St Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues announced Tuesday they signed Jordan Kyrou to an eight-year, $65 million extension.

"I'm so thankful to the Blues organization for putting their trust in me and giving me the opportunity to wear the Blue Note for the foreseeable future," Kyrou said of the deal. "Being able to call St. Louis my home is amazing. I can't say enough about how much I love the city. And to the best fans in the League, I can't thank you enough for always showing me love and support."

The 24-year-old is coming off a breakout 2021-22 season. He had 27 goals and 48 assists, with his 75 points the fourth-highest on the team. The 2016 second-round pick continued to deliver in the postseason, chipping in nine points (seven goals, two assists) across 12 games as St. Louis reached the second round.

The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn thought Monday's deal can turn into a great piece of business:

The Blues are now counting on Kyrou and Robert Thomas to lead the attack for the long term. Thomas, who turned 23 this summer, signed his own eight-year, $65 million extension in July after scoring 20 goals and assisting on 57 more in 2021-22.

Building around Kyrou and Thomas makes plenty of sense but raises some questions for general manager Doug Armstrong.

Ryan O'Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev are all due to hit unrestricted free agency in 2023.

Assuming they hit the open market next summer, O'Reilly and Tarasenko will have no shortage of suitors, and re-signing them will become more difficult with the salary cap when Kyrou and Thomas combine to make almost $16.3 million.

Look ahead to 2024-25 and the Blues will have just five forwards under contract: Kyrou, Thomas, Brayden Schenn, Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad. That could present a challenge for Armstrong in terms of getting the necessary depth.

One of the biggest moves of the NHL offseason occurred on Friday when Matthew Tkachuk was traded from the Calgary Flames to the Florida Panthers. But at one point, it seemed like Tkachuk's hometown St. Louis Blues were the favorites to land him.

According to The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford, the Blues were one of the three finalists (along with the Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes) to acquire Tkachuk. But he ended up picking Florida as his new team.

In exchange for Tkachuk, the Panthers traded forward Jonathan Huberdeau, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt and a 2025 conditional first-round pick to the Flames. If the Blues had acquired Tkachuk instead, they likely would have parted with a similar return package.

But one player who St. Louis apparently wouldn't have traded? Vladimir Tarasenko.

Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest reported that the Blues never asked Tarasenko to waive his no-trade clause so that they could include him in their offer for Tkachuk, and they also never even checked in with him to see if he'd consider doing so.

That may seem like a bit of a surprise, considering Tarasenko previously requested to be traded from St. Louis last July. However, the 30-year-old forward was never dealt and stayed with the Blues for the 2021-22 season.

It worked out for both Tarasenko and the team. In his 10th year in the NHL, he tallied a career-high 82 points with 34 goals and 48 assists in 75 games. And the Blues made it to the playoffs for the 10th time in 11 seasons.

Once St. Louis was eliminated from the postseason in the second round, general manager Doug Armstrong seemed optimistic about Tarasenko staying with the team for the 2022-23 season, which will be the final year of his contract.

"I’m not concerned about Vladi for next year at all," Armstrong said in May, per Rutherford.

With Strickland's latest report, it seems things might be better between Tarasenko and the Blues. That would be good for St. Louis because Tarasenko is a talented player who makes the team better.

So the Blues are making the right move in no longer entertaining the possibility of a Tarasenko trade. The only way they should even consider it again is if he again becomes unsatisfied with his situation.

But Tarasenko has now proved that he can stay healthy for a full season. And when that happens, he's a tremendous offensive player who can anchor one of the team's top lines.

The next decision that St. Louis should have to make regarding Tarasenko is what to do following next season. He'll be 31 when the 2022-23 campaign is over, so he'll likely still have plenty of productive years still ahead of him.

Not only is not trading Tarasenko wise, but the Blues may even want to try to sign him to an extension in the near future. Is that something he'd be open to? It isn't yet clear. However, St. Louis should at least try to make it happen.

