I see what you're saying,
@reelkena but here's the thing: Armstrong has already committed money to multiple other D that add up to a core unit. He also signed multiple guys to extensions that eat into the cap space being created for them this offseason (not close to 14M$). In other words, they're ****ed (They either make room for Petro by clearing less important pieces or loose one of the best #1D in the league for nothing)
This team is so cap strapped that they will NOT be able to retain both Petro (industry standard is 8-11M$ by 8 years for a guy of his calibre) and Dunn (3-4M$/yr on a 2-3 yr deal) without some MAJOR roster surgery (or good will discounts...LOL).
Let's look at what Armstrong has already committed to on the back end.
Parayko at 2 more years for 5.5. He does not have trade protection, but they would be silly to trade him, as his contract is very fair for how legitimately good he is.
Faulk just signed a 7 year deal w/ trade protection. For all intents and purposes, he's locked in.
Scandella just signed a 4 yr deal w/ trade protection as well so same goes for him.
Gunnarsson is signed for another year at a low hit, and Bortuzzo has another year on top of that. They're both stay at home and fairly limited when compared to Dunn, but this team values them, and they are signed already, which Dunn is not.
That's 5 guys signed to legitimate deals.
So, you say they want Dunn more than anybody on the roster... but, because math, they can realistically only have one of either Petro or Dunn.
Do they want Dunn more than Petro? That would be a more future oriented approach BUT this is a CLEAR win now team.
Further, does Berube truly trust the offensively gifted, yet young and mistake prone Dunn? They use him mainly on the PP. His TOI just dropped a full minute this season as well. (17:30 in '19 to 16:16 this past season)
So if you say Dunn is a nonstarter, fine. I've yet to speak to Armstrong myself, but it doesn't look to me like they'll be able to keep both, and I would think he'd rather resign the guy who wears the C and avg's 24 minutes a game.
To a couple of the things you mentioned, while yes, it would be great to be out of the last year of Steen's deal, he has trade protection and has played in STL for over a decade. Sure, he could do Armstrong a super solid and waive his clause, but that would be detrimental to his chances at winning again, as a contender isn't going to be able to afford him. Also, he is a super integral part of this core... he has locker room value and you can't quantify that.
So I don't see him being moved, because he probably wants to stay, and it would cost the team a lot to move that last year of his deal.
Concerning Tarasenko, they showed this year that clearly they could win without him. But he is also a dynamic goal scoring player who signed there to win a Cup. They accomplished that. You'd think they would want him around. Also, he has trade protection as well. Guys who AVG 30+ goals and 70+ points a year are rare and he is a legitimate homegrown super star.
My thinking with this initial proposal is that there's some players on this roster I don't see Armstrong moving in any scenario. Most of them have trade protection that Armstrong personally gave them on deals he signed, which means he told them, to their faces, they would be around. Sure, it's a business, but that still means something. They're also a great team that is in win now mode. As a team, they value continuity.
Players I don't see moving are Tarasenko, O'Reilly (no protection but... call me crazy but I bet he finishes his deal in STL), Schenn, Perron, Bozak and Schwartz.
Now, you could talk me into them moving Tarasenko because they were so good this year without him, BUT, he does have trade protection, so to even shop him they would have to approach him about it, and I just don't feel like that's something they'd do.
I'm sure Armstrong would like to move Steen and solve all his problems, but the guy has fallen off a cliff production wise (basically negative value to other teams) and has trade protection. I don't feel like it makes sense to even try to move him, but in a perfect world, you def start here.
To be real the movement of Allen is basically inevitable at this point. Detroit needs G help. I wouldn't even see it as a salary dump per se as the need is there on DET's end and STL should be able to get value back on any trade with Allen because the guy is talented and has legit numbers.
Sundqvist is the only other roster player on STL that I see being moved as he carries a legit cap hit, has value, and can create space by being moved.
I included Dunn because to sign Petro is to basically move on from Dunn. At least by moving Dunn you can get some legit ass value back on any trade.
If this team wants both Dunn and Petro, they'll need them both to take discounts, some other guys to waive their trade clauses, and some major roster surgery to create the space. Stay tuned!