What’s Next for Leddy and Faulk? Major Changes Brewing for the St. Louis Blues Defense

What’s Next for Leddy and Faulk? Major Changes Brewing for the St. Louis Blues Defense

Things are good in St. Louis with the cards. You know, I I’m a lose happy about that. Um the Blues on the other hand have a mixed reaction based off of what happened today. So, enlighten me. Tell me other moves that happened today that you liked or disliked and then we can discuss that.
Okay. So, one thing I want to say and I think this will excite you a little bit. So, take the team that played in the first round this year against Winnipeg. And granted, we know Hella Buck was a Pez dispenser in that series
and Winnipeg was was better than us. Let’s face that. But and and the Blues still do have holes as of right now. But if you take out Zack Boo and you insert Dylan Holloway into that series, uh I think they’re especially with the chemistry that him and Jordan Kyu had. And we know that our our guy uh Ru, I like to call him, is locked in for for the season now.
Can’t get rid of him now. He’s he’s here. It went into full effect uh I believe last night at midnight.
Yeah. And another thing I’m excited about is they they they haven’t signed they didn’t sign uh Mikuel Granland. Uh there was a lot of mixed reaction on him. I know he had some flash last year, but three times 7 million whenever you think about him being like 32 and you think about some of the players the Blues have up. I’m excited about D’vorski. Like I’m telling you right now, this guy is a legit player. You have to give him a chance whether it’s at wing or at center.
I’m excited.
Um
I mean who says we can’t have a second line of Kyu D’vorski and Holloway?
Oh my could you imagine?
I mean who that’s not out of the stratosphere of possibilities there. That would be a great line.
Shen does not have to be the second line player just because D’vorski hasn’t proven himself yet. I mean the guy needs to get a chance to do it and he hasn’t really had that
third or fourth line.
Yeah. And and I’m not interested in seeing D’vorski play in the fourth line. And keep in mind, those are the only minutes he’s played so far.
Fourth line.
And there’s still Blues fans out here like judging him, telling like, “Oh, this guy’s like a bust.” It’s like, are you joking? Like this guy played with Walker and Torchenko and he’s and then he goes back down to Springfield and just continues to light things up. And keep in mind, we also have Jerz Peekarak who is his country mate and he’s coming up. He should be going pro this year and coming to Springfield. And I’m just super excited about the forwards. Like I think they could have not just a top six but more of a top eight. Like in
all these prospects like Stencil and like you know Merc Stenberg
I’m a little dramatic. I’m a little biased but even my man Adam Yurichek I’m excited about him. like yours.
Wait, why are you biased about him?
Because I had the draft last year. Um, I had a 101 with him because like I was like one because it was in Vegas. I was like one of the only like media members that did stuff with the blues.
I remember you telling me this. Yeah.
And it was his birthday and like we just had such a nice chat even be like besides like the interview and like you you just root for certain players and he was so excited to wear that blue note, Dylan. And that gets me excited when a player like Justin when
when he was emotional. He told me
he was brought to tears when he got drafted by the Blues this past weekend. Justin Faro because
oh I’m so excited for that player. so excited about where and you know what
that player that draft pick a lot of times you don’t hear about picks for a year or two but this guy seems like he’s ready to like straight up
yeah he’ll be ready soon
I mean he’s talking about the gym and talking about the training staff and and getting on the ice and
he wasn’t ever going to do this and meet the staff and get on the ice
I mean I don’t know that I don’t know how he got to This dude looks I was watching some of his videos and I’m just like whoa.
You know why we got the 19?