If you didn't realize that Darren Helm is still playing in the NHL, then you certainly realized it on Friday night following his game-winning goal in the Colorado Avalanche's 3-2 Game 6 victory over the St. Louis Blues. 

Helm was the "unlikely hero" in Game 6, scoring with just 4.9 seconds remaining in regulation to send the Avalanche to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2002, and fans quickly took to Twitter to laud the 15-year veteran. 

Helm signed with the Avalanche ahead of the 2021-22 season after 14 years with the Detroit Red Wings. He tallied seven goals and eight assists in 68 games during the regular season. He entered Friday's game with just one assist in nine playoff games. 

While it's certainly a great site to see Helm put one on the board, the Avalanche will need their big guns, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Cale Makar, to name a few, to step up in the Western Conference Finals as the Edmonton Oilers are no slouch. 

Nathan MacKinnon had himself an incredible Wednesday night. His teammates, well...not so much.

The Colorado Avalanche blew two separate leads, wasted MacKinnon's hat trick and threw away a chance to end their second-round series against the St. Louis Blues, losing Game 5 in overtime, 5-4.

Tyler Bozak was the man of the hour for the Blues, scoring the game-winning goal in the extra period.

Hockey fans, meanwhile, let the Avalanche hear it after they let this one slip away:

The Avalanche had every opportunity to win both this game and series. They held a 3-0 lead early in the second period, with MacKinnon—who hadn't scored a goal in the first four games of the series—finding the back of the net twice in the first period alone.

But goals from Vladimir Tarasenko, Robert Thomas and Justin Faulk erased that lead. 

No matter—MacKinnon responded by scoring one of the goals of the playoffs in the third period after St. Louis to once again give Colorado the lead.

But yet again, the Blues had an answer, as Thomas scored his second goal of the night with just 56 seconds remaining to push the game into overtime.

From there, Bozac silenced a stunned Colorado crowd and guaranteed at least one more game in this series. 

"You sulk for three minutes, and you move on," Gabriel Landeskog told reporters about how the Avalanche would respond to the soul-crushing loss. "It's playoff hockey. It's not supposed to be easy."

No, it isn't, but plenty of Avalanche players will be licking their wounds after that loss, including goalie Darcy Kuemper, who gave up five goals on 30 shots. The Avs will need him, and the rest of the roster not named MacKinnon, to brush themselves off before the series returns to St. Louis for Friday's Game 6 at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.

St. Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube condemned the racist remarks and threats directed toward Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri while speaking with the media on Wednesday ahead of Game 5 of their second-round series. 

"I just want to comment on my 'no comment' the other day," Berube said. "I'm not on social media. I was aware of a threat made to Nazem. Not the racist stuff. In no way is it acceptable by the St. Louis Blues or anybody else for him to have to go through that."

Berube initially declined to comment on the situation. 

The NHL Players' Association also released a statement Tuesday condemning the racist remarks. 

Kadri, who is Muslim and of Lebanese descent, and his family have received racist and threatening comments following his collision with Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington in Game 3 of their series. Binnington suffered a lower-body injury on the accident and has been sidelined since. 

According to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski, law enforcement have been investigating the threats and there was an increased police presence at the Avalanche's team hotel in St. Louis for Games 3 and 4 of the series. 

With Binnington sidelined, the Avalanche have won Games 3 and 4 in dominant fashion. After the racist remarks toward Kadri began during Game 3, he went on to score three goals and tally an assist to help Colorado win the next game 6-3. 

Kadri is one of the most talented forwards in the league and has been a solid addition to the Avalanche lineup since joining the team in a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead of the 2019-20 season. 

In 71 regular-season games this year, he tallied 28 goals and 59 assists for 87 points. He has been just as effective in the playoffs, notching five goals and five assists for 10 points in eight games. 

The Avalanche will host the Blues in Game 5 of their second-round series on Wednesday night and will aim to punch their ticket to the Western Conference Finals with a win.