In the good news of the day department, Blues prospect Jaden Schwartz’s sister Mandi is in remission once again. Go get um Mandi. Keep fighting for that transplant.

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The Cardinals are coming back to KMOX. Not sure what this means for the Blues. They just signed a multi-year extension this summer with KMOX. Hopefully we won’t see Sprig Training games interrupting playoff hockey. Chris Kerber says not to worry, so I’m taking his advice. Check out his recent tweets as to why.

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Not much new today. Working on the goalie breakdown. Look for staff predictions soon.

Jaden Schwartz, the St. Louis Blues 14th overall pick this past summer in the 2010 NHL Entry draft., it didn’t take long for the story of Mandi Schwartz to take over the hearts of the Blues faithful. Mandi, Jaden’s sister, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia on December 8th, 2008.

Since Jaden was drafted, Mandi has had her ups and her downs. She was placed in remission at one point, only to have her cancer return and she had to return to the hospital for more chemotherapy. Now, back in remission, the best news for anyone following her story, and especially her and her family, has to be that a donor has been found and she is currently awaiting a stem cell transplant in a Seattle, Washington.

Miracle could be an appropriate word to describe Mandi’s situation. That an exact donor has been found for her after nearly two years of being diagnosed with cancer.

Mandi, her family, the Blues, and anyone else who has been following her story are praying that the worst is now in the past. Here is to hoping that the transplant goes perfect and that Mandi can start getting back to the life that she loved before the leukemia started attacking her.

To find out more information on possibly becoming a cord blood donor, check out www.becomemyhero.org and you can possibly become a hero in another persons life, just like someone has become a hero in Mandi’s.

Lets keep our thoughts and prayers with the Schwartz family while they all prepare for Mandi’s operation.

September is finally here. That means were counting the days, not weeks or months, till Blues action kicks off.

Here are some dates to keep in mind
Traverse City Tournament: 11th – 15th
Training Camp: Starts 17th

Pre-Season Games
21st – vs. Avalanche
22nd – @ Wild
24th – vs. Wild
25th – @ Stars
26th – @ Avalanche
30th – vs. Hawks
Oct. 2nd – vs. Stars
Oct. 3rd – @ Hawks

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Speaking of the Traverse City Tournament, the Blues officially released their roster. The rosters were leaked by a red Wings blog a couple weeks ago.

The Blues are dressing a one of the better rosters, featuring six draft picks from the first three rounds.

The team will be lead by Alex Pietrangelo and Ian Cole. They will look to impress at the tournament in hopes of improving their chances at grabbing a full time job at training camp. There is no better pairing than those two in the entire tournament.

Jake Allen will likely start in net. This will be his first chance as a professional player to make his mark on the Blues. A solid Tournament and training camp could lead to more starting time in Peoria for the Blues 2nd Round pick in 2008.

The group of forwards going are not the top group that they could send, but will still hold their own. A great opportunity is presented to guys like Phl McRae, Sefan Della Rovere, and Tyler Shattock. Players with a winning pedigree from their Junior days about to step in to the world of professional hockey with both feet. Pietrangelo and Cole are the big names, but these three can really step up and lead the team as well.

Wild card to watch? Mark Cundari. His winning history and level of play with the Windsor Spitfires are a great asset to the line up. Should Pietrangelo and/or Cole falter, Cundari can step in.

Add in Brett Ponich and the Blues team has the best blue-line in the tournament.

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Verizon Hockey Night is primed and ready to go tonight. Joining KMOX Play by Play voice Chris Kerber and crew tonight is Alex Pietrangelo. Head out to Harpo’s in Chesterfield for the festivities. Catch them on the air from 6pm to 8pm Central on 1120 AM KMOX.

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Brian Haenchen profiles Jaroslav Halak for Hockey Independent.

Brian also posted another set of predictionsin his Blues Preview series. Check it out to see some of my thoughts.

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Do you rememberthe “attack” on the Blues media? The hockey media personalities of St. Louis were questioned by their peers for soft reporting on a failed Blues season.

The Cardinals season stands on the edge of a ocher knife. A crabby old manager and a slumping team are throwing away the playoffs.

With 80% of their season in the books and posting a 3-7 record in their last 10 the Cards are likely done. Losing four straight and falling 7 back of the Central leading Reds likely seals their fate.

Yet, mathematically they are not out of the race.

The Blues were in a similar position. At roughy 80% of their games played (about 65 games), the Blues were out of contention with a lot of uncertainty. They would go on to take 70% of the points possible in what remained of March.

This kept the Blues in the race and nearly got them in. The media kept the faith and took fire.

So let’s say the Cards pull it out and win 70% of their remaining games to keep the race close.

