I understand the Blues philosophy in not playing 19 year old rookie David Perron but in my opinion it’s time.
For Perron to play that is.
The Blues feel it is in Perron’s best interest, in terms of his long term development, to be in the NHL environment every day. That means practicing at an NHL tempo on a daily basis with players like Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight and Paul Kariya, getting stronger by working out with the Blues Strength and conditioning coach, and experiencing the NHL road schedule.
I am in full agreement with the Blues that these things are very important and they are doing the right thing by keeping him in the NHL, but it’s time to let the kid play some games. I'm not saying every night, but he needs to get his feet wet.
I know the organization wants to protect him, but let’s be honest here, there have been plenty of 19 year olds that have played in the NHL. They drafted him in the first round because they thought he could be an impact player. He earned his way on to the roster during camp.
I understand veteran Mike Johnson is here, but let’s be honest again, he was signed for insurance purposes. I like Mike and I think he is a good player but he didn’t have an NHL contract until the Blues gave him one and I wouldn’t expect to hear him complain about not being in the lineup.
Perron is a better fit for Doug Weight who loves playing with the 19 year old. They are both crafty offensive players and read off one another very well in the offensive end. Gifted offensive players have a knack of finding ways to get open, getting to scoring areas, and burying their chances. I would like to see Perron get a chance to play three games in a row. Playing one out of every six or seven games is tough to find confidence and rhythm. You can’t play him at this rate and then after seven games say “he only has one goal and two assists; I don’t think he’s ready.” That wouln’t be fair to Perron and would send him the wrong message. I don’t see how it would hurt to use M. Johnson as your extra guy and use D.J. King when necessary.
With that being said the team has gotten off to a nice start and it’s tough to crack the Blues lineup right now. I know he’s getting better by practicing with the club every single day, but that sometimes can be overrated. I also know you get better by playing, the more live action Perron sees the better this season will be for him in the long run. I agree that sending him back to junior to tear up the Quebec League is probably not the answer. With Oshie and possibly Berglund and Eller coming in next season to compete for roster spots, it is important to spread things out so they don’t all show up at once.
Peron reminds me of Alexei Kovalev. His hands are sick and they skate and play very similar, except Perron brings more grit to the table. This kid loves to play and I know for a fact that Blues management love watching this kid practice.
Oh yeah, Kovalev played in the NHL at 19 and was pretty effective.
D-cision Time!
Eric Brewer is returning to the Blues lineup Saturday night vs. Minnesota. The Blues have placed Erik Johnson on IR to open up a spot for Brewer. Johnson could return as early as next Tuesday and is eligible to come off IR at any time since his injury occurred more than seven days ago. Assuming no one gets injured between now and then the Blues will have a very tough decision to make.
Do they send Steve Wagner down to the AHL? How can they? He’s been one of their better defenseman thus far this season.
Do they waive Matt Walker? How can they? He’s played his best hockey ever over the last week. Walker is a good player who serves a purpose on this roster and the Management and Coaches are well aware of it.
Do they make a trade? Who? The Blues say there are no trades in the works.
I didn’t say Larry Pleau hasn’t been taking and making calls to and from other GM’s.
Some have suggested the Blues move defenseman Christian Backman , Andy Murray says Backman has been one of his top rated D-man over the last five games. He’s the closest thing the Blues have to a power play defenseman on the roster.
Who else makes a better pass on the breakout than Backman?
Backman has another year left on his contract and his salary jumps up to 3.5 million next season. The average of his salary comes out to 2.3 million which is also his cap hit.
Be careful what you wish for. If the Blues trade Backman I can see this guy moving on and having a very nice career with another team. Could you imagine Backman playing in Detroit under Niklas Lidstrom? The Blues have been very patient with him, will the patience ever pay off in St. Louis?
The bottom line is that the Blues will have a tough decision to make. John Davidson and Larry Pleau are paid to make tough decisions and they will certainly be tested here.
Pay close attention to this one.
If the Blues are unsuccessful in opening up a spot, would they hang on to eight D-men? Not an ideal situation and I doubt they would choose to go in this direction.
If the Blues can't move a player, would it still kill him if they were forced to send Wagner down? The Blues would just have to tell him “we’re sorry, you don’t deserve to go to Peoria, you have done everything we have asked you to do and you will be a Blue for a long time, you will be back soon”.
