NHL Trade Rumour Roundup: Spotlight on Shattenkirk

NHL insider Chris Johnston says he understands the Kevin Shattenkirk-Leafs rumours, but doesn’t think they’ll make such a big splash at the deadline, to interrupt their great, young, close knit group of players.

The NHL Trade Deadline is officially one month away, which means rumours are starting to fly. We’ve rounded up some of the trade talk we’re hearing from around the league as we look ahead to March 1.

Kevin Shattenkirk” and “trade rumours” have gone hand-in-hand for, oh, about a year now, so it’s no surprise he’s first on our list. Let’s dig in.

Kevin Shattenkirk

To contend, or not to contend. That’s the question for the the St. Louis Blues right now, and the answer will likely determine whether Shattenkirk plays out the remainder of his contract with the Blues or is dealt to another club as a Cup-run rental.

Currently sitting in the Western Conference’s second wild card spot with 53 points, the Blues are a bubble team—a far cry from last year, when they were battling for the top spot in a tough Central Division.

“In my mind, I was thinking earlier on in the season, ‘We’re used to being at the top heap and maybe that makes me safer,’” Shattenkirk told Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday. “If we’re (last-place) Colorado, I probably would have been out of here a month ago. It’s hard to say what we’re going to do now.”

“I think (unrestricted free agency) is in the near future, so that’s probably the focus right now,” Shattenkirk said. “But who knows what the next few weeks are going to bring?”

Turns, out, they’re bringing change.

The club made a big move Wednesday morning when they fired head coach Ken Hitchcock and replaced him with coach-in-waiting Mike Yeo a little earlier than expected. (Yeo, you’ll remember, was hired last June to succeed Hitchcock following the veteran bench boss’ final season.)

The abrupt coaching change will likely push those Shattenkirk rumours even further into the spotlight now as we wait to see if Yeo’s promotion can jump-start a lost team.

NOTE: Per Elliotte Friedman’s latest edition of 30 Thoughts, we could also see some movement on fellow Blues UFA forward Patrik Berglund.

The Blues won’t need reminding that they let then-captain David Backes and forward Troy Brouwer walk in free agency last July, and the optics may not look good if they let another high-calibre player go without getting anything in return.

So, if a trade is indeed in Shattenkirk’s near future, where might he land?

One team that could make sense is the New York Rangers, who could use a puck-moving, offensive defenceman of Shattenkirk’s ilk, and are under pressure to make the most of their window to win right now. Not to mention, they’ve got plenty of depth up front for a trade with St. Louis.

Another club in need of blue line depth is the Boston Bruins, who could use another top defender to ease Zdeno Chara’s workload and help some of the team’s young rearguards. But are the Bruins a contender? That’s a whole other story.

When you think about teams in need of a top-pairing rearguard, the Toronto Maple Leafs are top-of-mind—and landing Shattenkirk now would give them plenty of time to woo the top defender in this year’s class of pending UFAs. But while Toronto lines up with the blue liner’s reported desire to land with an Eastern team, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston said on Tuesday that he would be “very surprised if that was a deal the Leafs made right now.”

Now, about those Maple Leafs…

The Toronto Maple Leafs

Yes, they showed up in the Shattenkirk rumours, but Johnston suggests this year’s deadline could be pretty quiet in Toronto.

“My sense is the Leafs are content to not tinker too much right now,” Johnston told The Jeff Blair Show on Tuesday. “They realize what they have, and after some years of various different moods around the dressing room, they finally have a very closely bonded group there. They’re young, they’re learning the league together, and I don’t think they want to introduce too many new personalities into that situation. They feel this team’s gotten them pretty far and we might see some kind of depth trade but I don’t see a big sway coming at this point.”

[relatedlinks]

Matt Duchene

Matt Duchene is another player who’s had to deal with his fair share of rumours (we were talking about possible Duchene destinations two years ago, and the Avalanche are still at the bottom of the league). The forward has said he is open to being traded, and considering his contract is both affordable and void of any no-movement clauses, a trade makes sense for a team so desperate to shake things up.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, it’s only a matter of time.

“I think it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of does it happen now or does it happen later,” Friedman told Sportsnet 960 The FAN on Tuesday.

“I do think that Duchene is going to be traded. I just can’t pinpoint a time as to where that occurs. But I think Colorado having flexibility in the summer will give it some options to do some things.”

So, who might be possible trading partners? Friedman suggested the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes could be two teams to watch.

Mike Smith

The Arizona Coyotes have braced themselves for a possible Shane Doan trade after the long-time captain and career Coyote said he’d be willing to waive his no-trade clause for a “perfect” situation, but it doesn’t look like they’ll have to worry about goaltender Mike Smith going anywhere.

For now, anyway. Smith told the Arizona Republic over the weekend that he’s happy in the desert and hasn’t considered moving his no-trade clause despite the struggling club being one of the few known sellers this year.

Now, a few more goalies…

Marc-Andre Fleury

Ever since Matt Murray burst on to the scene late last season to help the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup, Marc-Andre Fleury‘s name has been bandied about in various rumour mills.

But even with the trade deadline approaching, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford isn’t feeling much pressure to trade the veteran goaltender.

“I don’t feel pressured to do something to change our team so I’m going to let it play itself out,” Rutherford told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week. “If a team calls and something makes sense for us, whether it’s to open up cap space, or to make our team better presently or down the road, or to clean up the situation because one of the goalies wants to play more. Whatever that may be, I’ll deal with that at the time. But I don’t feel pressure to do that right today.”

Ben Bishop

Like Fleury, Ben Bishop‘s name has been floated around plenty. From Friedman’s 30 Thoughts:

[blockquote]What is Steve Yzerman’s acceptable threshold for a Ben Bishop trade? There is a growing sense Tampa Bay is willing to move the goalie, give him a fresh start six months before unrestricted free agency. The move benefits the Lightning, too, allowing Andrei Vasilevskiy the rest of the season to learn what it will be like to be the full-time number one in goal. Bishop got the first start out of the All-Star break, a 4-3 loss to Boston, where he made 31 of 35 saves. It’s a worthwhile gamble for someone needing a jolt without taking on a firm commitment. Word is current offers are low and Yzerman isn’t biting. His risk is seeing a rejuvenated Bishop deliver high reward somewhere else.[cite]Elliotte Friedman, 30 Thoughts[/cite][/blockquote]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.