Bleedin' Blue - A St. Louis Blues Blog

Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

The Tampa Bay Lighting kept defensemen Pavel Kubina out of practice today, prompting questions about Kubina’s future with the organization. Steve Yzerman, the Lighting’s General Manager, has made it clear that a deal has not been made yet, but that Kubina will be held out of the lineup until further notice.

With Tampa Bay in thirteenth place in the Eastern Conference, the Lightning have become sellers in the trade market. Yzerman is looking to add depth to his organization with a trade this month, seeking young prospects in return for his aging defenseman. The Blues certainly have enough prospects to garner interest from Tampa Bay, as forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz, and goalie Ben Bishop could potentially yield Kubina and a second line forward.

St. Louis’ General Manager, Doug Armstrong is now in position to add defensive depth. Kubina has put the Blues on his list of teams he’d be willing to waive his no-trade clause for, giving St. Louis an advantage in negotiations. Armstrong will have to  decide if adding defensive depth to his roster before the playoffs is worth St. Louis’ top prospects.

The Blues appeared, dare I say, somewhat soft when they lost on the road at Columbus Tuesday night. The Blue Jackets. despite being in last place in the entire league, looked tough and beat the Blues at their own game. We saw a familiar Blues team that couldn’t score a lot of goals. With four tough opponents in Minnesota, Chicago, Boston, and Nashville coming up the Blues need to refocus against the New York Islanders. This is the perfect opportunity at home where the Blues have been nearly unbeatable. I expect the team to play with some urgency, given that another loss would kill the offensive momentum the Blues have been gathering as of late. This is momentum the Blues cannot afford to lose. Continue reading this post »

Marc DesRosiers-US PRESSWIRE

In an effort to jumpstart one of his biggest offensive threats, Ken Hitchcock has moved forward Chris Stewart to the fourth line.  After hovering around thirty goals the past two seasons, Stewart’s offensive production has dropped significantly this season.

The right-winger has put up a meager twenty-two points so far this season and has contributed just two points over the Blues’ past twelve games. Hitchcock believes a move to the fourth line will serve as a stimulus to Stewart’s offensive game.

The Blues head coach spoke about Stewart’s demotion with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeremy Rutherford after today’s practice, “Before you can think about scoring goals, you’ve got to start to work…we need him to have way more impact on the game. He’s too good a player to just go quietly by the night.” Stewart will leave center Patrik Berglund, who will remain on Hitchcock’s second line, and will join new line mates Scott Nichol and Chris Porter.                                                                                            Continue reading this post »

With less than two weeks until the February 27 trade deadline, teams around the NHL are in a frenzy to try to buy, sell, and improve their rosters. Here are a few of the ongoing stories from around the league:

Rick Nash, Right Wing, Columbus Blue Jackets: The 27 year-old winger is being pursued by more than 5 teams, but the front-runners look to be the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, and LA Kings. Columbus scouts were spotted at the Rangers-Flyers game Sunday in Philly, sparking speculation of a possible trade.

Front-runner: Rangers. The Rangers have a bevy of young talent in the minor leagues. If they are willing to give up Brandon Dubinsky, former first-round forward Chris Kreider, and a 1st-round pick, the Rangers could get the prolific scorer.

Wild-Card: Your very own Blues. Although they have a bigger need on the defensive end, the Blues could look to add a proven scorer to lead their playoff push. And, they have the pieces to pull this deal off.

Continue reading this post »

Here are the highlights from tonight’s game straight from the NHL:

Blues – Blue Jackets Highlights: 2/14/12

February 14, 2012; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin (51) checks St. Louis Blues center T.J. Oshie (74) into the boards at Nationwide Arena. Columbus won the game 2-1. Greg Bartram-US PRESSWIRE

For any Blues fans watching this game, it was a tough one. With the win streak at four, and looking like it could go up to six wins without any trouble before having to face Boston and Detroit, the Blues were outplayed by the Blue Jackets at their own game of grind it out hockey. While they faced a scrappy Blue Jackets team, it looked like the Blues might just sneak into overtime when David Perron seemed to have a goal with 1.8 seconds left. However, the referees called of the goal saying that Perron gloved the puck in. Fast forward to about four minutes into the highlights to check out the wild play.

Here’s what Perron had to say about the no goal:

“As I fell down (it) kind of hit my hand and it went in and … that was the right call,” Perron said. “You don’t know how it’s going to turn out, how they’re going to see it, but they made the right call.”

While this was no where near as bad as being clobbered, it was a disheartening loss especially given the current state of the Blue Jackets. This loss is nothing for Blues fans to get riled up about, and the Blues should be able to refocus with the New York Islanders visiting the Scottrade Center on Thursday.

It is worth noting that Jaroslav Halak had an excellent game in goal. He let up two goals, one of which was a wicked rebound and the other which James Wisniewski scored on a power play with .1 seconds left in the first period. Halak saved 31 out of 33 shots on goal.

The Blues added their fourth straight victory in a dominating performance over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night. The Blues have won 4 straight games four different times this season, but each time have failed to get the 5th win. The Blues now travel to Columbus in search of that elusive win to take on the slumping blue Jackets, who have lost 8 of their last 11 games. The 4th place Blues have won 5 of 6 games and have won both match-ups against Columbus this season.

Continue reading this post »

Scott Rovak-US PRESSWIRE

The Blues picked up their 75^th point of the season tonight in a 3-0 shutout of the San Jose Sharks. St. Louis’ performance on Sunday night can only be described as dominant. The Blues established themselves over their Western Conference foe from the first drop of the puck and won their league leading 24^th home game.

Alex Pietrangelo

The twenty-two year-old, defenseman may have played the best game of his fledgling NHL career tonight. Pietrangelo was all over the ice, tallying two goals, two blocked shots, and an assist in just over twenty-six minutes of ice time. Pietrangelo contributed to the Blues’ twenty-seventh ranked power play with a slap shot from the point in the first period, and then again in the second period, assisting on David Perron’s goal on a two-man advantage. He capped his dominant performance by adding an empty net goal from deep within his own zone, late in the third period. Tonight’s performance will undoubtedly provide a confidence boost for Pietrangelo going forward. The Blues could certainly use a hot defenseman heading into the homestretch of the regular season. Look for Pietrangelo to provide offense from the blue line throughout the divisional race. Continue reading this post »

Andy Mcdonald - Timothy T. Ludwig-US PRESSWIRE

As of now, Andy McDonald will make his highly anticipated return after 51 games when the Blues take the ice at home against the San Jose Sharks tonight. All season long, the Blues have been known for their fantastic defense and goaltending, which has yielded a league leading 1.9 goals against average. However, as the February 27 trade deadline looms, the Blues have to be wondering what their team could be like if they improved on their 2.5 goals per game, which is currently ranked 21^st in the league. The Blues could be an unstoppable force capable of breezing through the playoffs with a proven goal scorer. If McDonald, who scored 20 goals and had 30 assists last season, comes back as good as we’ve seen him been, then maybe the Blues won’t have to make any moves and possibly lose some of their current depth. All of Blues Nation is looking to see what McDonald brings back to the table. McDonald will be on the second line tonight. Continue reading this post »