Blues Try Try Again

The Blues are back on home ice tonight hoping to get the taste of their last poor effort out of their mouths. While I'm not necessarily expecting an improvement in the scoring department, the defense has suddenly gotten healthy. Pietro and Polak are back in the lineup tonight and that is good news.

To make room on the roster for Polak Ian Cole was sent back to Peoria. I was impressed with Cole in his short time with the Blues. He certainly looked the part on the ice and, if the Blues didn't exactly play well while he was here, it wasn't because the defense was poor.

Hopefully, having our pre-season top six defensemen on the ice will allow us to make things tough for the Canucks.

LGB

The Weather Is Really Starting To Piss Me Off...

And I don't mean the usual winter weather we experience here in Wisconsin (state motto "We do nothing but drink beer and eat cheese and brats because its winter six months of the year you jackwagon"). No, its the weather in England that is annoying the hell out of me, especially since the UK can be absolutely crippled by 4 inches of snow. Well, they have had much more than 4 inches lately, the result of which is a slew of cancelled fixtures. My Notts County has played only once in nearly three weeks. Even the EPL, with its fancier turf managing systems, was decimated this weekend with only two matches being played one of which will not be the Chelsea v. Man U. game today.

It has gotten so bad I may be forced to desperate measures. Yes, that is right. Watching the NFL.

Luckily I have beer, cheese and brats.

News Flash: Blues Still Cannot Score

Remember the old joke about the loser who couldn't get laid in a whore house? If so, then welcome to the 2010-11 version of the St. Louis Blues. Once again injuries have ripped out the heart of the team leaving it, frankly, flaccid.

Tonight's 4-1 home drubbing at the hands of the Sharks can be chalked up to one thing; lack of scoring. This team knows if it falls behind 1 or 2 goals you can pretty much predict the outcome. To hear the management talk, as I heard on the radio tonight between periods, it is next to impossible to trade for needs anymore.

I don't buy it. The same sorts of deficiencies and needs that have always arisen in the NHL are still there. To the perennial needs you can add a new one, i.e. making room for the salary cap, into the mix. Now, it is true, the types of deals can be a little restricted for those teams unable to take salary, but that should be when an organization loaded with prospects should be able to make a move. The Blues, unfortunately, seem to be convinced any such move would turn out to be the hockey equivalent of Brock for Broglio. Or they are at least living in fear of that possibility.

I'm not suggesting anyone make a panic move, but it is clear that the Blues roster is shy on NHL caliber talent right now. Given that Oshie will not be back for another three months (we hope) and Perron looks likely to be the Justin Morneau of hockey, sitting around and praying doesn't seem like much of a strategy.

At a bare minimum it might be nice to see someone with some offensive upside make the trip from Peoria...even if its only for a cup of coffee. We want to see effort, which is something we saw very little of Saturday night.

Perkins Is A Lumberjack And That's OK

DC United keeps making the moves: Timbers and DC United trade goalies

The Portland Timbers have acquired goaltender Troy Perkins from D.C. United for goaltender Steve Cronin.

The Timbers, who join Major League Soccer as an expansion team next year, will also send D.C. United allocation money as part of the trade announced Friday. United will retain a portion of Perkins’ salary budget for next season....

Cronin has appeared in 56 regular-season matches over two seasons for Portland’s second-division side with a 26-11-19 record. He has played previously for the San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Cronin has "backup" written all over him, but at least he is an experienced backup.

This means, however, that DC is convinced that 20 year old Bill Hamid has what it takes to be a number one in MLS. Hamid looked pretty good in his action last year, but it was a perfect situation for a young player. The team was terrible and there was not a ton of pressure to be found. The early games of the upcoming season are going to matter in a way no DC game did matter after June last year. Hopefully, the kid is up to the challenge. If he isn't Cronin is going to see a lot of work.

Vulture Culture - Part Two

Yesterday I looked at the potential pickings at forward positions offered by the Minnesota Wild roster as they fall out of contention. Today the distressed animal we are circling over is the Calgary Flames.

The situation Calgary finds themselves in certainly make something of a fire sale a necessity. Given the depth of competition in the West it seems unlikely the Flames could make serious noise this season. As constituted the Flames are a pretty old team (avg. age 29.7 years), and they don't have much room under the cap, only $1.7m. They may take awhile to accept that they are not going anywhere this year, but I've got to think they will eventually begin to look to the future.

