Late Monday night, the Washington Capitals landed one of the best players available ahead of the trade deadline, acquiring right-handed defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk from the Blues.
Shattenkirk played six full seasons in St. Louis, including parts of five with former Blue and current Capitals forward TJ Oshie. Oshie spoke to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeremy Rutherford about the trade and was very excited.
T.J. Oshie on being reunited with Kevin Shattenkirk: "Couldn't be more excited." #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) February 28, 2017
Did I mention he was excited?
Shaaaaaattttini!!!!!!! Welcome to D.C. buddy. Excited to be back together!!! @shattdeuces
— TJ Oshie (@TJOshie77) February 28, 2017
Oshie also had a lot of kind words for former teammate Zach Sanford.
Oshie on Sanford: "Sany is a young player with a bright future. Offensively he is a 'big' with good hands. Defensively he is very reliable.
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) February 28, 2017
Oshie cont'd: "Seems like he is good at both blue lines, which I think is rare for a young player. I think it will be a good fit for him …
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) February 28, 2017
Oshie cont'd: "… and hopefully he'll get a little more opportunity and get some PP time."
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) February 28, 2017
Meanwhile Caps forward Tom Wilson had his own welcome for Shattenkirk.
I guess you could call it fate… welcome to Wash @shattdeuces! See ya soon #fate pic.twitter.com/HyVG6uAYi3
— Tom Wilson (@tom_wilso) February 28, 2017
In a release from the Capitals, General Manager Brian MacLellan believed Shattenkirk could help the team on the power play.
“We are excited to welcome Kevin to our organization,” said MacLellan “We felt it was important to acquire another defenseman to strengthen and add depth to our blueline. Kevin is a skilled, puck moving defenseman who we think will help our team at even strength and on the power play.”
That was further backed up by Blues forward Scottie Upshall.
@shattdeuces Best of luck bro! You will feed Ovie so many perfect one timers, he will need offseason shoulder surgery! Go get em pal!
— Scottie Upshall (@ScottieUpshall) February 28, 2017
