Erik Johnson Helps Beat His Former Team; Peter Stastny Rips Trade

Prior to Tuesday's Colorado-St. Louis game, a match up that featured the two teams involved in one of the biggest trades of the season, newly acquired Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson said he wanted to make his former general manager (Doug Armstrong) regret trading him. Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame father of one of his new teammates was having his own regrets about the deal.

The Blues, of course, sent Johnson to Colorado last Saturday in a shocking blockbuster trade that involved three recent first-round draft picks (and a future first-round pick), including Johnson, a former No. 1 overall selection.

Said Johnson, via Adrian Dater of the Denver Post (complete video can be seen by clicking here), "I want to make them regret trading Erik Johnson. There's no doubt about that and I say that with the utmost respect in the world for them. I respect Doug Armstrong, I respect John Davidson, everybody I met here in this city. At the end of the day, I want them to be kicking themselves for trading me."

The Avalanche ended up winning Tuesday's game in St. Louis by a 4-3 margin, thanks in part to a goal from Johnson himself late in the third period to break a 2-2 tie. After picking off a St. Louis clearing attempt along the boards, Johnson worked the puck to the middle of the ice, held off a defender, and ripped a shot from between the circles past Blues goaltender Ty Conklin. It was nice illustration of the talent, upside and ability that made Johnson a top pick in the draft, and also made him a highly coveted asset in a trade.



After the game Johnson said it was a "unique feeling" and that "I don't think it can get any better than this." He then later added, via the Associated Press, "You never want to leave a place where you're comfortable. Such is life. That's the way the business is. I thank everybody in St. Louis that helped me. But this is a great opportunity for me."

The Avalanche would add another goal from Paul Stastny to increase their lead to 4-2, before having to hold off a late Blues rally that included an Andy McDonald goal to cut the lead to just one.

Earlier in the day Stastny's father, Peter Stastny, a Hall of Fame player with the Avalanche franchise when it was still based in Quebec, was extremely critical of the trade from a Colorado point of view. He ripped general manager Greg Sherman for setting the team back "two to three years" by sending Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk to St. Louis for Johnson and Jay McClement, and predicted that Armstrong will come out looking like a genius.

Here's what he had to say on KMOX radio in St. Louis, via CBC:

"This young team was ready to challenge, almost, for a Stanley Cup this season. All they needed was some more chemistry, and some synergies. Instead, they destroyed the team. I mean, that was a one-way deal. [Blues GM Doug] Armstrong will look like a genius. I don't know what they were thinking in the Colorado organization. "I should not have said this, but I'm so, so mad what they've done to this team. They've moved the team about two to three years back again."

If one thing was obvious about the Avalanche at the time of the deal it's that they weren't close to a Stanley Cup this season, having dropped all the way down to the 14th spot in the Western Conference ahead of only the Edmonton Oilers. Tuesday's win in St. Louis snapped what had been a 10-game losing streak, and even with the victory the Avs have still won just two of their past 14 games.

In Stewart and Shattenkirk they obviously gave up a great deal of young talent, but they also received a No. 1 overall pick from just four years ago, one that still has loads of seemingly untapped potential.

Sure, there's a chance that St. Louis could be the clear-cut winner in this deal down the line. But there's also the chance that Johnson blossoms in Colorado and becomes the franchise-type defenseman he was projected to be when he was selected ahead of Jordan Staal, Jonathan Toews and Nicklas Backstrom during the 2006 draft. He will definitely make-or-break the deal from a Colorado perspective, but the potential is there for both teams to come out looking like geniuses.