Bishop Likely to Be Traded?
It’s that time of year when decisions need to be made. In the case of former third rounder Ben Bishop sometimes the decisions are made for you.
Bishop is almost certain to be traded before the NHL deadline. With Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak set with two more years on their contracts, the writing is on the wall as to where Bishop fits into the Blues plans moving forward.
Bishop becomes a group VI unrestricted free agent at the end of the year if he doesn’t meet the 28 NHL games played requirement. He currently has 13 NHL games on his resume. If he were to play 15 more NHL games between now and the rest of the regular season he would be a group II free agent which means the organization he’s with would retain his rights.
Blues D-man Tyson Strachan and forward Ryan Reaves were in the same situation as Bishop a year ago in terms of being 25 years old with at least three seasons of pro experience.
Whoever trades for Bishop will find an opportunity for Bishop to see some games if not this year then certainly next season. A club has until June 30th to sign him to a one-way contract.
The Blues deserve some credit for developing Bishop the right way down in the minors. He has performed well down there and is probably ready to make the jump to the NHL. Is it unfortunate he couldn’t stick with this organization? Sure but at the end of the day most goalies rarely make it to the NHL with the team that originally drafted them.
The Blues have two very capable goalies in front of him and Bishop should be recognized for how well he’s handled the disappointment of not playing in the NHL this season. He has a chance to play in the upcoming AHL All-Star game if Erie goalie Cedrick Desjardins is unable to play because of injury. We should know by this coming Monday.
I'm sure there are some teams interested in Bishop's services as there will be plenty of teams looking to address their goaltending at the end of the year.
Blues Get Past Edmonton…
You know things have changed around here if we’re now critiquing wins! The Blues defeated Edmonton 1-0 in a game that saw the Blues outshoot the Oilers 19-4 in the first period. Head Coach Ken Hitchcock thought the team lacked the necessary intensity offensively saying “it isn’t what it should be.”
Hitchcock made some good points suggesting the Blues may be getting a little too comfortable at home considering they’ve basically been here all month. Your edge and character is typically created on the road and the Blues will have plenty of time to establish their identity in the next few months.
Hitchcock says his team got away from stopping on pucks and overall is about a foot away from virtually every loose puck. This can be corrected and Hitchcock says “the level of intensity needs to be addressed.”
Edmonton goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin was strong in goal for the Oilers.
The Blues have gone 10 straight games without allowing a third period goal. The all time record is 13 set by the 1928-1929 Montreal Canadiens.
St. Louis leads the league with nine shutouts this season, the Blues record is 13 set in 1968-1969.
Halak has three shutouts in his last four starts. He made 15 saves on Thursday giving further proof St. Louis is a great team to play goalie for.
Former Montreal great Bob Gainey was in the house Thursday night. He and Doug Armstrong are very close friends not to mention he won a cup with Ken Hitchcock in Dallas as well.
Former St. Louis great Mike Liut also visited St. Louis on Thursday.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
Strickland.andy@gmail.com
The Latest Truth
External Link
Top Stories From the World Championships
Is USA a Gold medal contender?Elimination round starting up
Rewind
John Tortorella Post-Game
Watch
Rewind
Rangers Take Game 1
Watch
Details of Hull's Role With Blues Getting Clearer
An agreement between Hull and Stillman could come by the end of the week Read more
New Era
Tom Stillman has landed an impressive group of local investors as he begins a new era of Blues ownership Read more
13 Comments | Share: Share Tweet
Over at ESPN.com they suggested there are many out there that believe Bishop is the best goaltender not playing in the NHL. I don't like him being moved, less value at this time. They should call him up and if anything put him in the net for a minute for fifteen games just to increase his value in the sense he'll remain an RFA rather than a UFA.
This is about to be a huge mistake. Halak and Elliott are doing great when they have to make saves. I still think Bishop is a better goaltender than Elliott hands down. Bishop merely had to work on his positioning since he left Maine and the first goaltending coach was an idiot to have a 6'7" netminder leave the crease so far. That is done. He has focused more on the game instead of other things.
At the end of this season there will be two kids most likely leaving this organization that writers are going to write about, unless for one thing Kris Russell gets a lot better which I don't see happening.
There goes another fellow Chaminade alum out of the ranks of the Blues.
Point here is we signed a backup for a $650k two-way deal. What makes you think that a guy who's number four on the organization's depth chart is going to garner any more than a third or fourth round draft pick or a bottom six/ sixth d-man?
Guru, I truly respect your ideas. From my perspective, you hold a bias toward potential that may create an overvaluation of talent. Me, I probably look at where a player is right now and undervalue.
I guess that I think that, if I'm playing armchair GM, my goal is to buy low and sell high. A goalie who's going gangbusters in the AHL is not something that I'm going to chase too hard, especially knowing that he'll be a free agent in the off season that I may be able to sign for less than $1m a year.
Similar thinking goes for Berglund. Guy's not playing too hot right now. If I'm interested in that guy, I'm peddling slop in return for him because he might be a bust. The reason the Stempniak deal worked out so well for us was because we sold high to a team who was down on a couple of players.
I love the conversations! Keep the ball rolling!!! flag this comment
Sam Gagner?
Ganger I would be interested in for sure. He can play center and wing and as you know I'm pretty down on Berglund atm. But he doesn't fit. More likely the Blues would go after to Smid I would think. Though that might be easier said than done. flag this comment
Bergy once again proves that his game is incomplete as he has a strong outing in a few aspects of his game, but other aspects leave a lot to be desired.
Hemsky / Gagner,...no to both. Not that they aren't dynamic players, but they aren't what we need. (think Stamkos type player...pure goal scorer).
Left wing is another weakness.
Although I agree with a lot something can be said to as one game Lehtonen was very good and the next Khabby was decent but not great. Let's look at it this way...maybe that's two games we normally lose in the past and we found a way to win when we weren't completely in the game. Did we dominate so-so. It looked that way but it didn't feel that way.
Berglund is lacking confidence and is thinking on the ice. Thoughts on the ice as you know need be a millisecond and not a full second or two in the NHL, hell even in a beer league you can lose space in that short bit of time.
flag this comment