ARLINGTON, Va. -- In the days leading up to his trade by the St. Louis Blues to the Washington Capitals, Kevin Shattenkirk's future was the subject of much good-natured ribbing.
"Carter Hutton would always joke around that I was holding the league ransom," Shattenkirk recalled, smiling. "Every time I'd get a point or something, he'd say, 'Oh, geez, you're holding the league hostage, you're holding all the cards.' Everyone would joke about it. It wound up being easier to deal with that way."
After news started to filter in on Feb. 27 about the trade that ended months of speculation regarding the most sought-after player on the rental market, Shattenkirk had just put steaks on the grill for himself and girlfriend Deanna. It was a perfect evening in St. Louis for grilling, about 65 degrees.
But as he refreshed his Twitter feed and word poured in that he was headed to the league's best team, his appetite was soon forgotten. Blues GM Doug Armstrong called, confirming the trade. Capitals GM Brian MacLellan called soon after.
Longtime Blues assistant equipment manager Joel Farnsworth soon picked up Shattenkirk's gear from the team's practice rink and dropped it off at Shattenkirk's apartment -- Shattenkirk had an 8 a.m. flight the next day to meet his new teammates in New York.
The Blues were playing the next day, and many of Shattenkirk's teammates reached out electronically before heading for bed, but Alex Pietrangelo and his wife, Alex Steen and his fiancée, Ryan Reaves and Paul Stastny all stopped by Shattenkirk's place. Over beer, they talked about what the next few days and beyond would hold.
"It meant a lot," said Shattenkirk, who had been with the Blues since a trade by the Colorado Avalanche as part of the Erik Johnson deal during his rookie season, in 2010-11.
Maybe they would have dropped by, regardless of Shattenkirk's destination. Or maybe the striking similarities between the Capitals and Blues drew this group of friends together and made the farewell so poignant. Maybe the shared history of sky-high expectations and crushing disappointments left Shattenkirk's teammates wondering if this was the kind of moment that was going to send their friend on a path as yet unknown to them -- a path ending with a championship.
"We've become so close, and I think they were excited for me to kind of move on and try to develop as a player even more," Shattenkirk said, sitting in a bright deli a few blocks from the Capitals' practice facility. Outside, the snow swirled amid the brutal cold. "[I was going] to a team that has such a great chance."
T.J. Oshie knows Shattenkirk as well as anyone on the Caps from when they were teammates on the Blues. The two were also on the 2014 U.S. Olympic team together in Sochi.
Not that Shattenkirk needed references, but Oshie sang his praises to MacLellan leading up to the trade.
"He's a great guy. He's one of those guys that when he meets someone, he doesn't forget them," said Oshie, who was obtained from the Blues by the Caps on July 2, 2015. "He remembers your names, he takes the time to learn your wife's name and your kid's name and be there for your kid's birthday parties. Off the ice [he's a] really, really standup guy. And then on the ice, he's a great talent out there. His vision and his ability to see a play before it happens and make passes is on the elite level."
One solitary player, especially a guy picked up at the trade deadline, doesn't especially guarantee the first Stanley Cup parade for the American capital. But that knowledge won't stop many, especially long-suffering Capitals fans, from wanting, hoping, demanding that Shattenkirk become that kind of figure.
Shattenkirk, even-keeled and thoughtful, understands the dynamic in his new hockey home, even if he admits he did not realize that Washington has never won more than a single playoff round since captain Alex Ovechkin came into the league in 2005.
The 28-year-old native of New Rochelle, New York, recalled what longtime Blues assistant coach Brad Shaw told him when Shattenkirk signed the contract that expires at the end of this season.
"He called me and he said, 'Listen, just because you're making more money now doesn't mean you have to do more,'" Shattenkirk says around mouthfuls of an egg, bacon and avocado sandwich on which he's poured a liberal amount of hot sauce.
