NHL Rumors: Big Changes Coming to the St Louis Blues

Some surprising news out of the St Louis as Blues management appears to have set their priorities very straight this season. After massive contract extensions were handed out for Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, some of the other Blues pending free agents, including captain Ryan O'Reilly will have to wait.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong cleared the air recently on the team's direction and it sounds like some talent is going to get squeezed because of the salary cap:

O’Reilly, Tarasenko, Barbashev, Mikkola, these guys are all going to be UFA’s. Right now, we’re going to just let the season play itself out, have these guys play. The players I just spoke of are going to be very good players next year and the year after and we’re going to see if we can find a way to keep this band together, but I think we all know the salary cap is the salary cap. It is what it is.

Vladimir Tarasenko isn't much of a surprise considering the back and forth that's gone on the past few seasons with trade 'requests'. O'Reilly on the other hand is very surprising considering everything he's done for the franchise and the fact he's still 'the Factor' getting it done at 31 years old.

The Blues' captain was very surprised to see David Perron leave the team this past summer and now finds out he won't be offered an extension at all throughout this season. Sounds like the Blues will look much different come the 2023-24 season.