Before the 2023 trade deadline, the St. Louis Blues sold off their third big forward in a trade that sent Ivan Barbashev to the Vegas Golden Knights. This came after the club had already traded Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vladimir Tarasenko to the New York Rangers. Let’s look back on a trade that happened just under a year ago.
Blues Acquired Prospect Zach Dean
In the trade, the Blues sent Barbashev to Vegas in exchange for prospect forward Zach Dean. The Golden Knights drafted Dean 30th overall in the 2021 Draft. At 21 years old, he’s struggled to find his footing above the junior level, but there is still time. He spent four seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with the Gatineau Olympiques, where he scored 70 points in 50 games in his final season there.
Related: Blues January Prospect Report: AHL
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Dean has struggled to produce in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the Springfield Thunderbirds this season. He has just five points in 36 games and a plus/minus of minus-16. It’s been a struggle for him, but there’s still time for him to develop his game over the next couple of seasons. The Blues already had a boatload of picks for the 2023 Draft by the time they added Dean instead of picks in the Barbashev trade and I’m not sure what the pick value of him was at the time of the deal.
Barbashev’s Major Contributions in Vegas
Barbashev has been a phenomenal fit in Vegas, which isn’t a surprise given the talent and structure there. He played 23 regular season games last season after the trade and tallied 16 points. He was also one of their top forwards in the playoffs last season and helped them capture the 2023 Stanley Cup. He scored seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points in 22 playoff games. He was a massive reason why the Golden Knights rolled their way to a Cup. He’s a two-time Cup champion and played integral roles in both the 2023 Cup with Vegas and the 2019 Cup with St. Louis.
Barbashev earned himself a nice extension with Vegas to avoid free agency last summer. He got a five-year deal with an annual average value (AAV) of $5 million. He was making less than $3 million on his last contract with the Blues, so it was a nice deal for him. His production in Vegas is near where it was in his breakout 2021-22 season with the Blues.
| Season | Team | Games | Goals/Assists/Points |
| 2021-22 | St. Louis | 81 | 26/34/60 |
| 2022-23 | St. Louis/Vegas | 82 | 16/29/45 |
| 2023-24 | Vegas | 51 | 13/17/30 |
Source: Hockey Reference
Even though he throws a lot of hits and plays a heavy style, he’s been reliable with one missed regular season game over the last three seasons. Barbashev is a valuable piece for a playoff-level team, which is why he’s a much better fit in Vegas as opposed to St. Louis right now.
Conclusion
It’s hard to look at this deal and think it’s anything but a huge win for the Golden Knights. The Blues still have time with Dean, but Vegas has already gotten a lot out of Barbashev and he’ll be there for the next several seasons barring an unforeseen trade. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Dean over the next couple of seasons as Barbashev thrives in Vegas.
The Blues are unlikely to make a bunch of trades like they did last season, but they will be in plenty of trade conversations with the deadline happening in a month (March 8).
