The answer is “Yes.” The question was one posed by my friend Tyler after the Blues had clinched a playoff spot. If the Blues were swept out of the first round, would the fact that playoff hockey had returned to St. Louis be worth the Blues missing out on the top picks in this year’s draft like John Tavares and Victory Hedman? I told him to ask me again after the series was over, as I didn’t think we would get swept.
Now that the series is over and the Blues did get swept, I know that the answer is yes, it was definitely worth it. It didn’t feel like the Blues get swept. They were in every game of the series. They were just a goal down going to the third period in both road contests and tied at two going to the third in both home games. The atmosphere at the Scottrade Center was the most electric it has been since before the lockout.
The young Blues learned some tough lessons in this quick playoff series. They didn’t start going to the net until it was too late. Ugly goals are what get it done in the playoffs. The Blues got a flurry of players and pucks to the front in Game 4 late in the second period and it resulted in three, errr, two goals. The third one was waived off because the referee thought the play was dead. I’d like to see that rule at least looked at and possibly changed to a whistle needing to be blown for the play to be officially called dead in the offseason. Too often are loose pucks blown dead because the officials don’t have the best vantage point on a particular play. This waived off goal allowed the Canucks to cease the Blues’ momentum, leading to the eventual soft goal in overtime to knock out St. Louis.
The Blues certainly had other opportunities to win it, including six minutes of power play time during the overtime period, four of which were consecutive. In the end, the Blues just couldn’t get it done on the power play, going 1-for-28 during the series. Next year’s team will have a lot more experience in big situations, partially due to this series, as well as the push to make the postseason. Even more important than their experience could be the weapons they’ll be getting back on their top power play unit. St. Louis can have a true threat back on the point in Erik Johnson and a pure scorer in Paul Kariya. Both should be healthy for next season.
The Blues also will have some spending cash for next season. The club has six unrestricted free agents going into the offseason including Manny Legace, Keith Tkachuk, Dan Hinote, Brad Winchester, Mike Weaver, and Trent Whitfield. Legace won’t be back, as Chris Mason has earned the starting job and Legace will probably be too frustrated to return as a backup. So that’s $3 million that will come off the books. Mike Weaver probably won’t be back either, even though he was a great role player for the club this season. With EJ returning, Eric Brewer expected to be healthy, and the possibility of Alex Pietrangelo being ready for the NHL, the team should have enough depth on the blue line. This gives the Blues another $500,000 to spend.
This leaves the forwards. Whitfield is expendable as Ian Cole and Lars Eller could be in the Blues’ system next year. Winchester was a force when he was playing well this season, so he could be worth bringing back for about the same $600,000 salary. Hinote was a decent penalty killer for the Blues this season, but the team had a much better record with Cam Janssen in the lineup and Hinote as a scratch, so he’s expendable as well.
When the Blues decided to hold on to Tkachuk at the trade deadline, it gave the team a huge boost. Keeping Tkachuk in the fold for one more year at a reduced salary could be beneficial to the club. He’s made his living scoring the type of goals that the Blues couldn’t get in the playoffs, so hopefully he can rub off on the rest of the team over the next season and help propel them past the first round. He has said that he would like to remain in St. Louis and would probably be looking for a one-year, $2-2.5 million deal, which would give the Blues another couple million to spend. All in all, they should have about $18.5 million to spend with the increase of the salary cap (expected to be about $5.3 million), the $3.3 million that they were already under the current cap, and a little over $13 million that they’ll gain from unrestricted free agents.
The team also has nine restricted free agents, some of which will get raises, but that money could come from letting go a few of those unrestricted players (Steve Wagner, I hope). With all of that being said, this is what I expect the Blues to look like next season:
Forwards LW C RW
1st Line Paul Kariya Andy McDonald Brad Boyes
2nd Line (maybe Tkachuk) David Backes T.J. Oshie
3rd Line David Perron Patrik Berglund B.J. Crombeen
4th Line Alex Steen Jay McClement Cam Janssen
Healthy Scratch: D.J. King
Defensemen
1st Pairing Erik Johnson Carlo Colaiacavo
2nd Pairing Eric Brewer Roman Polak
3rd Pairing Jay McKee Barret Jackman
Other options: Alex Pietrangelo, Jeff Woywitka, and Jonas Junland
Goalies
Starter: Chris Mason
Backup: Ben Bishop or a FA like Ty Conklin (solid for Detroit this year)
Next year could be even better for the Blues, as they have the assets to make a big splash in the free agent market to add to their young pool of talent. Making the playoffs will be the expectation next year, and I certainly think the Blues are up to the task.
While the Blues were making their push into the postseason, the Cardinals were quietly padding their lead in the NL Central. They now have a 2.5 game lead on the second place Pirates and are three up on their biggest threat in the division, the Cubs. The Cards have now split the first two of their seven game road trip with the Braves. If they can take the series finale on Wednesday and take three out of four from the worst team in the league, the Washington Natinals, they would be 10 over the .500 mark. This would give them a great head start against the Cubs who are dealing with injuries to Aramis Ramirez and Milton Bradley.
The Cardinals are forming into a contender before our eyes. The bullpen is starting to solidify around closer Ryan Franklin, who is yet to blow a save. The rotation is solid, as Todd Wellemeyer is the only starter with a loss on his record so far this season while Joel Pineiro of all people is off to a 4-0 start. As long as the redbirds can avoid their occasional struggles against left-handed starters like they encountered in Tuesday’s game, they should be fine in the long run.
Lastly, here are my picks for the second round of the NHL playoffs. I was 5-8 in the first round. I would’ve been 6-8 if Marty Brodeur didn’t freak out and pull a Roman Turek in the last minute and a half of Game 7.
Bruins over Hurricanes in 6 (Rest over rust for Boston)
Penguins over Capitals in 6 (The goalie experience edge has to favor the Pens)
Red Wings over Ducks in 7(Hiller might steal a game, but it won’t be enough)
Blackhawks over Canucks(Chicago is more talented and will grind out goals against Roberto Luongo)
