Updates

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

 

Vladimir Sobotka is unable to play tonight after taking a Jarome Iginla slapshot off the toe of his skate. Adam Cracknell has been recalled from Peoria.

Ben Bishop will once again get the start in goal – with Ty Conklin as backup. Jaroslav Halak practised today and took a few shots but he’s not ready to return just yet.

And if you thought the Blues had thrown in the towel on the season, they obviously forgot to tell their players – specifically TJ Oshie. There’s a great interview at the Blues Official Site where Oshie discusses the Calgary game plus the recent trades. Well worth a watch.

Ty Conklin on Waivers

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

 

According to Pierre LeBrun on Twitter, the Blues have placed goaltender Ty Conklin on waivers. We’ll know shortly after 11am St Louis time on Monday if Conklin has cleared waivers.

With this move, it appears that Jaroslav Halak should be coming off IR and will be ready to play. The Blues look as though they will now keep Ben Bishop as Jaro’s backup for the rest of the season. Bishop deserves it with his excellent 39 save shutout against the Oilers last night. The tandem of Halak and Bishop could well be in force next season as well.

Jaro on IR – Bishop recalled

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

 

Jaroslav Halak has been placed on 7 day Injured Reserve retroactive to Monday. Halak injured his hand in practice on Wednesday. According to Darren Pang on twitter, it’s Halak’s right, blocker hand that is the problem. Pang also says that Halak has been battling this injury for a while and that explains why he has been “dropping his stick with a lot of traffic in front”. It’s been difficult for Jaro to control his stick.

Ben Bishop has been recalled from Peoria and, whilst this isn’t great timing – with the Blues about to go on a 7 games in 10 days stretch, at least the Blues will be able to see if Bishop is NHL ready. With Ty Conklin a free agent after this season, Bishop is the likely candidate to be Jaro’s backup next season.

Throw Jaro under the bus? No way.

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

 

Wow. So – Jaro gets some hate tonight after making a couple of mistakes. Yet – other players made mistakes, costly turnovers, stupid penalties…brain farts…and get a free pass.

So – just a couple of things. Jaro’s been inconsistent this year? Yes, he has. I didn’t expect anything different. He played a lot of games late last season, took his team deep into the playoffs. Then he’s traded to St Louis. He has to get used to a new team, new communication, new defense. He’s also the #1 starter for the first time. He’s in a new Conference – the much tougher Western Conference.

The first 10-12 games of the season, he was fresh – now, he’s not. He’s played more games than he’s used to…the defense in front of him has at times been decimated by injuries and other players have not played up to their potential. He’s been battered in net because it seems nobody except Barret Jackman is interested in trying to stop the opposition crashing our net.

There’s also another thing. The Blues are not an easy team to anchor. We allow too many breakaways and turnovers and our much vaunted defense is simply not good enough. Yet.

That’s the thing – YET. What did JD say when introducing Jaro? He wanted a goalie who could GROW with the team – Jaro was not bought in as a saviour… yet most seem to expect him to be. The expectations are that, no matter what happens in front of him, no matter how shitty the team plays, Jaro will pull their asses out of the fire. And he has done – many times. He just can’t do it all the time.

Halak is 25 and in his first year as a starter.  How many other goalies went from backup to starter and impressed in their first season as #1?  Not many.  So, take a breath, step back from the ledge and realise that, of all the problems this team has…Jaroslav Halak is NOT one of them.

Goalie news…

Ty Conklin made 36 saves in the Blues overtime loss at Tampa Bay – and when the Lightning scored with 6 seconds of overtime left…well, as the above video shows, Conks was not a happy bunny. Good for him – nice to see a bit of passion from time to time.

Jaroslav Halak has recovered from his upper body injury and is now good to go – as such, Ben Bishop has been reassigned to Peoria.

Andy Strickland has stated at True Hockey.com that the Red Wings may have interest in Conklin. It will be intriguing to see if this develops. If the Blues DO trade Conklin and then make the playoffs, we’ll see Ben Bishop being Halak’s backup.

BREAKING NEWS

Jaroslav Halak will not play tonight against Edmonton.

Halak is now listed as “day to day” with the ubiquitous “upper body injury” – which is rumoured to be a hand injury.

Ty Conklin will get the start tonight and Ben Bishop has been called up from Peoria.

More news as it’s announced.

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…

Had to start it all off with that amazing save from Jaroslav Halak last night which preserved a vital point for the Blues. Unfortunately, the Blues lost in OT to the Red Wings following a too many men on the ice for the Wings that the officials completely missed/ignored.

There was some good news for the Blues though, in the shape of updates regarding Andy McDonald and David Perron.

Andy McDonald:

McDonald has passed the mandatory baseline test and is skating again. He will be skating a little more each day to see how things respond – but both the Blues and McDonald will obviously continue to be cautious. McDonald has missed 21 games so far and had this to say to reporters:

“There was some progression today. I was on the ice a little bit longer, with a little bit more intensity. I think that’s the way it’s going to be for a while. I’m going to try to progress each day, add a little bit and see how it responds.”

David Perron:

Perron has also passed the baseline test but does continue to have SOME symptoms. Indications are that light exercise could be beneficial and Perron himself says he’s feeling well enough to try it. Obviously Perron isn’t as far along the recovery road as McDonald but it’s good news nonetheless that things ARE progressing. Perron had this to say:

“It’s been tough, but I think now that it’s getting a little better, it feels pretty good. But early on it was really tough to stay away from the rink.”

“You don’t get to come to the rink. It might sound weird, but that’s the toughest thing. It’s not the headaches and stuff like that; it’s not being able to be here every day and skate with your teammates.”

The full interviews with both Andy McDonald and David Perron are on the Blues Website.

Record Breaking Blues…

A great start to the season for the Blues and a number of “firsts” being registered by the team:

• Ty Conklin saved 27 shots last night to give the Blues their first ever shutout against the New York Rangers.
• The Blues now have 4 shutouts over 12 games.  Halak has 3 and Conklin has 1 – a new team record.
• The Blues are currently on a 7 game winning streak.  The previous highest win streak was 9 games in 2002.
• The Blues start of 9-1-2 is a franchise record over 12 games.
• Brad Boyes currently leads the NHL in shootout goals.

Other highlights include:

• Alex Pietrangelo’s first multipoint game with two assists against San Jose.
• Vladimir Sobotka scored his first goal as a Blue – against his former team, Boston Bruins.
• Jaroslav Halak has twice been named an NHL Star of the Week and currently has won 8 out of 10 games played with a .944 SV% and 1.46 GAA.  He is currently 1st in number of wins and number of shutouts (tied with Tim Thomas).

Sources:
Blues Official Site
NHL.com

Update…

Jeremy Rutherford has said on twitter that Barret Jackman has been placed on IR with a right knee injury. He will be re-evaluated in 3 weeks. Thus the reason for the Ian Cole call up. That’s 3 of the Blues top 6 d-men now out.

Jaroslav Halak has surpassed Jacques Plante as the fastest goaltender in franchise history to record three shutouts. Congrats Jaro!