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Once again, the Blues have become one of the primary teams to watch ahead of the NHL trade deadline.

They came into this season operating on two tracks, continuing their retooling on one track while also trying to contend for the playoffs on the other.

The Blue careened off the latter track ahead of the 4 Nationals Face-Off break, so general manager Doug Armstrong is said to be listening to offers on just about everybody on his roster but center Robert Thomas.

We assume Philip Broberg, Dylan Holloway and Jake Neighbours are also safe. Other than that . . .

“Now, everyone has to live with the white noise around us until mid-March, but we've created that for ourselves,� Armstrong noted on Sunday.

So ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵnet NHL analyst Nick Kypreos has Jordan Binnington, Pavel Buchnevich, Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn and Colton Parayko on his trade board.

He wrote:

We should be clear about something, however: this isn't a fire sale for the Blues. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ will look to move one or two of the big pieces they are listening to offers on in an effort to change the look and feel of the roster for next season. The only untouchable player is believed to be Robert Thomas.

Armstrong is thinking about taking a similar approach as the Washington Capitals, who did many teams a favour by showing you don't have to go into a five-year rebuild if things aren't going according to plan. The Capitals are a perfect example of a team that re-shaped its roster and turned around from a non-playoff team in decline two years ago to become the Eastern Conference’s leading contender we see today.

If you make the right decisions, you can quickly turn around your fortunes.

These aren't players with contracts winding down, like Ryan O'Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev. These are guys with significant term left, so it's more notable that they appear to be in play.

Presumably a team would have to pay a massive price for Binnington, since a trade would force the Blues to bet their future the still-developing Joel Hofer. Parayko has held an aging defensive corps together while playing the toughest minutes at a high level, so his trade price should be astronomical too.

These two boosted their stock at the 4 Nations event — so if the Blues are going to trade them, this is the time to do so. On the other hand, could the franchise really afford to lose them?

And would any of the Blues with no-trade protection agree to move along? Torey Krug nixed his trade to the Philadelphia Flyers and others could make a similar decision, if it comes to that.

The Blues mentioned by Kypreos have good company because there are many prominent players drawing mentions in the rumor mill.

• The Carolina Hurricanes may flip newly acquired Mikko Rantanen if he won’t agree to a new contract.
• The sinking Boston Bruins may wave the white flag, move Brad Marchand and pick up future assets.
• The Vancouver Canucks could tire of the lifeless Elias Pettersson and trade him — even though the team traded J.T. Miller earlier this season to resolve their dressing room rift.

Here is what folks have been writing about other possibilities ahead of the trade deadline:

Rachel Doerrie, : “The Oilers are in an interesting position because it's the last year of Leon Draisaitl's bargain contract, and only two playoff runs remain with Connor McDavid in his current deal. The Oilers are a roller coaster, with their top performances looking like future Cup winners and their bad performances looking like a 12th-place team. Their ‘B’ game needs to come a long way before April, and part of having a good B game is consistent goaltending. Can you get the saves when you don't have your A game? Right now, the answer is no.” 

Rory Boylen, ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵnet: “A seller through and through, the Blackhawks aren't going to be able to keep doing this forever and keep Connor Bedard happy. At some point, NHL players will need to be retained, or else a lot of pressure will be put on graduating prospects very quickly. Take one look at Buffalo to see the risk that entails. At first glance, it didn't seem like the Hawks had a whole lot of super-intriguing players to move. Hall was sent to Carolina, but that was for a mid-round pick and he never settled into Chicago. Pending UFA Ryan Donato is having a terrific career season, but turns 29 in April and seems a good bet to get moved . . . (Seth) Jones is 30 and signed through the 2029-30 season, so his timeline doesn't appear to line up with Chicago's. And while retaining some money for another five years is a big ask for the Blackhawks, it could also elevate Jones' trade value and make him able to pull back some good assets to Chicago. Jones isn't a No. 1 defenseman, but if he could be had for, say, $6 million to $7 million against the cap with the upper limit about to shoot up, he's suddenly a very intriguing second-pair defenseman.â€�

Pierre LeBrun, The Athletic: “These next few games before the deadline are massive for the Columbus Blue Jackets as they decide what to do with top-four blueliner Ivan Provorov, the 28-year-old pending UFA who is second on the team in ice time at more than 23 minutes a night. The sides exchanged offers last month and weren’t close in their positions, and my understanding is they haven’t circled back yet. The Blue Jackets are torn, to be sure. They’ve got a team that is legitimately in a playoff race, an incredible story given preseason tragedy. So on the one hand, if you’re GM Don Waddell you would hate to take away from the roster. But on the flip side, if Provorov remains unsigned, can you really let him walk out the door July 1 and get nothing in return? Is that good asset management for a team still building?�

Scott Maxwell, Daily Faceoff: “The Canadiens now find themselves as sellers once again, and it looks like the players they could move on from are Joel Armia, Jake Evans, David Savard and Josh Anderson, although you also have to wonder what the market may look like for a middle-six center and pending UFA in Christian Dvorak. With these potential sells, the Habs will be able to get a few more picks and prospects out of this deadline to add to a pool of futures that is looking better and better by the year. If there’s one thing the Canadiens’ brief stretch of good play could change from the normal gameplan, it’s that they could potentially look to add a big name with a long-term outlook on the team, even if it’s a gamble. Whether that’s Dylan Cozens, Casey Mittlestadt or Elias Pettersson, the Habs have the cap space to be flexible to add a player like that and potentially give their lineup a jolt in the long run.�

Megaphone

“Historically, we've been pretty aggressive when our team's in a position. I think we'll take a much more cautious approach as we approach the deadline. May plant a seed for the draft and beyond."

Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney