Steven Stamkos To St. Louis Blues?

St. Louis Blues trade rumors are beginning to resemble a fantasy hockey message board.

According to Bob McKenzie at TSN, the St. Louis Blues figure as a possible landing point for Steven Stamkos, whose inconsistent play and impending free agency have created a media circus in the Sunshine State.

Stamkos will undoubtedly be expensive to sign over the summer, so the Lightning may shop Stamkos to avoid losing him for a fat lot of nothing. Conveniently for conjecture, St. Louis Blues beat writer Lou Korac tweeted that Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman and St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong were chatting together Thursday night.

While the two could have been discussing Team Canada or the mild weather in town, the Blues seemingly have both the desire and the potential pieces to pick up a player like Stamkos through a trade. The Blues have absurd depth at both forward and the defensive positions, plenty to provide Tampa Bay in a trade package, as well as upcoming draft picks and solid prospects.

The Lightning would likely stock the pipeline in a Stamkos trade, so a player like Fabbri or Parayko changing sides wouldn’t be an unreasonable return for a stupendous player like ‘Stammer’. The problem, however, lies in the rental status for Stamkos. If the Blues got Stamkos on a rental, it would be a cup-or-bust. If Stamkos were to spend half a season in the Lou and not hoist a cup, the team would be so depleted, forlorn and devoid of prospects that a full rebuild would be in order.

As McKenzie suggested, the Lightning could instead go with a sign-and-trade deal with Stamkos’ permission, but that would have further repercussions. The Blues would undoubtedly also have to part with a major player under contract, such as Steen or Shattenkirk (yuck), in order to pull that off.

That’s not to mention the financial bind Stamkos would bring to the Blues roster: Backes is an unrestricted free agent next year, and a salary hit like Stamkos’ means ‘bye bye Backes.’ Then 2017 brings both Steen and Shattenkirk to free agency (if we still have them), and there’s no way both remain Blues if we’re already giving a generous chunk of our salary cap to Stamkos, Pietrangelo and Tarasenko alone.

Any trade for Stamkos is going to run considerable risk. But if rumor were to be believed, Columbus’ Ryan Johansen has one (reportedly overweight) foot out the door as well, and may be a more realistic target.

Johansen was benched Thursday night against the Arizona Coyotes, further cementing ‘RyJo’s’ doghouse status with firebrand coach John Tortorella. According to Aaron Portzline, the Blue Jackets are actively shopping Johansen, and Matt Larkin of the Hockey News affirms that the Blues are a fit for Johansen.

This trade would be less world-rending than one for Steven Stamkos, and considering Columbus’ horrid season, could be a shake-up trade that would suit both teams.

Columbus has documented needs at the defensive position and would need a player to slide into Johansen’s role if he were to be shipped away. At defense, the Blues have an abundance of players and prospects, more than enough to make this trade possible.

Assuredly, the Blue Jackets would want Shattenkirk. In fact, I could see Shattenkirk for Johansen being a fairly even trade. They are both young and talented, signed for another year at a similar cap hit (Sure, Shatty is vital to our power play, but Johansen could plug in there just as well). Johansen, however, has the fresh personal baggage he’s acquired these last few years, making this trade a risky one for the Blues.