St. Louis Blues Trades: Evander Kane Drawing Interest

The St. Louis Blues have an interesting mix in front of them. Even though the 2017-18 season is still young, the Blues have done well enough and have enough an advantage over their division that they need to make serious roster decisions. Should they look to the outside for help?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, in which case we welcome you back to the world, you know the St. Louis Blues have gotten off to their best start in team history. With that kind of start comes a whole slew of new issues to deal with at times you likely did not expect going in.

With the Blues sputtering just a little, you begin to wonder if they need a little supplemental help. With timetables on the returns of injured players, you wonder how long you can rely on the idea of so-and-so coming back.

Even when healthy, the Blues have had enough issues with scoring depth *coughthirdlinecough* that you have to at least entertain the idea of improving your team through any means necessary.

Add that to the divisional debate as well. By the end of the season, the Central Division will likely live up to its hype as the toughest of the bunch. Right now, the division looks mediocre at best on most nights.

Dallas is picking it up a little. Nashville almost has a foothold. Chicago is Chicago, no matter how they are playing.

So, even though teams are floundering right now, you can’t go through the season figuring that will continue. We saw how Minnesota’s big lead last season evaporated. The Blues cannot afford to let a similar thing happen before they even think about adding to their team.

The problem then becomes how to do it. There is some fantastic, young talent waiting in the minors.

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However, we’ve seen some of those guys start the year in the NHL and they just could not find their feet quite yet. That’s some high pressure to put on them to bring them up and say you’re key to our playoff run now.

Then, there is the trade route. It’s every video game GM and fantasty fan’s wet dream. Just go out and get player X and give up nothing and we’ll be ok. Yeah, except that’s not how it works in the real world.

So, with Elliotte Friedman pondering the Blues interest in Evander Kane, we have to start worrying about the cost.

Friedman is an excellent reporter with plenty credential to back up his stuff. He’s not the be all, end all though, so Kane is not about to board a plane tomorrow. There is the possibility though, depending on what the Buffalo Sabres are looking to do.

Buffalo picked up Kane three seasons ago, hoping he would bolster their young core and be a center piece. He’s been a good player, but nowhere near what they had hoped. Do they continue to hope he’ll want to stick around or do they trade him before he has a chance to bolt for nothing?

Kane is a free agent in the summer. That brings around the question of whether St. Louis wants to pick up a potential rental with a medium-high price tag.

Look, the Blues definitely need some help. Whether you love or loathe Patrik Berglund, plugging him in will not fix the team’s third line problems alone. Kane could definitely be a bolster to the offense the way David Perron spread out the scoring last season.

That said, the Blues should not overpay in any way, shape or form. Kane is a decent player, but Friedman seems to think there will be lots of offers. If there is a bidding war, the Blues prospects (in my opinion) are more valuable to the team than this potential addition.

Kane is just one of those guys you can slice his stats a million ways. Since December 5, 2016, only Auston Matthews has more five-on-five goals.

However, overall, Kane has only scored 30 goals once and more than 20 three times in his eight-plus years in the league. Those are not numbers you give up the farm for.

If Doug Armstrong could swing another sweet deal like he did in the summer, then go for it. Convince them that Dmitrij Jaskin is a cost-controlled asset, still with plenty upside. Toss in a defensive prospect that you’re not using, like Petteri Lindbohm and I’ll be on board with this.

However, I would not even entertain the idea if names like Kyrou, Thompson or Thomas come into the discussion. Kane is not that kind of difference maker.

The St. Louis Cardinals have gone through similar things in the past and we have accused them of over-valuing their prospects. This situation just feels different.

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You want to go for it this year with the team playing so well and nobody other than Tampa looking unbeatable. I honestly question whether Kane would be that final piece.

I would love to have him on this team. He’d fit in very well with that third line or maybe push a player further down the roster where they belong.

He’s just not worth the price the Sabres may be asking. Until we hear what they could want, it’s all conjecture, but at this point I’d say no.

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