Alex Tanguay: Age 30 LW 32GP 9G 16A +4

Given that Tanguay is the type of player Canadian hockey fans love to hate, and given he is playing well enough to score a much more lucrative contract on the free agent market after the season, Tanguay should be available. If the price was right I wouldn't have a problem with this move. However, given the fact Calgary probably won't begin to sell off early a bidding war could develop. I'd hate to see the Blues overpay for someone who can be as uneven in his play as Tanguay can be. Tough call.

Curtis Glencross: Age 27 LW 30GP 7G 5A +1

I like Glencross, and I would like the depth he could offer the Blues. That being said he's not really someone you think of as fitting in on a scoring line, is he? Pass, for the time being. One more long term injury to a forward and I'll reconsider.

Brendan Morrison: Age 34 C 32GP 5G 14A +4

He's inexpensive, gonna be a free agent at season's end, and he's picking up decent numbers. I'd take him.

Craig Conroy: Age 38 C 17GP 2G 0A -1

I put Craig on here merely for sentimental purposes. The next time I want him wearing the Bluenote is for the alumni team. Pass.

Olli Jokinen: Age 31 C 29GP 5G 10A -6

I don't care if Backes, Berglund and Boyes were all felled in a freak group shaving accident, I wouldn't want Jokinen near my team. Pass.

Niklas Hagman: Age 30 LW 32GP 8G 9A -6

Hagman still has a year on his deal after this one (at $3m), so he might not be made available in any event. But, if he is put on the market he might be worth a look see. 25-30 goals a season should be within his reach if he remains healthy. Plus the hit he would put on next season salary cap wouldn't hinder the Blues as they take care of some of the homegrown talent (especially Oshie, whose various injuries will probably keep him relatively affordable anyway.) I say yes.

The State Of The Cards - December 2010 - Part One: Pitching

I thought it might be worthwhile to take a quick look at where the Cards' 40-Man roster sits as well move into the last two weeks of 2010.

Pitchers:

Major League Roster Locks/Probables/Possibles

Mitchell Boggs
Chris Carpenter
Ryan Franklin
Jaime Garcia
Kyle Lohse
Kyle McClellan
Trever Miller
Jason Motte
Fernando Salas
Francisco Samuel
Brian Tallet
Adam Wainwright
P.J. Walters
Jake Westbrook

Starting Rotation:

1. Wainwright
2. Carpenter
3. Westbrook
4. Garcia
5. Lohse

It's amazing what the Phillies signing of Lee does to one's perceptions. Not all that long ago I would have looked pretty favorably at this group of starters, particularly since we now know Westbrook had been banged up last year and, so, might improve when healthy. Today, I look at this fivesome and I feel nothing but dread. "What if Carp or Waino goes down? What if Garcia becomes afflicted with a severs case of the sophomores? And, Lohse?? Might we better served by putting a dead cat in the fifth spot?" etc. I'll take a deep breath and say, as constituted, the Cards have the third or fourth best starting staff in the NL.

Closer:

Franklin

*sigh*

Set-up:

Motte

That's fine.

Lefty Specialist:

Miller

Got my fingers crossed. Too often these left handers will throw in a clunker of a season every other year.

Long men/Spot Starters:

Boggs
McClellan

That would leave one spot open for the rest to fight it out over. (2 spots if the Cards decided to go with 11.) Overall, the bullpen is what it is. I've seen better; I've seen worse.

Rest of 40-Man Pitchers:

Bryan Augenstein
Maikel Cleto
Blake King
David Kopp
Adam Reifer
Eduardo Sanchez

Of these only Sanchez it seems would have an outside shot of making the opening day roster, but only if a lot of players in front of him falter. Cleto's appearance on the 40-man is a little odd, but maybe the organization wants him to feel wanted.

I'll go over the position players later this weekend.

Vulture Culture

We may be rapidly nearing that time of the season when the Blues will have to start feeding on the rotting corpses of the NHL. The Blues have spent the better part of five years holding onto draft picks and stocking the organization with prospects. Not all of them can find the ice at the Drink Scotch. The whole point was to move some of them when needs arise. Given the open-ended nature of some of the injuries forwards have taken this year I'd say needs have indeed arisen.

One of those rotting corpses is the Minnesota Wild. In today's Pioneer-Press Tom Powers runs through some names the Wild would probably listen to offers for as the Wild is near the salary cap and going nowhere fast. Here are the options:

Andrew Burnette: Age 37 LW 30GP 6G 8A -6

This would definitely be a rental situation. Burnette is a solid experienced pro who wouldn't cost much in return, but I'm not sure there is enough upside here to merit the Blues moving on him. Pass.

