In a trade that shook up the cores of both franchises, the St. Louis Blues sent former first overall pick (in 2006) Erik Johnson, Jay McClement and a first round pick to the Colorado Avalanche for power-sniper Chris Stewart, rookie Kevin Shattenkirk and a second round pick. In trading Johnson, the Blues send a strong message in their disappointment in Johnson?s development. Looking back at the 2006 Entry Draft, they would surely like a do-over and take Jonathan Toews (3rd overall pick); heck I am sure they would take Jordan Staal (2nd), Nicklas Backstrom (4th), and maybe even Phil Kessel (5th) ahead of Johnson if they knew how it would turn out. Oddly enough, Stewart was taken with the 18th pick of the same draft. The 22-year-old Johnson did not live up to the hype his draft position placed on him. He began his career in 2007-08 showing great promise, netting 33 points in 69 games. This was after he was awarded Best Defenseman at the World Junior Championships, so at the time it looked like a good pick by St. Louis. But after his rookie year, he had a strange golf cart accident in which he tore his ACL and MCL and missed his entire sophomore season. He came back last season and doubled his goal total to 10 and contributed 29 assists in 79 games, while also raising his plus/minus to +1 after being -9 as a rookie. This season, however, his game hasn?t shown the progress that was expected, as he had 5 goals and 19 points with a -8 rating in 55 games for the Blues. At a hulking 6?4? he fit the mould of a Brian Burke-type player, and was chosen to the U.S. Olympic Team. So perhaps a change of scenery is exactly what he needs to get his career going back in the right direction. Colorado sure hopes so, because no one in the NHL has allowed more goals than the Avs this season. They haven?t had any problems scoring, and played well without Stewart early this season, so this looks like a trade in which they could become a more well-rounded hockey club ? barring Johnson being able to find the form that made him a No. 1 draft pick. In McClement, the Avs also receive an experienced third-line player who will help their penalty kill and can provide some leadership to the young group of forwards on the roster. The first round pick they receive has a limited protection: if the Blues end up picking in the top-10 this season, St. Louis will keep the pick and send Colorado their 2012 first; if the pick is outside of the top-10, Colorado will receive the pick. Grade for Colorado: B- This deal looks like a great job by St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong is selling low on Johnson while receiving high value. The lack of confidence in Johnson was evident when they elected to sign him to a short, two-year contract last offseason. His $2.6M cap hit is virtually identical to Stewart?s $2.875 for this year and next. Chris Stewart is a very good goal scorer, and always has been. He had 73 goals in a two-year span in the OHL, and scored 25 goals in his first full professional season in the AHL. Yet everyone was surprised when he broke out with 28 goals and 64 points (in 77 games) last season for Colorado. It really boiled down to one thing: opportunity. St. Louis desperately lacked scoring punch. Their leading point getter (David Backes) is 45th in the NHL. While Stewart is currently 13 points behind Backes, he has played 20 fewer games. Before he broke his hand in a fight, Stewart had tallied 11-14-25 in the first 23 games. St. Louis is in the bottom-third of the NHL in terms of goal-scoring, so being able to get a significant upgrade to their top-six is a big success story. The 6?2?, 23-year-old Stewart also brings physicality that will compliment Backes greatly. His physical play and scoring ability were evident in his first Blues games, when he scored twice on the power play. His game reminds me of a young Todd Bertuzzi, when he was lighting the lamp in Vancouver. While the Blues were dealing from a position of strength (defense) thanks to the emergence of young Alex Pietrangelo as an elite offensive defenseman, they were still able to pry a significant blueline piece from Colorado in Kevin Shattenkirk. The 22-year-old rookie scored 19 points in his first 21 games, and has 27 in total through 47 games this season. While he isn?t the next Bobby Orr or Nicklas Lidstrom, he still looks like a future top-four defenseman with good puck moving and power play ability. St. Louis will receive a second round pick in the same draft that they send Colorado a first, so they are likely moving down roughly 30 spots or so, which isn?t astronomical unless St. Louis falls inside the bottom-10 both this year and next, but I don?t see that happening. I think this trade makes St. Louis a better all-around team, and while Colorado is getting a former No. 1 pick, the price looks far too high to pay as we don?t even know if Johnson will have a better career than Shattenkirk at this point. And then the huge upgrade at forward St. Louis gets in Chris Stewart, it is a clear win for the Blues. Grade for St. Louis: A Nick is RealGM?s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan