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Tuesdays With Hildy: Which Players Would You Want The Blues To Keep Or Acquire If The NHL Cancels Contracts?

The NHL somehow thinks that a giant free-agent frenzy (a la NHL 13's be a GM mode without the salary cap) would be a necessary outcome of the NHLPA's de-certification vote. If that were to happen, and the Blues could snag any UFA that they wanted, who would you choose and why?

By hildymac
Jamie Sabau

It's become known that the NHL, in their suit with the National Labor Relations Board, have included a provision that the league's players' contracts be dissolved if the NHLPA voted to de-certify. You know what this'd mean, right? Free agent frenzy!

Well, free agent frenzy for the teams with money. The Blues, as we know, aren't currently one of those teams. They're very smart with their money, yes, but they would have issues competing with the big boys for the big names. Let's pretend, for just a second, that they were the richest team in the league. It's not a huge jump -- neither the Blues nor the Toronto Maple Leafs have won anything since 1967. If the Blues were worth a billion dollars, they could have the pick of the litter. So many names to choose from. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin? Duh. Alexander Ovechkin? Perhaps. The Sedins? They might be disconcerting bobbleheaded twins, but they'd be our disconcerting bobbleheaded twins. Zdeno Chara? Ilya Kovalchuk? Erik Karlsson? Drew Doughty? Evander Kane?

There'd be so many folks for the Blues to throw money at it'd be absurd. Don't forget, though, that the Blues have some of the best young talent in the league. Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, David Backes, David Perron, T.J. Oshie, Chris Stewart, Jaroslav Halak -- presumably the Blues would make a play to secure these guys.

The question this week, though, is who would YOU choose to keep and who do you view as expendable? Why? And, if the Blues had all of the money in the world, which players would you go after?