Devon Toews traded to a rival three days after the Blues sign Krug- still baffling to me that they couldn't get in on that one either. Still means you probably lose Dunn to Seattle, but if you have Pietrangelo still and Walman/Perunovich it's probably a more balanced defense core. Beyond trading for Buchnevich, just a real lack of creativity from Armstrong over the last couple years.
Based on the way Seattle picked IRL (low cap hits) I would think they take Barbashev in this parallel universe. Still would've been a much better Blues team without Doug galaxy-braining the defense and signing plugs to forever contracts. Never seen a GMs performance fall off so hard; the guy built a cup-winning roster with just one guy he drafted in the top 13, lots of FAs and shrewd acquisitions. Then he tries to build on the success and fumbles basically every single decision since.