NHL Trade Deadline: St. Louis Blues in Talks to Acquire Arizona Coyotes’ Zbynek Michalek
According to ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun, the St. Louis Blues are in the process of trying to acquire Arizona Coyotes defenseman Zbynek Michalek:
St. Louis Blues deep in talks with Arizona on Z. Michalek.... Still unresolved issues so not clear if it happens or not, but lots of talk...
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 2, 2015
TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that there are other players for Michalek, so the deal is far from a certainty even if the Blues meet the Coyotes’ demands:
The #stlblues remain the front-runner for #coyotes Zbynek Michalek, but others are interested. Unique deal with player injured. #NHLTrade
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 2, 2015
As Johnston alluded to, the 32-year-old Michalek is currently dealing with a concussion and has not played in a game since February 14. As truehockey.com’s Andy Strickland tweeted recently, the trade package for Michalek would likely be set up so that the Blues could give conditional picks for him based on the amount of games that he plays.
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The oddity in the Blues’ interest in Michalek is that they would be looking at him to replace (or deflect some of the pressure from) injured All-Star Kevin Shattenkirk, who is expected to return from an abdominal injury in late March. The apparent interest in Michalek seems to indicate a concern on the part of the Blues’ management about the ability of lower-level defensemen such as Ian Cole, Chris Butler, and Petteri Lindbohm to be consistently reliable contributors in the midst of a high-pressure playoff run.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Michalek has two goals, six assists, and a minus-6 plus-minus rating in 53 games this year. Over his 11-year career, he’s played in 696 NHL games with 38 goals, 129 assists, and a minus-18 rating.