T.J. Oshie opens up about potential bizarre reason that led to Blues trade

The St. Louis Blues are no strangers to scouting and bringing in top talent. The Blues drafted forward T.J. Oshie in the first round back in 2005, where he made his debut in 2008 and became an instant star for the team. But after seven years with the team, the Blues shockingly traded him to the Washington Capitals, where in three short years with his new squad, won the Stanley Cup.

Blues fans and hockey fanatics in general were confused as to why the Blues would trade away Oshie.

Oshie, now retired, recently appeared on Barstool Sports' Spittin' Chiclets podcast, and they discussed the trade to the Capitals. Oshie expressed his belief that his use of accelerated recovery performance (ARP) is the reason the Blues traded him in 2015. When asked by Paul Bissonnette if he was joking or if he was serious, Oshie said, "I think it had something to do with it."

"So I just used it before one game, Chris Porter let me use it to warm up, and my back pain like disappeared. And I was like 'oh my gosh.' So I got one. Actually a lot of the boys in St. Louis got on board with me, and we would use it just to warm up. That was it. I wanted to try it. Maybe part of the reason why I got traded from St. Louis too, is I told them I wasn't doing the team's training anymore, I was doing the ARP."

T.J. Oshie believes his use of ARP led to Blues trading him in 2015

For those unaware as to what ARP is, it is a machine that pumps an electric current into the individual via electrodes. The goal of the machine is to send an electrical impulse to the brain to lengthen muscles, increase bloodflow and flexibility, and to break down scar tissue.

A 2017 Washington Post article from Isabelle Khurshudyan (subscription required), other players have vouched for the use of ARP, including Jonathan Toews, Zach Parise, and Duncan Keith. The same article mentions that Oshie began using ARP because of chronic lower back pain and recovery from a broken ankle in 2010, the latter of which resulted in him being attached to an ARP device for 16 to 20 hours a day.

"So I actually got into it because I was so injured," said Oshie on the Spittin' Chiclet podcast. "In St. Louis, I was lifting like super, super heavyweight, like I was, like, really getting after it. Maybe that was the start of my back, my back was just like terrible, and my hips and everything."

At the time of the trade, it felt as though the Capitals were the clear winners, as Oshie won a Stanley Cup title in 2018. But one year later, the Blues went on an improbable run after being at the bottom of league standings mid-season, and won the Stanley Cup.

Oshie played nine years for the Capitals, scoring 192 goals and 193 assists through 567 games played. But this sumer, Oshie announced his retirement from hockey due to injuries that forced him to miss the entirety of the 2024-25 season.

If Blues fans wanted to know what led to the shocking trade in the summer of 2015, Oshie believes it was due to his use of ARP for training.