John Madden: Age 37 C 28GP 4G 3A -12

Another cheap old guy, and exactly what the Blues do not need. We are up to our wazoos in fourth line players. Pass.

Antti Miettenen: Age 30 RW 25GP 7G 8A -5

Miettenen will be a free agent after the season, so this can certainly be viewed as a rental situation if the Blues wanted it to be. He's quick, and offer offensive upside compared to the pluggers the Blues have to make do with right now. As long as the price isn't exorbitant I say yes. Please.

Chuck Kobasew: Age 28 RW 16GP 2G 0A -6

I like Kobasew, but he's been banged up pretty good. Plus, he isn't really a "put the puck in the back of the net" kinda guy at the best of time. Pass.

I'll keep an eye out for other carcasses we might be able to pick over.

The Hockey Gods Are Trying To Kill Me

As if losing to the Red Wings wasn't bad enough, the Blues are now looking at another possible injury to a main cog in their lineup:

A knee injury suffered by Erik Johnson is expected to keep the Blues defenseman out of tonight's game against Los Angeles, but club officials were reluctant Wednesday night to look past the next 24 hours.

Johnson left the team's game Wednesday seven minutes into the first period, after he was tangled up with Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk in the neutral zone. Johnson got up slowly, headed to the dressing room and didn't return.

It appeared that he was favoring his right knee, which is the one he had surgery on two years ago to repair a torn ligament and caused him to miss the entire 2008-09 season. But there were hints of relief that it might not be a re-aggravation of Johnson's prior injury.

"Well, at least he's not dead!"

I'm sorry, but it has gotten to the point where it is impossible to see the "glass half full" moments in any of this. Right now the Blues are without Oshie, McDonald, Perron, Pietrangelo, Polak, and now Johnson. To make matters worse the Blues are still stuck in the old habit of only calling up "hard workers" from Peoria (otherwise known as the great untalented.) Given the length of the Blues rebuilding process it is pretty damning that they have no one to call up to fill a forward slot other than skaters like Cracknell, Porter or Scatchard.

On the blueline things are less critical, but if Pietro or EJ were to go down for a long time having a player like Jonas Junland over in Europe instead of being at least in Peoria could be less than optimal.

Tonight it is back on home ice against a superior Kings team.

Well...at least we will try hard.

I Want Filet Mignon... DC United Gives Me Salisbury Steak

This simply isn't good enough: D.C. United selects veteran forward Josh Wolff with first pick in MLS re-entry draft

D.C. United claimed former U.S. national team forward Josh Wolff with the first overall pick in the second stage of the MLS re-entry draft Wednesday.

He signed a one-year contract with a club-held option in 2012, United General Manager Dave Kasper said. Although terms were not disclosed, Wolff, who will be 34 in February, had to accept a salary cut after earning $220,000 with Kansas City this year.

He was with the Chicago Fire from 1998 to 2002, spent four years with Kansas City and played for 1860 Munich in Germany for 1 1/2 seasons before returning to the Wizards in 2008. This year, he had two goals and three assists in 25 league appearances (16 starts). In 2009, he scored a career-high 11 goals.

"He fits our style, he's intelligent and he has the leadership qualities that will benefit our younger players," Kasper said. "It's a solid fit."

With the U.S. national team, Wolff made 52 appearances and played in both the 2002 and 2006 World Cup as a substitute. According to Kasper, United approached Wolff following last week's first stage of the re-entry process, when only two players were selected, and began negotiations.

Despite this signing, it's "very possible" that United will acquire another experienced forward before training camp opens next month, Kasper said. The club is also in the market for a central defender.

And Angel? Right now his rights lie with the Galaxy. (We will see if they can sign him.) A comment over at Goff's place sums up my feeling here:

Excellent, at least we now go 3 deep at the forwards who don't score goals position. Now if we can move on to the center backs who don't defend...

I have zero confidence in this United team to bring in a forward who can do anything in MLS. Oh, I'm sure whoever they sign will have been the scourge of the Latvian league or whatever, but I'm just as certain they will be positively Allsoppian in their on field performances in DC.

Depressing.

MLS Re-Entry Draft

Well, come Wednesday, if DC wants Juan Pablo Angel they can have him.

If they don't select Angel I will riot.