Trade Reactions

photo © 2011 Bridget Samuels | more info (via: Wylio)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the dust has settled a bit on this blockbuster trade, it’s worth checking out the really good analysis posted by “averagejoe” over at St Louis Game Time – Roster Shakeup.

The Blues have also posted a couple of videos:

Doug Armstrong discusses the trade with Colorado

David Backes and Brad Boyes react to the recent shenanigans

I think discussion on this will continue for some considerable time.

Blues trade EJ andMcClement

photo © 2011 Bridget Samuels | more info (via: Wylio)

 

Well, in the wee small hours of the morning, the Blues announced they have traded Erik Johnson and Jay McClement to Colorado in exchange for Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk. The Blues also give up a conditional 1st round draft pick in 2011 or 2012 whilst the Avalanche give up a conditional 2nd round draft pick in 2011 and 2012.

I have to say this is a shocking trade. I don’t think anyone really expected the Blues to trade Erik Johnson – however, it is what it is. I like Chris Stewart – he’s a power forward like Backes and Shattenkirk has great potential.

You can hear Blues GM, Doug Armstrong, talking about the trade on the Blues website: Blues Podcast.

Good luck to EJ and Jay McClement – and welcome aboard Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk.

Here we go…

If you missed the All Star Game then check out the Guardian Project that was unveiled during intermission – have to say I rather like “The Blue”.

Well, the second half of the season starts tomorrow and the Blues really need to come out strong. Some good news to start with – it looks like Barret Jackman will be back tomorrow. Bad news – the status of Erik Johnson is unknown after he took a deflected puck to the face in practice today. As the saying goes, if the Blues didn’t have bad luck they wouldn’t have any luck at all. As far as Andy McDonald goes, Chris Kerber has just tweeted that McDonald is NOT expected back tomorrow but that the weekend looks more likely.

In other news, the Blues have recalled Philip McRae and Nikita Nikitin from Peoria – and have sent down Stefan Della Rovere.

Now, if the Blues are to make the playoffs there are a number of players who need to raise their games – and one of the most important is Jaroslav Halak. Halak has not had a good January – and yes, I know the defense has been hit, the forwards haven’t been backchecking enough and that our special teams and turnovers have almost crippled the team. But – this is the very time that Halak needs to come up strong. And I have no doubt that he will. Word is that he’s been working with Blues goalie coach, Corey Hirsch, on his positioning. They’ve been watching video and using Scott Mellanby as a screen whilst pucks are fired at Halak. Halak is working on staying farther out in his crease – a lot of his problems recently have been from drifting back into his crease and getting caught there. Staying at the top of the crease and being aggressive is what he needs to do. Of course, it might help if there was a defenseman, apart from Barret Jackman, who will get physical with opposition players who set up camp in Halak’s crease.

I have faith that Jaroslav Halak will rediscover his game – it’s not been easy for him. Having to adjust not just to a different team (with not as strong a defense as Montreal) but also adjusting to a different Conference. The West is much tougher than the East. It has to be remembered that Halak is also adjusting to something else: being a number 1 goalie. This is his first season as number 1 – it’ll take time. Personally, I think the All Star break is just what Halak needs. He can regroup – take a step back and start again.

Brace yourselves – because I think Halak will come up very strong in the second half of the season. He’s our franchise goaltender and whilst this season may be looked upon as a transition period, I’m very excited about how this guy is going to develop in the next few years.

Updates…

Great win for the Blues last night – and more importantly, no more injuries to report.

• In case you missed it, the Blues have confirmed that Erik Johnson is suffering from a slight knee sprain. Johnson, was in fact, on the ice this morning along with Alex Pietrangelo and Roman Polak.
• Vladimir Tarasenko will join Team Russia at the World Juniors and Sebastian Wannstrom will join Team Sweden.
• Adam Cracknell has been assigned to Peoria.
• A great interview with Cam Janssen prior to the game against the Kings where he talks about playing for his hometown team, Keith Tkachuk’s retirement, the addition of Jaroslav Halak and much more.  The interview can be found at MayorsManor.Com
• There’s also a neat wordpress site that features doodles from each Blues game – funny stuff – definitely worth checking out.  Go to 90-Pound Doodles

Injured warriors…

It never rains but it pours. With all the injuries the Blues have suffered, Erik Johnson left the game last night in the first 10 minutes. Johnson got somewhat tangled with Datsyuk and limped off the ice. The good news is that he got off the ice under his own power – the bad is that he didn’t return; will be evaluated further today and is definitely out of tonight’s game against the Kings.

