First round draft…

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The Blues pulled a surprise again. With their #14th overall pick, the Blues selected Jaden Schwartz – predicted to go late in the first round.

NHL.com bio of Jaden Schwartz

However – the Blues weren’t finished. They then traded last year’s first round pick, David Rundblad, to the Ottawa Senators for this year’s 16th overall pick. The Blues selected the highly rated Vladimir Tarasenko.

NHL.com bio of Vladimir Tarasenko

Tarasenko is rated as one of the best natural goal scorers in the draft.

Very nicely done so far, Blues…

Weekly Update…

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Well, you can’t accuse the Blues of sitting back and doing nothing. Swiftly following the Jaroslav Halak trade, the Blues made the following moves:

• Acquired forward T J Hensick from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Julian Talbot.
• Re-signed Matt D’Agostini
• Hired former NHL goaltender, Corey Hirsch, as their new goaltending coach
• Hired Jared Bednar as new Rivermen Coach
• Sent out qualifying offers to the following players: DJ King, Cam Janssen, Nicholas Drazenovic, Jaroslav Halak, TJ Hensick, Erik Johnson, Jonas Junland, David Perron, Ryan Reaves, Alex Steen and Tyson Strachan.

The NHL schedule for 2010/2011 season has also been released.  The Blues games can be found on the Blues Official Site

Blues acquire Halak

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Well, who would have thought? Blues have acquired Jaroslav Halak from the Montreal Canadiens. Halak, who was the Canadiens playoff MVP, is a restricted free agent on 1 July. In return, the Blues have sent Lars Eller and Ian Schultz to Montreal. With this move, it appears that Chris Mason has played his final game for the Blues and will explore free agency.

More information:

Jeremy Rutherford at the Post Dispatch

St Louis Game Time

Blues Official Site