Confirmed Trade: [WSH/STL] Jordan Kyrou for Connor McMichael, Milton Gastrin, 2026 1st round pick (16th overall)

[Louie the Blue]

As I said, Kyrou might be better at scoring than Oshie but Osh was a more complete player. Not to mention the fact that Oshie was a truck physically while Kyrou is butter soft. Osh was unfairly criticized in St. Louis and moved because the GM thought the team needed to break up a young core that needed a wake up call. It's viewed as the worst trade in recent memory from a Blues fan perspective.

Kyrou meanwhile has slowly fallen out of favor with the last two coaches and his dip in production coincided with being taken off the top line and PP1. He lit it up with Schenn and Holloway the year before last but seems to struggle if not playing with skill players. That being said it wouldn't surprise me if the trade lights a fire under him and he comes into next season with something to prove.

Could this turn into Oshie trade 2.0? I guess there's a chance but I like the return a lot more from our side. Hope it works out for both teams as I've always liked the Caps.

Oshie was unfairly criticized to an extent, but his criticism was far different than Kyrou's. Oshie was criticized for his atrocious performance in multiple postseasons with the Blues, coinciding with 3 first round departures. He was also moved after Perron was traded to Edmonton. There were only so many things Armstrong could do. However, Oshie was also criticized for his maturity dating back to skipping practice.

Kyrou's been criticized incredibly unfairly due to the management and coaching staffs trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. And when Kyrou actually improved his two-way play, his offense suffered as a result. Also calling Kyrou butter soft is incredibly unfair. Just because someone isn't hitting people left and right doesn't mean they are soft.

 

[Louie the Blue]

I like St. Louis and hope the trade is a win-win. I produced a film there last summer and ended up dating a local girl whom I'm still seeing. Going to be there next week actually. And I like McMichael, so I hope it works out for them.

And I'm certainly not asking you to dislike the trade. But I think it's hard to argue that Kyrou isn't a clearly better player than Oshie was *at this point in their careers*.

Blues fans have a poor opinion of the Oshie trade because of what happened after it, not because of who TJ was before he got traded.

I like Kyrou and think and hope he will do in Washington. He is more gifted offensively than Oshie ever was in his prime.

But Oshie was a more complete player two-way wise and Kyrou would not do well handling the defensive responsibilities Oshie had on a top line.

 

[Reality Czech]

Oshie was unfairly criticized to an extent, but his criticism was far different than Kyrou's. Oshie was criticized for his atrocious performance in multiple postseasons with the Blues, coinciding with 3 first round departures. He was also moved after Perron was traded to Edmonton. There were only so many things Armstrong could do. However, Oshie was also criticized for his maturity dating back to skipping practice.

Kyrou's been criticized incredibly unfairly due to the management and coaching staffs trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. And when Kyrou actually improved his two-way play, his offense suffered as a result. Also calling Kyrou butter soft is incredibly unfair. Just because someone isn't hitting people left and right doesn't mean they are soft.

It's an apples to oranges comparison anyway. Oshie wasn't seen as a top line player while in STL whereas Kyrou was supposed to be our best winger for the foreseeable future (and the co-highest paid forward on the team). And Kyrou does play a soft game, I'm not sure how you can debate that. He's not strong on the boards, he rarely hits anybody, he can get pushed around.

And when you say unfairly criticized... So I'm not allowed to criticize an $8 million player who just put up his lowest point total since he became a regular NHL player? A guy who just finished the season with 1 goal in his last 12 games while we still had a chance to make the playoffs? Who also had a 13-game goalless drought earlier in the season? He's supposed to be a goal scorer and driver of our offense and he disappears way too often.

I'm also tired of people overstating how great of a two way player he has become because of advanced stats and a J Fresh card claims he's 100% defensively, literally claiming he could be no better lol. The same analytics cards that rate him better than Thomas and Buch defensively and rate him better at goal scoring than Pastrňák. Those cards are useless IMO. Every player is expected to play a defensively responsible game, I don't give bonus points for that. He's still average at best in that regard.

You can disagree with my opinion if you want but I'm pretty sure Berube and Montgomery would agree with mine more than yours. There is a reason he got passed on the depth chart by Holloway and Snuggerud last season. He gets so much criticism is that you don't see his best often enough. If he could tap into that more consistently then he'd be a true star player, and who knows... Maybe he gets there with Washington.

 

[Louie the Blue]

It's an apples to oranges comparison anyway. Oshie wasn't seen as a top line player while in STL whereas Kyrou was supposed to be our best winger for the foreseeable future (and the co-highest paid forward on the team). And Kyrou does play a soft game, I'm not sure how you can debate that. He's not strong on the boards, he rarely hits anybody, he can get pushed around.

Majority of Oshie's tenure in STL had 2 or 3 lines that were seen as relatively interchangeable with some composition of Backes, Berglund, Perron, Oshie, Steen, Schwartz, and Tarasenko. Stastny was brought on his last year there. Point is, really only Backes (out of necessity at C) and Tarasenko were viewed more as de facto first liners. The rest were relatively interchangeable.

I don't think Kyrou is particularly phyiscal, but I wouldn't view him as soft. Robert Thomas only had 10 hits last season to Kyrou's 8. Do you view him as soft?

And when you say unfairly criticized... So I'm not allowed to criticize an $8 million player who just put up his lowest point total since he became a regular NHL player? A guy who just finished the season with 1 goal in his last 12 games while we still had a chance to make the playoffs? Who also had a 13-game goalless drought earlier in the season? He's supposed to be a goal scorer and driver of our offense and he disappears way too often.

Kyrou needed to be better last season offensively. Full stop. But he was playing with a black hole offensively at 2C and also improved his game defensively. Does that explain his entire decline in production? No. However, those are some contributing factors. And I do not doubt that he'd be closer to his career norms if he was with Thomas. But Snuggerud and Holloway earned the opportunity to play first line minutes.

I'm also tired of people overstating how great of a two way player he has become because of advanced stats and a J Fresh card claims he's 100% defensively, literally claiming he could be no better lol. The same analytics cards that rate him better than Thomas and Buch defensively and rate him better at goal scoring than Pastrňák. Those cards are useless IMO. Every player is expected to play a defensively responsible game, I don't give bonus points for that. He's still average at best in that regard.

Advanced metrics can be viewed as supplementary information and not necessarily the end all be all. I do think Kyrou improved defensively. Is he amongst the best league? Probably not.

You can disagree with my opinion if you want but I'm pretty sure Berube and Montgomery would agree with mine more than yours. There is a reason he got passed on the depth chart by Holloway and Snuggerud last season. He gets so much criticism is that you don't see his best often enough. If he could tap into that more consistently then he'd be a true star player, and who knows... Maybe he gets there with Washington.

That's because Holloway and Snuggerud contribute in ways that Kyrou does not. Kyrou is a one way forward who has made improvements to his defensive game and was being asked to be a complete two way player, which is not a role that he is suited for. Both Berube and Montgomery, as well as Armstrong, consistently tried forcing him to be something that he is not. They wanted him to be like Buchnevich, which he quite simply isn't. I also don't think he can drive a line offensively. He is, however, a very competent top 6 wing who when paired with a good C can play top line minutes and has excelled at that role when he is utilized in a way that he should be.