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Comings And (Possible) Goings

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Blues and DC United tidbits.

First from the Note:

Inconsistency has dotted his play all season and now St. Louis Blues defenseman Christian Backman is the subject of trade rumors as the Feb. 26 deadline approaches according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It is believe the Blues will try to move a defenseman before the trade deadline.

Backman has one more year left on his contract for $3.4 million ($2.3 million salary cap hit).

“Who knows what they’re going to do?” Backman said. “I try not to think about it. I hope and still feel that they still believe in me.”

Backman is a big kid who plays small; an "offensive" defenseman who doesn't score goals or pick up many assists; an "offensive" player who is deemed a liability on the power play; and a player who isn't cheap.

He's a quadruple threat.

The only question is what kind of dead wood would we have to take in return? Also, we were supposed to trade from our excess defensive corp to get some scoring punch and dealing Backman makes that a little less likely to happen.

Oh well...last year the Blues got Boyes for Wideman so anything is possible.

On the United front we get this:

D.C. United acquired Argentine forward Franco Niell on a one-year loan from Argentinos Junior on Tuesday.

Neill, 24, is expected to join United for the start of preseason training next week and will be officially added to the roster once he receives his work visa and international transfer certificate.

Niell has spent his entire professional career with Argentinos Junior, scoring 10 goals in 60 games since his debut during the 2004-05 season.

I couldn't be more underwhelmed.

A quote from United's Dave Kasper requires me to borrow the baseball cliche translation project for a moment:

"We're getting a player who we believe has all the qualities to be successful on our team," general manager Dave Kasper said. "Franco is an energetic, hard working forward who will be a good compliment to our team."

Translation: "You've heard of Plan A and Plan B? Well, welcome to Plan Z."
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Anonymous said…
Ouch. When management starts talking about energy levels and work ethics of their signing, you know they have just inked the Stubby Clapp of their sport. To his credit, Clapp will likely make the Hall of Fame before Big Mac, albeit the Canadian Hall...
January 23, 2008 at 11:55 AM
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