A Few Blues Rumors

Well, since the St. Louis Blues gave head coach Ken Hitchcock another one-year extension to be back behind the bench, Blues news has been pretty slow.

Former Blue forward Vladimir Sobotka came to his decision and will be staying in the KHL for at least another year. This news didn’t come as a shock to me and it has become very clear that he either doesn’t want to play for Hitchcock, or doesn’t want to be part of the Blues organization. He thinks GM Doug Armstrong low-balled him in his contract negotiations. To some extent, he may be right, but at the same time the numbers weren’t too far off from what he is worth. Could be him, could be his agent (see: Jaromir Jagr/Ilya Kovalchuk). I did love Sobotka’s game and relentless effort wearing the Note and he absolutely makes a positive impact on the team. However, if he doesn’t want to play for the Blues, I don’t want to watch him play for the Blues. Armstrong should shop him at the draft if that is the case. I think it is very likely to happen.

I have seen some rumors floating around the media, nothing highly credible, but it’s fun to speculate on what is out there. The biggest name tied to the Blues would be Toronto Maple Leafs winger Phil Kessel. For me, Kessel has as much downside as he has upside here in St. Louis. First being that ludicrous contract. The term and cap hit is just too much for the Blues to rightfully take on. Obviously, a few pretty large cap hits would be headed to Toronto in the trade. In my opinion, losing two or three roster players and a prospect would be the only way the Blues could make a trade work for Kessel, and I just don’t see that as a way to help the team. His offensive game is dynamic and his defensive game is subpar. He could score 35-40 goals at the Blues' top line right-wing but his acquisition would make the team weaker depth wise.

Another interesting story that has popped up now and again during this playoffs is the Jonathan Drouin situation. Drouin has been a healthy scratch in many of Tampa’s games on their way to the Finals. There are many rumors that he and head coach Jon Cooper don’t see eye to eye and maybe Drouin hasn’t handled it the way he should. He did play in Game 2 against the Hawks and he made himself visible throughout the game. He has decent size, speed, and ability in the offensive zone. There is no doubting that, but he didn’t look very good defensively and turned over quite a few pucks in the neutral zone that led to scoring chances against.

He is only 20 years old and it is said he has quite a bit of maturing to do, but the potential is still very high. If Tampa decides to go another direction in the offseason, which I don’t believe they will, the Blue should definitely look into it. What Tampa would want would be a big question. They don’t need the likes of a T.J. Oshie or David Backes. There isn’t many big changes the Lightning need to make. Just look at where they are.

It has also been rumored that the Arizona Coyotes could be open to trading the third overall pick in the draft in a few weeks. If GM Don Maloney is really open to that, Armstrong should check the price tag. The Blues don’t have a first round pick in this year’s draft when the talent pool at the top is so high. I personally don’t think that Maloney will trade the pick and the price would be ridiculous if he would. Sending Oshie could sell some jerseys and fill some more seats in Glendale, but it would take a lot more than him to get that pick. Not worth it in my opinion. The rumors are really going to start flying in the next few weeks and hopefully more light will be shed on who and where players could be moved.