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Posts Tagged St. Louis Blues

Demitra to Russia

Jul 19

Posted by EB in News | No Comments

Speedy forward Pavol Demitra will be hopping ponds this year to play with Yaroslavl of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

Demitra had shoulder surgery that took him our for the majority of the season last year with the Vancouver Canucks. In the 28 games he did play, he posted only 3 goals and 13 assists for 16 points in total. Continuing his lack of production, come playoffs in the 11 games played, Demitra only had 6 points in all.

Demitra has been a big let down for all fans and fantasy owners last season. In previous seasons Demitra excelled, posting over 50 points 7 years in a row, a personal high of 93 points in the 2002-2003 season with the St. Louis Blues. Surely shoulder surgery limited his abilities last season, but leaving the Canucks, a strong Cup contender next year, to play over in Russia for a year is confusing and perhaps disastrous for his future career in the NHL.

The cards will play out for the veteran forward, but with the NHL getting younger and younger, do not expect Demitra to play again in the NHL.

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Halak Heads to St Louis

Jun 17

Posted by Eddie in News | No Comments

Goaltender Jaroslav Halak, a key component of the Montreal Canadiens run to the Eastern Conference Finals this past season, has been dealt to the St. Louis Blues according to a report by RDS.

ESPN is reporting that the Habs will receive forward Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. Eller was a first-round pick of St. Louis in 2007 and Schultz was a 2008 third-round pick. Eller appeared in seven games with the big club as he spent the rest of the season with Peoria of the AHL. Schultz played his third junior season in 2009-10 with Calgary of the Western Hockey League.

For the past two seasons, Halak split time between the pipes with Carey Price, but Halak’s game seemed to improve after his run with Slovakia in the Vancouver Olympics. He finished with a 26-13-5 regular-season record, a 2.40 goals-against average and .924 save percentage. In the playoffs, Halak had a 2.55 GAA and .923 save percentage in 18 games.

This is a risky move for St. Louis, as Halak becomes a restricted free-agent on July 1 and is eligible for salary arbitration. In two seasons, he becomes a unrestricted free-agent. This is the second goalie they acquired in consecutive summers.  They acquired Ty Conklin from Detroit last off season, and Chris Mason, who started 61 games last season. Mason does enter this summer as a unrestricted free-agent, and with his $3 Million salary and Halak’s $800,000 salary from last season, they will let Mason walk and go into next season with a Halak-Conklin duo in net.

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Singing the Blues

Jan 2

Posted by EB in News | 2 Comments

The Blues are in a dark place. Hopefully a new coach can breathe life into a losing team.

The Blues are in a dark place. Hopefully a new coach can breathe life into a losing team.

Saturday morning St. Louis Blue’s President John Davidson announced the removal of head coach Andy Murray.

Murray has been coaching for the Blues since 2006. He was praised for his performance last year, as the Blues went 25-9-7 in the second half of the season, jumping from 15th place to 6th place within the Western Conference. Quite a feat, unfortunately Murray will not get another chance to pull off a miraculous second half.

The Blues currently are in 12th place within the division at 40 points. Although not considered out of playoff contention, it is unlikely they will reach postseason as the team currently holds the worse home record in the NHL at 6-13-3.

Murray will be replaced by Davis Payne on an interim basis. Payne was coaching the Blue’s American Hockey League affiliate the Peoria Rivermen. The Rivermen are currently in 6th place within the AHL Western Conference, Blue’s fans are hoping he can do the same for the NHL team.

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David Perron Goal vs New York Islanders

Nov 25

Posted by Matt in Media | No Comments

I can’t believe I had not seen this goal until earlier today. I am giving David Perron my vote for goal of the year so far. Perron pulled off this sick move against the New York Islanders top defenseman, Mark Streit. I feel bad for Streit on this play. Perron walked around him, and after watching the video quite a few times, it looks like his teammates just gave up. Both guys chasing Perron seemed to stop skating on the play. I can’t imagine the coaching staff is very happy with that effort. Regardless, props to David Perron for the dangle and scoring a beauty.

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St. Louis Blues

Sep 26

Posted by Matt in Season Previews | 2 Comments

TJ Oshie will have a big season and help lead the Blues back to the playoffs.

TJ Oshie will have a big season and help lead the Blues back to the playoffs.

The St. Louis Blues made a strong run late last season to capture the sixth seed in the playoffs, all while playing in arguably the best division and having one of the younger rosters in the NHL. The Blues were also missing one of their key veteran leaders, Paul Kariya. Thanks to the youngsters stepping up, and goalie Chris Mason standing on his head, they exceeded all expectations. This season, the Blues look to build on their success and prove last year was no fluke.

Returning to the lineup this season will be Keith Tkachuk, back for his 18th NHL season and 9th with the Blues. He signed a one year deal in the off-season worth $2.15 million. He certainly wont be as productive as he was earlier in his career, but Tkachuk should still be capable of a 25 goal and 50 point campaign. He’ll be an excellent source of leadership for a young Blues squad as well.

The Blues will also be relying on TJ Oshie to provide some scoring depth for the team. At 22 years old, Oshie proved last season he could be an effective NHL player while tallying 14 goals, 25 assists and a plus 16 rating in 57 games played. The summer should have provided ample time to add some strength, which will help Oshie improve production.

