St. Louis Blues Recent Past Says Don't Believe The Trade Rumors

The one thing almost all St. Louis Blues fans can agree on right now is that the team needs to make tweaks in the 2021 offseason. The extent to the tweaks, or full rebuild according to some, is where the paths diverge.

One of the more disappointing things early in this offseason is the amount of chatter revolving around Vladimir Tarasenko. I’m not here to say the rumors are untrue, because I don’t think they are fully untrue.

The flip side of that coin is that rumors are not 100% fact either. Just because the team may have asked if Tarasenko would be willing to waive his no trade clause does not automatically mean the Blues are actively shopping him.

One thing many of us are guilty of, including myself, is the assumption that any discussion revolving around a player means the team is unhappy or the player is. As much as it sucks for all involved, it is a business at the end of the day and each side must do what is in their best interest.

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While I strongly disagree with the idea trading Tarasenko is beneficial, I cannot fault the Blues for being open to discussion. In any offseason, there are teams that make boneheaded decisions and Doug Armstrong has been a master of taking advantage of that with several of his recent deals.

So, for all we know, all this chatter around Tarasenko is simply Armstrong asking Tarasenko if he would be willing to move if a team threw the sun and the moon at the Blues. That scenario doesn’t mean the Blues are shopping him or only looking to get draft picks or anything of that nature. It would only mean that Armstrong’s phone is turned on if any GM wants to ask what the price for Tarasenko would be.

Additionally, the recent history of Armstrong’s dealings suggests that the more talk there is, the less likely it is to happen. Just think of all the deals he has made lately.

Very few thought the Blues would go after Brayden Schenn, much less offer so little outside of the draft picks. There were rumblings about the team looking at Ryan O’Reilly, but it was not a widely rumored thing.

The Justin Faulk trade literally came out of nowhere. There were no whispers, no rumblings. Not even Varys’ little birds from Game of Thrones heard about that deal before it happened.

So, with the Blues still in a window of contending and already being short on scoring, why would they look to deal off their best scorer AND allow it to be public? Of course, you’ll have some argue that making it public might draw in more suitors, but that’s still not a concrete argument.

Another issue is the quality of the reporting. One particular piece that plenty kept reposting on Facebook was about how the Blues would swap Tarasenko for Matthew Tkachuk. Elliotte Friedman debunked that saying Tkachuk had not asked to be traded and the Flames have no intention anyway.

None of this is to say Tarasenko will not get dealt. However, all the articles I have read have said the injuries might lessen any return, so the trade does not make sense in the first place.

Those in favor of getting rid of Tarasenko would argue that his injuries make any return more valuable than the player. I argue that even a diminished Tarasenko provides goals and the Blues cannot be letting goals walk out the door.

The issue the Blues have is they need to add without subtracting. That’s difficult when there is not a ton of room to spend money, but not impossible.

Even Tarasenko fans should not be dead set against a potential deal. Armstrong has proven he can get fair returns on almost all his trades.

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Yet, just because there’s talk doesn’t mean it’s happening. The more quiet it is, the more likely Armstrong is pulling the strings and vice versa.

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