McDonald to Start Practicing?
The good news is Blues forward Andy McDonald is skating, the even better news is that McDonald is expected to make the two game road trip beginning Monday night in Colorado.
Obviously McDonald, who began skating this week as he makes his way back from a concussion, will not be playing on the trip but there’s a very strong chance he begins practicing with his teammates for the first time since being hurt.
It’s been a long road for McDonald who’s needed several weeks to kick the symptoms (headaches) that have kept him off the ice. On more than one occasion he was cleared to begin riding the bike but the exercise would induce headaches, a clear sign he wasn’t ready to return.
After seeing multiple Doctors, most if not all believed to be in St. Louis, the guy they call Mac Daddy is getting closer by the day. It goes without saying the Blues could use his speed both on the power play and during even strength. When healthy, McDonald is obviously one of the top few players on the team and gives the team more creativity and scoring potential. His ability to carry the puck and play in the offensive end makes him a threat just about every time he hops over the boards. More than being just a good hockey player, McDonald brings winning experience as the only player on the roster with a Stanley Cup ring. If the Blues had stayed healthy all season long you could make the case they’d potentially have eight to ten more points than they have right now.
Besides getting back in game shape McDonald has had to work to pack on some pounds as he lost some weight during his time away from the rink.
What happened on Saturday night?
Saturday’s loss wasn’t about injuries. There’s really no excuse for the performance we saw in front of a packed house against Columbus. In fact Head Coach Davis Payne went as far as to call it “inexcusable”.
The Blues went at least half the second period without registering a shot on goal. This came against Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason who looked scared to death to start the game. The Blues gave Mason plenty of time to settle back in as I could play goal in the NHL if I knew I wouldn’t be facing any shots.
McRae needs time….
The Blues need help offensively. I like Phillip McRae and believe he has a chance to be a good NHL player one day but the team didn’t draft him to come up here and play 6:25. The fact that he’s seeing such little ice is a sign that he’s probably not yet ready to play the role they need from him. The Blues drafted Mcrae in the second round because they believe he has offensive upside at the NHL level. I’m a firm believer that if you’re going to call up a scorer, you use him as a scorer. The problem is his game isn’t seasoned enough to play the role they hope he can play in the years to come. This is far from a knock on McRae who still needs some time to get stronger and develop the body necessary to play at this level. I’d much rather see McRae up here when’s he ready to contribute offense. He was a minus-2 on the night.
Pietrangelo Shines With EJ?
Remember when the Blues drafted Alex Pietrangelo and John Davidson would often say how nice it will be to see Pietrangelo and Erik Johnson playing the point together for the next ten years? They looked pretty comfortable to me on Saturday.
Pietrangelo was as involved as we’ve see in a number of games playing over 26 minutes and leading the way with four shots on goal. He was skating and at times was the best player on the ice. You could see a difference with Johnson as well whose confidence is growing by the game. There was a defensive coverage issue on CBJ’s first goal in which Johnson was caught up ice but got back in plenty of time to re-gain defensive position. Instead T.J. Oshie was stuck down low and lost body position to Antoine Vermette who had an easy tap in for the Jackets first goal.
I thought the line of Steen, Backes and Boyes had plenty of chances for St. Louis but they just couldn’t finish. They had a lot of zone time but looked a little off when it came to capitalizing on the chances they generated. Give credit to Columbus who did a good job of getting sticks in lanes especially down low. The Blues had trouble handling their backside pressure much of the evening.
The Blues had a chance to put together a really nice three game home stand. Instead they left some valuable points on the table. A third period Backes penalty which erased a Blues power play didn’t help. The Blues All-Star was caught in no-man’s land along the blue line and couldn’t get out of the way of a Columbus player. Backes’ was trying to stay onsides while his eyes were on T.J. Oshie who was carrying the puck across the line.
Where’s Cam Janssen?
I’d much rather have Janssen fighting Jared Boll than B.J. Crombeen. Ryan reaves gave the Blues a few good games but has since gone quiet.
The Blues will take Stefan Della Rovere and D-man Nikita Nikitin on the upcoming trip while ryan Reaves and Ian Cole have been sent back to Peoria.
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
26 Comments | Share: Share Tweet
However, Ryan Reaves has shown he can fill Janssens niche & excel. From the sample we've seen this last week & a half, Reaves has shown he has better hockey sense, anticipation, vision, great tempo, greater size, & better skill w/ the puck.
Janssen's proved to be a great personality. But Reaves is the better 4th line player.
That's all that comes to mind when I think of Janssen. Guy will go and fight anybody...I give him full marks for that. However, the guy is nothing more than a novelty. Honestly folks, I hate when people talk about a fight firing a team up. Any fight will fire both teams up and that high lasts about :30 before both teams settle back into their game plan. IMO, dressing Janssen to play < 5min per game is a waste of a 4th liner who could be out there forechecking the crap out of the other team all the while possessing something that resembles hockey sense. Reaves looked good up here....should have kept him around. flag this comment
Other teams also win despite injuries because they have depth at scoring. flag this comment
It's senseless. At this point the team might as well lose out and get a top five draft pick. flag this comment
But mainly I'm being sarcastic here. If the Blues management won't make a deal for a player then this team has little chance of making the play offs or doing much in them. If their pick is higher because they have some compete in it what do you get? Now if they make the play offs and suck well at least players' get the experience but if not you might as well fail miserably and pick up a better asset. There are some real good players in this draft. Weak means that maybe the top fifteen or so picks are looking like they're full of number goaltenders, first line players, first paring defensemen. But second and third line players are also important. I think of Patrick Sharp as a second liner and he's one of the best second liners in the league. flag this comment
You talked about it a little bit in your post. I posted this a couple of weeks ago in the Stltoday forum as well, it has to do with how the military deals with blasts and should the NHL look at a similar policy.
