Blues sign Brendan Bell…

As per TSN.CA , the Blues have signed UFA defenseman, Brendan Bell.

Bell was drafted by Toronto in 2001 and played 53 games for the Ottawa Senators last season, with 6 goals and 15 assists. Bell has been signed by the Blues for a 1 year, two way deal.

For Brendan Bell’s profile and stats then check out SPORTSNET. Welcome to the Blues, Mr Bell.

Eric Brewer update

Very interesting article in today’s post-dispatch by Jeremy Rutherford – “Brewer’s Status Uncertain”. It doesn’t look good that Brewer will be available at the start of the season.

So – do we need another D-Man? As pointed out in the article, the Blues are currently sitting on a cap hit of £52million. The upper limit of the cap is £56.8m. There’s not a lot of room there and JD states that the Blues will not be going to the cap.

At the moment, we have Jackman, Colaiacovo, Polak, EJ, Weaver and Pietrangelo – with possible replacements of Tyson Strachan, Jonus Junland and Steve Wagner. That’s not a particularly experienced blue line. However – the two main UFA’s still available – Schneider and Zubov – have been struggling against injury. And if we make a trade…we’ll have to give up salary in return.

It’s a fluid situation. I’d prefer to stick as we are for the time being, keep evaluating Brewer and if the situation doesn’t look like it’s improving THEN they can think about going the trade route.

Blues re-sign Roman Polak

According to Andy Strickland and Jeremy Rutherford of the Post-Dispatch, the Blues have re-signed Roman Polak to a 2 year contract extension.

Polak will make $1million in 2009-2010 and $1.2million in 2010-2011.

Blues re-sign Steve Wagner

The Blues announced today that they have re-signed defenseman Steve Wagner. Wagner played 22 games for the Blues last season, registering two goals, two assists and 18 penalty minutes. More details can be found at the Blues newly redesigned website. Very nice it looks too.

2009/2010 Schedule Announced

The Blues 2009/2010 schedule has finally been announced: St Louis Schedule at NHL.com.

Obviously, we start the season over in Stockholm with back to back games against the Red Wings. Returning to the US, the Blues start off with the Thrashers. We have a six game homestand in November and six road games in March so it evens itself out.

Prospects Update

Our prospects are in the news at the moment – Jeremy Rutherford of the Post-Dispatch attended the pro orientation scrimmage game and has a great update regarding the prospects who were there. Looks like Brett Ponich was a steal and I’m really looking forward to Philip McRae making the NHL.

Another good article about our prospects is by Larry Wigge at NHL.com. Oshie, Jarmo, JD and Andy Murray all contribute quotes to this one.

Blues signing…

St. Louis Blues’ President John Davidson announced today the club has signed forward Ian Schultz.

Schultz, 19, played for the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL last season, notching 41 points (15 goals, 26 assists) along with 127 penalty minutes in 58 games played. The 6-2, 200-pound forward was selected in the third round, 87th overall by the Blues in the 2008 Entry Draft.

B.J. is back

Blues have signed BJ Crombeen to a 2 year extension. BJ will pick up $860,000 in year 1 and $885,000 in year 2. That’s a cap hit of $872,000. Good to see the gap-toothed kid back!

News

According to Andy Strickland the Blues have signed Hannu Toivonen to a 1 year, 2-way NHL deal.  He played for the Blues in 2007/2008 and played in Finland last year.

Grant Fuhr – The Comeback King

As goalkeepers seem to be in the spotlight for the Blues at the moment, it seems appropriate to take a look back at one of our special guys between the pipes: Grant Fuhr.

Prior to signing with the Blues, Grant Fuhr had played ten seasons with the Oilers and won five Stanley Cups; he played in five All-Star Games; he played in both games of the Rendez-Vouz 87 series against the Soviet National Team; Canada Cup Champion in 1984 and 1987 and won the Venzina Trophy in 1988.  At the end of his career with Edmonton, he was suspended by the NHL for substance abuse.  Fuhr had spent two weeks in a counseling centre in Florida and came forward about his drug use, admitting he’d used a “substance” for about seven years.  During his suspension, he attended to the nagging tendonitis in his shoulder and had surgery to pin the joint.