Because all these teams wanted centers and defensemen and the Blues were smart. I mean at the moment I was a little bit confused. I’m like, “Oh, we don’t need a winger.” But now it makes sense because when all of like the centers and defenseman got drafted, you left a guy in my opinion. I thought he was going to go top 10 or at least
what an insane insane insane development. When you first read it, you’re like a winger, but then it’s like you see the guy play, you hear him talk, you see his body, it’s like holy cow, this guy could be ready like next, like maybe not this year, but next year
2027 like whoa, this dude could play and his his tape is just
it’s wicked. He’s a good like beyond good. And this is why I’m so excited about the future because they have so many great guys now in the system,
but a guy that the Blues don’t have anymore. And I’m kind of laughing a little bit because this is so ridiculous. Fox um goes back to Dallas. Um insane amount of money, a couple millie AAB. Uh I that’s a that’s first off overpay. Secondly, he he was mid, and I don’t like using that word. He did what he needed to do. Was he a standout guy? No. Was he bad? No. But was he worth like I think it was like 2.2 million? No. Yeah. Um, it’s a it’s a good it’s a good point. Um, you know, I don’t know if you know this, but Nick Buchad is like 6’6, so it’s he’s a big body coming.
I know he’s huge. We didn’t even talk about him.
No. And that’s it. I mean, that’s effectively Fox’s replacement as of now. And Armstrong said today that he got word from Fox’s camp last night that he felt like that that it wasn’t going to work out. So, they started working on a second option, which would explain why Buchad was signed at like I don’t know like what, an hour after free agency started today or two hours
right after. Yeah.
So, obviously they probably thought that Fox they could get him done. um it didn’t it didn’t work out and you pivot and you bring in a a player who’s 6’6. His JFresh card plug to Jes was really good. I think it was like a 65% player, high finishing upside. Um the downside to Buchat is he’s not remotely close to what Fox was defensively. But if you shore up your defense and, you know, you get a more collective effort from the rest of the forwards, you don’t have to rely so much on your fourth line to to play all those checking minutes against good teams. So, you know, um yeah, Foxa and and again, I mentioned Granlin earlier. I’m not I’m not losing sleep over Fox. Uh I wanted him back. People were upset about it, but it’s like, you know, you can you can find fourthline centers. I mean and and Alexandro too is ready to come and play and and people forgot he’s another guy.
Yeah.
Yeah. He’s another that role very seriously and I’m excited about him and
the biggest Nathan Walker fan. So it’s like maybe he gets replaced.
I I love him too but his game Oh yeah. No, his game isn’t I I’m on the same page. Um really fast about just going to give a couple stats. 32 years old right now. He’s played a total of 760 games. Throughout those 76 games, 157 goals and 173 assists. Again, we talk about him being 66. Huge guy. Um last season though, he um played with um Utah.
Utah. You know what’s funny about Utah? I still want to say Arizona. I’m not used to the Utah now.
I was just in Phoenix and all I could think about is like the Coyotes the whole time. I don’t know why. So last year um Akles um 19 points total in 66 games. Again he is probably right now as I we were talking third line center maybe if the Blues acquire some better talent. Um no disrespect maybe fourth line center. Right now I could see him being fourth line center and Shen being third line center. However, I could also see Betat being third line center and Shenny being fourth line center. As long as Shen isn’t second line center, I don’t really care.
I’m good. No second, no first. Just keep him in the keep him in the bottom six. He’s still going to get the seat. Um,
yep. You won’t meet a bigger Shen fan, but I’m I’m okay. I’m okay with him.
I love But but keep him down. Um, but another thing that I’m a little upset about, and I talked about this yesterday, um, I had Michael Meyer on, not the Halloween character, Blues Prospect guy. That guy is the best.
That dude is the best. I follow I have his notifications on Twitter that dude.
You do? And I’m like, “Yeah,
he’s legit. That dude is awesome.”
Awesome. Um, so Ryan Sudter, I am so upset about this and I think this is going to lead to him retiring. Like, no one’s going to want him. I’m taken back. I would too
like overy like
league minimum. I would send Letty to to like I don’t even know where like Seattle
like and I know I know that I love the players and I think Lett’s a good guy even though he’s a former Blackhawk. Um but
he has to say that that doesn’t help.
No. And um you know we got rid of the other one last year with Brandon Sod. Yeah, it’s Faulk and Lety and you know, I just like man, we’re going to Sudter at one point in time was like carrying the defense almost to a degree.
