Tom Stillman Signs Purchase Agreement to Buy Blues
League sources confirm Blues minority Owner Tom Stillman has officially entered into a purchase agreement to buy the St. Louis Blues. Sources indicate Stillman’s exclusive period to close on his purchase runs through the middle of March.
Stillman takes on a good portion of the agreement Matt Hulsizer entered into back on October 28th. Hulsizer’s agreement with the league was terminated on January first.
A major difference expected between the two agreements is that Chairman Dave Chacketts has been deleted from the Stillman agreement. It remains unclear if Checketts will hold on to his share of the Peabody Opera House which is around 16%.
Checketts was to retain close to 25% Ownership under the Hulsizer agreement even though he wasn’t expected to have any direct involvement with the hockey club.
Stillman now focuses on lining up his bank financing which once again is headed up by the Citibank sports finance department.
McDonald Getting Close?
Blues forward Andy McDonald could be closing in on shedding the red no-contact jersey and ultimately landing back in a Blues uniform. He’s been out since October 13th with a concussion.
Sources say McDonald is now experiencing symptom free days although they haven’t always been in succession. Once he’s symptom free for consecutive days in a row he can begin to focus on returning to the lineup.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
Strickland.andy@gmail.com
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I told you at the beginning of the season there's a lot to love in Buffalo except Ruff.
Those are some cheap shots talking about years past. I guess you have to grab at something considering your team went out and over paid a bunch of good players as if they were great and yet has less wins this season than the Blues do at home while having the 23rd ranked pay roll. Oops.
You had to know RUff was an idiot when he was bench Max though he was the only player going against Ottawa that regularly would create scoring chances those two years you choked. I guess being a Buffalo sports fan as I once was b/c my parents are from the area must suck--always a bridesmaid never the bride. Winners of nothing more than second place.
You'll be happy to know the Blues have struggled to bury the puck, which thanks to great team defense and goaltending hasn't hurt us the past few games. I hope the Blues wipe the ice with the Sabres. If they don't it won't matter one lick.
Why???? B/c we're heading to the play offs while Buffalo is heading closer and closer to a lottery pick in a draft not considered very deep with top shelf talent.
So while your doing what we were once doing here, impatiently waiting for the draft and the next season and watching other teams battle in the play offs, know my team is on the rise while your team, up to the cap is sinking and will sink as long as you have a crappy coach.
It must be great to take shots at the coach that beat you in the finals. Just remember that empty spot on RUff's finger is occupied on Hitch's finger. Thanks to one of the greatest Blues in history--Brett Hull.
Hope you had a good laugh. And note I didn't even rub it in by mentioning anything about one Bradly Boyes.
It just makes me wonder about the blindness of trash talking a team you play once every year b/c of the coach in a season where you spend to the cap and haven't won more games the entire season then the team your about to play has won at home.
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You should have brought up Boyesy. That would just piss them off even more...
I have also always thought Hitch was a better coach than Ruff. But Buf is a club that should be winning way more games then they are and are a team built for a long playoff run. Guess they will just have to be patient, KINDA LIKE US BLUES FANS!!!! flag this comment
But in the off season I think they got a little too crazy which was also like an advertisement. I think you combine the market with a team like FLorida needing to spend money and contracts were trending towards an inflationary rate. Which is bad for the league in general.
Erhoff was a good signing but the price was too steep. Leino another good signing until you see the term and price tag then it becomes a terrible signing.
They have dollars coming off their pay roll at the end of the season. Later I mentioned Boyes as I was being called a troll though I reminded them I actually do comment and read Garth's articles from time to time. But he crossed a line imo.
They envy us and are jealous. Yet we envy them for having a good owner. It looks like soon they'll have a management and coaching change.
I still think highly of Stafford. It's hard to judge a lot of those players right now and their efforts. They have to be waiting for the shoe to drop. It shouldn't happen but we all know it does. LGB!
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One thing I'll say for Jackman: He must be one smart son of a bitch. He's maintained his rep with coaches and teammates... flag this comment
And why aren't playing physically against these pus****???? They can't take a forecheck. flag this comment
Okay new rule two on ones or three on ones or twos what have you don't take the lane wide to the net skate across the ice and force the other team to go out of position put the puck on net and crash it.
Also notice forecheck their defense and they cough the puck up like a pez dispenser. It's like a team of giant Jackmans.
Damn Backes has been an absolute animal. Incredible game yet again by him. flag this comment
Have you ever seen a whole team so afraid of physical contact??
This is the best sixty point player in the NHL and he might get more.
As I said when Perron first came back him and Oshie need to be on the same line and Backes is the muscle. flag this comment
This next month is going to rough. I hope we learn how to become road warriors. Magic number for wins = a play off spot down to 16. I believe atm that would equal 96 points. That's about right. Detroit has managed to get their road record to 13-13-1. That's five more wins. We have so far averaged more points per game on the road than them but now we need to put the pedal down. We only have 14 more games at home and we can't expect them all to be wins. Play it safe that's at least 8 wins meaning we need at least 8 more on the road. 15 more on the road and continued home dominance would put us in the running for tops in the league. flag this comment
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It wouldn't surprise me if they did make the playoffs, as you said, they def have the pieces. flag this comment
Unless like anybody else in the NHL you get an overwhelming offer how do you trade any of the likes of RYan, Getlaf or Perry? It's so bad in the media some are speculating that despite their resigning Beauchemin that they are shopping him now.
Selanne hasn't had interest in going anywhere just yet and now that they are starting to win, well, I don't see him going anywhere in the short term unless in the next month things change. He might be willing to pull a Tkachuk or a Weight. flag this comment
Berglund is on pace for another 09-10 type of season. Less than forty points while play upwards of 17 minutes a night. One of the few regulars to see that much ice time and have a negative rating. I am concerned about this kid. Note I'm not saying move him now but I'm saying find a second line center, put him on the wing or drop him down some lines or sit him for a while. I'm confident he'll score next season for sure, it's a contract year. He seems to do well every other year as well.
