St Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues are not having the season they were supposed to. They were supposed to be at the top of the division and contend for the President’s Trophy. But instead, thanks to the outstanding play of Sergei Bobrovsky and the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Blues are barely holding on to a playoff spot. However, the Blues are shaking up the lineup.

The first move the team made was on Saturday, when the Blues traded a second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick for Buffalo Sabres defenseman Jordan Leopold. Leopold has been in the league for 11 years and adds valued experience to a team that doesn’t have too much. Being a top-four defenseman, Leopold also adds depth to an already stacked defense. Leopold is scheduled to play with Kevin Shattenkirk, but could move up to the first line with Alex Pietrangelo in a few games.

Next, Doug Armstrong stunned Blues fans Monday night when he announced the Blues traded for Jay Bouwmeester of the Calgary Flames (per The Associated Press). Bouwmeester averages nearly 25 minutes in ice time while also being another top-four forward. He has a hefty contract that the Blues must pay, but the Blues have the most cap space of any team in the NHL, so the money isn’t an issue.

With these signings, the Blues are going to be sellers at the deadline.

Since the Blues added two defensemen, they now have nine NHL-level defensemen. There is no way the team can keep that many defensemen on the roster, especially with three goalies also on the roster. The Blues are going to have to trade someone, and it could be enough to push the team into the thick of the playoffs.

The Blues will most likely be trading Ian Cole or Kris Russell on defense. Wade Redden signing a one-year deal could also be a target, but would be just a loaner to a team. All three of these point to trying to grab draft picks, possibly to the 2013 draft, where the Blues are thin on picks. However, there could be an even smarter deal for the Blues to grab.

If Jaroslav Halak is not injured for an extended period of time, the Blues are going to have to trade Brian Elliott. Add Cole, Russell or Redden into a package, and add a forward, say Patrik Berglund or Vladimir Sobotka, and the Blues could give a team an entire rebuilding package.

The Blues need to market this package for someone who can score and immediately make an impact. The Blues have had flashes of brilliance in the offensive zone, but not nearly enough to be consistent.  The Blues are a team that has not been producing anywhere near expectations and are in need of something to get the team going.

Trading Berglund, Cole and Elliott may just be the answer, if the team gets the right forward to have an immediate impact. If these players go for draft picks, such a player could open the Blues’ window for a cup a little longer.

Overall, the Blues placed themselves in a great position at the deadline. The Blues traded for both Leopold and Bouwmeester without trading any roster players and now have the power to give a team a package that could warrant a big draft-pick return or another big-name player. The Blues need to be sellers at the deadline and could still contend for the Stanley Cup this year. It’s a pretty good spot to be in for a team that has been vastly underachieving in this shortened season.

The St. Louis Blues have not been achieving as expected in the 2013 season. Instead of contending for the Central Division and even the President’s Trophy, as many people imagined, the Blues are sitting in seventh in the Western Conference and third in the Central. 

Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote a column about the Blues' recent struggles. He talks about how they have not bought into coach Ken Hitchcock’s system and that the offense needs to be as it was earlier in the season. Essentially, he is hitting the panic button. 

It is way too early to be hitting the panic button. 

Hitchcock’s system was completely bought into last season and it led to arguably the best regular season in Blues history. This is basically the exact same team. The only difference was bringing in Vladimir Tarasenko and losing Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner. The missing piece? Leadership. 

The Blues have had a loss of identity because they don’t have the experience and the lead by example leadership as they did last season. David Backes is more than a capable captain (frankly, one of the more underrated in the league), however, he does not have the same kind of veteran leadership guys like Langenbrunner and Arnott brought to the table.

They have been in the situation the team is in now before, and more importantly, they know what it takes to win a Stanley Cup. The only two people who have rings are Andy McDonald and Hitchcock. 

Secondly, the defense has been nowhere near as good as it was last season when the Blues allowed the least goals in the league. Now? They're 17th in the league in goals against average. In comparison, Chicago is third, Boston is fifth and Anaheim is eighth.

Teams are proving that in order to be successful and be a contender for the Stanley Cup, you need to have stellar goaltender, and the Blues have only seen flashes of greatness from their netminders. 

The offense hasn’t been much better in recent games. The Blues have only scored 18 goals in the last eight games. Some fans are saying that if the team continues on its cold streak, players such as David Perron, Alex Steen or Patrik Berglund should be dealt. This would be completely detrimental for the development of the team. 

Yes, the team has had scoring issues, but they are also capable of putting on an offensive show. Have people forgotten about the Blues' 5-1 start? The team is just collectively cold. What happens if the team gets collectively hot? They could be this year’s Los Angeles Kings. 