"'You're being compensated for what you do, so don't feel like you don't have to come in and be a 70-point scorer now because you've been putting up 40 points. Do what you do best, do it well,' and everyone has a role on the team, and then that's my role. That's helped me," he said.
The other thing that has helped put his current standing as the anticipated savior in perspective was a disappointing turn by the Blues in the 2014 playoffs after they had acquired 2010 Olympic MVP goalie Ryan Miller and Steve Ott from the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline.
"And I remember the second it happened, everyone said, 'The Blues are going to win the Stanley Cup. It's over,'" he recalled. "It just didn't work out."
That's putting it mildly. The Blues were banged up with injuries to key personnel. Miller never found a groove. And the Blues were bounced in the first round by the Chicago Blackhawks in six games. Shattenkirk called it a "humbling" experience.
So when people refer to him in the same breathless manner, the belief that he is the final piece to a Washington picture that has always been just a bit out of focus when it comes to the playoffs, he is both honored and wary.
"I think the pressure doesn't really fall on me -- it doesn't affect me, I should say," Shattenkirk said. "I think the one thing I've been trying to do is maybe breathe new life into these guys and maybe help them realize that it's a new year, it's a new team and we don't have to worry about [the history]. It's hard, because I can say that, but I'm not them. They've been here for longer, and it's only human nature. I went through it in St. Louis, and it was tough. And last year, when we finally broke through, when we got past the first round, it was an amazing feeling."
There are myriad reasons teams have been trying to trade for Shattenkirk for more than a year.
He's a right-handed shot with high-end offensive abilities.
He's not particularly physical, notwithstanding his recent suspension, but he's learned to become a much better defender than people imagine.
"He does it with his hockey sense, with his hand-eye coordination, with his passing," said former NHL goalie and national analyst Darren Pang, who also does color for Blues games. "The great players that have gone through St. Louis have all wanted to be on the ice with Kevin Shattenkirk. And I think that's an outstanding compliment to any player. He puts the puck on their tape. He doesn't give it away. And he usually gives it to you in full flight."
So there's the skill. And there's the experience Shattenkirk went through in St. Louis -- his evolution with a team that has been trying to bust through for years finally making it to a Western Conference finals last spring.
"I think the one thing that has to be considered is that the Washington Capitals didn't take a player from a losing environment," Pang said.
Former head coach Ken Hitchcock's respect for Shattenkirk is such that he broke his silence since his firing by the Blues at the beginning of February to talk about Shattenkirk.
"Shatty is one of the best defensemen defending by attacking the rush," Hitchcock said via text message. "He has great anticipation and surprises people and creates a lot of turnovers because of it. ... He is at his most dangerous when the game is tied or down a goal. He knows how to play reckless and is a dangerous offensive player because of that.
"He was a great team player in the room, almost like another coach," the veteran coach and Stanley Cup winner added. "He knows what went right and wrong before the coaches get in the room."
Scouts point to Shattenkirk's potential impact on the Capitals' already talent-laden power play as a possible tipping point in what is bound to be a difficult playoff series against either the Pittsburgh Penguins or Columbus Blue Jackets.
Meanwhile, brunch is done.
Next up is a kid's birthday party and dinner with longtime friend and teammate Colin Wilson of the Nashville Predators. And, oh yeah, the playoffs, and a chance at the big prize.
It all puts Shattenkirk in the mind of seeing a good pal celebrate his Stanley Cup win with the Penguins last summer.
"I don't know if I can ever really conceptualize it," Shattenkirk admitted. "I don't know if I can ever really bring it to what it would actually feel like. I think for me last year, I saw one of my best friends Nick Bonino win it. And not only that, but to see him have a major role in winning it. And that allowed me to really feel it. Like, feel how bad I wanted it. To see someone whom you're close with and someone whom you know go through the summer and all the different things he gets to do."
It won't be long before we start to see if that is indeed the path on which Shattenkirk and his new teammates in Washington are finally headed.