Today in St. Louis Blues trade rumors, St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeremy Rutherford reported earlier today that Blues GM Doug Armstrong is on the road and looking for a defender to shore up the blue line.
Kevin Shattenkirk has resumed skating after his abdominal surgery for what was likely a sports hernia, as we reported here in early February.
Next: Shattenkirk Surgery Complete
However, according to coach Ken Hitchcock, Shattenkirk is still weeks away from getting on the ice with the team. This means the Blues need a strong defender, and they need one now, with the trade deadline five days away and drawing ever-closer.
Not to mention the work it takes in getting a player adjusted to a new team, linemates, and most likely a style of play.
St. Louis has already called up Petteri Lindbohm from the Chicago Wolves. Lindbohm is acquitting himself well, but the Blues are running light on defensive call-ups. Smart money tells us that Armstrong will grab a seventh defender in order to give St. Louis some breathing room. Rutherford wrote,
"“Armstrong took in the New Jersey Devils and Arizona Coyotes on Monday, and with his own team in action at Scottrade Center on Tuesday, he was in attendance for the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames.”"
The Coyotes and Devils could be the smartest trading partners for St. Louis, what with both their teams falling apart over the year. Getting a player like Keith Yandle, the top-scoring Coyote and defender, would be amazing. It would rejuvenate the entire Blues defense. However unless St. Louis got rid of someone of equal or greater cap value (Bouwmeester, Backes, Oshie, Berglund, and so on) the team simply would not be able to handle Yandle’s cost.
Puck Prose
Same goes for the Devils, though if I had my druthers, we’d trade Berglund, even with his defensive know-how, and his relatively large cap hit for Jagr. Jagr in a Blues uniform; can you imagine?
That is not as interesting as the interest in the Calgary Flames, though.
The Flames were a complete surprise this year, a come-from-where? team who have shown surprising gumption. What do you think they would give up for a really strong forward?
Maybe nothing, as Flames GM Brad Treliving told NHL.com.
"“We do want to help our team, but it won’t be at the expense of a long-term vision here,” he said. “When we look at A-type assets — first-round picks, top young prospects — we just don’t have that appetite. Our base isn’t such right now that we can start moving those out the door for what amounts to a potential solution in terms of players on expiring contracts or pending UFAs.“I talk about A-assets, that’s just a non-starter for us. If there’s a market that we can do things outside of that group of players or picks or prospects, we’ll be happily ready to see if there’s a fit for us. Those to me are just things as an organization we don’t have an appetite for.”"
However, the Flames have some defenders who would be incredibly appealing pieces to the Blues. Both Giordano and Wideman have shown strong defensive skills while producing points from the blue line or above. Either would fit well on the Blues, at six feet and 200lbs apiece, and are players who don’t shy away from hits, even if they don’t go out of their way to deliver them. Giordano sits at 47 points (11 goals) for the season, whereas Wideman has notched only 36, with 12 goals. Both are 31, and could be good rentals for the playoffs, or even for a few years beyond that.
Who do you think Armstrong should be looking at?