The first pair. Yeah. And he worked his butt off.
It makes sense, too, because you have Urashek, you have Ralph, you have uh Malu who’s coming, and it’s like, okay, you don’t really want to give term to somebody, but you need a reliable player. And it’s like, man, I’d be very surprised if Sutter did something happen like was there something announced that like with him? What was announcement?
So, what happened was Suds was saying, you know, hey, I would love to come back and be a part of the blues, you know, if my wife says yes, then, you know, I’ll play another season. And then Doug said, um, it was a couple pressers ago essentially, yeah, we’re not going to resign him. Oh, see, I didn’t know that.
And here’s my issue, and this is my quick little vent really fast. Fox’s line, one of the best lines, honestly, in the back half of the season in the playoffs. I’m not going to deny that, okay? Not saying that. Listen, that’s a fact. sutor carry the defense especially that first half like he really stepped up big when he was out. My question is you add in these new guys one of them who is not going to be ready until next season on defense. You still have Nick Lety and Justin Faulk. Sorry, call me a hater. They’re not going to help.
Call me one, too. I mean,
if I have to watch Justin Faulk give away one more puck whenever we’re uh on a six on five in the last minute of a game, I seriously might I don’t know like spontaneously combust or something. And and he h I better just stop.
It’s bad. Like, and I and I was I was convinced that Sudter would play one last season here in St. Lewis repping the blue note and then he would call it quits and retire. He would help the younger guys. Um I am so disappointed honestly with that decision.
Yeah, I almost I almost guarantee I mean Cody Cody Cody Cece didn’t he just get like a four-year deal today? I mean you can’t tell me that guy is that much better than Ryan Sutter played Sudter played last year. like like I don’t care that Sudtor is is old. Um
he can still play.
He plays better than Pulk and Lety
and he’s old school and he’s tough on the ice and he doesn’t take any and I don’t know. I just he just he’s always just like laughing and having fun. He’s great for the room. Right in the locker room. When I saw him in Philly, I was in the locker room and he said to me jokingly, he’s like, “Hey, where’s the best cheese stakes at?” Like that was because he heard my accent. I guess I said something where it sounded a little bit, you know, non
That’s what I would ask you if I saw you in
and I wasn’t even interviewing him. I think I was um interviewing Kyu and he like said that and I was like this is a funny like I can you can kind of tell players personalities. Um, but I if no one picks him up, I say league minimum. You you can’t go wrong by having somebody that stepped up for your organization big time. And uh if I ask you this right now though, and this is a question I saw circulating on Twitter, and I don’t know who posted it, so I would give credit, but I don’t know who did it. If it was your question, whoever is watching or whatever, then my apologies. Do you think the St. Louis Blues as of right now today, and let’s go say theoretically, um, Holloway is healthy and he’s able to play. Are they better than they were a year ago?
Yes,
I am on the same page. So,
most people will tell you no right now, but let it resonate for a few days. Get this kid on the ice. Get him into camp. get him into practice. Uh, and again, trust Doug Armstrong. I think I told you this in the end of season, Haley. I think I told you that I expect one more one more u trick for for Doug Armstrong before he calls it.
I think another offer she’s going to happen.
Yeah, they were talking offer sheet for Bowen Byron. You’re you’re thinking of a hockey trade involving either Faulk or Ley. Um, there’s a lot on the table. Uh there there is and again he’s not really a July 1 kind of guy. He never has been.
We saw that with Burber and Holloway. Yeah. I mean we didn’t find that out until what like I don’t even remember when that was finalized.
Very very late July or early August. It was Yeah. Late and and can we just take a second to just talk about that one more time before it’s formally put to bed? Also, RIP Edmonton Oilers 2X Stanley Cup champions. So sorry about their fans that totally just bashed Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg for leaving the Oilers because they got more money and more opportunity. Like I saw one Oh, I better not keep going. But I was so sad to see I was so sad to see the Oilers lose twice in a row. Like that was just oh I was that hurt.