I was watching a Sunday morning news talkie a few weeks back that had a military commander on it. He said that when soldiers are involved in a blast, esecially if they are inside a structure, they are immediately taken out of service and observed for 24 hours.
He said the most important time period they deal with is to get the soldier out of service and in a rest environment and get his heart rate down before nightfall.
Made we wonder if NHL teams should adopt a policy that if a player takes a head shot that leads to him losing conciousness or is disoriented and woozy, that he comes out of the game immediately and does not return and is allowed to be observed for the next 24-48 hours.
May not have a positive affect in every case, but you cannot tell me that its good for a player that gets jacked and is allowed to remain in a game and keeps his cardio and heart rate pumping at high speeds.
Low and behold - on HNIC Saturday, one of the panelists on Hot Stove mentioned that JD is interested in exploring a rule stating if a player loses conciousness in a game, he has to come out.
I wanted to bounce it off a military guy that has seen live action.
Probably the best thing would be to use a functioning mri first at the beginings of the season as a true baseline. These memory tests and other cognitive tests used as baselines are not as accurate of indicators as a functional mri would be in these cases. Furthermore, it would allow the doctors to understand the severity of such cases and then prescribe a more appropriate schedule for therapy and healing.
But never forget the Rocket gets conked out. He's obviously concussed. He goes back on the ice in the same game and scores the winner and still doesn't know where he is. But what price did he pay for it later in life? It has far more implications on the individual than simply cognitive factors like becoming as messed as Ali.
It's for the individual possibly to decide. But certainly more people are concussed in the game of hockey than people would like to know. You do not have to lose consciousness to have a tbi. Dealing with blast waves can be far different from the brain bruising itself inside the skull and similar in some cases. Better helmets and mandatory face shields will go a long way. Actually having rules that punish players even after games for leaving their feet or even the attempt to do so would help. Taking players out the game with obvious concussions should be a no brainer. Perron should not have come back out that game. Thorton should have been suspended longer as the news of Perron's injury became clearer. But money and stars that bring it in being what it is has made the NHL appear to care on the one hand and turn a blind eye on the other. flag this comment
Probably the best thing would be to use a functioning mri first at the beginings of the season as a true baseline. These memory tests and other cognitive tests used as baselines are not as accurate of indicators as a functional mri would be in these cases. Furthermore, it would allow the doctors to understand the severity of such cases and then prescribe a more appropriate schedule for therapy and healing.
But never forget the Rocket gets conked out. He's obviously concussed. He goes back on the ice in the same game and scores the winner and still doesn't know where he is. But what price did he pay for it later in life? It has far more implications on the individual than simply cognitive factors like becoming as messed as Ali.
It's for the individual possibly to decide. But certainly more people are concussed in the game of hockey than people would like to know. You do not have to lose consciousness to have a tbi. Dealing with blast waves can be far different from the brain bruising itself inside the skull and similar in some cases. Better helmets and mandatory face shields will go a long way. Actually having rules that punish players even after games for leaving their feet or even the attempt to do so would help. Taking players out the game with obvious concussions should be a no brainer. Perron should not have come back out that game. Thorton should have been suspended longer as the news of Perron's injury became clearer. But money and stars that bring it in being what it is has made the NHL appear to care on the one hand and turn a blind eye on the other. flag this comment
Probably the best thing would be to use a functioning mri first at the beginings of the season as a true baseline. These memory tests and other cognitive tests used as baselines are not as accurate of indicators as a functional mri would be in these cases. Furthermore, it would allow the doctors to understand the severity of such cases and then prescribe a more appropriate schedule for therapy and healing.
But never forget the Rocket gets conked out. He's obviously concussed. He goes back on the ice in the same game and scores the winner and still doesn't know where he is. But what price did he pay for it later in life? It has far more implications on the individual than simply cognitive factors like becoming as messed as Ali.
It's for the individual possibly to decide. But certainly more people are concussed in the game of hockey than people would like to know. You do not have to lose consciousness to have a tbi. Dealing with blast waves can be far different from the brain bruising itself inside the skull and similar in some cases. Better helmets and mandatory face shields will go a long way. Actually having rules that punish players even after games for leaving their feet or even the attempt to do so would help. Taking players out the game with obvious concussions should be a no brainer. Perron should not have come back out that game. Thorton should have been suspended longer as the news of Perron's injury became clearer. But money and stars that bring it in being what it is has made the NHL appear to care on the one hand and turn a blind eye on the other. flag this comment
We look like the mighty ducks when their Flying V got crushed by the russians.
"Lets go shake dare hanz"
I'm not in the camp of "trade EJ, like...YESTERDAY" as some people have grown to be, but let's be honest here. With each passing sub-par performance, his expiration light in STL is blinking brighter with every passing game. He needs to figure out a way to become more solid all around. EJ is still trying to do too much with the puck, trying to fight through 1-2 board battles, and he's not getting clean shots through to the net (actually he's fanning on a lot of shots). Personally, I do think a lot of his woes can be directly tied to Petro's success. I think envy does play in a bit here that Petro can step in and dominate where-as EJ is still finding his footing. I think b/c of this EJ is trying to push his game and make something happen instead of letting the game come to him. He shows flashes of greatness when he can let the game come to him and do what's natural. I think we all know that Petro is going to be a better offensive defenseman, but EJ has the ability to not only put points on the board...but he can be a dominant defenseman if he just settles down AND learns to play the body more and use his 6'4" frame to his advantage....play with an edge....a mean-streak even.