San Jose defenseman Kyle McLaren became a cap casualty earlier today as the Sharks waived him to get below the salary cap. Nobody is going to confuse McLaren with a Norris Trophy winner, but he brings at least one thing to the table that the Blues lack on the blue line… experience.

I suspect that some Blues fans would pass on McLaren. There are young defensemen in the organization that may be able to fill the openings. I really love the game that Roman Polak plays and think he’ll quickly become a defenseman that opposing players hate playing against. Jonas Junland was having a strong camp before getting hurt and John Davidson clearly likes what he’s seen out of Alex Pietrangelo.

Despite all that, there’s still plenty of room for another veteran defenseman on this squad. With all the focus on the power play issues last year the penalty kill has been overlooked by fans and the media so far this year. McLaren would be an instant upgrade to the penalty kill and at $2.5M per year his salary is affordable.

According to BehindTheNet.ca, the Sharks allowed 3.75 goals per 60 minutes of penalty kill with McLaren on the ice last season. The Blues allowed 5.26 with Eric Brewer on the ice, 4.55 goals with Barret Jackman and 5.30 goals with Jay McKee. And if you think those numbers are skewed because of the team McLaren played for, consider this: when he wasn’t on the ice, the Sharks gave up 5.10 goals.

And if you’re still not convinced, journeyman Mike Weaver could be in the lineup on opening night.

(Glove tap to BluesFan44 for the heads up on McLaren being waived)

UPDATE

John Davidson was on 1380 this afternoon with Bernie Miklasz and was asked about Kyle McLaren. His said that he and the management team will sit down and discuss McLaren along with the other players on the waiver wire. He wasn't going to come out and said right there that the team was going to put in a claim for him, so I'm just glad he didn't say that they were going to stick with who they've got.

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