SHATTENKIRK ISN’T FEELING THE BLUES BECAUSE OF TRADE
Defenceman would be in a different place with his former team, but he has no regrets
From the outside, it might have looked like a classic case of addition by subtraction, as though Kevin Shattenkirk was the problem.
That’s one way of explaining how the St. Louis Blues, a team that was supposed to be a seller at the trade deadline, not only managed to make the playoffs despite moving their top-scoring defenceman, but are now one win away from a first-round sweep of the Minnesota Wild.
With Shattenkirk in the lineup this season, the Blues went 31-25-5. Without him, they are 18-4-2.
Of course, none of it was Shattenkirk’s fault. In 61 games, he led St. Louis defencemen with 42 points. And right before he was dealt to the Washington Capitals in the biggest trade of the season, the Blues had clawed back into a playoff spot, having won seven of 11 games following the firing of head coach Ken Hitchcock.
Shattenkirk isn’t surprised that his old team is finally having success, nor is he bitter that it’s now happening without him.
“A lot of them are still my close buddies, so it’s great to see that they’re doing well,” Shattenkirk said. “They probably had a bad taste in their mouth after losing to Minnesota a few years ago, so the roles are kind of reversed this year. It’s just great to see.
“I’m glad guys are doing well over there and my buddies are successful. That’s the thing I’m happiest about.”
When asked if there was a part of him that wonders what might have been had he not been traded, Shattenkirk shook his head.
“Not at all,“he said. “I never go in wondering ‘What if?’ You can’t. This is what happened.
It’s hockey. I couldn’t be happier to be here on this team. I think we’re in a pretty good spot ourselves.”
Indeed, Shattenkirk was traded because Blues general manager Doug Armstrong didn’t believe the team was more than a bubble team. With Shattenkirk’s contract expiring, hanging onto a pending free agent didn’t make as much sense as it does for the Capitals.
Then again, you have to get past the first round. And while the Blues are having an easy time with the Wild, the Capitals headed into Game 3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs tied 1-1 in a best-of-seven series, with both games going into overtime.
But Shattenkirk, who had an assist in Game 1 and logged nearly 30 minutes in Game 2, has done his job. With 14 points in 19 games since joining the Capitals, the 28-year-old has given Washington yet another offensive boost on the back end.
Karl Alzner said that Shattenkirk “would’ve had 80 points by now” if he spent the entire year in Washington, and head coach Barry Trotz said, “There’s a reason he’s going to be one of the top free agents this year.”
“I think with Shattenkirk coming over from a different organization — we do things a little different than they did, and so there was a little bit of a learning curve,” Trotz said. “But he’s got a high IQ, good skill level, all those things.”
In some ways, it is an unnecessary job. Before the Capitals added Shattenkirk, they had the third-best power play. Since then, with Shattenkirk picking up seven points on the power play, it’s improved from 21.8 per cent to 23.1 per cent. Those extra percentage points might not seem like much, but they could be the difference between a win and a loss in the regular season.
“Coming into this power play, which has been so successful, you don’t want to screw it up,” said Shattenkirk, who has had to learn to be a bit more selfish since joining the Capitals. “I initially felt that I had to get it over to (Alex Ovechkin) or you want to get it back in (Nicklas Backstrom’s) hands. But over time you realize that I had some good looks and I had to start shooting in order to get those guys open.
“The more I could shoot and maybe put one in or create a goal off that, teams are going to have to start respecting that middle lane more.”
The hope in Washington is that Shattenkirk is the piece of the puzzle that pushes the Capitals over the edge and finally gets them into the Stanley Cup final. If so, there’s not a question which team he wants to see on the other side.
“Now that would be nice,” he said of a potential Washington St. Louis final. “That would be nice, for sure.”