It sounds like the St. Louis Blues won’t be able to sign Kevin Shattenkirk to a new extension and are planning to trade the talented defenseman. There have already been reports stating the Boston Bruins have asked about Shattenkirk and now Pierre LeBrun reports that the team won’t be giving Shattenkirk a new deal and a trade is coming.
https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/746104533873528832
That’s a pretty clear and direct statement from LeBrun.
Other reports have recently surfaced suggesting Shattenkirk is seeking “Pietrangelo money” in his new contract. Alex Pietrangelo’s average annual cap hit checks in at $6.5 million and that sounds like it’s the rough average value Shattenkirk would like in a new deal. His current deal has an average hit of $4.25 million.
If that asking price is accurate, there’s no question the Blues would be looking to make a trade. Their cap situation is already pretty trick and they’d have no room to squeeze in another defenseman’s big contract. They already have Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester committed through the next few seasons.
The Blues would obviously prefer to deal Shattenkirk to an Eastern Conference team (Bruins keep popping up in trade rumors), but they’ll entertain offers from Western Conference teams who can both offer the best package. The club has plenty of needs up front, so it’d make a lot of sense to deal a defenseman when they have talented youngsters (Colton Parayko, Joel Edmundson) ready to take on larger roles.
