The St. Louis Blues still have plenty of talent over the age of 30 entering the 2024-25 season, but with numerous clauses barring player transfers and trades set to expire and become partial clauses, expect some of the team’s most experienced veterans to move elsewhere for the 2025-26 season as general manager Doug Armstrong’s major roster restructure gets closer to completion.

So which three players will no longer be part of the Blues organization after the 2024-25 season? Read on to learn about three familiar names. But one thing to keep in mind: The list does not include players who signed with or were traded to the Blues last offseason. So names like Ryan Suter, for example, are excluded.

Brandon Saad is the first of three players on this list who have one thing in common: their full no-trade/no-move clauses will be eliminated starting in the 2025 offseason. These clauses will still exist, but they will revert to partial clauses instead of full clauses.

While Saad should remain an important part of the Blues’ lineup this season (newcomers include Dylan Holloway and possibly Jimmy Snuggerud and Dalibor Dvorsky), there must be outsiders and Saad, one of the older players, is likely to move through a transfer.

If that happens, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for Saad either, as he will be entering his 33rd season in 2025-26. And if he has another successful year in the Gateway City, a potential contender will be in the running for him, which will further fill up the Blues’ talent pool.

Philip Broberg is also officially in the running for playing time on the defensive line, as he is another young defenseman that Doug Armstrong either signed this summer who is ready to move to the major leagues or who was drafted. And he joins a long list of hopefuls that also includes Pierre-Oliver Joseph, Scott Perunovich, Matt Kessel and Tyler Tucker.

Nick Leddy is one of three 30-plus players in the Blues’ defensive rotation whose non-trading and transfer clauses are fully waived, and he would still be valuable on a middle or lower pairing after the 2024-25 season, especially on an offensively strong team that lacks depth on defense.

Like Brandon Saad, Leddy is entering the final season of his contract (2025-26), meaning a prospect looking to go “all-in” next season will likely move to the Blues.

We finally have Torey Krug, and at this point anything can happen with him this season, but we know he’s likely out for quite some time. This opens up an opportunity for a young defenseman to step up and stand out from the pack, and in doing so, Krug could take a back seat.

Despite being one of three Blues 30-plus-year-old defensemen boasting a $6.5 million salary cap hit, Krug is the Blues’ least valuable prospect. One could argue that this is why he would stick around compared to someone like Justin Faulk, as it would be difficult to trade Krug, but it also makes him a more legitimate acquisition candidate.

Still, I’m more inclined to put Krug on this list than Faulk with about a month to go before training camp begins. Unless Krug returns to the team this season and puts in an impressive performance, there’s no way he’ll be returning to the Gateway City in 2025-26.