NHL Buzz: Blues listening to offers for Boyes and Berglund in wake of blockbuster deal

Executives around the league are buzzing about last night’s shocking trade between the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche.

In the deal, St. Louis dealt Johnson to the Avs along with forward Jay McClement and a first-round pick for third year forward Chirs Stewart, rookie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and a second-round pick.

The deal was announced at 2:20 a.m. ET.

The league though is buzzing more over the fact of the Avalanche being willing to deal Chris Stewart who is viewed around the league as one of the top young power forwards in the game.

I spoke with a contact this morning who had previous ties to the Av’s organization, and I was told Av’s management always tried to find something they didn’t like about Stewart and they just weren’t sold on him.

The Blues are the clear winner of the deal as they get a player in Stewart who has great offensive upside and another pivotal piece in defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk who is an emerging puck moving defenseman with great vision and passing ability. He has 26 points thus far in his rookie season.

Chatter around the league is that St. Louis remains in trade talks, in the wake of this morning’s deal.

The Blues are actively looking to move a salary, most notably Brad Boyes’ $4 million a year salary for next season and the Blues are also listening to inquiries on 22 year old center Patrik Berglund.

A report from RDS.ca (we are not confirming) surfaced on Friday indicating that the Penguins and Blues were involved in discussions. The report speculated Andy McDonald ($4.7 million cap hit 11/12) and Brad Boyes ($4 million cap hit 11/12) as potential players of interest for Pittsburgh.

The Penguins and Blues have hooked up for several minor league deals in the past couple seasons.

McDonald is not being moved as he’s signed through the 2012-2013 with a cap hit of $4.7 million.

Boyes is a player the Penguins had interest in years ago when he was with Boston. This is a guy who from a statistic standpoint whose had a Jonathan Cheechoo kind of dropoff.

Boyes has gone from 43 goals in 07-08, 33 goals in 08-09, 14 goals in 09-10 and now has 11 games thus far this season. He has just one goal in his last 14 games.

The asking price I’m told is not high as the Blues are looking to move him more from a salary dump standpoint and this is also a player whose found himself on the 4th line at times over the past year in a half.

For Pittsburgh to take on Boyes salary for next season, it would be a major risk and something that’s hard to buy into right now.