On Tuesday’s episode of “Daily Faceoff Live,” Frank Seravalli discussed why the St. Louis Blues have emerged as a front-runner for Timo Meier.
Tyler Yaremchuk: We’ve heard a ton about Timo Meier and the Carolina Hurricanes, and we’ve heard a ton about the New Jersey Devils, but could there be a new team creeping in here for the Sharks forward?
Frank Seravalli: Yes, and there has been a new team that has entered the chat with Timo Meier. I am told it’s the St. Louis Blues, and that may be a surprise to some, but it shouldn’t be. I’m told that the Blues did inquire with the Sharks earlier this week about Timo Meier after executing the trades with Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly. This shouldn’t be a shock; this is exactly what Blues general manager Doug Armstrong has done in his playbook previously. Think back to the trades he’s done in recent years: Kevin Shattenkirk for a first-round pick; he then takes that pick and uses it to acquire Brayden Schenn in the summer. More recently than that, Paul Stastny moved at the deadline for a first-round pick, he then takes that pick in a package to get Ryan O’Reilly.
Now you fast-forward, Tarasenko and O’Reilly both fetch first-round picks, and the Blues now have three first-round picks this year. My guess is that the Blues will now leverage those first-round picks and may even keep their first-round pick to try and bring someone like Timo Meier into the fold who can then play with Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn and be a part of that Blues core moving forward with a long-term extension. So we know the Hurricanes are very interested, we know the Devils are very interested, but I think this race has really heated up in a big big way.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, and you look at Timo Meier at 26 years old and would slide right into that young core they have with [Pavel] Buchnevich who is 27, Kyrou who is 24, Robert Thomas who is 23 and Meier would give them another legit option. I guess where I also want to go with this Frank is that teams like the Canes and Devils are looking at this as a pure rental, so if you’re the Blues couldn’t you almost wait till the summer and get him cheaper when he’s a pending RFA?
Frank Seravalli: No, and I think that’s what the Blues have recognized here, that there may be only one crack to get a player like Meier and this may be the only opportunity. I think there’s the optionality factor of the Canes for instance acquiring him, using him at the deadline and then trading him for 40 or 50 cents come the summertime. But, I think a team like New Jersey would try and lock Meier up long-term. So, there’s others that want to get their hands on him and I think where it’s important is when you look forward to the NHL’s free agent market in the summer, it’s not teeming with prospects to really come in and be a difference maker for your team, and so this may be the one and only opportunity for the St. Louis Blues. To take those picks and leverage them, to turn this from potentially O’Reilly and Tarasenko into Meier, I don’t know, it just seems to make a whole lot of sense to me.
You can watch the full episode here…
