St. Louis Blues Trading For Chris Kreider Would Be A Mistake

The St. Louis Blues might need help filling the void with their star scorer injured for the majority of the season. However, a rumored deal would be wrong for this team.

The St. Louis Blues are scraping by in the first few games following the injury to Vladimir Tarasenko. However, their problems seem to go beyond one player being absent from the lineup.

Regardless of the injury, any good generla manager is always looking for ways to improve his team – now and in in the future. However, a rumored trade would be a mistake for the Blues.

Doing the usual look around the rumor mills, a certain potential acquisition popped up. According to our sister station, Puck Prose, both Elliott Freidman and Tom Timmermann have suggested the Blues could pursue Chris Kreider.

There will, undoubtedly, be some out there that think this would be a good idea. It is a stop-gap move that would do more harm to the team than good.

That is not to downplay the talents of Kreider. He is a good forward.

However, he is not really a replacement for Tarasenko. If nothing else, fans would find him to be just as inconsistent.

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Kreider’s best season in his career is 28 goals and 53 points. Tarasenko’s worse season was 21 goals and 43 points and that was his first full season in the NHL.

Kreider has averaged 21 goals in the six full seasons he has played in. In that same time, Tarasenko has averaged almost 34 goals. So, how much is he really adding? With the seasons that David Perron and Brayden Schenn are having right now, their combined output could likely equal 21 goals over what they had last season.

Though the production is not enough to really justify a trade, it is more about what the team would give up vs. what they would get. Bottom line, Kreider will not come cheap.

As Puck Prose pointed out, players in similar situations have commanded at least first round picks as compensation. The Blues have already had some slim drafts lately, with no first round pick at all in 2019.

St. Louis needs to be keeping their picks right now. They have built their team with a solid combination of trades, free agency and draft picks, so they need to make sure they have more guys ready to take over once this current crop is done.

It is also unlikely the New York Rangers would only take a draft pick. Most of the Blues highly valued draft picks are on the cusp of being NHL ready. It would not make sense to trade them away now.

Kreider is also not going to be more than a rental. The only free agents the Blues have that are forwards are Robby Fabbri, Sammy Blais and Mackenzie MacEachern. Blais and MacEachern look like they could deserve raises, even if minimal ones.

Even if you drop Fabbri, his salary would not be enough to afford Kreider beyond this year unless you trade away a current NHL piece. What sense would that make when the Blues main goal was to keep the team together following their Stanley Cup victory?

St. Louis might not even be able to afford him this season. If they think Tarasenko might be ready for the playoffs, we circle back to the fact they would have to trade away a current NHL player to afford Kreider’s $4.625 million cap hit along with Tarasenko’s returning cap hit.

In a vacuum, Kreider might fit with the Blues. He plays a grittier style, will dig into the corners and goes to the net.

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The Blues do not need rental players though. You are going to give up too much for not enough production. Even if he gave you 25-plus goals and 50-plus points, it is not worth emptying your cupboards for that for just a few months.

Kreider is a decent player, but I do not see him being the difference maker in this team winning another Cup or not. Better to hold on to your picks, save your money for raises and look for something better in the offseason if needs be.

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