You know what I thought about I was like wow and I’m talking about this past Stanley Cup. If only they had a young guy within maybe let’s say a Dylan Holloway a young guy on defense like a Philip Roberg. Yeah. I mean they just traded Ardson. They just traded Arvson today to uh Boston. It’s like imagine if that team last year instead of Walman and Arvidson and Skinner had Holloway and Broberg. That makes you think. And then when you know what gets me though, when Oilers fans commented on my video um after we lost to the Jets and they said, “Wow, look at Holloway not showing up.” I’m like, “Bro, he was out. He didn’t even play. He was injured.”
I remember one guy tweeted, one guy tweeted that night like Dylan Holloway uh eliminated from the playoffs and I wanted to like I was like, “Dude, like
did you even watch it?”
Like also by the way, your fan cups have dust on them, just so you know. But that’s okay.
You know what’s Oh, you know what I did order though? I ordered um the new note um hat.
Oh my god. I I could spend $1,000 on that.
And then I’ll tell you something crazy that I did because the sweaters are not released yet. This is actually insane. I went on like one of those like custom like um jersey websites. I swear to God. And I like did my best to kind of like do a replica of like the new sweater. It may not look the best, but I did a Robert Thomas one. So, I put like, you know, 18. I put like the new note. I took a screenshot of it.
I hope it comes out okay. I just I was so excited. I’m obsessed. The Heritage was my favorite out of any. So,
which one do you like? Do you like the white or the
Oh, the that is literally a top three jersey in the NHL right now.
Yes.
We need to do a jersey ranking before the season begins. I am so down.
That would be
That is my favorite. That is I I’ve been obsessed with like uniforms for Vegas has a sick jersey.
I do. I have a Mark Andre Flurry. I don’t like Vegas, but I have one of his.
Not I’ve never worn it. It’s a collectible.
I have a bucket line jersey in my collection.
You know the hockey guy on YouTube that has like a I got into this phase where I was like, “Oh my goodness, I want to be like that.” And then after buying the one from um Vegas, I was I was like, “Yeah, I can’t afford to be like him.” So, it just sits in the back of my closet, but I’m like, “Yeah, I have a Mark Andre Flurry uh sweater.” Because uh one of the greats, but Vegas Oh, by the way, with Vegas with them adding Mitch Martner and the talent that they already have, if they win a freaking Stanley Cup again, I am going to explode. I hate the Golden Knights. They are the most scumbaggy organization. One LTI’s scumbags. Yeah. I mean, hey, it would be easy to hand out eightyear deals to guys if you know you’re just going to throw them on LTIR after their fifth season.
Wait, you know what’s funny about that though? Like honestly, it’s so hilarious to me that with us right now in the Blues and our situation, like we have to worry about cap space. the Knights like they they probably are like, “Oh, LTI, LTIR.” I know. When you when you get off this pod, if you haven’t seen it yet, look at the video they posted of Mitch Mner like showing up to Vegas today and putting on his jersey. Mitch Mner is like in there just like dancing around with his baby wearing a jersey. And all I can think of is like, oh, Mitch Mner just got paid $12 million to give you like two points in a playoff series against Edmonton next year in the second round. Like, and I think Mner is a good regular season player. He was good for Yeah. Like I just And
I don’t know. Don’t shoot the messenger. Like someone said Mner would be the Blues best forward and I’m like, “All right, well, I’ll take Thomas all day.” Uh, Holloway’s getting up there.
Robert Thomas is better than Mitch Mner.
I agree. I 100% agree. Robert Thomas is the most underrated player in the NHL. One of them.
This is why we get
like 100 100 points this year. If he plays the whole season, I mean, first of all, he gets hurt. They they tell us six weeks. Do you remember that last year?
Comes back in four weeks. I guess his bones are just made of titanium. And then like still has like 80 points in the season. And oh, I I’m just dreaming of him playing all season with like
Snug team for the Olympics.
