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Trade or Not to Trade: The St.Louis Blues Might Turn to Trading D-Man Kevin Shattenkirk Before the Trade Deadline to Get the Team in Better Shape. Should they Do It?
St. Louis simply cannot catch a break this season. Alexander Steen out for nearly twelve games early in the year along with Jori Lehtera. With recent injury Robby Fabbri who will miss the remainder of the 2016-2017 season, the Blues woes continue.
The St. Louis Blues as of right now are tied for a wild card spot. In addition to Fabbri being injured believe it or not he has produced quite well for them and accompanied Vladimir Tarasenko on a line. The last thing this team needs to do is to be playing around with lines.
Which leads me to the topic of discussion, with Fabbri out, is it in the Blues best interest to move Kevin Shattenkirk for a forward or more of a reason to hold onto to him for the remainder of the season?
To Trade
Moving Shattenkirk. Fabbri played top 6 minutes and powerplay two. Losing that is substantial and not always easy to fill. Up until Fabbri’s injury, the 21-year-old forward had 29 points and 9 powerplay points.
Continuing this play Fabbri was on pace to exceed his rookie season in 2015-2016. Furthermore, the Blues are a borderline playoff team, with losing a top 6 forward and juggling lines around can cause some mixed feelings resulting in poor play from certain players.
Shattenkirk holds a great deal of return for St. Louis if they decide to move Shattenkirk more than likely the Blues would be able to receive a top 6 forward, fulfilling Fabbri’s absence.
In addition to that Shattenkirk is a UFA come July 1st, therefore it’s either sign the shifty defensemen to a big contract or let him walk for nothing. The trade talk for Shattenkirk just got substantially more interesting.
Not to Trade
Keep Shattenkirk. The Blues have a very solid core, if not they’re among one of the best defensive cores top to bottom in the league. Accompanied by a few veterans like Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo as well as some solid young defensemen.
Colton Parayko who played exceptionally well last season and having a mediocre sophomore year. Parayko is 23 years old with a bright. On the other hand keeping Shattenkirk leaves this team with five NHL defensemen and two borderline top 6 defensemen.
With the recent struggles St. Louis is facing with goaltender Jake Allen, is it really in their best interest to move an arguably top 2 defenseman to leave a borderline NHL defensemen to move up in the ranks and play decent minutes.
If St. Louis wants to make a playoff run or even be considered for a wild card spot, their goaltending needs to be cleaned up which usually falls on the guys in front of the goaltender. Resulting in more of a reason to keep Shattenkirk.
Headed to the Deadline
The best option, trade Shattenkirk. Honestly, this is a difficult decision for management in St. Louis. The Blues can and have already sent out their asking price for Shattenkirk. And teams are still expressing interest in him.
If the Blues don’t move Shattenkirk and plan on signing him in the offseason, it’s going to cost them a deal of money. Take a look at this, now if the Blues decide to sign Shattenkirk it would more than likely be a 5-7 year deal worth $5.5 mil or more.
IF they decide to do that, this leaves them in some controversy with re-signing six other players. This would leave the Blues in major complications with cap room. Therefore, it’s in the Blues best interest to face reality and realize that they are not winning the Stanley Cup or making noise in the playoffs. Trade Shattenkirk and get your money’s worth for him.
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