Overall, people are forgetting that this season is a shortened one. Yes, there are 16 games left, but the team has only played 32. If the Blues were 17-13-2, sure people would not be happy. But there would be no talk of blowing up the roster, no questioning if Hitch can get the job done. 

Being a Stanley Cup team does not happen overnight. Teams must fight through adversity to achieve greatness. It is a process that takes time. This Blues team is capable of achieving that greatness. So don’t just hit the panic button. The best is yet to come. 

The St. Louis Blues have put together a three-game winning streak and look to continue it Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks. But with just 20 games left and the Blues sitting in fifth in the Western Conference, the team needs to start focusing on the playoffs and the roster it wants to bring into the postseason. 

The Blues were hit by the injury bug hard in the month of February, losing Andy McDonald, Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Steen. T.J. Oshie recently went down with a shoulder injury against the San Jose Sharks, and Alex Pietrangelo was out with the flu against Anaheim. 

Overall, the Blues have had many different players in the lineup, and it seems that everyone is starting to get healthy at the right time. The Blues still need one final piece to put together a team that could legitimately contend for a Stanley Cup. 

That player is Jarome Iginla.

Iginla has been the go-to trade rumor for the past couple years now. The Calgary Flames are in no way, shape or form a playoff team, and many project Iginla to pull a Bourque: get traded to a team in hopes of winning a Cup before retiring. Even though Iginla has stated he wants to stay in Calgary, the Flames would be smart to trade him to start the rebuilding process.

The Blues have some pieces that would interest the Flames. For starters, the Blues have to get rid of a goaltender. Rookie Jake Allen has played like Brian Elliott did last year, and Jaroslav Halak has proven to be a good enough backup for Allen while he rides his hot streak. This leaves Elliott as the odd man out.

The Blues have no reason to be carrying three goaltenders going into postseason play, and with his one-way contract, Elliott would be used better in a trade than being sent down to Peoria and possibly claimed off waivers. 

The Flames could use someone like Elliott while Kiprusoff is still around. Kiprusoff has only a couple more years left before he is forced to retire, and back in his day, Kiprusoff was lights-out. Imagine if the Flames could have him be a mentor to Elliott. If Elliott returns to his 2011-12 form, the Flames would have another franchise goaltender.

And is Joey MacDonald really getting the job done? His 2.85 GAA and .900 save percentage aren't bad, but those aren't the kind of stats you want from a starting goaltender expected to play 65-plus games.

The Blues also have young talent that could be included in a deal that would make Calgary seriously consider their offer. Kevin Shattenkirk and Jaden Schwartz are the two heavy hitters, but the Flames may also be interested in players such as Ty Rattie, Adam Cracknell, Chris Porter or Phil McRae.

All of these players could turn out to be big names, and the Flames could use some young talent that would have fans forget they traded away the face of the franchise of the last 15 years. 

If the Blues and Flames were to make the trade, it would most likely go down like this: The Blues would give Calgary a third-round pick, Brian Elliott and either Cracknell or Porter for Iginla and a second-round pick. The Blues would add the veteran leader the team has been missing this season, as well as someone who can light the lamp in pressure situations.

The Flames get a goaltender who has shown he can be elite, a winger who can develop into a top-six forward and a pick that they can put toward their rebuilding process.

The Blues have never been known to pay for big names at the deadline in order to win in a single season alone. But perhaps that's why the team has never won a Stanley Cup. The Blues could benefit from grabbing a guy like Iginla, and with the current play of Allen, it's hard to see why the Blues don't make a run that could bring the city its first Stanley Cup. 

On March 7, the NHLPA approved the realignment plan by the NHL. This would mean the end of three divisions per conference and move to a system with two divisions within two conferences.

According to Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Blues would be in a division with Chicago, Colorado, Minnesota, Nashville, Dallas and Winnipeg. 

For the Blues, this is good and bad news.

Good News

The good news is that the Blues get to maintain a rivalry with the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks have always been hated in St. Louis and conference realignment does not break this up. With both teams being contenders for the Central division title and both having young teams, maintaining the rivalry with Chicago was very important to the Blues.

Also, the Blues are now in a division with the Minnesota Wild. Over the last few seasons, the Wild and Blues have always been battling it out. This rivalry is one of the most underrated rivalries in the NHL and the two teams are now division opponents. Neither team will be upset they are now playing each other four to five times a year. These games will get nasty, especially when both teams are competing for a playoff spot.

Finally, the Blues are in a division with Winnipeg, the newest franchise in the NHL. This is great for newer fans because they get to see a brand new franchise. Hockey fans were excited last year when the Jets came back and seeing them in Scottrade Center should be a hot ticket for the first few years under this new realignment plan. 

