St. Louis Blues: Ryan Reaves Trade Puzzling But Beneficial

The St. Louis Blues made a cold, calculated business deal when they sent Ryan Reaves to the Pittsburgh Penguins. We don’t have to like it, but it was a smart deal.

The St. Louis Blues were like an underdog horse coming from the back of the pack to win the Kentucky Derby during the 2017 NHL Draft. Nobody expected them to do anything and they ended up winning the night.

You could argue they won the day, but with the unusual flurry of activity from several teams, that’s a discussion for another day. Regardless, they made a huge splash and declared themselves contenders. At the very least it felt like they have not fallen behind their divisional foes.

First, Doug Armstrong shocked Blues nation by trading for Brayden Schenn. Not only did he acquire a solid, two-way player with the capability of scoring big points, but he shed the team of the Jori Lehtera contract.

While I never liked the intense hatred Lehtera was beginning to get, the Blues had to dump that salary. In terms of dollars to production, it was beginning to make the Paul Stastny deal look good.

That would have been enough to end the night on. You pick up a scoring center that helps your powerplay and dump a bad contract and you’ve earned a nice dinner and a night off.

Armstrong, as I pointed out on Twitter, did not go to the George Castanza school of leaving when you’re on top. He dipped his chip a second time and this one was not as universally loved.

Armstrong sent fan-favorite, Ryan Reaves and the 51st overall pick (a second round pick) to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 31st overall pick (final pick of the first round) and Oskar Sundqvist.

When you package this all together with the earlier deal, there is no doubt it still wins the day.

Reaves, Lehtera, pick 27 and pick 51 for Schenn, Sundqvist and pick 31? Yes, please. It is when you separate the Reaves deal and view it on its own that it loses a little luster.

When the trade occurred, the shock was palpable. It sent waves through the internet, well as far as Blues fans reach on the internet.

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It was widely met with derision initially – sometimes with some rage. There was a steadfast opinion on the other side that saw the deal’s worth though.

At the peak of discussion, it was probably a 50/50 split. Admittedly, when it was first announced, I was disappointed to lose Reaves, especially after protecting him in the expansion draft.

In my small mind, I wondered why they did not protect David Perron, keep some scoring and roll the dice on whether Vegas would take Reaves. Perhaps Vegas said they would take him. Or, as was likely the case given reports, Pittsburgh had inquired about Reaves much earlier and the Blues protected him to keep a deal in place.

It’s a slightly puzzling deal from the Pittsburgh perspective. You end up with no first round picks and pick up an enforcer after winning multiple championships without an enforcer.

There was talk of wanting more size and Reaves definitely provides that. Outside of sticking up for their stars, which is not allowed as much in today’s game anyway, it still had Pens fans a little rattled.

All of us are going to miss Reaves. The guy bled for the Blues, both literally and figuratively.

He is not irreplaceable though. The NHL, sadly, is trending away from fighting and from having enforcers.

There is no doubt the Blues will need someone to step into Reaves’ role. That won’t be easy to find and the Blues acknowledged that.

The bottom line becomes Blues players needed to step up anyway. Vladimir Tarasenko was getting manhandled in the playoffs when Reaves was with the team. The Blues sat there and took too much crap from other teams during the regular season and Reaves was there.

The Blues had to become tougher, with or without Reaves. As a team, they must get better at protecting themselves, not leaving it to one man.

Also, teams have won without an enforcer. Pittsburgh and Chicago are the winningest teams in the league over the past five years or so. Other than the occasional guy that would get under your skin, they had no enforcers.

Additionally, if you take all the names away then this deal doesn’t look so bad. You tell a Blues fan they’ll get a first round pick and a big-bodied prospect for a fourth line player and I don’t think anyone would turn that down.

Oskar Sudqvist is a bit of an enigma. He has some tools.

He’s young at 22. He’s large, listed at 6’3 and almost 210 lbs.

Sundqvist is also coming off the best year of his career. He scored 20 goals and 46 points in the AHL. Even if he does not pan out, if the Blues get a cheap player they can at least rotate in with their bottom-six forwards, it’s a win.

The cherry of the trade is the 31st pick. The Blues turned that into Russian Klim Kostin.

Nobody expects Kostin to be the next Tarasenko, but Tarasenko is the reason Kostin went so low (well the same reasons Tarasenko dropped anyway. Tarasenko was highly regarded, but fell to 16th because of the “Russian issue”.

The same happened with Kostin. Add a season-ending shoulder injury to this so-called Russian issue and you get a guy falling to the bottom of the first round.

The Russian issue is basically the social barrier plus the difficulty in getting them to the states. Part of that problem is already a non-issue since Kostin has flat-out stated he’s playing in America, whether in the NHL or the AHL.

Kostin’s potential is the deal maker/breaker in this trade. Reaves, outside of his personality and will, is not someone the Blues could not live without. Even so, if Kostin does not pan out, then this deal is harder to argue in favor of.

Kostin has the potential to be a 20-30 goal scorer. Potential is the key word though because that’s basing it on a skill set, not past production in other leagues.

He’ll need to work on his conditioning. The most games, combined, he’s ever played in a year is around 50.

Still, the upside is exciting. He’s only 18 and already has an NHL body. Kostin is versatile enough to play wing or center, giving the Blues more depth up the middle. It also gives them freedom to search out the best position for Kostin and other prospects like Ivan Barbashev, Zach Sanford and Tage Thompson.

Even if Sudqvist never makes the NHL with the Blues, Kostin has a chance to make this deal a huge swing. Or it could end up snake-eyes.

Next: 10 Ways Brayden Schenn Deal Immediately Impacts The Blues

Still, as much as we all love Reaves, you make this trade. More fans will realize that once the sting wears off.

A fourth line player for a potential top-ten talent and another prospect? Where has this Doug Armstrong been the past couple seasons?