For what feels like 3-4 years now, St. Louis Blues winger Jordan Kyrou has had his name in the trade rumour mill, and coming off a down year this past season, that sentiment got stronger. The rumour finally became reality as the Blues traded the scoring forward to the Washington Capitals. Going back the other way is Connor McMichael, Milton Gästrin, and the 16^th overall pick in this Friday's Entry Draft:

Let's break it down.

What Washington Gets

When Kyrou is at his best, he is a genuine dual-threat winger. He had at least 30 goals and 30 assists in each season from 2022-2025 before a down year in 2025-26. He saw his role minimized as the Blues fell out of the playoff picture and the writing seemed to be on the wall at that point.

Acquiring a talented player with tenuous value is nothing new for the Washington Capitals. They did it with Pierre-Luc Dubois, and he was tremendous in his first year with the Caps before a serious injury sidelined him last year. They bought (very) low on Dylan Strome and now he's one of their top two centres. Jakob Chychrun was acquired by the Caps and he's had the best two seasons of his career with Washington. If there's a team that can find a skilled player and get him to where he was, or where he can be, it's the Caps, and that's why fantasy managers should be enthusiastic about Kyrou.

The key here is what happens with Alex Ovechkin. He has not committed one way or another to the 2026-27 season. If he does come back, then there's Ovechkin, Strome, and Tom Wilson on the top PP unit. There are also younger guys like Ryan Leonard and Ilya Protas knocking on the door. It is a lot of competition for meaningful offensive minutes. However, if Ovechkin retires, Kyrou can very well take some top PP time and he’ll slot in a top-6 winger role either way. We have to wait and see what happens there.

Regardless of the power play, Kyrou is a high-skill winger who can finish plays by his centres, or set up his teammates for their own goals. It would not be the least bit surprising to see him get back to the 30/30 plateau this coming season.

What St. Louis Gets

McMichael is an intriguing player. He has averaged 20 goals and 27 assists every 82 games over the last three years, which isn't great, but it's not bad. And he did that while putting up a grand total of 21 power-play points in 240 games. To me, he's a player who is good at a lot of things on the offensive side of the puck but not great at anything. That isn't meant as a dig at him, either. A player who can pass well, score well, and drive the offence well is a player who is difficult for teams to pin down; they can't force him to do one thing or another because he can do it all. He just can't do it at a high-end level, which means even if he does get favourable usage with the Blues, he'll top out somewhere around a 25-goal, 60-point player, which is close to his best season with the Caps. And he's going to a worse offensive environment, so even with some more top PP time, he could get dinged at even strength.

At this point, McMichael is likely a winger who can take some faceoffs rather than a surefire centre. That is actually good news for his fantasy value because it gives him a chance to play with Robert Thomas rather than behind him. There is a chance for top line, top PP usage for McMichael, but my guess is he ends up on the second or third line while moving between PP units.

Unless the Blues' power play sees a massive turnaround, outside of Thomas, it's likely there's a rotation of wingers on the top unit, including McMichael, Dylan Holloway, Jimmy Snuggerud, Pavel Buchnevich, and Jake Neighbours. That is why McMichael might get some more PP usage, but it might not be the huge boon to his fantasy value that we'd hope for. He effectively replaces Kyrou's usage from last year, so it doesn't really change much for the St. Louis wingers. If anything, it's a small boost for guys like Holloway and Snuggerud because unless McMichael shows something he really hasn't shown yet, they're likely ahead of him on the depth chart.

The player profile in Milton Gästrin can be read here.

Who This Helps

Jordan Kyrou

Jimmy Snuggerud

Who This Hurts

Connor McMichael