So, the state of play injury-wise is currently:

David Perron – Concussion – no timetable for his return.

Andy McDonald – Concussion – no timetable for his return.

Roman Polak – Wrist surgery – skating and will be evaluated in January.

TJ Oshie – Broken Ankle – will be evaluated in February.

Erik Johnson – Knee – status unknown but will definitely miss tonight’s game.

Alex Pietrangelo – Shoulder – should be day to day and was on the ice at practise today.

Nikita Nikitin has been recalled from Peoria and Andy McDonald has been placed on IR retroactive to 4 December. Despite being hit by errant pucks last night, David Backes and Vladimir Sobotka should both be in the lineup tonight.

Apologies for the lack of recent updates – real life has intruded somewhat.

Blues 1 – Blue Jackets 8

 

Ouch.  The Blues came back down to earth not with a bump but with the force of an impacting asteriod. They had no energy, no passion, they were slow, sluggish and listless – with endless turnovers and seemingly no cohesion.

The rot started right away – with the Blue Jackets scoring three goals in the first period. So, 3-0 at the end of period 1; 6-1 at the end of period 2 and 8-1 by the time the game ended. The Blue Jackets had breakaways and there was a fluky goal that hit Halak’s skate and popped into the net. Halak was pulled after giving up 4 goals on 15 shots but Conklin didn’t fare much better, giving up 4 goals on 20 shots. The Blues defense was almost non-existent – as mentioned before, an appalling number of turnovers, sloppy play and hardly any forechecking or backchecking contributed to this dire loss.

In the third period, the Blues had both Janssen and Boyes ejected from the game as they tried desperately to haul back a little bit of respect. Of course, it just had to get EVEN worse. With just over 10 minutes left to play in the game, TJ Oshie was helped off the ice after becoming involved in one of the many scrums that littered the game. Pahlsson fell on top of Oshie who landed awkwardly – it was later revealed that TJ Oshie has broken his ankle and may have to undergo surgery. This is a very bitter blow for a Blues team already decimated by injuries.

Eric Brewer and Erik Johnson were both -3 on the night – as was Andy McDonald who managed 6 shots. McDonald, Boyes and Backes really need to pick up their pace. McDonald has 2 goals and 3 assists on the season, Backes has 1 goal and 4 assists and Brad Boyes, whilst money in the shootout, has 1 goal and 4 assists. These three HAVE to lead by example now – there is no excuse.

Nick Drazenovic has been called up from Peoria and expect another call up during the day. Winchester could be close to returning but Perron is still suffering from headaches relating to the Joe Thornton hit.

The Blues play Nashville at Scottrade tonight – let’s see if this game was a temporary blip…or the shape of things to come.

UPDATE: Blues have recalled Chris Porter along with Nick Drazenovic from Peoria.

Updates…

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Following the hit by Jordin Tootoo last week, the Blues have placed Carlo Colaiacovo on IR with concussion. Nathan Oystrick has been recalled from Peoria.

Nikita Nikitin will accompany the team on their upcoming three game road trip. Nikitin has been practising with the team following his wrist injury.

Erik Johnson limped off the ice near the end of practice this morning – no news as to his status yet.

UPDATE: it’s being reported on twitter by Jeremy Rutherford that Blues GM Doug Armstrong has said that the injury to Erik Johnson is “nothing”.

Blues 3 – Predators 0

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So, the Blues have beaten the last two Stanley Cup Champions… and last night they inflicted this season’s first regulation loss on the Nashville Predators. And they did it in style.

