Highly skilled defenseman admits he could be traded.

He was one of the most routinely discussed names last season when it came to serious trade rumors, but after the dust settled St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shatternkirk somehow remained in St. Louis. 

In a recent interview with NHL.com's Dan Rosen Shattenkirk admitted that the trade nearly happened on a few occasions, and even stated that Blues general manager Doug Armstrong had informed him it was a real possibility. Most interesting of all however was Shattenkirk's admission that he believes that trade may still happen with him set to be an unrestricted free agent next season.

From NHL.com:

"Oh yeah. [Blues GM] Doug Armstrong was always very up front about it. The first thing he said to me is, 'I don't want to trade you just for the sake of trading you, but I have to look at my options.' Last summer at the draft was a time where [I thought] something was going to happen. The rest of the summer there were a couple long weeks where it seemed like some action was going on, but fortunately by Aug. 1 things started quieting down and at that point it was easier to focus on the fact that I was going to come back to St. Louis and obviously get to play out most of the season here. So far I'm still here. We kind of take it day by day. I know obviously the next couple months are when everything starts to heat up so it'll be interesting..."

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The former first overall pick has been one of the most consistent offensive defensemen in the NHL, making him an extremely valuable asset to have on your team in power-play situations. Last season Armstrong balked at the offers he saw and keeping Shattenkirk didn't help them come playoff time, as a result it will be interesting to see if that impacts his decision this time around.