He has to be has to be. He’s earned it. He has his defense coming around like talking about watching watching tape of Patrice Berser on last offseason. I mean,
and Montgomery is here. I mean, Thomas is going to be a dog this year. I I He’s just getting better every season. We have him for what, 8 million, 8.2 or something like that. Yeah, it’s the same as Kyu. So, yeah, I want to say it’s
So, yeah, you go ahead and give Mitch Marner 12 million. I’ll take Robert Thomas for 8.2 uh all day, every day. Think about it. We have Thomas and Kyu for 16 million and they’re paying Mner 12 million. Deal. And oh, and okay, one last thing before we wrap this up. I have to tell you, there were so many tweets about Jordan Kyu, about how he’s going to get treated. Do fans not realize, and I’m not trying to make anybody sound stupid, but do people not realize that he has a no trade clause that went into effect today? Like, they’re not trading him like,
yeah, guys don’t just like, you know, guys don’t just like wave those things either. No,
I don’t think people really want to get traded. And Kyu has been through a lot with the Blues. Oh, and people question his like compete, you know, and people will will tell you that he wasn’t competing in that Winnipeg series. Miss me with that because if if he had if he had Holloway in that series, I’m sorry, but he was playing with completely different players. Kyru and Holloway were so good last year together. I don’t care that he got hit by Logan Stanley, by the way. Who’s ever heard of Logan Stanley? I haven’t. Um, you know, like I don’t care that he got hit and and was was like I don’t know, didn’t score a lot of points in that series. The Blues weren’t going to win the cup this year anyway. Like I I will ride with Kyu. I don’t care. That that guy’s had like 35 point goals in the last like four years. I mean, and people just can’t wait to trade him
in three seasons. But yeah, let’s trade Kyru. He’s not good. Okay.
I want to ask I want to ask those people what they think. Brett Hall was like because all he did was hang out at the blue line and score just like what Kyu like Kyru is more defensive like h he’s at least trying to work on his defense
and he’s he’s had a better
yeah it’s improving like last year was really good like 25 30% better than what I’ve seen
last year was his best season
100% and he came around on the defense and he cares about his game and he cares about the note and he cares about the fans
I don’t understand the fan base sometimes it’s just like I spoke to Kyru last year and he remembered me from the previous year and like he took like Okay, so with the other team that I cover again, not a fan of the other team. It’s just a job. I always have to tell people that like Wait, you’re not a Flyers fan at all? No.
Okay.
I’m a Blues fan. And it’s funny, everybody in Flyers Media, they all know that I’m a Blues fan because during the Flyers games, I have up the Blues games and I’m cheering on the Blues. Like, that’s what’s even more funny. If I wasn’t a blues fan, would I be walking around in Philadelphia with my blue note on?
Yeah. How’s that go? Do you get like stuff thrown at you?
No. A lot of people actually come up to me and they say like, “Oh, you’re a blues fan.” And I’m like, “Yeah.” And they’re like, “Oh, I went to, you know, a blues game or I’m this girl the other day was like, “Oh, I went to college near um St. Louis.” So, like a lot of cool interactions, but it’s like funny like um I I really do love the blues. So, for me, it’s funny because it’s like one of those things where people get that misconception and I’m like, if I could live in St. Louis, I would. Like, I would. And I’ve said that numerous times and I’ve looked even to living in St. Louis. The problem is my job that I do is here. So, um, and I was trying to go out to a game last year and the plane tickets were like 500 bucks.
You need to, uh, follow 101 ESPN and hit them up and see if they would ever uh,
yeah,
let you on board.
I But I do that’s where I listen to the games when I’m driving. So, it’s funny because like I feel like my whole entire life here is centered around the Blues. So anyways, with the Flyers, when I talk to those guys sometimes, like you can tell that they’re disengaged because it’s such a big media market in Philadelphia, right? That, you know, they’re always getting asked questions.
Got the Eagles going on and all that stuff.
