The St Louis Blues have reacquired 97-year old forward Keith Tkachuk from the Atlanta Thrashers. Oops, this just in…looks like Tkachuk is officially listed as 35. Sorry.
At first blush, this trade looks similar to the oh-so-close-to-collusion between the Predators and Flyers. The Blues traded Tkachuk to the Thrashers at the deadline, and now the Thrashers were sending him back to St Louis just days before he was to become a free agent. Unlike the Hartnell deal, though, in this case it doesn’t look like Tkachuk is going to sign with the Blues. As part of the deadline trade, if the Thrashers re-sign Tkachuk this summer, the Blues get a first round pick. By dealing him to the Blues, that pick now becomes either a 3rd rounder in 2009 or a 4th in 2008. So, the Thrashers are trading him away in order to try to re-sign him. Or something. Welcome to the new NHL.
Yeah this seems pretty fishy too me. BTW this is the second year in a row the Blues get back a player they traded at the deadline (Weight last year). They are tricksy those Blues.
I think the NHL needs to make a rule saying “you can’t play for a team for one calender year after being traded from that team”. Whether intentional or not, this amounted to St. Louis and Atlanta saying “Here Atlanta we’ll let you have Tkachuck for the playoff run, and we’ll give you a 4th round pick, if you give him back to us at the end of the season”
Personally, I don’t have a problem with what they did. Atlanta had a need and the Blues filled the need.
Tkachuk and Guerin continue to be the biggest fools gold in the league. Apparently all you need to do is be a 6′3″ foward that weights over 200 lbs. Play hard in the first half of the year and then hit a wall after the all star break, dissapoint in every playoffs you’ve ever been involved with and still demand top dollar no matter where you go.