Jaroslav Halak registered his second consecutive shutout – he’s now unbeaten for 151.10 minutes. The current Blues franchise shutout record is held by Manny Legace at 186.15 set in the 2007/2008 season. Halak has impressed his teammates. Speaking to the St Louis Post-Dispatch, Alex Steen said: “It feels like key moments of a game, where we need a big stop, he makes them. We had a couple of mistakes in our own end, but ‘Jaro’ was big for us. He’s been very sound for us. He plays incredibly calm. He doesn’t get himself overworked at all.”

This attitude was echoed by Erik Johnson, speaking after the game to the Blues Official Site: “He is such a fun goalie to watch. He looks like he is not even trying. He is so effortless in his motion. There is no wasted energy with him. We feel so confident with him back there because he’s so cool, calm and collected. We know we can go on offense and he’ll be back there if we have any hiccups. He has been a great, great asset for us.”

Halak stoned the Predators on breakaways, was good with traffic in front of the net and has a great ability to see play develop and adjust accordingly. The Blues are drawing great confidence from having Halak in net – it’s allowing the defense to relax more, to get involved in offense – and it’s been quite a while since the Blues have had this.

The game wasn’t all about Halak though. It was a pretty even affair for the most part – with the Predators having some good chances with the occasional piece of sloppy play from the Blues. Alex Steen got his first goal of the season after 12 minutes of period 2 following some great work behind the net by David Perron. Patrik Berglund put the Blues 2 up after 13 minutes of period 3 pouncing on a rebound and smashing it past Rinne in the Predators net. It was Berglund’s 4th goal of the season so far. To show how far they’ve come, the Blues didn’t sit back on the lead and instead they went in for the kill. Matt D’Agostini wrapped it up with just under 5 minutes of the game left when he flipped the puck into the net from just in front of goal.

One of the big talking points of the game, apart from Halak, was the hit levelled on Colaiacovo by Jordin Tootoo. Tootoo was given a five minute major for charging and a game misconduct. It doesn’t appear there will be any further punishment from the NHL, however, judge the hit for yourselves:

However, the last words should go to Halak – who will start on Saturday against Atlanta knowing that if he posts a shutout for the first two periods of the game he’ll break Legace’s record:

“It feels great, but I wasn’t going into the game thinking about the last shutout I had. I was just thinking about trying to help the guys win a game. It’s even more special when it’s a shutout.”

So, until Saturday, here are the game highlights:

Penguins 0 – Blues 1 (O/T)

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As has now been stated practically everywhere, the Blues have beaten the last two years Stanley Cup Champions on consecutive nights.  If they wanted to make a statement, they couldn’t have picked a better opportunity.  The Blues are 4-0 at home this season – and are currently on a 10 game winning streak at Scottrade.

Again, the Blues came out hard and determined and were very unlucky to go in at the end of the first still tied 0-0.  They had two powerplays but couldn’t find a way past former Blue, Brent Johnson, in the Penguin goal.  The Blues outshot the Penguins 7-3 in the first – the game shaping up to be very much a battle between the two goaltenders.

The second period was the game changer.  The Penguins outshot the Blues 19-7 with Jaroslav Halak making some superb saves and the Blues defense doing a sterling job in closing off lanes.  There were scrums in the Blues crease with the Blues D protecting Halak – one of the best moments being when Roman Polak wrestled Sidney Crosby away from Halak.  The main thing was that the Blues survived everything that the Penguins threw at them in that second period.

The third period was pretty even with the Penguins just outshooting the Blues by 9-8.  No Polak on ice (he’d left the game after slicing his right arm) meant the Blues were short on defense – but the Penguins still couldn’t find a way through.   There was a feeling though that the Blues might just snatch this game and went it went into overtime, Erik Johnson provided the winner after great work by Oshie along the boards.  The sellout crowd erupted and the Blues deservedly took the two points.