It hinders this team's ability to score to have a shooter for a second line center that doesn't score. What's worse is that he's not creating offense from his shots either. He's not creating time or space for his linemates. Thankfully he's picked up in the face off circle. Something has got to change here.
Maybe it will when McDonald and Steen get back.
Why aren't they on national tv even talking about the fact his jersey came right off????????? This is twice now this has happened. The first time there was the bs excuse it broke. All you have to do is break it before the game.
Fraser even talked about it in his last article. What a joke? McGuire is an idiot. How any one mentions him as a GM is a mystery to me. How he ever coached an NHL team shocks me. Of course it was the winless WHalers. flag this comment
"A player who is involved in an altercation, when the opponent has been identified as an instigator, shall not be assessed a game misconduct penalty if his jersey should be removed by an opponent or an official in the discharge of his duties, regardless as to whether or not he was properly tied-down (jersey properly fastened to pants)."
http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26336 flag this comment
Same link as above... flag this comment
How was that hit legal anyway???? He hit him in the head. Better be a fucking suspension.
I HATE THE RED WINGS. SHANNY AND BETTMAN NEED TO RETIRE AND GET OUT OF THE SAME BED. I HATE THE RED WINGS
There is a caveat in the rule that says if the player loses his jersey despite the tie down remaining intact and attached to the pants, the game misconduct is not applicable. It is obvious that the white tie down was not snapped shut when the fight was broken up.
Given the rather lengthy discussion and examination of Eager's equipment there is only one logical explanation as to why the game misconduct was not assessed in this case - Equipment failure!" --Kerry Fraser tsn.ca
FUCK THOSE BASTARDS. LOW DOWN CHEAP DIRTY FUCKS.
fuck howard
But seriously, Howard swung at a player with his blocker. That is a suspension. Oh wait Brendan Red WIng Shannahan won't suspend any of them.
Petro gets hit in the head, then an elbow to the head and we get called for it.
It's a disgraceful joke. The Dead Things only have a winning streak b/c they cheat and are not called. There biggest change in their game was interfering with our players every play in their zone. No calls.
It's difficult to beat any team when they don;t play by the same rules but this was a DISGRACE. The second goal all on Berglund. Jackman sucks.
Oshie didn't do anything. Tried to play line match ups the whole game. Worked in the first sort of, all it did was make Backes, Perron and Oshie cold and out of sync.
We MUST get a second line center who can produce. flag this comment
Both Stewart and Cole go down three games for their first offense while Bertuzzi still plays in this league. Stuart even loses his jersey an automatic game but I suppose twice in three games in a fight both players had an equipment malfunction.
The truth is that officiating was a joke. We have battled through it before. But in this game instead of continuing to be physical and attack their net from the second on we were terrible. flag this comment
But we do have the better team. I truly believe it. Right now our biggest weakness is our lack of a real second line winger. Berglund is not doing it. He's one of the few minus players on this team and the only one I know of who average that much ice time.
The second goal is all on him. He loses the draw, then he fails to take a man or compete for the puck, instead he's looking around and finds himself completely out of the play opening up the ice.
AT the same time there's no call on the interference there. But if Berglund does his job it's a moot point.
This team started out skating and being physical. When the Dead Things pushed back, it was what Hitch said, "They are pushing back, we just need to keep playing our game and everything will be all right." We stopped playing our game. We stopped hitting. We didn't have a lot of space and there was no puck support. There wasn;t a good compete level. I'm sorry as good as Detroit is they are not a physically stronger team than us.
Besides maybe two defensemen on the Dead Things if you force them to turn back on the play they reaching and hooking. Eventually you'll get the call. They have a lot of slow players.
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One area that Petro needs to work on is being strong on his skates. He goes down too easily.
Blues lack that killer instinct that detroit still has. When they sense panic they shrink the perimeter down until their D are practically in the circles. We're gettin there, just need to get healthy and replace one or two players. This is still a learning year. Most of the guys arent used to winning and have barely gotten a taste of the playoffs. flag this comment
Oh, and what the hell was Hitch talking about during his bench interview with brainless (McGuire)? He sounded like a high school swim coach rather than an NHL coach. He should be embarrassed for not sounding like he was in the game. I know this is supposedly a "new" Hitch...one that doesn't yell and go nuts, but God-Damn...I would have been up these guys rear-ends on the bench and in the locker room during the 2nd intermission. There was NO COMPETE after the 1st period. Sure, the Wings pushed back on the Blues, but where were the Blues to push back on the Wings?
I will say as far as non-calls go, Zett got away with a blatent hook on Oshie in open ice, and Sobotka's stick was absolutely held in the corner, but outside of that there really weren't any missed calls. And for those who want to rant and rave about Petro getting caught in the head by Stuart....were you all watching the same game or are you just drinking the Blue kool-aid too much? Guys, it's great that we stick up for our own and we hate the disparity (especially when the Wings get away with things) but c'mon....that was a CLEAN HIT. Petro put his head down for a minute and he got his clock cleaned. The original hit was completely legal, however the only thing I partially took exception too was Stuart's follow through which I thought was excessive.
As far as I'm concerned Stewart, Berglund, Colaiacovo, and Bishop are all on the block and I'd LOVE to work something out with NJ for Parise. Look, we're getting Steen and A-Mac back....I don't need a weak large pile of dung named Stewart, and a clueless Berglund, and a non-factor Colaiacovo on this team!!! I'm tired of not seeing these guys push through and figure out how to successfully navigate a game against the elite in the NHL!!