The Situation

His first assist this season will give him 900 for his career. He will be only the second SICHLer to ever cross that plateau. 

He needs 43 goals to join the 600 Club, likely the sixth person in league history to do so.

Third in all-time SICHL points today.

Second in all-time powerplay goals.

And not just that, he has gotten better with age. In his last seven seasons, all in St. Louis, he has had a resurgance, missing only 17 games across those years. He has amassed 662 points on 267 goals and 395 assists. He is plus-107 in that time.

"Oh," one might say, "But surely thats's front-loaded! He's too old to be getting better!"

Last year, as St. Louis suffered their worst season since 2016, he scored 37 goals, tallied 54 assists (91 points) and was plus-13. Ageless. Timeless. Recession-proof.

But, as he eyes the near end of his career, he has this year and at least one more in the tank. Could he play another, two years from now? Well, he's being coy about that one.

"I don't know what the future holds. I'm not ready for a retirement tour around the league yet, I know that."

So, why is he availalable?

(Yes, there it is, I wrote it. It's true. He's actually available, for the first time in eight seasons.)

Because, silly, The Man wants to win. And, unfortunately, St. Louis is looking down the barrel of a second consecutive tough season. The year after that? Probably a slight uptick as the organization right-sizes, but that doesn't mean a playoff appearance.

That is why he's available.

While it seems unlikely that he moves before next Sunday's entry draft, it's not impossible. If someone saw him as an easy solution to their second line center issue, or even as a truly fantastic pivot for a scoring third line, maybe someone would make the offer to pry him loose. Maybe more likely will be the window after free agency, when a team that didn't overspend enough on a guy comes to the conclusion that $9 mil for the year looks like a good bet on a proven league star.

If not then, maybe mid-season, as teams deal with underperformers or bad chemistry or injuries? Sure. Could happen. But thems the doldrums.

What about the trade deadline? Seems like a real possibility it would happen then. Are you desperate? Do you need one piece to make a run? Do you have the assets to make it happen? Does your closest competitor?

Finally, what happens if no one make the right offer at any stage listed here?

"Well," said GM Gallagher, "It's not the worst thing in the world for me to have to Franchise Player tag him yet again. If that happens we just know that he's a Spartan for life. Eventually he ends up owning every one of our offensive franchise records and the we end up sending his number to the rafters. Not exactly a bad outcome for us. As we retool, he'd be a great mentor to the next wave."

And so, there it is. We can finally talk about it openly.

Even the casual hockey fan knows how big this news is.

Mainly because you just read this whole article, knowing exactly who this is, without ever reading the name Anze Kopitar.