Beefy?
Lesson number one when covering the National Hockey League, take everything you read and hear out of Russia with a grain of salt.
The latest regarding Blues prospect Vladimir Tarasenko and him showing up to the World Championships a little beefy.
Sources close to Tarasenko tell me he might be out of shape but certainly not to bulk up for the NHL. There’s a reason why he’s nicknamed the “tank” and it isn’t because he’s slim by nature. We’ve seen this drill out of Russia before, can’t control the player so why not ostracize him.
Tarasenko has a bigger build similar to Anton Volchenkov or Roman Polak and if he goes about his training the right way he could be a monster. If the Blues are successful in signing him they’re likely to get him on their strength program immediately.
I’m told Tarasenko was expected to meet with his representatives on Wednesday to discuss all of his options. Sources say as of Tuesday nothing is imminent.
Blues Needs….
There’s no question the Blues will have their eye on a third line center this summer. How good would the Kings’ Jarret Stoll look in a Blues uniform? This guy’s been solid in the playoffs and is playing out the final year of a 4-year, $14.4 million contract. He made $3.6 million this past season while scoring only 6 goals and 15 assists but he’s proving he has lots of quality hockey left. The Blues can’t afford to pay a third line center $3.6 million but if his number were to drop I would expect St. Louis to show some level of interest.
Bruins center Chris Kelly wouldn’t be too shabby either. He’s likely expecting a raise from his $2.125 salary after scoring a career best 20 goals this season. He was a big part of Boston’s Stanley Cup winning team last spring.
D-esperate?
The Blues will want to beef up on the left side of their defense but there really isn’t a whole lot to choose from in the free agent market.
This is why I wouldn’t rule out either Barret Jackman or Carlo Colaiacovo returning next season. Colaiacovo would be the cheaper alternative as Jackman will fetch $3-$4 million in free agency.
Moving on might be in the best interest of Jackman’s career. A change of scenery could lead to him playing with the intensity and the aggressive style of play we saw early in his career. It’s easy to get comfortable when you stay in one place for over ten years.
Players like Matt Carle are probably out of the Blues price range, same can probably be said for Brad Stuart.
The Blues could still look at trade scenarios as a way to improve the roster.
I don’t see St. Louis trading David Perron as many have suggested.
Why would the Blues trade away their most skilled player? His value isn’t nearly as high today as it could be down the road.
Perron didn’t have a good playoff series against LA but then again who did? The last thing Doug Armstrong will look to do is blow it all up. Let this guy play a full year and put up real offensive numbers before deciding what to do with him moving forward.
As I’ve stated before, I expect the team to try and re-sign both Jamie Langenbrunner and Scott Nichol.
Nichol is a pretty good player to have around for $600,000 and at this stage of his career he’s just wants to keep playing.
Schwartz...
There's no question Jaden Schwartz is a big part of the Blues future and will be a very good NHL player for years to come. With that being said he knows he needs to get stronger and could maybe even improve his skating. He'll be working this summer with a power skating instructor in an effort to improve his overall package. Don't completely rule out the idea of Schwartz possibly beginning next season in Peoria for at least the first handful of games. The Blues did this with David Backes a few years ago and it worked out ok.
Oshie….
T.J. Oshie really made a statement this season with how he handled himself both on and off the ice. He’s a great teammate and put up career highs in goals and points. Will that result in the long-term contract he’s looking for? It’ll be interesting to see how these negotiations play out.
Coaching Staff…
Any news on the coaching staff heading into next season will likely wait until after Armstrong returns from the World Championships. There have been some rumblings of Brad Shaw being interested in the Binghamton Senators job which could make sense considering his ties to the Ottawa organization. Word is Luke Richardson is also interested in the opening.
I’ll have more on Chris Stewart soon.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
Strickland.andy@gmail.com
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External Link
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5 Comments | Share: Share Tweet
I don't think he has the most skill. What concerns me is how serious are the Blues about WINNING? B/c if they are I would consider moving him before his RFA status is done. Besides I would rather use money on a good D man. But apparently those billions of dollars in the Blues ownership group just can't seem to find a way to make money with a hockey team in St. Louis. I call bull shit but hey, whatever.
Perron showed hesitancy in taking some hits and in the past he knew how to hit and this time he seemed to not know how to make a check anymore. I don't get it. Hitting people correctly is not that difficult.
Perron, many believe he would shine more if he played with more skill. I tend to agree with this concept. I want to see him play with Schwartz. Perron's biggest problem right now is intensity.
Intensity. If he began to play with it and use his speed instead of spreading his legs wide coming down the boards while slowing down and trying to make a play. Look he knows and everyone out there knows how good his hands are and they don't want to look bad. So they attempt to contain him and hit him. That has always been the best way to deal with skill one on one. When you add speed you force the defender to make his move most of the time. When the D skate backwards they are vulnerable to speed. They will look for that point to keep the play wide and swipe in on the puck. Perron has such good hands he can exploit that false sense of security. But this only happens when like you tell kids and have to still tell them even when they are old grizzly veterans in the NHL--MOVE YOUR FEET. This is how you draw penalties, this is how you beat players, this is the prime way to open up the ice or cause the goaltender to come off his angle. Make a goaltender move his feet to one side and it is hard for him to come back against the grain.
So why didn't/hasn't this aspect of Perron's game been dealt with?
Look LA is not that good I don't care if they win the Cup. He had moments but he slowed down the play allowing slow players to keep up.
So in my mind I think if you want to win and you don't want to pay a load of money the cost of having a player like Perron is too high. But you must get decent talent in return. Like I said Lars Eller fits in on this team better than Perron.
As far as the most skilled player I tend to lean more and more on Oshie. I don't care what anyone can do in practice or what have you I'll put the basis of skill on being able to utilize that skill in a game. Both have good hockey minds but I feel Oshie has more hockey IQ.
Americans liars? Shocking.
I won't argue that it's more important to have a great d-man than it is to have Perron. The only one in free agency that fits that bill is Suter. If the Blues can pull off getting their hands on Suter and can assure that Tarasenko is playing in the NHL next year, all bets are off with trading Perron... The challenge with trading him though is we're really back to one high-offense guy with NHL experience. MacDonald has shown that he can't stay healthy. I don't want to rely solely on Schwartz, Oshie, Berglund, and Tarasenko for skilled offensive minutes. Keeping Perron in that mix makes a lot of sense since we know that MacDonald is going to miss 20 games or more next year. flag this comment