NHL trade rumors 2017: Kevin Shattenkirk’s desire to hit free agency has held up trade discussions

Obvious statement No. 1: The St. Louis Blues really, really want to trade Kevin Shattenkirk.

Increasingly obvious statement No. 2: Kevin Shattenkirk is making that difficult for them. Not that he shouldn’t.

But he is, if reports are to be believed. Yesterday, TSN reporter Frank Seravalli revealed that a trade between St. Louis and the Oilers fell apart last summer when Edmonton couldn’t be assured that Shattenkirk would sign there long-term.

Shattenkirk becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

Apparently, a similar thing happened just weeks ago. St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Jeremy Rutherford confirmed a report by TSN’s Bob McKenzie on Thursday that the Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning had a deal in place for Shattenkirk ... but negotiations fell apart again.

Here’s Rutherford:

Discussions between the Blues and another club fell apart about six weeks ago on a trade that would have given Shattenkirk a seven-year, $42 million contract ($6 million AAV), as first reported by TSN’s Bob McKenzie. League sources have independently confirmed that Shattenkirk, who is 28 and a pending unrestricted free agent, turned down the offer.

The Blues are now believed to be shopping Shattenkirk as a “rental” player, according to those sources, meaning they don’t expect him to sign a long-term deal with another club before the NHL trade deadline Wednesday.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweeted that the Arizona Coyotes also struggled to complete a deal during a similar trade discussion this season.

This is a pretty important development in this whole trade process.

St. Louis has a lot of incentive to maximize Shattenkirk’s value in a trade. The Blues lost Troy Brouwer and David Backes in free agency last summer with nothing to show for it; they don’t want to let three big names go without replenishing their system at all.

But considering Shattenkirk’s obvious desire to hit the market, the fact he’s being shopped as a rental will drive down his value significantly. If the Blues wanted a top prospect, a first round pick and another asset for him before ... maybe they’ll get just one of those back. Or a lower pick and a pretty good prospect.

Neither come close to matching Shattenkirk’s value as one of the best defensemen in the league.

But don’t begrudge Shattenkirk’s desire to hit the market: At 28 years old, this is his one shot at choosing his own destination for the biggest price. You’d do the same as him. And the Blues knew this was a real possibility.

Now that his price is chopped in half, maybe we’ll see a move soon.