Former Blues heartthrob T.J. Oshie is relishing the second stage of his NHL career.
His Washington Capitals have a lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final. He is surrounded by world-class offensive talents like Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Kuznetsov and John Carlson.
Oshie, now a seasoned veteran at 31, enjoys lifetime security (and then some) from his eight-year, $46 million contract.
Naturally, some Blues fans wonder: Why couldn't this good stuff happen for him here?
Many factors conspired to deny Oshie a happy ending with the Blues, including unrealized expectations, the need to freshen team chemistry and the franchise's long-term salary cap concerns.
The Blues traded him to the Capitals in 2015 for power forward Troy Brouwer, a third-round pick and goaltender Pheonix Copley. That deal paid off the next season when the Blues played a much "heavier" game with Brouwer banging around and reached the NHL's Final Four for the first time in 15 years.
But long-term consequences of the Oshie trade are ominous since the Capitals are two victories away from playing for their first Stanley Cup while the Blues are regrouping after this spring's playoff miss.
Did the Blues get enough return on the Oshie trade?
No, since Brouwer exited as a free agent after the '16 playoff run. Copley returned to the Capitals as a throw-in with the Keven Shattenkirk trade. The Blues used the third-round pick from the Oshie deal to move up in the first round and select Tage Thompson in 2016.
Other than salary cap savings and the right to pick Thompson over another prospect, the Blues didn't gain lingering benefit from that trade.
Did the Blues make amazing use of those cap savings?
No, since general manager Doug Armstrong used his payroll flexibility to keep Patrik Berglund (five years, $19.25 million), lock in Alexander Steen (four years, $23 million) and regain Vladimir Sobotka (three years, $10.5 million). The returns on those contracts have been moderate at best.
Would the Blues have been better off keeping and paying Oshie?
Ummmm ... maybe. To consider that question, let's go back to the beginning with Oshie.
He arrived with plenty and flash and dash in 2008 when the Blues lacked both. He and fellow young forwards David Perron and Berglund were going to be the team's future.
At times, they looked capable of becoming special. At times, they drove their coaches crazy.
Fans expected more, given the high hopes for better times they placed on them. At times their coaches expected more, too, noting that young players can grow complacent when they get comfortable.
Oshie was an especially vexing case. He could dance through defenders with his stickhandling and embarrass goaltenders in shootouts, as his "T.J. Sochi" Olympic star turn for Team USA as underscored.
But over the years Blues coaches invariably wanted him to put more pucks on net and play and more direct north-south game.
Oshie could separate opponents from the puck on the forecheck and dump them with reverse shoulder checks. But injuries became an issue, as did his inconsistent aggression.
Ultimately Blues management decided to break up the "Boy Band" Blues. Perron departed in 2013, bouncing from Edmonton to Pittsburgh and Anaheim, back to St. Louis and then out to Las Vegas in the expansion draft.
Oshie, two years remaining on his contract, moved on to Washington in 2015. He got his new contract, which runs until 2025, after scoring 33 goals in 68 games for the explosive Capitals last season.
But he converted 23.1 percent of his shots to produce that total, an unsustainable rate even on a highly skilled team. Sure enough, Oshie fell back to 18 goals this season on just 127 shots on goal and a 14.2 percent conversion rate.
"There were times where I wasn't playing that great, to be honest, there were times I played awesome and didn't have a shot on net," Oshie told reporters after his uneven regular season.
His eight-year contract, which runs until Oshie is 38 years old, will probably look worse and worse as time goes on.
Then again, the Capitals have a real shot at winning the Stanley Cup. Oshie is closer to realizing his career-long dream than he ever was as a Blue.
"For every year that you fall short, you get a little bit hungrier and a little bit hungrier," Oshie told reporters at the start of postseason play. "At the time, it feels like you can't want it any more and then you fall short again and somehow you want it more than you did the last time."
Blues fans can definitely relate to that. If Oshie ends up hoisting the Cup, the "what if T.J. stayed?" cries will only grow louder.
