The only significant news to report regarding the Andy McDonald negotiations is that he’s waiting to hear back from the Blues.
Blues GM Larry Pleau had a phone conversation with McDonald’s agent earlier this week and there have been no talks since.
Obviously McDonald would prefer to get a deal done before he returns from his high ankle sprain. Sources tell me he does not want to create any distractions by bringing the contract negotiations into the dressing room.
I’m being told if no deal is in place when McDonald returns to the lineup they might choose to wait until after the season to pick back up negotiations. No word on the exact date McDonald will return but we’d be foolish to assume he’s not close.
Does this mean we will be receiving news in the next few days of a McDonald contract extension?
Both sides have spent more time discussing term as opposed to exchanging numbers.
McDonald may get a little more money than you might think when you factor in he’s won a Cup, his preparation off the ice, the character he brings to the lineup, not to mention he has suffered very few injuries throughout his career prior to his fractured ankle.
Oh by the way, he’s a pretty talented player.
This could be an attempt on behalf of the McDonald camp to accelerate the process a little which I can certainly understand. I can see why McDonald’s agent would want to put the contract stuff on ice when McDonald returns to allow for him to focus on playing hockey, but does this mean if the Blues came to him in early March with an acceptable offer he wouldn’t accept it?
Of course not!
To be honest if McDonald had never gotten injured the negotiations would be taking place when he was playing anyway.
If there is a soft deadline here, it obviously is the trade deadline. Will they shop their top center if no deal in place before hand?
Considering the fact both sides want to get a deal done I can’t see us getting to this point.
In recent years the Blues have been pretty successful in getting these deals worked out when you look at Eric Brewer, Barret Jackman, Brad Boyes, and Manny Legace to name a few.
I don’t anticipate this being any different.
By the way the Blues have been great to McDonald in terms of how they’ve treated his injury. They gave him another MRI this past week and today he was given a CT scan which shows the ankle has not suffered any setbacks.
Can anybody hear Brad Boyes giving a sigh of relief?
It’s pretty clear the presence of McDonald not only makes the Blues better but it also gives Boyes a left shot play making center to create offense with.
The Blues certainly matched the effort of the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. What a disappointing effort by St. Louis in their first game after the break. We saw endless plays through the middle of the ice that ended up on the oppositions stick. The Blues know they can’t play run and gun hockey but they tried anyway.
Goaltender Chris Mason played fine but was unable to make a key save when the Blues needed it. The Blues can say Legace is the number one guy, but they need to also know if Mason is capable of being a guy they can rely on to carry the club for a decent stretch. This was Mason’s third start in a row and the Blues know Mason will be in the fold next season. The organization is crossing their fingers he begins to show the consistency and high level of play he displayed two years ago in Nashville.
It’d be nice if the Blues could score some goals when he starts.
It’s easy to blame Jeff Woywitka for the inexplicable turnover in the neutral zone which gave Ottawa puck possession but that’s why you have a goaltender in between the pipes, to cover up for mistakes.
For much of the game Woywitka may have been the Blues best D-man but he made a poor decision in a critical moment in the game. You have to know what you’re going to do with the puck before you receive it, to send a one touch pass in the middle of the ice right on the stick of an Ottawa player was obviously not the right play. He would have been better off collecting the puck and using the boards or the glass to get it in deep.
The pressure certainly rises when we get to the later part of a tied hockey game and in many cases you are able to identify which players are capable of handling the pressure not to mention how much hockey sense certain individuals bring to the table.
The go ahead goal by Ottawa might have been deflected on the way in.
Can someone explain why Danny Heatley was chosen the games first star?
Mike Fisher was obviously the best player on the ice.
How lucky is David Backes that his leg did not make contact with the Ottawa player on his tripping penalty in the third period? That was not a smart play by Backes even though he gave the Blues another quality game. The guy is an effort machine and it goes without saying he’s major piece of the Blues moving forward.
Rink Rats!
Senators forward Chris Neil will certainly receive some interest come deadline time, but Bryan Murray has not given up on re-signing him. Murray recently had productive discussions with Neil’s agent.
Good to hear Mats Sundin spent the break at a ski resort as opposed to getting himself back in playing condition. Who didn’t see this coming? Sundin looks to me as a guy who is simply collecting a check. He’s taking stupid, lazy penalties and it appears the coaches don’t know what to do with this guy after relegating him to third line status.
I recently wrote that the NHL recently granted USA hockey $8 million dollars. I forgot to point out that the NHL has contributed in the range of $14 million dollars a year to Hockey Canada for the last several years. I don’t have a huge issue with that considering half of NHL players are native Canadians and a lot of this money supports the CHL among other areas. It is nice to see the NHL start to open up the wallet for the Americans as well.
Blues Clues!
D.J. King will continue to skate on his own (public session style) from here on out for the remainder of the season. He’s started to do some light shooting.
Blues Captain Eric Brewer has also skated three consecutive days although he is not doing as much as King. He basically stays out on the ice for no more than 5-10 minutes.
At a recent Blues Buzz broadcast out at Johnny Mac’s a little boy approach David Perron about how he wanted to meet B.J. Crombeen because he shares the same type of diabetes as the Blues gritty forward. Perron got his cell phone number and told the boy he would call him. A few nights later the kid’s father couldn’t believe it when the phone rang and it was Perron on the other end inviting the boy to the game vs. Colorado. Afterwards Perron brought the boy and his father down to the dressing room where he met Crombeen and left with a bag full of autographed goodies.
Brad Boyes was not on the ice late in the Blues loss to Ottawa because he was getting his skate sharpened.
There have been some very minor preliminary discussions internally at the University of Missouri St. Louis about the idea of starting a D-1 ice hockey program.
When Keith Tkachuk got dinged up prior to the break in a game vs. Calgary he was a little woozy back in the dressing room. When President John Davidson called down to the room to ask how he was doing he. The Blues trainer responded by saying “He thinks his name is Wayne.” JD then replied back “Tell him his last name is Gretzky and maybe he’ll return and score six goals for us!”
A source with Blues management tells me the club is preparing to purchase additional parking garages to eliminate the hassle of getting in and out of the Clark Street garage.
Blues Buzz will broadcast live from Johnny Mac’s on Watson Road this Wednesday February 4th from 6-7. We will have a Blues player to be named live at the show.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
[email protected] 
St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • 
Join the Discussion:
»