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It’s the trade Blues fans have prayed for, Sabres fans have dreaded and fantasy owners have been dying for; The Sabres traded Ryan Miller and Steve Ott to the St. Louis Blues for Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, a 2015 first-round pick and a 2016 third-round pick tonight. Clearly the Blues are going all in for the cup this season and this move makes a team that was a serious contender to begin with seem like a near lock for it now. So, what does this do to their respective fantasy values? Miller goes from middle of the pack to top 5 with a huge spike in value. You can expect fantastic peripherals and, finally, loads o’ wins from the former Vezina winner. Jaroslav Halak’s value goes in the exact opposite direction and man, it’s bummersville for him as he joins Jhonas Enroth on the league’s worst team. If you own Halak you shouldn’t drop him, but I’d bench him to see how he handles the onslaught of shots he’s going to face now. Obviously he’s not going to give you many more wins, so if you’re a Halak owner in a H2H league, you need to start looking at the wire and seriously considering who you’re going to be comfortable streaming when Halak’s numbers inevitably tumble down, down, down into the deep, dark waters of mediocrity. Man, that’s some Edgar Allen Poe shiz right there! It’s appropriate, can you imagine what it’s like for Halak? One minute he’s on one of the league’s best teams, poised to be strong for years to come, and the next he’s in nowheresville, New York. Ouch. Anyway, here’s how the rest of the guys in this deal shake out:

Chris Stewart has always tantalized us with his ability to score goals, but he seems to lack the give-a-damn to put in enough effort to cash in on his natural talent. The result? A yawnstipating shmohawk (as Grey would say) that leaves much to be desired. If he had any value in St. Louis it’s gone now, drop him and don’t look back.

William Carrier is a 19 year old prospect that is by all accounts the polar opposite of Stewart in terms of attitude. He leaves it all on the ice every shift, but he lacks the natural ability to break through to stardom. He’s going to be grinder with some tepid offensive upside. He’s also fairly injury prone, and if he’s already there at 19, what’s going to happen when he turns 30?

Steve Ott didn’t really have any value to begin with, and it doesn’t really change because he moved to St. Louis. I’d look to see what his ownership numbers are, but I’ll just go ahead and assume it’s in the single digits in both Yahoo and ESPN and leave it at that. Ott’s a guy you love to have on your team, love to watch play, but is worthless like whoa in fantasy hockey.