Carlo Colaiacovo
As most know, NHL teams can carry a maximum of 23 players on their roster at any given time. Currently, the St. Louis Blues are carrying a full 23-man roster of 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. Teams generally do not keep eight defensemen on their roster for long.
There are many questions regarding what the Blues might do regarding roster moves going forward. Will they continue to carry eight defensemen? If not, who goes? What do they do when Alex Steen and/or D.J. King are ready to return to the lineup? What do they do with recent call-up Lars Eller?
Oftentimes, these log-jam type of problems tend to work themselves out with currently healthy players getting injured but what do the Blues do if everyone remains healthy? If the Blues remain healthy once Steen and King are ready to come off Injured Reserve, and thus be added to the lineup, some roster moves will have to be made be it demotions, waivers or possibly even a trade.
Let’s look at the defense first. Most teams keep seven, sometimes six, defensemen on their roster and for the Blues, they currently have one too many. First, let’s talk about who definitely won’t be going anywhere before delving into who might be more expendable.
Erik Johnson – not much explanation needed here. He’s a potential future Norris trophy candidate, former 1st overall draft pick and by far the most talented player on the team. He’s not going anywhere. Enough said.
Eric Brewer – as much as some Blues fans would hope to be otherwise, Brewer’s not going anywhere either. Besides being the captain of the team, one of the few true veterans on the team and a good top-4 defenseman, he’s currently not very movable. His recent injury history coupled with being signed to a rather large contract for the next two seasons makes a trade of him very unlikely.
Barrett Jackman – he’s also likely not going anywhere soon. Similar to Brewer, the Blues need him and his fairly large contract over the next three seasons makes it very unlikely he gets traded.
Alex Pietrangelo – it would take quite a trade offer for the Blues to trade Pietrangelo but they still have the option of returning him to his junior team, the Niagra IceDogs of the OHL. While management has stated that they will not return Petro simply to due to a numbers game, the option remains and until Alex plays in 10 games, his spot in the lineup for the rest of the season is still a bit murky. As most know, due to his age and draft status, Pietrangelo cannot be sent to AHL Peoria, further complicating the Blues’ decision. I do not see the Blues trading Petro but he could be returned to Niagra to ease the logjam of defensemen the Blues currently have. That said, I see the Blues keeping Alex on the roster the rest of the season although it’s likely he will sit out some games here and there.
Roman Polak – Polak is an interesting case in that he is a sturdy defenseman signed to a reasonable contract but in the right conditions, I could see him getting traded. With Brewer and Jackman apparently entrenched and a similarly defense-first type of defenseman in Ian Cole in the pipeline, Polak might eventually get squeezed out. That and he likely currently has decent trade value. I doubt he would be moved in the short-term though.
Darryl Sydor – while not a vital part of the current team and likely not a part of the team’s future, Sydor still brings a steady presence, veteran leadership and has thus far been good paired with Erik Johnson. That said, if the Blues feel the need to move a player, it could end up being Sydor. The problem is that Sydor likely has little if any trade value. Would the Blues be willing to give him away for free via waivers? What if he clears waivers? They’re not going to want to pay a guy $1,000,000 to play in the AHL, which Sydor would. While he is no guarantee to stay on the roster, given his decent start to the season, his chemistry with Johnson and his nonexistent trade value, I see Sydor staying.
Mike Weaver – he’s the little engine that could. He brings the effort and appears to be a good character guy but at his size – 5’9”, 185 lbs – he sometimes finds himself in trouble in front of the net and in the corners dealing with much larger forwards. He does quite a bit better than one would think a 5’9” defender would do but he’s still expendable and is generally regarded as a 6th-7thdefensemen on most rosters – a good guy to keep around but who is expendable. What Weaver brings to the table though is a strong defensive game. He’s rarely caught out of position and generally makes the safe, smart play. His offensive side of the game is virtually nonexistent though. He doesn’t have much trade value but if the Blues feel they need to make a move, I could see Weaver being the guy that ends up being the guy without a chair when the music stops. He makes a modest $800,000 and perhaps a team with injury troubles on the blueline would find him desirable. He’s also more likely to be waived in my opinion.
Carlo Colaiacovo – even though he was a good pickup as part of the package the Blues got from Toronto in return for Lee Stempniak, Carlo just might end up being the odd man out. While he has had a decent NHL career thus far and appears to have a decent future to the rest of his career in front of him, he’s expendable. He’s a type of guy that does a lot of things well but not really anything great. He contributes on the power play but in the long-run, the Blues have better options to QB the PP in Erik Johnson and Alex Pietrangelo. Colaiacovo’s defense and hockey sense are both questionable and he will be an unrestricted free agent and the end of the season. He’s replaceable, he’s an impending free agent, he actually has some trade value and the Blues have a logjam at defense. Due to these circumstances, he would be my pick to be the guy the Blues end up trading IF in fact they end up trading anyone at all. Weaver would be a close second as to who the Blues might likely trade. I’m sure a lot of it will be determined by what other GM’s want and what kinds of offers John Davidson and Larry Pleau can get for their various players.
As for the forwards, assuming one defenseman exits the roster and again, assuming nobody currently healthy gets injured, the Blues could add King and Steen back to the roster by simply returning Eller to Peoria. That would leave the team with 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders. Eller has cooled off a bit from his first two games in the NHL but what do the Blues do if he turns it back on and proves he belongs to be in the NHL full-time? Would they really demote him even though he deserves to be on the team, perhaps over some other guys? The problem for Eller is that he has a two-way contract and isn’t subject to waivers. The Blues and send him to and from Peoria as many times as they want and have the luxury of paying him significantly less to play in the AHL. Eller might find his way in Peoria simply due to budgetary reasons or to not risk another player to potentially be lost on waivers.
If the Blues were to keep Eller though, who could they move? To me, there seems to be two fairly obvious choices – Brad Winchester and D.J. King. Even though the Blues have long said they like to have both King and Cam Janssen on the roster, is there really room to keep both long-term? I’m a big fan of King’s but with him seemingly not able to remain healthy and Janssen doing his job well, King could be on his way out. The problem is that his trade value is likely very little, especially with his recent injury history. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Blues were able to find a taker for his services given his status as one of the top heavyweights in the league. If King is able to return to the lineup and show no ill effects of his recent injuries, perhaps that makes Janssen expendable.
By contrast, Winchester hasn’t had a very good start to the season and has found himself as a healthy scratch a few times already. He will be out of the lineup again tonight with rookie Lars Eller playing instead. If Eller continues to play well, or at least better than Winchester, could Brad lose his spot on the roster completely once Steen and/or King are ready to return? Perhaps. My gut tells me that eventually Eller will find his way back in Peoria but if he continues to impress, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Blues made the necessary moves to get him back on the roster after another short stint with the Rivermen. Winchester needs to take his game up a notch if he wants to stay in St. Louis long-term.
Much like the Blues, the Peoria Rivermen have started off with a mediocre start to the 2009-10 season. After 6 games the Rivermen have a record of 2-2-1-1 (note: in the AHL, overtime losses and shoot-out losses are categorized separately but as in the NHL, both count as one point in the standings). 