• Alex Pietrangelo looks like he belongs out there – he had the highest ice time of the Blues in the game.
• Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had a combined 10 shots – but still couldn’t get past their nemesis, Jaroslav Halak.
• T J Oshie might not lead the Blues in scoring but he’s pretty much an assist machine at the moment.  Strong on the puck and strong along the boards, he provided a neat pass to Erik Johnson for the game winner.
• Eric Brewer had one of his best games as a Blue.   He’s worked hard this season, is aggressive and very controlled in defense.
• Jaroslav Halak – 31 saves in an excellent performance that saw him named the game’s number 1 star.  He’s cool and calm, focussed and confident .  The rest of the team seem to sense this as they pick up on Halak’s confidence – it adds another dimension, allows players to be a bit more relaxed.

The Blues have another rest now – and play again on Thursday against Nashville.  Expect Halak in goal again.  Hopefully, Roman Polak will be fit enough to play.  In the meantime, here is overtime in it’s entirety…not that there was a lot of it:

 

Flyers 1 – Blues 2 (OT)

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What a season opener! Not only was there a sellout crowd and the unveilling of the new Brett Hull statue outside Scottrade, but the Blues managed a very well deserved win.

The Blues came out hard and created chance after chance – only to be denied by the impressive Brian Boucher in the Flyers goal. There were 6 penalties in the first period with both teams getting 5 on 3 chances. The Blues took advantage and opened the scoring with 4 minutes left in the first period. An Erik Johnson laser of a shot was deflected by Boyes past Brian Boucher. Good to see Brad Boyes on the scoresheet so early in the season. The Flyers briefly came back at the end of the period but Halak stood strong and the Blues went in at intermission 1-0 up, having been outshot 9-6.

The second period saw the penalty count increase – 11 in all – but neither team could take advantage. Near the end of the period however, an almost game changing moment occured. Cam Janssen went for an innocent looking hit on Oskars Bartulis along the boards when he was absolutely levelled by teammate, Brad Winchester. Janssen was struck by Winchester’s elbow, forearm and stick, his head hitting the ice as he fell. Janssen was helped from the ice and didn’t return – mystifyingly being given a 2 minute charging penalty that was served by Matt D’Agostini. What was Winchester thinking, going for that hit? And why on earth can’t he hit opposition players like that?

It was a game changing moment – because when Janssen left the ice, the Blues lost a bit of momentum, they lost energy. The Blues were still playing well but suffered from a lack of confidence in front of goal – seemingly preferring to pass rather than shoot.

The third period saw the Blues outshot 14-6. They simply didn’t have the movement and creativity that they had in the first two periods. Jaroslav Halak made some excellent saves (but he really has to watch those rebounds) and the defence were throwing themselves in front of shots. Inevitably, something had to give and the Flyers tied the game through Daniel Briere who gave Halak no chance. It was Briere’s second goal in two games. The game went into overtime but not before David Perron almost sealed it for the Blues in the final few seconds – only being denied by another excellent save from Boucher.

For those of us used to the Blues attitude in overtime last season, this game was an eye opener. No longer were the Blues content to sit back and “play” for a shootout. They were aggressive, taking the game to the Flyers. Following Daniel Briere’s shot hitting the post, Barret Jackman sent the puck up the ice to Alex Steen, who had a couple of shots at Boucher before Carlo Colaiacovo smashed a rebound into the net. The Scottrade Center exploded with delight – and there’s a nice new touch with smoke coming out of the scoreboard when the Blues score.

A few points about the game:

• Blues powerplay – too many tic-tac-toe passes and not enough shots. They went 1 for 10 which is simply not good enough.
• The Blues penalty kill worked very well, blocking shots and not being drawn out of position.
• Alex Pietrangelo – didn’t look out of place.  Some very nice touches – he deserves to be here.
• Cam Janssen – was a ball of energy out on the ice, dispensing hits and even at one point found himself in front of net with the puck on his stick.  His shot was saved by Boucher.
• Matt D’Agostini – played well on a really good and energetic fourth line.
• The Blues defense deserve a pat on the back for their work and great shot blocking during the game.

A great start for the Blues – with Jaroslav Halak named player of the game.   Cam Janssen was kept in hospital overnight and I’ll update his condition as it develops.

Next up, Anaheim at 1pm St Louis time, 6pm UK time on Monday.  I’ll leave you with last night’s OT and Colaiacovo’s wonderful goal celebration: