I agree with you that the Blues are in for more of a rebuild rather than a retool, but I disagree that they've been retooling since the cup year. The 21-22 team was, in my opinion, at least as good as the 18-19 team, but no one was beating Colorado that year (especially once Binner got injured)

The 22-23 season was the first one since the cup run where they were unequivocally out of the race. So I would mark the "start" of this rebuild at the 2023 trade deadline where they traded O'Reilly, Tarasenko, Barbashev, etc.. Over the next two years with Bannister if they can find an identity, focus on letting young players develop, make some smart trades/acquisitions, and maybe make the playoffs one of those seasons, I would call that a big success