After the St. Louis Blues lost 6-3 to the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday, head coach Craig Berube took the podium to answer questions. When asked about Vince Dunn’s tough night, he let slip some of his feelings on the defenseman’s rough night.
Gotta play better. Can’t get walked one-on-one. I dunno. We’ll keep that in house and talk to him about it.
It seems as though the house is leaky, as both Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Frank Seravalli of TSN reported on trade talks the team has had revolving around the young player. Friedman writes that there were a “lot of trade talks about him” before the team signed Dunn to a one-year, $1.875M deal and notes that the Blues are believed to be looking for a first-round pick in return. Seravalli meanwhile admits it’s not “inevitable” that the team trades him, reports that the Blues have engaged with teams in discussions about him, and suggests Dunn’s “time might be done” in St. Louis.
Dunn, 24, has struggled in the defensive end of the rink but posted seasons of 24, 35, and 23 points through the first three years of his career. The 2015 second-round pick is a strong offensive weapon that could be valuable to a team that can offer sheltered minutes with the right partner. That appears to not be in St. Louis anymore, though obviously it’s not clear when a trade will be completed, if at all.
In the meantime, it appears as though he may be a healthy scratch or at least lose his powerplay duties for the Blues this evening. Berube explained his reasoning even further to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, saying that Dunn “has to keep the game in front of him more than anything” and limit the turnovers he has been known to give up.
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