Bad News

First off, the Blues lose Detroit to the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings were the most hated rivals of the Blues because of the many times the two teams met in the playoffs, especially in the '90s and early 2000's. The Wings and Blues would always be great games and fans would always want to be in attendance when the Wings came to town. Not having the Detroit to play could hurt attendance and the Blues lose one of their best rivals. 

Next, the Blues also lose out on beating up on Columbus. The Blues and Columbus would always play chippy games, and it was nice to get two points the majority of the time. Having the worst team in the league is underrated and the closest team to replace the Jackets are the Jets, but MTS Centre is a very tough place in play in. As a whole, the division loses out on a little stat padding. 

The last of the bad news is every one of the new divisional opponents for the Blues is a tough team. Dallas and Colorado are two teams that are just one piece away from being a playoff team and are always bubble teams. Chicago, Nashville and Minnesota are always tough teams that are going to be good for the foreseeable future. And Winnipeg is new, but they too are just a couple players away from being a playoff team. The new division makes competition tough for the Blues, but it will be a good indicator how the team will do come playoff time.

Overall

Overall, conference realignment was going to happen no matter what. Winnipeg could not be in the Southeast, and Detroit and Columbus couldn't be in the Western Conference anymore. The Blues get regional opponents that will make the regular season extremely competitive and exciting. The old Norris and Campbell style playoffs will make things even more cutthroat. The NHL made the right choice to breakdown the realignment the way it is, and the Blues should be happy with the division and conference they will have next year.

The St. Louis Blues are amid a four-game losing streak and are looking to get out of the funk they're in. Brian Elliott has not played well at all and the Blues' goaltending situation is a polar opposite from where it was last season.

With Jaroslav Halak coming off of IR, the Blues should start him in the game against LA and make him the legitimate No. 1 starter for the rest of the season.

Halak went down with a groin injury in the first period of the Feb. 1 game against the Detroit Red Wings. Since that game, Elliott has gone has gone 0-3-1, with a 4.00 GAA and .778 save percentage. Those are not the stats of a William M. Jennings trophy winner.

It should be said that some of the goals that have gotten past Elliott have not been his fault. Some can be attributed to a breakdown in defense, while others couldn't have been saved by Patrick Roy. But there is a difference between struggling to keep the puck out of the net and the goals that you had no chance at stopping. 

But with Halak back, the Blues need to make him the No. 1 guy.

Halak was not particularly great in his first full season as a Blue, but in the battle he had with Elliott last season, Halak returned to form. Before the injury, Halak was 3-0-0 with a 2.10 GAA and .889 save percentage.

Those are the stats of a starter.

Think back to the 2012 playoffs. In the first round, the Blues were fine. But when Halak went down with the ankle injury and Elliott was the go-to guy, the team got swept by the Kings.

Again, part of the blame can fall onto the ice-cold Blues offense and the red-hot Kings offense. But the fact remains that Elliott could not come up big when he has needed to; not in the postseason and not in this season so far.

Elliott has the capability to be a good goaltender, but he is showing last season was a fluke. With the Blues sitting in seventh place in the West and chasing Chicago for the division title, the Blues need a stable goaltender in net, and that man is Halak. With Halak as the starter, each goaltender realizes his role, and Elliott can slowly regain his confidence.

But until then, he'd better get used to riding the pine pony. 

Two-time Stanley Cup champion and St. Louis Blues wing Jamie Langenbrunner is reportedly set to undergo hip surgery in the coming days, a move that could sideline him for the rest of the 2012-13 season.

The Blues announced the news on Saturday night and confirmed it on Twitter:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Jeremy Rutherford also weighed in on the news, noting that while the team sees Langenbrunner as "out indefinitely," the worst-case scenario is almost a given, considering the surgery would lead to a five- to six-month rehabilitation process:

Rutherford followed the news up with an interview with the 18-year-veteran on Saturday, and he acknowledged that the injury could force him to retire rather than return for another full season:

During the lockout, while spending time with his family, Langenbrunner claimed to have overcome the fear of retirement, and he acknowledged Saturday that the possibility exists that he has played his last game.

"Yeah, you think about it," he said.

Langenbrunner will be an unrestricted free agent this summer after signing a one-year, $1.25 million deal to remain with the Blues last summer. A decorated veteran and noted leader, Langenbrunner has totaled 1,109 games, 243 goals and 663 points in his NHL career.

He has played in just four games this season.

As a member of the Dallas Stars, he won his first Stanley Cup in 1999. After being traded to the New Jersey Devils, he won another in 2003 and went on to captain the team from 2007-2011.

He was also the captain of the silver medal-winning 2010 U.S. Olympic team.

Langenbrunner last played on Tuesday, when he saw just 10 minutes of action as he felt numbness in his leg during his last shift. We'll continue to update his status as more news becomes available, but as of right now, things don't look good for Langenbrunner's 2013.