Will BernieM, Joe, Jeff, Mike, Derrick, etc refrain from cheerleading or will they succumb to what sells papers and gets hits?

I don’t foresee Chris, Kelly, Bernie F, Darren, Jeremy, Andy, Lou, Norm etc calling them out.

I gave some trouble and took some heat for my POV back in April. The hockey guys do their job. They report what’s there. At the time the Blues were in the race, they reported and commentated as such.

Time can only tell what happens…if the Cards can even win a game to make it an issue.

I’ll be back later with more Blues goodies and randomness. Keep an eye out for the Breakdown on Blues goaltending for 10-11. Coming up tonight or tomorrow.

Bookmark the site and follow our RSS as we ramp up for another season of St. Louis Blues hockey.

Here is what’s planned

- Breakdowns of the Goalies, Defensemen, Forwards, and the Peoria Rivermen.

- Completed Pipeline page and full prospect ranking.

- Staff Predictions for the 2010-11 NHL season.

- Traverse City Tournament info.

- Whatever else comes to mind.

Also, we are still looking to add one consistent member to our team. The subject matter and length are of your choosing, but during the season we like to see 3 to 5 blogs a week.

Interested? Send an email to thebluenotezone@yahoo.com or DM to @BlueNoteZone on Twitter.

Check out the links. I will be back throughout the next week dropping in the Blues Breakdowns for the upcoming season. Stay tuned.

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The Halak news hyped on Twitter by his agent, Alan Walsh, ended up as “non-news” for Blues fans. He is going back to Montreal to sign autographs for $20. It’s a wonderful gesture to give the money to a hospital.

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Alessandro Seren Rosso, Russian Prospect guy extraordinaire, says that Blues top forward prospect Vladimir Tarasenko will be on the Russian U-2o team for a tourney in Linkoping, Sweden. The Four Nations Tournament takes place September 3rd to 5th. I strongly suggest everyone follow him on Twitter. Will be a great source of info on Tarasenko this season.

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Former Blues forward Lee Stempniak found a home, for two more years. He agreed to a two-year, $3.5 million contract. Congrats to a great guy and solid player. He brings an element of speed and scoring that they really need more of.

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The latest results for my Blues Q&A over at Hockey Independent.com is up. Who are you more excited to see, Pietrangelo or Halak? Voters were split.

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Off-Season Blues Q&A #9 is ready to roll this week.

Question: Which rival team do you love seeing the Blues beat more? Detroit, Chicago or Nashville?

Vote on Twitter by Reply or RT to @MuSigma45 or @BlueNoteZone

Vote on Facebook by commenting on the Hockey Independent – Blues page or the BlueNoteZone fan page.

Or vote by commenting below.

I guess we know now why Paul was saying he wasn’t sure if he would play next season all throughout the summer.

For a more in depth look, hop on over to HockeyIndependent to catch my piece there.

Blues Links

Per Andy Strickland, the Blues training camp will open on September 17th and their first day on the ice will be the 18th. Norm Sanders adds that the 18th will be at the Mills. I am hoping that they will transition back to Scottrade and open it to the public so I can spend my lunch hour down there. If I can get down there I will have daily blogs up from camp. Cross your fingers for me.

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The Blues National TV schedule was announced. Head over to STLBlues.com for the schedule.

Around the NHL

Matt Berry of Hockeybuzz has a nice blog up in response to two Puck Daddy blogs (from Greg Wyshynski) on a leaked proposal for credentialing bloggers and on banning bloggers from visiting locker rooms.

I suggest you read all three.

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Big plans this weekend. Keep an eye out next week for position breakdowns and standings predictions.

What the league has tentatively proposed is a clear limitation on the non traditional media community. If the person requesting the credentials doesn’t meet criteria plainly representative of the traditional media (TV, radio, major print publication) then they should be highly limited.

Effectively saying, “We like the attention we get from you, but we don’t trust you. Here is a bone to keep you interested”.

I can understand why the league thinks that way. There are few, if any, formal restrictions on bloggers. They answer only to themselves and/or the community blogging site owner/editor/organizer. There are no industry specific ethical guidelines. Blogs are basically a private entities all to themselves.

The league has a fear of that lack of control. Which brings up a question all hockey fans should be asking. Is the NHL missing a golden opportunity to bring bloggers to the mainstream?

Why should the league want to do that?

Traditional sources are stagnating. Print media sources are failing or barely hanging on. Few are doing as well as they used to. Local TV is struggling as well. They have to cut back and focus on the top money makers. In the sports landscape of the US that means Football and Baseball.

Traditional sources are finding success in one place. Online. I go to the Hockey News website. I don’t subscribe to the paper copy. Why pay for what I can get free?

