St. Louis Blues Must Make A Bold Move
Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
The St. Louis Blues have shown great promise the past few seasons. They finished fourth, sixth, and third overall in the past three seasons respectively, but have only won one playoff round in that span – making quick work of the Sharks following the 2011-2012 season. Since head coach Ken Hitchcock took over that season and resurrected the team that had not won a single playoff game since 2004, the Blues have become one of the top teams in the league; they went from dark horse in Hitchcock’s first season to Stanley Cup favorite heading into the 2014 playoffs. Armed with high-caliber forwards T.J. Oshie, Alexander Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, and captain David Backes, as well as defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk, Barret Jackman, and franchise defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, the Blues looked poised to make a deep run into the playoffs. But all season, it was the goaltending position that management and fans alike wanted to upgrade.
When the Blues acquired silver medalist goaltender Ryan Miller, as well as Steve Ott, from the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline, it solidified the team as one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately for their fans, the Blues fell to the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks in just six games, making for a stunning and seemingly premature end to a remarkable season. What the Blues lack is a true number one center; not to say that David Backes is not a good player, of course, but they need a more offensive-minded center who can dish the puck to St. Louis’ goal-scorers.
The Blues have several assets to include in a trade for a top centerman. Their options in the free agent pool are thin, but the trade market is bustling this summer with big names like Jason Spezza, Ryan Kesler, Joe Thornton, and more being thrown around the rumor mill. Here are some of the players St. Louis can look at leading up to the draft and beyond during this offseason.
Ryan Kesler
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Ryan Kesler has been in the trade rumor mill for months now, and if he is to be traded at all, it will likely come before or on draft day this Friday in Philadelphia. Reports suggest Kesler only wants to go to Chicago or Pittsburgh, but it was previously believed that he would accept a trade to Anaheim. If the Blues can convince him to waive his NTC to accept a trade to St. Louis (much like Columbus did with Hartnell), then as long as he stays healthy, Kesler can be the missing piece that puts St. Louis over the top. Kesler wants to win and knows he may not have that much time left to do so, so he would be the perfect number two center for the team that is in win-now mode.
Kesler is an excellent two-way player, much like David Backes. But Kesler has had arguably a better career offensively than Backes has, all while dealing with many injuries and playing behind Canucks star center and captain Henrik Sedin. Kesler would bring significant leadership to the Blues, veteran experience (having played in a Stanley Cup final), and a unique element to the Blues because they would have a one-two punch of elite two-way players which – representative of the kind of style Ken Hitchcock likes his team to play.
The Blues can offer the Canucks C Patrick Berglund, prospect Ty Rattie or Dmitrij Jaskin, and their first round pick (21st overall) in exchange for Kesler.
Joe Thornton
Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Thornton’s Sharks came up short in the postseason after an inspiring regular season that had people counting on them to go far. “Jumbo Joe,” as many call him, is one of the best passers in the league. His 65 assists this past season made him number two in the league in that category behind Sidney Crosby (68). David Backes would be more effective playing with two-way forwards Alexander Steen and Jaden Schwartz while Thornton could play in a scoring role with goal scorers T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Tarasenko. Thornton’s vision is remarkable and he could help make both wingers even better, making for a scoring line comprised of those three in addition to the more defensive, two-way line anchored by Backes. This would completely balance the team and make the opposition’s defense have to spread their ice time even more.
The ‘rebuilding’ San Jose could ask for one of Ty Rattie or Dmitrij Jaskin, as well as either a first round pick or Patrik Berglund. In this situation, his age is such a factor that adding that first round pick may be giving up too much to San Jose – a playoff rival of St. Louis’.
Jason Spezza
Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Jason Spezza seems like the most plausible option for the Blues to trade for at this point. Having scored 23 goals and 43 assists this past season, Spezza is clearly not slowing down at 31 years old. It has been made clear that the current Senators captain wants out of Ottawa, as per Senators general manager Bryan Murray:
The only explanation I have is that he would like to try something different,” said Murray. “He thinks that the fingers are pointed at him quite often in Ottawa. Winning or losing he gets credit or he gets blamed and I think he feels its time to do something else.
In St. Louis, Spezza would not have to be the guy, with plenty of other leaders and high-caliber players who are subject to taking blame with the past few playoff failures. Spezza does not have to be the guy, much like with Thornton, in St. Louis; he probably notices the direction the Senators seem to be taking, with the Bobby Ryan trade looking unfavorable for them right now, Alfredsson leaving last offseason, and the team just not doing well enough to be competitive – not to mention Ottawa’s lack of a first round draft pick this year which would have been in the top ten.
In exchange for Spezza, Ottawa can use a top-six forward, a top prospect, and a first-round pick to replace all the elements lost in both the Bobby Ryan trade (Jakob Silfverberg and first round pick) as well as their top-six forward in Spezza. The aforementioned package from the Kesler proposal would suffice here because Ottawa would more than likely be satisfied with Berglund, Rattie, and the 21st overall pick from St. Louis for Spezza.