The St. Louis Blues are always looking at ways to improve their team. Fans don’t always agree with how they do it, but they are. However, now they do need to look at the trade market for sure.
The St. Louis Blues are in need of a shakeup. Some people want a coaching change as though that would fix all the problems with individual players or units. Others want to blow the whole thing up and start over.
As someone who vividly remembers the rebuild of the mid-2000’s, I cannot stress enough how much you want to avoid that. Technically we are still dealing with the remnants of that rebuild as the Blues have held on to several of those core players over the years and some people keep saying they were not good enough.
The team still has a decent amount of talent on their squad. They just need some help and maybe a new voice that could shake them up a bit. Clearly the status quo is not working out.
So, with that in mind, let’s look at some of the potential names the Blues might be after. A forewarning, these articles can get dangerous just from the idea that we get our hopes up only for them to be dashed by no movement at all. With that in mind, let’s press forward.
One of the more intriguing names starting to pop up is divisional rival, Matt Duchene. He fits the bill with just about everything the Blues are looking for up top at the moment.
First and foremost, he is a center. The Blues are in desperate need of help up the middle.
We went with the experiment of moving some players around like Alexander Steen, Robby Fabbri and even Patrik Berglund. Berglund had the most experience at center but seems more comfortable on the wing than even the natural wingers.
Bringing in Duchene would have to help in that aspect. You get a solid player with an eye for playmaking and scoring and is also a very good faceoff artist.
Duchene is also a good scorer, which is something else the Blues really need. Despite cries otherwise, the Blues have actually gotten good scoring production from the players brought in instead of the suddenly heaven-sent David Backes. Even still, the Blues could use another consistent player as opposed to the streakiness they currently feature.
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Duchene can actually score. The only seasons he has not gotten over 20 were injury shortened or shortened by work stoppage. The current Avalanche center also scored 30 last season.
He can set up goals as well. As more of a dual threat than Paul Stastny, he likes to draw in the defenders and dish off. Duchene is a regular 50 point scorer and even has a couple seasons with 67 and 70.
Of course, there are always negatives with any player. He turns the puck over a little more than you would like.
Duchene’s Corsi and Fenwick scores are not where you would like either as they are under the league average. However, some of those numbers make you wonder if it is actually the player or due to playing on a team that has been one of the NHL’s worst the last two seasons.
What To Give Up
Now we come to the part that is the most difficult. The Blues would be insane not to be interested in Duchene if he really is on the block.
Whether he is or not is up in the air. We know that the Avalanche are interested in pressing the reset button.
They’ve already begun the fire-sale with a trade involving the Nashville Predators. While it was not one of their core players involved, it signals a beginning.
However, the Avalanche have been in similar positions in the past and Joe Sakic pumps the breaks at the last moment hoping his players will figure things out. They don’t seem to have done that.
So, the Avs are in a situation similar to the Blues of today and those mid-2000’s. The Avs might need to rebuild again like those earlier Blues teams. Also, like the Blues of today, they might be in need of a shakeup just to jolt the players that stay.
So, would they be a good trade partner for St. Louis? From our perspective, yes. Even if you can’t swing Duchene, there are other players – we’ll explore those later – the Blues would benefit from.
For the Avalanche, it all depends on what they want. Are they wanting players or picks or to dump salary?
The Blues can’t take on pure salary, with only about $1 million in space. So, players would have to be going the other way from the Blues. As we will find with just about any rumor, the issue becomes the players the Blues are probably shopping are not the ones teams want.
The Blues top chip, Kevin Shattenkirk, already came from the Avalanche. It seemed like he was not pleased with the fact the Avalanche gave up on him, so would a return be welcomed with open arms? Unlikely, especially for a player that basically put the kibosh to a deal with Edmonton because he did not want to live there.
It would likely take the coupling of an NHL player and a prospect for the Blues to swing this. Doug Armstrong would definitely earn his money.
Worth It?
As mentioned, it would be hard to swing this one salary wise without dumping Shattenkirk, and maybe more, in the deal. Duchene makes $6 million and will have that as a cap hit the next two seasons.
Still, it would be worth it. The Blues would be getting a top center – at the very worst a second line center with the ability to push Stastny to the top line – and that cannot be discounted.
It would be no easy task. There might be more moving parts than anyone would want, but the benefits might be worth it.
Duchene is about to turn 26, so he is in the prime of his career. He is capable of scoring 30 goals and can put up 70 points or close to it.
Stastny is the only current center even close to putting up those numbers and he won’t even come close on the goal front.
Armstrong’s greatest trade was probably the one that brought in Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart for Erik Johnson. Maybe he can swing another good deal from the Mile-High City.
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