The non traditional media market is growing exponentially because of this shift to online. Twitter and Facebook provide highly trafficked free distribution networks. Bloggers know that working social networking sites will bring in hits. They know that people go there regularly for information and you have to be where the people are.

Follow me on this…

People (including hockey fans) go online for info.
Bloggers are masters of the online information game.
The NHL does not compete well against other major sports in traditional channels.

Does it not stand to reason that the league needs to have a better formal working relationship with the blogging community? I think so.

Instead the proposal is to make the bloggers feel like second class citizens. Section us off, brand us separately and restrict access.

Tim Panacico of the Philadelphia Inquirer said on Twitter yesterday. That bloggers really do deserve some credit for growing the game since the lockout.

When will the credit be acknowledged? More so, when will it be rewarded with more equal footing?

A compromise is needed for those bloggers out there who want access and can prove their worth. I have a feeling most would be willing to agree to some basic ethical and logistical guidelines to be able to apply for credentials as a blogger. A more formal process and program could be set up. Allowing those meeting criteria and agreeing to some rules can gain better access.

I am not credentialed, so maybe my point of view is skewed. However, rules like the proposed deter me from trying. I work hard and blog ethically. Should I be treated equally or should I accept o get the leftovers?

STLToday.com’s Jeremy Rutherford will host his weekly chat today at 1:00pm Central.

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The second blog in my “Top 5″ series at NHLHotStove.com is up. I looked at the Top 5 Blues Prospect Defensemen. The top 2 are easy, what about 3-5? Head on over and see.

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The Peoria Rivermen released their full scheduletoday. Planning on heading up for the game against the Marlies in December.

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Brian Haenchen, my counter part at Hockey Independent has a new “Two-Line Pass’ blog up.

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Around the NHL

Andy Stricklandof Hockeybuzz says Penguins GM Ray Shero told Bill “Dad” Guerin that the Pens are not interested in bringing him back. Personally, I’m sad to see him go. Bill has had a major positive impact on the Penguins since he came over from the Islanders.

My guess is that the door is potentailly open to Paul Kariya (although Andy says he is still Anaheim bound), Marek Svatos and maybe even Lee Stempniak. I think Shero wants to add another experienced body to the top 6. Right now they have Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Kunitz, and most likely rookie (and Twitter Trivia Host) Eric Tangradi. I don’t see someone like Dupuis, Talbot or Kennedy being a season long solution. Stempniak could score 30 with Kuntiz banging on the left and Sid drawing attention down the middle. Just sayin’…

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My bloggin’ buddy Brian Metzerhas his thoughts up on BillyG. He is a great source for Penguins information. Brian makes an interesting point. If Guerin is available in January, does someone come calling? I think someone will if he isn’t signed in the next few weeks.

St. Louis Part 2? I would say yes. He would be a great addition in a third line role and an occasional top 6 fill in. If the Blues are close and have a top 9 spot open due to injury, his agent’s phone needs to be ringing with Doug Armstrong on the other end.

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Adrian Fung of Hockey Independent has the daily skinny on the World Hockey Summit. Check out his archive and get caught up.

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I know Blues fans are supposed to “hate” the Preds, but they have some of the best bloggers in the on-line community. Know your enemy folks.

On The Forecheck

Preds On the Glass

Paul McCann of Hockeybuzz

The View from 111 on HockeyIndependent

BNZ linked on Yahoo’s Puck Daddy Blog! A big thanks to Sean Lehay for the linkage. Nice little blog on Cam talking it up on Twitter w/ Barch of the Dallas Stars.

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Jeremy Rutherford of STLToday.com posted a new Morning Skate yesterday. He confirmed Perron will be in white skates. He also mentioned that Jaroslav Halak is due in to town Sept. 10th.

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Eklund says former Blue Lee Stempniak is close to signing with the Coyotes. Says Montreal could be interested. Hope you find a home soon Stempy.

Eklund also mentions Strick’s tweet on Guerin. It’s between Billy G, Kariya and a possible trade. Hum, did he see my blog about Tikhonov?

My vote is honestly for Kariya or Stempniak in Pittsburgh. I think Lee can get more than Shero can payout though. Who knows… If Lee can’t get signed, maybe he takes less for one season?

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I’m working on break downs of the Blues roster at each position as well as the Rivermen roster. I will also have my preseason Power Rankings and a final standings predictions up soon as well. Keep an eye out for a new batch of blogs here on BNZ as we ramp up for the season.

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Off-Season Blues Q&A #8 is running through Saturday this week.

Question: Pietrangelo or Halak. Who are you more excited to see in a Bluenote?

Vote on Twitter by Reply or RT to @MuSigma45 or @BlueNoteZone

Vote on Facebook by commenting on the Hockey Independent – Blues page or the BlueNoteZone fan page.

Or vote by commenting below.