The Blues traded away Chris Stewart last season to the Buffalo Sabres in a deal which was supposed to answer the team’s questions in net. The Ryan Miller experiment proved to be unsuccessful and Stewart found himself skating for the Sabres – a punishment most fans wouldn’t wish on even their most hated hockey player.
Stewart was flipped from the Sabres to the Minnesota Wild this year and now he’s back to face the Blues on Saturday night as his new team tries to make a push for the playoffs. Stewart spoke with the Star Tribune about his trade from the Blues.
“Anytime you get traded in this league, I think you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder and want to stick it to them every time you play them. There’s no other way to take it than personal.”
It’s easy to understand Stewart’s perspective. The Blues, a top Cup contender at the time, believed he was expendable and wouldn’t be needed in their quest for the ultimate prize. That has to be damaging to a player’s confidence.
To play devil’s advocate, you could also take Stewart’s comments above a very different way. He says he wants to stick it to the Blues each time he plays them. The Blues traded him away because he lacked that killer instinct during games and often looked bored, sluggish and mostly uninterested. Stewart’s inability to play and “stick it to teams” resulted in his trade. Maybe if he would have had that fire more consistently in 2013-14 he wouldn’t have been traded in the first place. A bit ironic.
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