Blues and Bruins Trade Rumors…
As I discussed at great length over at Hockey Independent, the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins are logical trading partners. The black and yellow bears have a surplus of scoring wingers and need to make room to accommodate the return of star center Marc Savard and expereinced winger Marco Sturm. The Blues are without their leading scorers (as of injury dates), David Perron and TJ Oshie, for an extended period.
Are Blues GM Doug Armstrong and Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli ready to play let’s make a deal?
From my point of view, I hope so.
While Matt D’Agostini’s first quarter success is good news, he is not Perron or Oshie. His production from a top 9 role was much more desirable than from a top 6 role. Alex Steen as the 2nd/3rd left winger provided great scoring depth. Minus Perron the inconsistent Brad Winchester is called on to do more and Vladimir Sobotka has been taken form his natural center position multiple times to fill in on the wing.
Adding depth to hold the Blues over for the short term and provide even more depth over the course of the next 62 games is dramatically important. Aside from the McD0nlad-Backes-Boyes line, the scoring has been spotty. The Steen-Berglund-D’Agostini line cooled off and was broken up. Such scoring inadequacies made the game in Nashville and against New Jersey much closer than they should have been.
Surely Army knows that who the Blues have today is enough to hold them over against the mid level teams they have been facing so far. However, their ability to compete against stronger offensive teams like Detroit, Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles is greatly reduced when their ability to match goal for goal is reduced.
Michael Ryder is a legitimate option. With four seasons of 25 goals or more, he can puck the puck in the net. Will the Blues get that version of Ryder or the version who failed to score 20 in two other seasons. A soured Boston fanbase has seen enough. Will Blues Nation accept him? Doubtful given the response to Brad Boyes over the last season and a quarter.
Blake Wheeler is the way to go, assuming a deal can be made. He is young, big and talented. He fits in with US born (Minnesota to be exact) mold that has worked for the Blues in the past with Backes, Johnson and even Winchester to an extent. Getting Wheeler a change of scenery and coaching environment could be the way to rekindle the effort that produced his 22 goal rookie campaign. If Scott Mellanby has helped Patrik Berglund, he can help Wheeler.
Obviously the Blues want to stay away from losing Phil McRae, but he would be a likely name mentioned from the Bruins end of the negotiating table. Since they cannot absorb salary, a package of prospects close to NHL readiness plus a pick or two is the likely compensation when push comes to shove. BJ Crombeen could go as well. The difference between his salary and Wheeler’s almost covers the space needed and would be a capable plumber line player in Beantown.
Whether or not the Blues add to supplement the scoring punch remains to be seen. Given Armstrong’s recent history, there is a good chance a deal happens.
