2009 Training Camp Special

Training Camp is underway! The Blues are getting back into the swing of things by hitting the ice for practice every morning at the Scottrade Center, and everyone associated with the team seems to be ready: the fans are buzzing, Andy Murray is excited, and judging by their 3-1 win over Minnesota to start off the preseason – apparently the players are focused too.

In the game against Minnesota, newcomer Derek Armstrong was the star. He scored a goal, added an assist, and got into a fight – also known as the Gordie Howe hattrick. What a great first impression he made to the organization and fans in St. Louis. Paul Kariya and Chris Porter added the other two goals and Aaron Palushaj and Brendan Bell both picked up two assists as the team saw very stout goaltending from Chris Mason and especially Ben Bishop to get the win. There were two other fights in the game: Cam Janssen beat Minnesota’s Justin Falk, and David Perron of all people dropped the gloves with Danny Irmen. That is not a typo. David Perron dropped the gloves! From what I heard it was mostly a wrestling match with no real punches thrown, but it’s still nice to hear that Perron is playing physical.

Even though it’s just preseason, it’s nice to see the Blues play well and start off with a ‘W’. Here is a look at the rest of their schedule before heading to Sweden for the regular season opener vs. Detroit:

"Sept. 18 — vs. Colorado — 7 p.m.Sept. 19 — vs. Dallas — 7 p.m.Sept. 20 — at Colorado — 7 p.m.Sept. 24 — at Minnesota — 7 p.m.Sept. 26 — at Dallas — 7 p.m."

The Blues will have a couple camp battles going on so I would like to run down the roster and discuss the team a little bit.

Here is the Blues’ entire training camp roster:

"FORWARDS# PLAYER Pos HT WT SH7 Keith Tkachuk C 6-2 232 Left9 Paul Kariya LW 5-10 180 Left10 Andy McDonald C 5-10 183 Left15 Brad Winchester LW 6-5 228 Left17 Derek Armstrong C 6-0 197 Right18 Jay McClement C 6-1 201 Left19 D.J. King LW 6-3 228 Left20 Alex Steen LW 6-1 205 Left21 Patrik Berglund C 6-3 211 Left22 Brad Boyes RW 6-0 200 Right25 Yan Stastny C 5-10 191 Left26 B.J. Crombeen RW 6-2 212 Right32 Chris Porter LW 6-1 201 Left36 Lars Eller C 6-1 192 Left38 Philip McRae C 6-2 187 Left41 Barry Tallackson LW 6-5 215 Right42 David Backes RW 6-3 220 Right47 Nick Drazenovich C 6-0 185 Left48 Julian Talbot C 5-11 181 Left52 Aaron Palushaj RW 5-11 187 Right55 Cam Janssen RW 6-0 210 Right57 David Perron LW 5-11 179 Right59 Anthony Peluso LW 6-3 230 Right65 Cam Paddock C 6-1 191 Right67 James Livingston RW 6-2 213 Right74 T.J. Oshie LW 6-0 194 Right75 Ryan Reaves RW 6-1 220 Right76 Brett Sonne C 6-0 184 Left79 Adam Cracknell RW 6-1 191 Right82 Mitch Love LW 6-0 200 Left84 Tyler Shattock RW 6-3 190 RightDEFENSEMEN# PLAYER HT WT SH4 Eric Brewer 6-3 220 Left5 Barret Jackman 6-0 203 Left6 Erik Johnson 6-4 219 Right27 Alex Pietrangelo 6-3 204 Right28 Carlo Colaiacovo 6-1 200 Left33 Tyson Strachan 6-1 212 Right34 Bryce Lampman 6-1 200 Left37 Brendan Bell 6-2 211 Left43 Mike Weaver 5-10 182 Right44 Darryl Sydor 6-1 211 Left46 Roman Polak 6-0 232 Right49 Steve Wagner 6-2 197 Left51 Alex Hellstrom 6-3 210 Left53 Jonas Junland 6-2 198 Left56 Brett Ponich 6-7 204 Left61 T.J. Fast 6-1 190 Left63 Mark Cundari 5-9 199 Left64 Justin Fletcher 5-11 190 Left73 Ryan Turek 6-0 185 Right77 Danny Richmond 6-0 192 Left83 Adrian Veideman 6-2 190 LeftGOALTENDERS# PLAYER HT WT60 Jake Allen 6-2 18530 Ben Bishop 6-7 21029 Ty Conklin 6-0 18490 Sebastian Dahm 5-11 17550 Chris Mason 6-0 19535 Hannu Toivonen 6-2 200"

There are 56 players in camp, but only 23 will be on the final roster. The Blues have already experienced some lively practices. On Saturday, the Blues went through on-ice training where they were tested on strength and endurance, and Roman Polak was the overall winner in the fitness testing. He came into camp in amazing shape and bench-pressed 315 pounds. Polak is strong as an ox and has really become a good defenseman for the Blues.

Erik Johnson, Brad Winchester, Jay McClement and Barret Jackman rounded out the top 5.

Andy McDonald, Yan Stastny and Jonas Junland were the winners of the on-ice endurance drill.

Looking at what I expect the regular season roster to be, the forwards and goalies are set, but there will be a lot of competition for the final two spots on defense. Here are players that are locks to make the team:

Forwards: Andy McDonald, Paul Kariya, Brad Boyes, David Backes, David Perron, Patrik Berglund, Keith Tkachuk, T.J. Oshie, Alex Steen, Jay McClement, B.J. Crombeen, Brad Winchester, D.J. King and Cam Janssen.

Defensemen: Erik Johnson, Barret Jackman, Carlo Colaiacovo, Roman Polak and Mike Weaver.

Goalies: Chris Mason and Ty Conklin

Two more defensemen will make the team, and among those battling for the spots are Alex Pietrangelo, Brendan Bell, Tyson Strachan, Darryl Sydor, Steve Wagner and Jonas Junland. Pietrangelo and Bell are the favorites to make the squad given the offense they provide from the blueline. Eric Brewer of course is still being bothered by his back and should be out for quite a while, so he is out of the picture for now. I will have a blog on his situation in the near future.

So, the roster is shaping up to be a very good one in my opinion. Yan Stastny and Derek Armstrong will be fighting for spots on offense, but my guess is they will both start the year in Peoria and add some leadership to the Rivermen.

I am confident that the Blues will make the playoffs again. They have great scoring depth, a lot of toughness, a solid defense and a very capable starter in Chris Mason. Some people may not be sold on Mason just yet, but after what he showed last year to get the team into the postseason, I fully believe he will follow it up with another great year in net.

It should be another exciting year for the Blues. I wanted to go in-depth about the roster, and I will be sure to update my blog with more posts as training camp rolls on.