Friday Bluenotes: Links, News and More Predictions

Happy Friday everyone.

Tons of #FF (Follow Friday) love on Twitter from me to everyone. Check me out at @MuSigma45 and @BlueNoteZone.

Jaden Schwartz made an appearance out at the Mills today. Thanking Billy, I am:

If anyone saw Channel 5 news the other night, you got to see video of the Blues at the Mills. Did anyone else notice how more mature Alex Pietrnagelo looks? Billy also reported that Alex is nearing the size of Erik Johnson. Sounds like Alex is ready. Thanking Billy again for info from events I can’t make, I am:

-

Speaking of Jaden, you can read my Blues Top 5 Forward Prospects blog on NHLHotstove.com. He is second to only one.

-

Speaking of prospects…

Red Wings Central has the Blues Traverse City Tournament roster posted. Check it out the full roster here. Thanks to Mark Massa for the heads up.

Notable names include: Jake Allen, Alex Pietrangelo, Ian Cole, Mark Cundari, Brett Ponich, Phil McRae, Brett Sonne, Tyler Shattock, Anthony Nigro and Stefan Della Rovere.

A couple of Cape Breton (QMJHL) boys are on the roster on free agent tryouts. Nick MacNeil and Jan Piskacek. I’m sure Trevor will be following how they do. Goalie Peter Di Salvo joins his Barrie Colts teammates Pietrangelo and Della Rovere as Allen’s back-up.

You can see the full schedule on Red Wings Central as well. Game 1 for the Blues is Saturday Sept. 11th at 6:30 PM EST. The current TV schedule on NHL Network only goes to September 5th. The tournament has been on NHLN before, but I am not sure if it will be this summer.

-

Single Game tickets go on Sale Saturday at 10am Central down at the Scottrade Center. Fans can meet Head Coach Davis Payne at the box office.

-

The Blues will honor Brett Hull (once again) and unveil his statue at the Home Opener on October 9th. The Golden Brett joins Al MacInnis and Bernie Federko in front of Scottrade.

-

Here is a transcript of David Perron’s chat on STLBlues.com.

-

Transcript of Jeremy Rutherford’s STLToday.com Blues chat from Thursday.

-

Brian Haenchen, my counter part at HockeyIndependent.com, has a profile of Erik Johnson up for your reading pleasure.

-

NHL Free Agent Update:
Top UFAs – Kovalchuk, Stempniak, Kariya, Torres, Guerin, Halpern, Morrison, MacArthur, Fedotenko
Top RFAs – Ryan, Neal, Price, Mueller, Gagner, Cogliano, Hanzel, Marc Staal, Hornqvist, Little, Niskanen, Abdelkader.

The league could expand to a 31st team and be fairly competitive with that group.

-

A lot of speculation yesterday that Coyotes young Russian forward Viktor Tikhonov has requested a trade. Purely hypothetical… Could the Pens be interested in having him to Malkin’s right? Or have they settled on Malkin being on Staal’s right? My guess is they go with internal options unless Guerin returns.

-

Speaking of the Staal boys… When will Marc sign? There are teams looking for young defenders who can play at high levels already. Maybe Sather is asking for too much when teams come calling. He has to be generating interest from somewhere.

-

Blues Q&A is still going. Hope on Facebook or Twitter to vote. Just search for “BluenoteZone”. Voting is open till 11:59pm Central Saturday. Recap up Monday morning on Hockey Independent.

Question: Who should start the season paired with Erik Johnson? Jackman, Brewer or Colaiacovo?

Reply or RT on Twitter. Post a comment on Facebook.

-

Five Predictions
My final 5 Predictions this week are on the offensive output from the blue-line.

5. Eric Brewer has a solid season, but doesn’t eclipse his goal total from 2009-10.

4. Roman Polak hits 30 points.

3. Carlo Colaiacovo maintains his level of play as a 3rd pairing, power play specialist.

2. Alex Pietrangelo posts 30 or more points if he appears in 70 or mote games. Becomes a big boost to the teams puck moving and possession capabilities.

1. Erik Johnson comes in to his own and posts a 10+ goal and 50 point season