Elsewhere on offense, you’ll find Brad Boyes, David Backes and David Perron all proving useful. Andy McDonald will find his way to the top of the point leaders as well, providing he can stay healthy.

Defensively, we’re excited to see the return of highly touted defenseman Erik Johnson. He spent all of last season recovering from a knee injury and surgery, but was excellent in 2007-08 as a rookie. As a 20 year old, in his only NHL season thus far, Johnson contributed 5 goals and 28 assists on a struggling St. Louis Blues team. He might be a little rusty to start the season, but the Blues definitely have high expectations for Johnson.

Back between the pipes, Chris Mason looks to build off of a strong ending to the 2008-09 season. He finished the season with a record of 27-21-7 with a .916 save percentage and 2.41 goals against average, along with 6 shutouts. His stellar play down the stretch was a huge part of the Blues return to the playoffs. If they have any hope of making it back this season, Mason will have to step up his game once again.

Backing up Mason will be a new face to the locker room, Ty Conklin. Conklin was signed as a two-year deal as a free agent after helping lead the Detroit Red Wings to a very successful season. As Chris Osgood struggled in Detroit, Ty really stepped up with a 25-11-2 record, .909 save percentage and 2.51 goals against average. He delivered 6 shutouts for the Red Wings as well. Conklin was an excellent signing for the Blues and you can bet he’s going to fight for a starting spot. He had no problem splitting time with Osgood and certainly outplayed him for much of the regular season.

Playing in one of the best divisions in the NHL isn’t going to have much of an effect on the Blues this season. They should find a way to pound their way back to another low seeded playoff spot.

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NHL.com recap of 2009 Traverse City Prospect Tournament

Sep 14

Posted by Chris in Prospects | 1 Comment

Photo courtesy of TapetoTape.com

Photo courtesy of TapetoTape.com

This past Friday, NHL.com posted a great article recapping the 2009 Prospect Tournament, which was held September 6-10 in Traverse City, Mich. Now in it’s 12th year, the Prospect Tournament has become a great way for coaches and general managers to evaluate their future talent in comparison to their peers.

“For one week, you’ve got your staff and prospects together,” Detroit General Manager Ken Holland told NHL.com. “Let’s face it — once the NHL players show up, most of the energy is directed toward the real players and team at training camp. This is important because we can really focus on our kids and watch them perform.You always want to make your young players as comfortable as possible because they’ll play their best when they’re comfortable in their surroundings.”

Eight team were invited to this years tournament. The Carolina Hurricanes took first place in their first ever trip to the event with a 3-1-0 record. The Minnesota Wild came in 2nd with a 2-1-1 record, but Minnesota sported some of the quickest  games of the tournament as the team, and their AHL affiliate, try to transition to a quicker-paced, more aggressive and up-tempo hockey system.

Other team invited to this year’s tournament were the  New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, Atlanta Thrashers, and Dallas Stars.

Big name stars like Dany Heatley, Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk and Henrik Zetterberg have all played in the Prospect Tournament in years past. Last season’s tournament featured players like Zach Bogosian, Jakub Voracek and T.J. Oshie, players who all had varying degrees of success with their respective NHL clubs last season.

Check out the article on NHL.com for a full recap of the tournament as well as standaings for each team and notes about prospects who shined at the tournament.

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Tape to Tape

Sep 8

Posted by EB in News | 3 Comments

One of many pictures from Tape to Tape.

One of many pictures from Tape to Tape.

While attending the 2009 Prospects Tournament, and finding out that I had inadequate camera equipment, Hockey World Blog is proud and grateful for the blog Tape to Tape. Hockey World Blog and Tape to Tape will be collaborating with one another in providing pictures from the tournament.

Tape to Tape, who is run by Doug, is a Peoria Rivermen expert. Doug has all the insight of future NHLers as the Rivermen is the AHL team to the St. Louis Blues.

Once again, Hockey World Blog is grateful to Tape to Tape and we highly recommend you visit the site.

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2009 Prospects Tournament

Sep 5

Posted by EB in News | 2 Comments

Hockey World Blog is happy to inform the readers that EB will be attending the 2009 Prospects Tournament in Traverse City Michigan.

The tournament will showcase first rounders and top prospects from Carolina Hurricanes, St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Dallas Stars, Atlanta Thrashers, Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The schedule of games to be played across September 6th through 10th can be found here.

Also, for real time scoring, statistics and standings, go to Pointstreak.

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Shanahan Returns to Devils

Aug 5

Posted by Matt in News | No Comments

Brendan Shanahan

Brendan Shanahan

The New Jersey Devils have signed veteran winger Brendan Shanahan to a one year deal. While several NHL teams have made a push for Shanahan this summer, he ultimately decided to return to the team which drafted him in 1987.The terms of the contract have not been disclosed.

After playing four seasons with the Devils from 1987-1991, Shanahan spent time with the Blues, Whalers, Red Wings and Rangers, before returning to New Jersey in January. He has 656 goals and 698 assists for 1354 points in 1524 NHL games. Shanahan is an eight time NHL All Star and has represented Team Canada twice in the Olympics.

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