Blues Roster Makeover a Success???
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Well Blues fans, another offseason has basically come to a close for our St. Louis Blues...and the question is, have they really done anything at all?
For all of you out there, you know the past. The Blues go out and sign a couple of big name guys, and they bring them in in hopes of claiming the wonderous Lord Stanley's Cup. But the truth of the matter is, they have never done it right, especially not recently. It hasn't always been the ownership's fault either. Think of guys like Patrick Lalime (2 time NHL All-Star, career 2.35 GAA, 91% sv%., 6-7 shutouts a year, Blues numbers: 3.64 GAA, 88.1% sv%, 0 so), Wayne Gretzky (do I even have to break this one down for you?), and well, I could on for a long time.
The Blues have done it once again by adding: Manny Legace, Doug Weight, Bill Guerin, Daniel Hinote, Jay McKee, and Martin Rucinsky. All six of these guys are proven veterans who have shown the league time and time again what exactly they are capable of bringing to the table. However, Legace bombed out in the playoffs, Guerin had the worst year of his career (70 games, 13 goals, 27 assists), Mckee suffered from a staff infection in his leg and had to sit in a hospital bed and watch his Sabres be eliminated from Cup contention yet again, Hinote only has 65 points (27 goals, 38 assists) in his 6 years pro, and Weight and Rucinsky are both returning for their second stint with the Blues.
I'm not trying to cut these guys down. They are all great players, but they cannot expect to just come into town and automatically nail down a roster spot. They have to earn that BlueNote. They've all done it before in the past, and if they can all do it again, the Blues will have one amazing season.
There's a lot to be excited about in St. Louis, that's for sure. And the ownership has done it yet again by going out and bringing in the right personel to bring us a Cup...but will these guys live up to the dream? Will they play like the team that if you look at them on paper, you know the whole league has every right to be afraid to play the St. Louis Blues?!
Below is the Blues depth chart for now, with a list of additions and subtractions. I would separate those whom I thought would make the team, but there's a lot of talent, and camp as well as preseason will be nothing but battles to figure out that final 20 (2 goalies, 6 defensemen, 12 forwards).
Center
PETR CAJANEK
DOUG WEIGHT
RYAN JOHNSON
JAY MCCLEMENT
TRENT WHITFIELD
CARL SODERBERG
Left Wing KEITH TKACHUK MARTIN RUCINSKY PETER SEJNA MAGNUS KAHNBERG
Right Wing BILL GUERIN DALLAS DRAKE JAMAL MAYERS DANIEL HINOTE VLADAMIR ORSZAGH MIKE GLUMAC LEE STEMPNIAK DAVID BACKES JON DISALVATORE
Defense ERIC BREWER JAY MCKEE BARRET JACKMAN CHRISTIAN BACKMAN DENNIS WIDEMAN BRYCE SALVADOR MATT WALKER JEFF WOYWITKA ROMAN POLAK TOMAS MOJZIS DOUG LYNCH AARON MACKENZIE
Goaltenders MANNY LEGACE CURTIS SANFORD JASON BACASHIHUA CHRIS BECFORD-TSEU MAREK SCHWARZ
Offseason Additions: Manny Legace Doug Weight Jay McKee Bill Guerin Daniel Hinote Martin Rucinsky
Offseason Subtractions: Patrick Lalime Dean McAmmond Kevin Dallman Mark Rycroft Jesse Boulerice Jeff Hoggan Mike Zigomanis Reed Low
Remaining Free Agents (subtra...cough...ctions): Steve Poapst (retire?) Andy Roach Trevor Byrne Reinhard Divis Colin Hemingway Troy Riddle Stephane Roy (retire?) Scott Young (retire?)
Source
- www.stlblues.com
Date
Thu 08/17/06, 6:02 pm EST
