The return of Brady Tkachuk to Ottawa on Monday night has evoked memories for just about every fanbase around the NHL who’s seen a player go and then come back.
For the St. Louis Blues, there isn’t a villain that you might see coming back. Perhaps Brayden Schenn, but he isn’t nearly the bad guy that Tkachuk became in Ottawa.
And that situation has turned the attention to Ivan Barbashev.
As the Vegas Golden Knights roll into the Enterprise Center on Thursday night, thoughts turn to Barbashev and a what-could-have-been situation.
The Blues traded the 30-year-old to Vegas back in 2023. When the trade happened, it was because the former second-round pick was on an expiring deal. It didn’t seem like he fit the organization’s plans anymore, and, well, it was time to cut ties.
St. Louis got Zach Dean out of it, a former first-round pick of his own, though he seemed more like a second-rounder being picked 30th overall.
Be that as it may, Barbashev’s lone 26-goal season seemed like an outlier. And who could blame the Blues for cutting ties with him at the time?
Barbashev has gone on to become the player St. Louis hoped he could become. In Vegas, he’s topped 20 goals twice, and nearly a third time. He’s become a hardworking, top-line player, giving Vegas some much-needed grit and talent without costing an arm and a leg.
And that’s something that the Blues have been trying to recapture, but haven’t been quite able to.
Blues still a work in progress
It’s tough for Blues fans to digest some of the twists and turns of the last couple of seasons. There have been stretches in which it seems like the club is getting everything together. While there are others in which it seems like the team is ready to pack it in.
This season has been largely encouraging, but you have to think that the Blues could certainly use Barbashev and his all-around game.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean the Blues made a mistake in trading Barbashev. The jury is still out on Dean. He played three games this season, averaging under 10 minutes a night. He is on waivers for the purpose of sending him down to the AHL. Unless there’s something that another team wants from Dean, it’s more than likely that he’ll head down to Springfield.
If Dean somehow turns into the sort of player that can contribute offensively and deliver a solid physical presence, well, this entire conversation could be moot. But until that happens, there will be questions about how the Blues traded the precisely kind of guy that represents the sort of culture that the organization has been trying to build.
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