What’s the deal here? Every time the Blues play a home game the St. Louis Cardinals seem to have a playoff game on the same night.
This creates a less than ideal situation for the St. Louis Blues.
Remember the Blue revolution? That’s the Blues new marketing campaign. I don’t see any revolution beginning until the baseball season finally ends.
You can’t fault the Blues for not trying to find a solution to the problem. The Blues who host Detroit Saturday night at the Scottrade center Contacted representatives from the Red Wings asking if they would be willing to play the game Saturday afternoon to avoid a conflict with the World Series.
The problem with that idea is that Detroit plays the night before in Dallas. They have no interest in playing two games in two nights. Understandably so, Detroit didn’t exactly think playing a game before traveling to St. Louis then quickly turning around and playing an afternoon game was the smartest idea.
The Blues respect Detroit for their decision. There was also some consideration to move the game to Sunday, which would have created more conflicts in St. Louis with the Rams playing an NFL game. The Blues host Anaheim Monday so the idea of playing back-to-back games didn’t excite them.
In my opinion it wouldn’t make any sense to give Detroit an extra day off when you have a chance to face them on the back end of back to back games.
The bottom line is the Blues made an attempt to do what’s right for hockey fans in St. Louis and for that they deserve some credit.
Weight a Minute!
When was the last time Doug Weight played with a player as talented as Martin Rucinsky while playing for the Blues? Probably back in 2003 when Weight and Rucinsky skated along side one another.
Weight is still a very good player, one that makes his teammates better. If I’m a goal scorer in the NHL I can’t think of too many pure passers that I would rather play with. Saturaday night in Chicago was Weight’s best game of the season by far. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Saturday was probably the best game of the year for his linemates Bill Guerin and Rucinsky as well. Rucinsky still has some room for improvement.
Anyone who watches or has watched Weight on a regular basis understands he is at his very best when he moves his feet and attacks the offensive end with speed. He also needs his linemates to contribute consistently. The goal Guerin scored the other night is exactly what he must do if the Blues have any hopes of sniffing the playoffs. He is still skilled enough to score at a high level, win the one on one battle and score the timely goal when his team needs it.
I won’t make excuses for Weight getting off to a slow start but if you look at his situation realistically you will understand a few things.
He basically had no training camp at all as he let his shoulder rest during the off season after injuring it during the Stanley Cup finals last spring.
Let me assure you that his shoulder remains less than 100%.
He has always been a well conditioned athlete but just by watching him early on you can tell his conditioning is not close to where it normally is and where it will be. Not participating in the training camp scrimmages obviously has contributed to this.
Most players who have won championships in all sports will tell you that it is very difficult to come down emotionally from the excitement of winning it all.
People acted like this guy would never score a point all season long. The fact of the matter is you can still play well and not score. Last time I checked he has almost 900 points in his career.
With all this being said weight must build off his performance Saturday and help carry the load offensively with the St. Louis Blues. He knows the way he played the first couple of games this season was not good enough.
The Blues as a team must play desperate on a nightly basis. The have done a nice job of battling their way back into hockey games, but it is unrealistic to expect this team to earn points when they fall behind early and often. The Blues need to find a way to get up on teams early, turn a one goal lead into a two goal lead and so on. Doing this is virtually impossible if they continue to take irresponsible penalties.
When Cam Jansen of the New Jersey Devils fights, he reminds me of the gritty Joey Kocur. That is meant to be a compliment to the St. Louis kid who continues to make an impact in the NHL.
Blues Clues!
Barett Jackman has been skating on his own and will likely begin practicing with the team sometime next week. He is pain free as he continues to battle back from a knee sprain.
Expect Curtis Sanford to start in net Saturday against Detroit. Head Coach Mike Kitchen continues to tell me he doesn’t have a number one goaltender. Both Manny Legace and Sanford continue to support and more importantly push one another which is exactly what Kitchen was hoping would happen.
Jay McClement continues to find his role as an NHL player. He’s been a responsible player everywhere he’s played. Kitchen is looking for McClement to be more aggressive, get into puck battles, and to be a go to face off guy.
That’s exactly what he was while playing for Team Canada in the World Junior’s a few years back. McClement was always the guy taking important defensive zone face-offs in the final minute of the game. Jay can be offensive as well; he controls the puck well along the wall and competes. He has an opportunity to think offense playing with Lee Stempniak and Ryan Johnson. All three guys can skate and work. Kitchen puts no restrictions on these guys at all. They are simply told to go play.
When McClement was playing his first year in junior hockey in beautiful Brampton, Ontario where his coach Stan Butler right away played him against the opposing teams top line. He was thrown right into the fire. Eventually he would be rewarded as the next season he was playing along side Raffi Torres.
With strong, committed, responsible play he will continue to earn Kitchen’s trust to be thrown out there in all situations. This is a big year in the development of McClement. He’s expected to make plays and to contribute this season, he can’t be just a guy.
Martin Rucinsky was hoping to wear #26 this season, but he never approached Petr Cajanek asking if he would give it to him. A few of Cajanek’s teammates like joking with him saying he refused to hand it over. When Cajanek first arrived in St. Louis he requested #16. No explanation required.
Former Blues Assistant Coach Curt Fraser has taken his experience overseas after being hired to help coach the Belarus Natioanl Team for the next several weeks.
Goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu has been sent to the Blues ECHL affiliate in Alaska because they want him to get some games and practice time. He backstopped the Aces to a Kelly Cup championship last season.
After Jason Bacashihua Cleared waivers and reported to Peoria the team was stuck with three goalies. Not exactly fair for Beckford-Tseu who continues to be tossed around the Blues organization. I feel the Blues need to let this kid go play for an organization where he might have a chance to play in the NHL. The reality is, he will probably never play for the St. Louis Blues.
In my opinion there are goalies that haven’t even signed with the Blues organization that they consider better prospects than Beckford-Tseu. University of Maine Product Ben Bishop and Reto Berra, who plays over in Switzerland are probably higher on the overall depth chart than Beckford-Tseu.
The Blues will deny this to be the case because they haven’t turned pro yet. Believe me, when they do, Beckford-Tseu will be out of the picture.
The Blues drafted both Bishop and Berra. The reality is, Beckford-Tseu is a good goalie that has some potential if given a chance to play in the AHL. The Blues feel he gives the organization protection if either Sanford or Legace were to go down with an injury. He would be the guy to backup Marek Schwarz. The organization will continue to try to find an AHL team that will take Beckford-Tseu on loan.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
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St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • 
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