Matt D'Agostini Traded To New Jersey Devils

If there was a name mentioned as trade bait the most often, it was Matt D'Agostini. Only getting playing time regularly when other forwards were out, he was the odd man out on the Blues. With the pending return of T.J. Oshie on Saturday, he'll be the really odd man out in the forwards corps. It's unfair to sit a pretty decent forward as much as D'Ags has been sat, and it's also a bit wasteful as well.

That could explain why the Blues have sent D'Agostini & a 7th round pick to the New Jersey Devils for a conditional fourth or fifth round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. New Jersey needs a little help with goal scoring (Martin Brodeur doesn't count), and D'Agostini can supply that.

The big question here is why didn't the Blues include D'Agostini in a package trade deal for either a left-handed defenseman or a finisher? Surely as part of a package D'Agostini could have gotten some attention. His scoring edge this year -- one goal and one assist this year in 16 games -- has been dull, so maybe there wasn't much interest in acquiring him for much more than the Blues got.