So the Phil, you know, it’s kind of like Flyers look like a small market compared to the Maple Leafs. So with the Blues, um, because we’re not the biggest market even though we have fans all over the world, which I love. Um, whenever I speak to the players and they know that for me, like this is the one time of the year where I can actually see them in person and talk to them, uh, Ker takes like 5 to 10 minutes. Like he genuinely is a nice human being. And every conversation that we’ve had, he always brings up his love for the fan base in the city. Like I I I’ve talked to a lot of hockey players throughout my life. Um he is the only one that brings it up on his own.
Yeah. No, that you have you you you hell you even talked to John Tordella who I I don’t know about how that how that is like
he shut me down a lot. He talked to me about dogs and like rescues. Um but like when I would talk to him about like the actual game itself, I would be like, “Oh, you know, defense tonight looks slow. PK is still a problem. How we’re going to address this? Is Rocky Thompson coming up with a new plan on, you know, the power play?” Like I would just ask him a bunch of questions. Every single question. No, no, no. I’m not answering that. You guys are making up false narratives.
Yeah, that guy
what?
That guy’s a trip. But yeah, just going back to your original um Kyu is just, you know, 40 goals this year. 100 points for Thomas. Um get Kyu a center. Whether that’s D’Vorski or, you know, I never mentioned Pia Sutter. He may have signed while we’re doing this pod. I’m looking now actually to see if that happened. The reason I like him is because he’s a really good penalty killer and the Blues penalty kill was not good last year. Unbelievable. Now,
did he
No. Chris Johnston, who does for the Athletic, he’s posting the pictures of Mitch Marner with his VGK uh sweater, and I’m like, is this like a Mitch Mner fan club over here? like no other player is getting this kind of love on social media from the national people.
Yeah, I mean he’s a he’s always been kind of a popular guy. I remember when he was a prospect.
Uh I right now he is still available.
Sutter is still available. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, hey, maybe if we lose one Sutter, maybe you’ll be happy if we get another one. I don’t know if they’re pronouncing. Nothing going to compare to Ryan. No, nothing will compare to him. Um
I guess this doesn’t drive him into retirement. And I think that’s why I’m so annoyed about it because imagine like you’re like, “Oh, I’ll play one more year. My wife said it was okay.” Like we’re, you know, we love St. Louis. We’re making the sacrifice. All we want to do is live here and then boom. Yeah. We don’t want to resign this guy. I know. There must be there has to be something more because it doesn’t make sense with what the roster looks like right now that play. I suspect within the next month, and I this is my we’re going to leave this episode on a hot take as we’re approaching 45. This is a we we actually spoke a lot today. Um within the next month, I expect both Nick Lety and Justin Folk to be gone and traded. If that happens, uh I don’t know. I might have to like Venmo you some money or something.
No, please don’t. We can just take a deep breath, nail that we know that a lastm minute goal won’t go in the net. And uh I won’t ever have to watch Nick I won’t ever have to watch the opposition score in front of the net while Nick Ley is standing there with his arms at his side not doing anything. You could do you could have done more than Nicklet. I know my dog could have boxed out more than that guy. I’m in it. [Music] Well, hey, listen. As of today, July 1st, the Blues are a better team. Obviously, we’re going to miss Zack Bold Duke a lot. But Dylan, we’re going to have to talk later this summer as we always have such great conversations. Again, thank you so much for joining locked on Blues. And to all of you watching again, right now it is about 750 central. So, these are all the moves that happened today. If anything else happens, do not come for me. We’re only talking about what we were able to process uh throughout the day. But again, if any breaking news um it’s going to be on Twitter, Locked on Blues. I will talk to you tomorrow and like always, let’s go Blues.

With changes looming for the St. Louis Blues blue line, we break down what could be next for veteran defensemen Nick Leddy and Justin Faulk. Prior to Leddy being placed on waivers, signs were already pointing to a shift in direction for the team. Could the Blues be ready to move on from both contracts? We analyze their recent play, contract implications, and the potential for trades or buyouts as St. Louis reshapes its defensive core.
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