St. Louis Blues: Time To Trade Jori Lehtera

The St. Louis Blues may have gone as far as they can with their current top center, Jori Lehtera. It might be time for them to start shopping him as part of a package.

The St. Louis Blues thought they had struck gold when they got Jori Lehtera over to the United States. A big, strong center with some skill does not come along every day after all.

They were getting a player with plenty of upside and no discernible down side that we knew of at the time. Additionally, he had played with Vladimir Tarasenko before as well. That fact alone had us all foolishly having visions of Hull and Oates dancing in our heads.

At first, the Blues were rewarded for their faith in Lehtera off the bat. After trying, unsuccessfully, to get him to the NHL for a few years, he came up with 14 goals and 44 points in his very first NHL season.

His second season was not as great. Nine goals and 34 points was not horrible, but it was a disappointing follow up to his great rookie campaign.

Now, he just isn’t getting the job done. Roughly halfway through the season, Lehtera currently has four goals and eight assists. Twelve points ladies and gentleman.

While we aren’t officially at the mid-point of the season as of writing this, project that out and you get 24 points. That’s a ten point drop in each season to the next. That’s just not acceptable.

Some people might claim that he could flourish under Mike Yeo. At this point in his career, I don’t think this is anything to do with coaching.

Lehtera has been given way too much leash by Ken Hitchcock in the first place. Unlike other guys who get pushed up and down, in and out of the lineup by Hitch, Lehtera has consistently stayed with Tarasenko.

Tarasenko has been pressing to be one of the league’s leading scorers. Earlier in the 2016-17 season, when he was a mere point away from tying the lead, Tarasenko was playing like a mad man. He wants to win more than anything, but he has to know that leading the league in scoring would help the Blues win.

There really isn’t any good way of quantifying it, but Lehtera seems like he has to be holding Tarasenko back. When the center for your leading scorer isn’t even setting up those goals, then what is his purpose? How many more goals could Tarasenko have if he had someone that could really set him up the way Adam Oates or Craig Janney did for Brett Hull?

Lehtera is not a bad player. He’s nothing close to a top center right now though and the Blues can’t keep holding onto his chemistry with Tarasenko as the only reason to keep them together.

It’s time to look for a deal. A package of Kevin Shattenkirk and Lehtera would have to fetch a good return.

At this point in the year, we need to realize that the rest of the league might not have wanted to give up what we want for Shattenkirk. He’s not a great defender and there are only so many teams in need of a purely offensive defenseman. The Blues aren’t bringing him back with the money he will be asking for either.

Lehtera by himself would not bring much return either. So, putting them together should be able to lure what the Blues would want in return from a big-time trade late in the year.

The question is what could they get back. Unfortunately Shattenkirk seemed to have made it clear he didn’t care to re-sign in Edmonton.

That decision almost surely cost the Blues Taylor Hall and maybe even a center like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Maybe Shattenkirk would reconsider given how well Edmonton is doing in the standings at this point.

Jan 7, 2017; Newark, NJ, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) skates with the puck during the third period at Prudential Center. The Oilers defeated the Devils 2-1 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

If you still work out a deal with Edmonton, you probably get Nugent-Hopkins. Perhaps you could wrestle away another player as well, but you have to get a center in the deal or it does not make sense.

The problem is, as talented as Nugent-Hopkins is, he only has 19 points as of writing this. Is seven points enough of a difference to justify the deal? I would say so, but I also don’t think Nugent-Hopkins is the Blues answer for a number one center either, so it’s kind of a double-edged sword.

You run into the same problem with the Blues other likely trade partner. The rumors with the Rangers never went away and any check into the dirt pages shows that the Blueshirts are still in need of an offensive defenseman.

We could pray that a combo of Lehtera and Shattenkirk brings a return of Derek Stepan, but it’s unlikely. The only other center with the Rangers doing anything is Mika Zibenijad, who only has 15 points.

Returning to the Oilers, Leon Draisaitl would be a perfect return for us. Whether or not the Oilers would be willing to depart with a 21 year old who is second on the team in scoring is a much bigger question.

Outside of that, you could look west and perhaps Jeff Carter of LA, but he is 32. If Shattenkirk is insistent on going east, you could inquire about Claude Giroux of Philadelphia or Nicklas Backstrom of Washington.

Maybe you could figure out whether Kevin Hayes of the Rangers could play the middle. He is third on their team in scoring but some places say he is a winger and some (NHL website) says he’s a center.

The bottom line is this sort of deal probably needs to happen. If you’ve read my stuff long enough, or know me personally, I’m usually the one saying to stay the course.

Team chemistry can somtimes trump adding talent. That was proven during the Blues run to the conference finals last season.

At this point, that does not seem to be the case. Lehtera is playing hard, but he just seems at a loss in key moments.

He has talent, but not enough to bring back a top quality player by himself. So, a package of him and Shattenkirk might get the return the Blues would need.

I’ve given him a pass in recent times, but it is time for Doug Armstrong to earn his money.