If they add a forward in hopes to repeat

Not fair, even if he's UFA a 2nd round pick and more is defenitly needed. They probably have 0 interest in Sanford either.

I honestly can't see the Blues being in a bidding war over for Kreider or Toffoli, if they make a move, I think it'll be a player of this caliber. While the assets going to Ottawa may be questionable, my reasoning for this trade is as follows:

Small sample size but let's look at their stats over the last 14 days. Pageau is posting 1g, 2a, -3, 17sog, 19h while Sanford is posting 5g, 6a, +9, 18sog, 29h. This is enough red flags as a Blues fan to say Sanford is trending up and may be hitting his stride for the season and to not deal him just yet. While Pageau has incredible stats so far this year on a poor Ottawa team, he is trending downward which could be cause for concern and lower his trade value at the deadline as a rental. Sanford would atleast give them an additional year at a low salary of $1.50m with two draft picks coming with him. The picks being sent is debatable, I could swap the 3rd round pick for a 2nd pick and lower the 5th to a 6th to help offset the difference but I don't believe it's entirely unfair. Maybe some tweaking here and there but it seems fair enough to get the conversation started.

Pageau doesn't seem like a guy the Blues would target, a winger seems more likely of an addition then a center.

I think the trade others have suggested here for Toffoli -- Sanford and your 2020 second -- make more sense for the Blues.

I actually agree to an extent but I figured with Tarasenko and Sundqvist coming back before the playoffs to solidify the right wing positions, adding depth at center never hurts especially with Thomas playing center/wing at the moment. The biggest downside for my thought process was acquiring a smaller forward in the process. Berube likes his physical team, and with Pageau at 5'11 and 180 lbs, he really doesn't fit into the mold. If he could supply any additional scoring on the lower lines, this would be a move I could see the Blues making to go out of their comfort zone.