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Bye Bye Boyes

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Well, you cannot say the Blues are standing pat: Blues deal Boyes to Buffalo

The Buffalo Sabres came calling about Brad Boyes, and with an abundance of right wingers, the Blues were ready to listen.

Late Sunday night, they sent Boyes to the Sabres for a second-round pick in the 2011 NHL draft.

The Blues' recent acquisition of Chris Stewart from Colorado created a logjam on the right side, and with Boyes' drop in goal-scoring the past two seasons, general manager Doug Armstrong pulled off the swap less than 24 hours before today's 2 p.m. trading deadline.

"When we got a call on Brad, I looked at our roster today and also looked at it moving forward," Armstrong said. "With the addition of Stewart and knowing (David) Perron is coming back at some point (from a concussion), it was necessary to make the move now while it was available.

"You just have to manage your assets. With Stewart, Perron and T.J. Oshie (on the right side), we had to create space. We had too many right wingers."

Not to mention this gives the Blues approximately a gazillion dollars worth of cap space next season, which could come in handy dealing with restricted free agents like Oshie and Berglund.

Still, Boyes has been a good warrior and I'll be sorry to see him go. I thought something might have been up as Boyes has been getting a few shifts of the top line of late. Yes, they have needed to shuffle things up as the Blues have had a punishing schedule of late, but it still felt like they were showcasing Brad. Good luck to him in Buffalo.

The Blues acquired Buffalo's second-round pick, which could give them as many as three second-round picks in 2011.

The team received a conditional second-round pick from Colorado in the Erik Johnson trade, but that might not be used until 2012, depending on where the Blues finish in this year's standings. The club also has two third-round picks, after receiving one from Tampa Bay in the trade involving Eric Brewer.

Armstrong said the accumulation of draft picks doesn't mean the Blues will take all of those selections to the draft in June. He indicated that the picks could be used in trades.

"Part of getting these draft picks is that it gives us good options to move draft picks for NHL players," Armstrong said. "The potential allows us to maybe do some of that tomorrow. Now we have picks in play that we didn't have. There's not a 100 guarantee we will use these picks at the draft."

It's funny. The Blues and Armstrong have gone from "I think we are done" after the trades of Brewer, Johnson and McClement, to "LET'S MAKE A DEAL!"

Today could be interesting.
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