A Tough Deadline Day for the Blues
The feeling I had this morning, crawling out of bed after tracking the late night chatter, was that of a kid on Christmas. You’ve asked for things you think you can get, even though it might be hard for mom and dad to swing it. You’ve been good enough to deserve the coming gifts. You wake up and run to the tree….then realize you need to brush your teeth and eat breakfast. Ok, so that’s out of the way and you get to the tree. You and your sibblings open up all the boxes. Some get really cool toys, some get money to do what they want later. What do you get? A gift card to the bookstore, clothes, and a winter coat instead of that brand new computer. Yea, you can read the books you buy and wear the coat and clothes…but that computer lets you learn for tomorrow and have fun today.
The Blues (and their fans) were that kid today.
The trade deadline came and went today as 30 teams postured and positioned themselves to be a better team now or later. The St. Louis Blues are one of those 30 teams. The Blues were able to cut multiple deals between March 1st and March 3rd. Were those deals impactful? Do they assist this team in making another improbable second half run? Do they make this team better coming in to the 10-11 season? I think are answers are maybe and maybe. I’m thinking it looks like a pair of Jeans and a puffy coat.
Let’s take a look at these trades and go from there. FYI – a full listing is on our Trade Deadline Blog.
*I’m throwing out the Wagner and Toivonen deals.
Trade 1
to St. Louis: F Matt D’Agostini
to Montreal: F Aaron Palushaj
At first glance this trade looks to be a minor one. An AHL winger traded for an AHL/NHL Tweener winger. When we dig deeper we see a prospect fairly well touted by the Blues traded for an inconsistent player who hasn’t really found much consistency at the NHL level. No, this isn’t Robbie Schrempf. Matt D’ Agostini posses a good shot and has been a scorer at levels below the NHL, but has yet to “get it” in the NHL. Matt has joined the Blues roster in Dallas where they play the Stars tomorrow night. His addition means the return of Derek Armstrong to Peoria. What does his addition mean when the Janssen suspension is up and Tkachuk returns from his pinkie injury? The Blues will have a few too many forwards. In that same line of thinking, where does D’Agonstini play? He isn’t a “grinder”, but the Blues wing positions are all filled up save for the “4th line”. Does he replace Winchester? With Armstrong’s leaving the Blues don’t really have a 4th line center, unless Brad Boyes moves back there. Maybe Boyes centers Steen and D’Agostini while McClement moves down to play with Winchester and Crombeen?
Aaron is still a smaller player and has encountered injury issues in Peoria already. That doesn’t mean he cannot strengthen his body to take the abuse of professional hockey in North America. The Blues gave up on quite a bit of long term upside to gamble on an inconsistent player they really don’t have room for on the NHL roster. At the same time, D’ Agonstini could find chemistry with his new Blues line mates and become an impact player. Right now, this trade is a toss up with potential to be good and bad for both teams.
Trade 2
to St. Louis: F Pierre-Cedric Labrie
to Vancouver: F Yan Stastny
This is yet another AHL trade made following the Bell, Wagner, and Toivonen trades. Yan Stastny was a tweener that couldn’t carve a spot out in St. Louis. Jay McClement did his job better than Yan could and there was no other room for him. YAn went to Peoria and played well as their Captain. Vancouver wanted a depth forwrd and they got one. Yan can play a limited role and kill penalties.
Pierre-Cedric Labrie is a big, physical forward who can bang the body. Does he have offensive upside? He has 15 goals in 175 AHL games. That should tell you all you need to know. My impression from some quick internet searching…the Canadian version of Brad Winchester.
Its a nice deal to acquire some size for Peoria’s stretch run, but Pierre really has little or no chance of making it to the Blues roster. This is a move to help Peoria, not the NHL club.
I want to be sure I clarify this. I do not think the Blues failed today. My review of the two deals are not to be taken that way.
The Blues were in an odd position. They are 3 points back of the 8th spot in the West. They also need to fend off the Minnesota Wild 3 points behind them and still leapfrog 4 other teams. That’s to easy task. You could also make the case that the Blues can win without Colaiaovo and Boyes. Both have been inconsistent producers, under Murray and Payne. They were assets that could be moved to acquire more assets for a later need and not cause a great detriment to this teams competition level. I agrue the same can be said about Paul Kariya. I love his play on the Backes and Oshie line, but he does not factor in to the long term plans. If you can move him, you do it. If you can’t, he gives you a great chance to push for the playoffs.
I implore Blues fans to keep that in mind when judging this trade deadlines level of activity (or lack there of). Fans are not privy to the offers the brain trust received. Is a 2nd Rd pick worth trading Brad Boyes and his production before this season? I don’t think so. In reality only a few deals could have made sense to move Paul, Brad and Carlo. If those deals (or similar ones) didn’t materialize, there is no need for the trade.
Take the alleged Avalanche offer. Supposedly they offered Wolski or Lilies for Boyes. In a one of one deal, is that worth it? Liles would add another $4mil to the blueline and Wolski has been as inconsistent as Boyes. Should Colorado over pay? Hence no deal. Perhaps the Canucks wanted Berglund, Eller, Pietrangelo, etc in a package deal to get Schneider? The Blues won’t pay that (rightfully so) and Vancouver walked away. Their GM later came out and said no one got them an offer they thought was right for Schneider. Maybe LA didn’t want to part with Bernier so they settled for secondary guys like Halpern and Modin.
I do agree that the timing of the announcement of the season ticket price increase right before the deadline with little movement is great fodder for bloggers, columnists, and message board threads. Why tell me you are raising my prices and do little to improve the product I am seeing now? In all fairness to the Blues, you won’t pay more till next season and that gives the Blues the draft and off season to justify your rate increase.
Dan O’Neill of the St Louis Post Dispatch put up a blog today about the players reaction to the deadline. In it Kariya reiterates that he was not asked to waive his NMC (which to me says they had no viable offers). Brad Boyes was also disappointed that he was made available. News flash Brad…you haven’t produced and you didn’t start playing a consistent game till Payne arrived. The Blues as an organization have some hard decisions to make regarding player retention and external upgrades. You eat up $4mil of our cap space and a combined $8.5million in salary over the next two seasons. It’s human to feel hurt, but its logical to understand that your value and roster spot are in question. Interesting tidbit from the article…Chris Mason has again said he wants to stay here. If Chris in 2010 can be the Chris of 2009, he has a chance. Assuming Armstrong doesn’t want Turco and/or the Blues decide not to peruse a goalie like Schneider, Harding, etc. Would you pay Mason more than he makes now? Maybe a two year deal with most of the money loaded in to next year’s salary? That’s a whole other blog.
The deadline was exciting if you are a fan of hockey and the nHL in general. The Caps made moves to keep up with the Pens. Carolina went in to full swing with their rebuild (expect for not moving Whitney). The Coyotes made big moves to get Wolski, Stempniak, Morris, and Mathieu Schneider. I will be back later tonight with a blog on my thoughts on the other 29 teams.
For now the Blues move on with Matt D’Agostini to take on Dallas and continue their playoff charge Thursday night.
