Reports: Kevin Shattenkirk Nixed St. Louis Blues’ Sign-and-Trade Attempt
Kevin Shattenkirk reportedly rejected an offer to sign a long-term extension with an Eastern Conference team.
A potential deal involving defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk has been a hot discussion point among St. Louis Blues fans for the past year, and that discussion has heated up in recent weeks as the NHL trade deadline has crept closer. While it’s fairly obvious that the Blues are discussing potential trades at this point, there has apparently been at least one trade involving Shattenkirk that was very close to being completed.
On Thursday night, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Jeremy Rutherford confirmed an earlier report from TSN’s Bob McKenzie that Shattenkirk rejected a long-term contract offer from an Eastern Conference team that would have completed a sign-and-trade deal. The deal would have been worth $42 million over seven years and likely would have taken Shattenkirk through the end of his NHL career. As Rutherford writes, the other team involved in the swap was believed to be the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Shattenkirk apparently rejected the offer about six weeks ago.
The fact that this deal wasn’t able to be completed–along with rumors that the same type of situation occurred with a potential deal involving the Edmonton Oilers last summer–is not the best of news for the Blues.
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They want to get maximum value for Shattenkirk, who is arguably their third-best all-around defenseman but is easily one of the best five offensive blueliners in the league overall.
That can’t happen, however, if Shattenkirk is unwilling to accept a long-term deal from the club that he’s traded to. Otherwise, he’ll just be a rental, and the Blues probably won’t get much value for a second-pairing defenseman who is only guaranteed to help his new club for about 20 games and then however many postseason games he might take part in. While the word on the rumor mill is that the Blues are indeed shopping Shattenkirk as a rental, they should probably at least explore the possibility of keeping him around for the rest of the season.
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At the conclusion of Thursday night’s games, they’re tied with the Nashville Predators for third place in the Central Division. Barring an extremely rough run over their final 22 games, they’re likely to make the playoffs, and while they haven’t looked like a Stanley Cup-caliber team at many points this season, it might be worth trying to make a run this spring before they begin a transition process in earnest among their defensive corps.