St. Louis Blues Rumors: Is Kevin Shattenkirk Up For Grabs?

There have been inklings over the past week that, with T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund attracting little attention from team GMs, Kevin Shattenkirk might be the real trade target.

Friday Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal tweeted speculation about the St. Louis Blues trading Shattenkirk to Edmonton for their no. 16 Draft pick (which they obviously didn’t, and which would have been a terrible trade for someone as skilled as Shattenkirk).

But the rumors didn’t stop there.

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Monday, the esteemed site and publication The Hockey News included Shattenkirk in their rumor roundup.

Per the article,

"While Shattenkirk’s contract and performance would attract considerable attention in the trade market, GM Doug Armstrong isn’t expected to go that route. It’s assumed Armstrong will move one of his forwards, like T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund.The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports Armstrong couldn’t find any takers for Oshie and Berglund during the draft weekend. However, teams which fail to sign a scorer via free agency could take another look at the availability of Blues forwards."

Shattenkirk was having a banner year when he was sidelined by a sports hernia in a game against the Washington Capitals mid-season. He was out for 25 games, recuperating from his injury, but still managed to earn 44 points in 56 games and post 8 points in only 6 playoff games, leading the team in postseason points.

Shattenkirk is not only a top-pairing D-man on the Blues, but he’s one of the best defenders in the league by anyone’s measure. Behind Tarasenko, he may be St. Louis’s most valuable asset, and Doug Armstrong knows it.

He’s amazingly capable. He can be that shut-down defenseman when necessary, but prefers to roam and shoot. He may not have a Shea Weber slapshot from the point, but his shot is scarily accurate and can travel through a crowd to the back of the net. I could wax rhapsodic about Shattenkirk’s play for days, but a picture says a thousand words. And a chart tells you even more.

Below, is a quick comparison of Shattenkirk to some of the best defenders in the NHL: Duncan Keith, Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, Brent Burns, fellow Blue Alex Pietrangelo, Paul Martin and P.K. Subban.

Kevin Shattenkirk vs. other D-men in the league. Chart via War On Ice. (Brent Burns is the one whose name is cut off)

Ignoring the fact that my browser likes to load things oddly, we can see that Shattenkirk has similar zone starts (i.e. mainly in the offensive zone) to P.K. Subban and Brent Burns while posting slightly better possession stats than Burns and slightly worse stats than Subban. He is far better at possession (depicted here by Corsi For%) than Pietrangelo, Weber, and Martin, all of whom are known for being shooting defensemen. Shattenkirk, meanwhile, scores almost as much as a forward.

He fits right in among the best in the Legue.

After Saad was traded Tuesday in a seven-person deal by the Chicago Blackhawks, it raised a whole host of questions regarding high-profile trades. To be sure, Shattenkirk is worth a bundle: an NHL player and a prospect, or a player and a pick, or, heck, if the prospect and pick are second-rounders, maybe all three.

But Shattenkirk, aside from being an amazing player, has one intangible going for him that a potential trade target doesn’t: he loves playing under Hitchcock and does very well with him.

To that end, he does a good job at keeping the room somewhat level. As for the ice, he likes to tip that in the Blues favor.

Shattenkirk isn’t the most spontaneous player on the ice, though he is quick. The two are often mistaken for one another. He’s methodical, thorough, sees the ice well, and likes to know exactly what to do in whichever situation he’s in, which is precisely what Hitchcock wants in a player. And whatever Hitchcock wants, Hitchcock, apparently, gets.

When it comes down to it, no matter what the rumor is about Shattenkirk, he’s off the table. As I told a friend earlier today, other GMs will have to pry him from Armstrong’s cold, dead, full-body embrace. He wants to hang on to him just that much.

Next: Chicago or Nashville for Barret Jackman?

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