If I were making the decision I would do everything possible to keep Wagner in St. Louis where he is proving he belongs.
In my opinion, the fact that he’s been such a surprise is the reason why he’s received so much attention. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s a good player but I don’t think he’ll be winning the Norris this year!
Goaltending/assistant coach Rick Wamsley deserves some serious credit for the work he’s done with Manny Legace. The two worked on-on-one all summer and the results are obvious.
Legace was the Blues best player last week vs. Colorado and Wednesday in Chicago. Legace isn’t wasting any movement and he’s is making tough saves and reads look real easy. Wamsley has taught Legace to play an educated deep game. It is important for a goaltender to be an intelligent hockey player, Legace certainly has above average intelligence. A goaltender can play deep as long as he understands when and why a player does something with or without the puck. The save Legace made on Robert Lang Wednesday night in Chicago right in front of the net is an example of how comfortable he is playing back on the goal line.
Wamsley has also done a lot of work with backup goalie Hannu Toivonen who has worked extremely hard in practice. Toivonen played Friday night in Peoria and word is he was outstanding. One of the goals he gave up was on a 5-3 and he stopped all five shooters in the shootout. Wamsley is working with Toivonen on not being so aggressive that he doesn’t protect the net. If a goalie gets too spread out often he will begin to chase and overplay. Wasmsley is looking for more compact movement from Toivonen.
This has been an issue for Toivionen in the past. When you chase you have no idea what you’re leaving behind for a shooter to look at. Wamsley says it’s like a bad poker player who doesn’t know what he’s leaving on the table.
Jay McKee flat out makes the Blues better when he’s in the lineup. He’s long and doesn’t overextend himself to make plays. He is a very easy partner for Barret Jackman to play with. McKee, who missed 56 games last season needs a good 20 games to get over the mental part of returning from injury. It is only natural that McKee is scared to death that he’s going to get hurt again. Injury will be on his mind for the next handful of games. So is the contract that he has not lived up to because of injuries, players may not admit it but it definitely plays games in your head.
Rink Rats!
Nike is selling their hockey division. Bauer will soon be Bauer once again as opposed to Nike Bauer.
Chicago is looking at bringing back Tony Amonte who is working out on his own in Boston.
Flyers sixth round pick Pat Maroon is third in the OHL in scoring after ten games with 21 points. Don't be surprised if the Flyers sign Maroon very soon.
Blues Clues!
Petr Cajanek is expected to sign a deal to play for Kazan in the Russian Super League for the rest of the season by tomorrow. He was approached by his agent early Friday morning and said he wasn’t interested in playing in Europe. After thinking it over for a few hours he figured he might as well. The offer from the Russian team was too good to pass up. The Russian team will pay the Blues a fee to acquire Cajanek’s rights. There is no doubt the Blues want to see the money up front before they hand Cajanek over. He will make out pretty well financially; Cajanek will make his 2 million owed to him from the St. Louis Blues on top of what he earns from the Russian club. Several European teams showed interest in Cajanek’s services including teams from the Swiss and the Russian Super League.
Why is the media in St. Louis just starting to figure out how valuable Jamal Mayers is to this hockey team? He’s been playing this way pretty much his entire career. When will certain media step up and say “I was wrong for being critical of his game over the last several years?” Just because a player can skate fast doesn’t mean they should score 20 goals a year.
Has anyone noticed how dominating Keith Tkachuk has been in the defensive zone?
Bues scout Thomas Carlsson recently saw Blues first round pick Lars Eller score a goal in his first game of the season. Eller has fully recovered from wrist surgery.
Every Blues player wears wires during practice so the Blues can determine how much effort each player is giving during practice. To me this is unbelievable, the technology today is outrageous! It’s all computerized and prevents players from slacking off. No cutting corners here!
The Blues coaching staff met one on one with each player to give them an evaluation of how they have performed after the first five games. These meetings will occur after every five games throughout the season.
Keith Tkachuk and Minnesota Wild winger Pavol Demitra are still very close friends. The two had dinner together Friday night in St. Louis
More to come,
Andy Strickland
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St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • 
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