On the St. Louis Blues and Kevin Shattenkirk …
- Craig Custance of ESPN: Blues Kevin Shattenkirk knows his name has been in the rumor mill since the summer, and realizes it’s part of the job.The Blues have been liked to Jonathan Drouin and are in on trade talk around the league. Teams are thinking they might be able to get Shattenkirk, who is a year away from free agency, as the Blues may not be able to afford him.
Shattenkirk’s value now may be higher than in the offseason as the acquiring team could have him in the lineup for two post-seasons.
Fourteen scouts watched the Blues – Red Wings on Wednesday night, including Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli who is looking to upgrade his blueline.
The Blues have dealt with injuries all season.
“Ultimately, you want to deal from knowledge from what your team is. Right now, we don’t have that knowledge,” Armstrong said when we chatted on Wednesday. “One of the areas we liked about our team was going to be our balanced scoring, being a difficult team to check. Right now, because of the injuries, we’re not as difficult to check. We don’t have that second or third wave we thought we’d have. We’d like to have more of a definition of where we have strengths, and support those instead of supporting a perceived weakness.”
Pending UFA Carl Gunnarsson could be a trade candidate as well. The Blues could also look at moving one of their young defenseman for help up front.
“We’ve drafted a lot of defensemen recently,” Armstrong said. “Our defense is in a really good spot. I think it’s a ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’ league in any trade right now. I don’t think anyone has an abundance of depth in an area where they’re not going to feel it if they make a trade. You have to give something to get something.”
- Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Bob McKenzie on TSN 1260 on Kevin Shattenkirk.
“I think people are keeping an eye on the Blues because once they get healthy, post-All-Star, I think there is a sense that Doug Armstrong wants to try to make some moves. He was most certainly in on Jonathan Drouin.
“There has been a lot of talk on Kevin Shattenkirk, but I think it might have got – I don’t want to say ‘overblown’ because sure enough, once I say that, he’ll probably turn around and get traded – but I don’t think that the St. Louis Blues were real eager or are real eager to make the move for Shattenkirk right now.
“They may have a longer term issue in terms of whether he fits into their long-range plans and the finances of it, and they may ultimately have to part ways with him. But I think they want their best shot at winning the Cup, and trying to get through Chicago and the other tough teams in the division. I think they still look at Shattenkirk as a guy who can create offense from the blueline, and is probably part of the picture in the short-term – that is, for the balance of this season.