St. Louis Blues Klim Kostin Wants To Be In St. Louis

The St. Louis Blues have made some head scratching moves in recent times and in the past. Drafting Klim Kostin was not one of them because the Blues were more sure about things than we thought.

Our friends over at GameTime touched on some things that were discussed on the radio recently. The St. Louis Blues were apparently much surer of the outcome of the 2017 NHL Draft than many would have believed.

As with anything, there is never any way to be sure about these sorts of things. The Blues apparently had a deal worked out to trade Kevin Shattenkirk at several points during and before the 2016-17 campaign and it all came to nothing.

This time, Doug Armstrong kept his aces up his sleeve and played them just right. Armstrong is still behind the game a little bit in forming a true contender, but he’s playing things pretty well this offseason.

Armstrong got the ball rolling by protecting Ryan Reaves from the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. We believed at the time it was simply a choice to protect the character and hustle of the fourth-liner.

Instead, the Blues may have had things in the works with the Pittsburgh Penguins for awhile. The trade may never have materialized if things did not fall a certain way during the draft, but it now appears as though Reaves was always protected with the intention of a trade being worked out.

The Blues have said they might have pulled the trigger on a deal even if Klim Kostin was not available. Jeremy Rutherford told 101 ESPN that they still had at least a couple other guys they were interested in making the same move for.

Now, we can debate the Reaves deal until we are blue in the face. Until we know the true talent level of Kostin, there is no real way to evaluate it. You don’t pass up a trade that brings in a first round pick for a fourth line player, but if Kostin is a bust, it changes things.

What is nice about the situation is Kostin wants to be in St. Louis. If we are honest, he simply want so be in the NHL right now, but playing in a smaller market was not a hindrance.

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After all St. Louis has been through recently – having an NFL team leave for the second time in a lifetime and missing out on an MLS franchise – it was nice to feel wanted. Again, I’m not making any leap to judgement that Kostin thinks St. Louis is great. He’s been in the city for a week or two at most.

Nevertheless, it’s good to know he wants to be here. He did not try to play the game and wiggle his way out of the Blues drafting him and he had his chance.

According to Andy Strickland’s interview with Kostin’s agent, the Blues flat-out asked if Kostin would sign. Armstrong said Kostin showed no hesitation in answering yes.

He could have played the language barrier card. He could have said he’d rather go to a bigger market or better situation like John Elway.

Instead Kostin just wants to show what he can do and is fine doing it in our town. In face, he wants to be in St. Louis right away.

Time will tell if that can or should happen. What is even more impressive about the kid is he’s willing to earn it.

He knows there is a possibility of playing in the minors, but wants to at least be in the AHL. He’s confident enough in his ability to know juniors will do nothing. However, he’s not arrogant enough to think it’s NHL or bust in year one.

Those are the kinds of players you want. You want them to want to pull your sweater on every day and not be looking to the next horizon. You want them to be confident in themselves without being cocky.

In an exceptionally small sample size, we’ve been given every indication that fits Kostin very well. All that remains now is to see how he develops and when he can help the big club.

Seeing him for more than a handful of games might be unlikely for this season. Still, it is good to know someone that is highly touted actually wants to come to our city.

On a side note, I found the story at the end of the GameTime article about Vladimir Tarasenko waking Kostin up funny. Tarasenko comes off as an intelligent person, but it seems a very Vlady thing to miscalculate the time difference.

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Normally getting a call from an NHL player would be a memorable experience. Kostin’s agent, Dan Milstein, said “They had a brief conversation from what Klim can remember because it was five in the morning.”

“Klim can’t wait to be on the ice with him at the start of camp,” Milstein continued. Again, not putting the cart before the horse, but I hope these two get along well.

Some of what slowed Tarasenko’s initial development was the language barrier. If Kostin can have an actual Russian ease him into the culture transition, so much the better.

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