St. Louis Blues trade rumors are beginning to resemble a fantasy hockey message board.

According to Bob McKenzie at TSN, the St. Louis Blues figure as a possible landing point for Steven Stamkos, whose inconsistent play and impending free agency have created a media circus in the Sunshine State.

Stamkos will undoubtedly be expensive to sign over the summer, so the Lightning may shop Stamkos to avoid losing him for a fat lot of nothing. Conveniently for conjecture, St. Louis Blues beat writer Lou Korac tweeted that Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman and St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong were chatting together Thursday night.

While the two could have been discussing Team Canada or the mild weather in town, the Blues seemingly have both the desire and the potential pieces to pick up a player like Stamkos through a trade. The Blues have absurd depth at both forward and the defensive positions, plenty to provide Tampa Bay in a trade package, as well as upcoming draft picks and solid prospects.

The Lightning would likely stock the pipeline in a Stamkos trade, so a player like Fabbri or Parayko changing sides wouldn’t be an unreasonable return for a stupendous player like ‘Stammer’. The problem, however, lies in the rental status for Stamkos. If the Blues got Stamkos on a rental, it would be a cup-or-bust. If Stamkos were to spend half a season in the Lou and not hoist a cup, the team would be so depleted, forlorn and devoid of prospects that a full rebuild would be in order.

As McKenzie suggested, the Lightning could instead go with a sign-and-trade deal with Stamkos’ permission, but that would have further repercussions. The Blues would undoubtedly also have to part with a major player under contract, such as Steen or Shattenkirk (yuck), in order to pull that off.

That’s not to mention the financial bind Stamkos would bring to the Blues roster: Backes is an unrestricted free agent next year, and a salary hit like Stamkos’ means ‘bye bye Backes.’ Then 2017 brings both Steen and Shattenkirk to free agency (if we still have them), and there’s no way both remain Blues if we’re already giving a generous chunk of our salary cap to Stamkos, Pietrangelo and Tarasenko alone.

Any trade for Stamkos is going to run considerable risk. But if rumor were to be believed, Columbus’ Ryan Johansen has one (reportedly overweight) foot out the door as well, and may be a more realistic target.

Johansen was benched Thursday night against the Arizona Coyotes, further cementing ‘RyJo’s’ doghouse status with firebrand coach John Tortorella. According to Aaron Portzline, the Blue Jackets are actively shopping Johansen, and Matt Larkin of the Hockey News affirms that the Blues are a fit for Johansen.

This trade would be less world-rending than one for Steven Stamkos, and considering Columbus’ horrid season, could be a shake-up trade that would suit both teams.

Columbus has documented needs at the defensive position and would need a player to slide into Johansen’s role if he were to be shipped away. At defense, the Blues have an abundance of players and prospects, more than enough to make this trade possible.

Assuredly, the Blue Jackets would want Shattenkirk. In fact, I could see Shattenkirk for Johansen being a fairly even trade. They are both young and talented, signed for another year at a similar cap hit (Sure, Shatty is vital to our power play, but Johansen could plug in there just as well). Johansen, however, has the fresh personal baggage he’s acquired these last few years, making this trade a risky one for the Blues.

Carl Gunnarsson has been dangled as well, but he certainly wouldn’t be enough to entice Columbus to pull the trigger. However, you put Gunnarsson and a defensive prospect like Schmaltz, Edmunson or Vanelli together, and you could perk Blue Jacket ears.

David Backes would seemingly fit the bill for Columbus and would be a picture-perfect Tortorella player, but he’s a rental with a no-trade clause. Besides my heart being broken by seeing Backes in another uniform, it’d be difficult to picture Backes even considering going from a cup contender to a basement dweller, let alone going out of his way to make it happen.

More possible forward targets could be Patrik Berglund, who is close to returning from injury, or Jori Lehtera, though Jori’s history with Tarasenko makes it hard to picture him leaving. Heaven forbid, but Robby Fabbri could be dangled as a prized prospect to get the deal done, though that seems lopsided in Columbus’ favor.

Regardless of the package, the real question is whether or not Ryan Johansen would be any better off under Ken Hitchcock instead of John Tortorella. While Hitchcock doesn’t put his foot in his mouth quite as much, Hitch preaches shot blocking and physical play as much as Tortorella does (much to my chagrin). If Johansen is having effort issues under Torts, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be any less of a sullen distraction in St. Louis.

I’ve reported a bunch on trade rumors, and on a personal note: I’d rather not see the St. Louis Blues totally sell the farm in order to grab a singular superstar player. In fact, I don’t know if any single player in the league could jump into a sweater with the Note on it and magically levitate this team into playoff heaven.

I truly believe the genesis of this team’s cup win will come from inside the clubhouse, and not from an outsider adding a spark; I wouldn’t pull the trigger on these trades. Still, you can’t blame ownership for scouting the league’s best talent. Besides, Stamkos and Tarasenko on the same line would make the league collectively soil their pants. I’d like to see anyone on the planet try to defend them together.

A man can dream, can’t he?