St. Louis Blues
Brayden Schenn admits the days leading into the Trade Deadline have been difficult.
St. Louis (22-29-9) has lost seven of its past 10 games and trails the Edmonton Oilers by 13 points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
“It’s an uneasy time for everyone, especially the position we’ve put ourselves in,” Schenn said. “We obviously see names out there, but at the end of the day, you have a job to do and you come out, you practice hard, you play hard, you put your head down and you be a pro. That’s what it boils down to.
“Some guys have full control, some guys have some control and some guys have none. But at the end of the day, it’s part of the business. No one likes going through it. But we know what we signed up for.”
Schenn, the Blues captain, is in the fifth season of an eight-year, $52 million contract ($6.5 million AAV) signed on Oct. 4, 2019, which has dropped from full no-trade protection to a 15-team no-trade clause. The 34-year-old center has 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) in 60 games.
Other players who have been mentioned in trade rumors include forwards Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, and defenseman Justin Faulk. Any potential deals involving Thomas and/or Kyrou would require the player waiving his full no-trade clause.
“You understand the human element,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “Sometimes peoples’ minds might be somewhere else, so you talk to them in between whistles while the other group is going instead of blowing it down and slowing down practice because you understand that you need to get through practice and you also understand the human element of it. Everybody knows it’s coming.”
The Blues visit the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+).