While you were drinking sleeping, the Blues traded Erik Johnson and Jay McClement to Colorado for Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk.
First of all, thank you, Twitter, for giving us the platform to wreck sleep cycles and work on game-day papers and scooping the shit out of printed newspapers, who won't have this news until Sunday morning.
Facts:
Jay McClement and Erik Johnson are going to Colorado.
Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk are coming to St. Louis.
Fans of both teams think they got screwed.
Emotions:
Erik Johnson is going to make the Blues pay at least four times a year for trading him away.
Jay McClement will one day win the Selke and make us happy and sad at the same time.
Chris Stewart is a noted Blues-killer. He'd better be more than that.
Kevin Shattenkirk always makes me think his name is Captain Kirk Shattenkirk. I have no idea what that means, but it's true.
Calming down:
Stewart can score and he can fight and he can bull his ass to the net. Every team wants a power forward. Now the Blues have two in Stewart and Backes. Kind of frightening if you're preparing to play both.
Shattenkirk has gone all Pietrangelo on the NHL this year. After struggling to start the season, he scored seven goals and 19 assists in quick succession. He has now not scored a point in eight straight games. But Colorado has lost 11 straight, so... what's the chicken and what's the egg?
Johnson has struggled with confidence issues and has fewer goals and points than Captain Kirk. The flashes are there, but at least twice this year he has met with coaches about issues related to his confidence and his on-ice game (allegedly).
Jay McClement does all the little things well. He will be loved in Colorado. If he isn't, well, screw you, Colorado. As for the Blues, I think they felt like Vladimir Sobotka has better numbers and a better cap hit and can fill the role. Doesn't make it any easier for me to say this was a good move.
2 AM Analysis:
This trade is risky on both sides and won't be obvious who won for a few years. If Stewart and Shattenkirk (a first round pick himself) reach potential then the Blues will be happy.
McClement might become a legitimate Selke candidate one day. If that happens, the Avs have a great player on their hands. If he doesn'y, he becomes a footnote - a good checking forward who never killed your cap number.
The key to evaluating this deal one day will be Johnson. Will the Eeej become a Norris Trophy winner and dominant number one blueliner or will he always struggle to meet the potential he showed when the Blues drafted him first overall in 2006?
There's no way to know right now. All I can say for sure is that Blues fans are feeling shocked and upset. The only way that's going to get fixed is if these new guys from Colorado do what management hopes they can do.