayko fits in cap-wise, and then figure out how to take this team over the top.

2. Fix Jake Allen

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

Allen had some season. In fact, it was a lot like the Blues', writ large.

Allen was basically useless November through January. And no NHL goalie can have a January like Allen did. It got so bad that the poor guy was left at home to take a mental break when the Blues departed for a three-game road trip on Jan. 20, with the 26-year-old returning to the net on Jan. 31 (another loss in which he stopped only 19 of 23 shots).

The staycation worked, though, as Allen found his game in February and beyond. He finished the post All-Star portion of the season with a .938 save percentage and three shutouts, and the truth is the Blues don't beat the Wild in the first round without Allen playing arguably the best five-game stretch of his career.

St. Louis was outshot in the series:

• 52-26
• 24-22
• 41-31
• 28-28
• 37-27

After years of trotting out multiple goalies - Elliott, Allen, Jaroslav Halak, even Ryan Miller briefly - the Blues finally committed to Allen, and he's the guy going forward, signed through 2020-21 at a cap hit for $4.35 million. But they've got to ensure he finds consistency moving forward, because every point, every win counts.

3. Trade Paul Stastny

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

St. Louis' free-agent signing of Paul Stastny hasn't worked out. That's life. The Blues shot their shot, and we won't begrudge them for that, but it's time to move on, and perhaps the most value Armstrong will get is this summer, with a full season left on Stastny's deal (at $7.5 million - yikes).

The Blues are still in win-now mode, so they're not about to expose Stastny in the expansion draft, but he'll be 32 in December, and injuries have kept him out of far too many games the past two seasons. A 0.85 points-per-game producer in his first eight seasons in Colorado, he's at 0.66 through three seasons and 204 games in St. Louis. That's respectable, but not good enough for someone making $7.5M against the cap.

This goes back to Armstrong figuring out how to put the Blues over the top. Stastny and David Perron (turning 29 on May 28) will be UFAs on July 1, 2018, and will make a combined $11M against the cap. With Fabbri expected to be healthy after an ACL injury cut his season short, the Blues are deep up front, so there are numerous decisions to be made.

The Blues had the big fish ahead of the 2017 deadline, and could dangle Stastny ahead of the 2018 deadline.

2017-18 Outlook

The Blues' window remains open, and it's up to Armstrong to figure out how to prop it a little bit wider. But this team will again be strong in 2017-18, pushing 100 points.

As stated, the same team's coming back, with a healthy Fabbri, and a full season of Sobotka. If Stastny's healthy, and producing, one option is to hold on to him and make a run, then let him walk in free agency, like Backes before him.

The Blues have options, in other words. But their goal is singular: Win the Stanley Cup.

St. Louis finished with 99 points this past season and a plus-17 goal differential. That's five more points than Nashville had in 82 games, and the Predators finished at plus-16.

Get in, get hot, and anything can happen. The Preds are proof. And the Blues are hoping it's finally their turn.

Offseason Outlook Series

COL | VAN | NJD | ARI | BUF
DET | DAL | FLA | LAK | CAR
WPG | PHI | TBL | NYI | WSH
TOR | CGY | BOS | SJS | OTT
STL | EDM | MTL | ANA | MIN
CBJ | CHI | OTT | PIT | NAS
LGK