UPDATE
Just announced on the broadcast tonight: the Blues have acquired D Jay Bouwmeester from Calgary for the Blues 1st-round pick in 2013, D Mark Cundari, and the rights to G Reto Berra. More on this after the game .
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The Jordan Leopold era begins for the Blues tonight - but not in St. Louis. No, tonight the Blues get the Northwest Division-leading Wild, and they do so sitting outside the top-8 in the West for the first time since November 23, 2011 when they entered the night 9th and left it in 8th after a 3-2 overtime win over Pittsburgh.
Halak in net to start. To anyone thinking / hoping Brian Elliott won't play in net this season: keep dreaming. Starting Thursday, the Blues will have 14 games in 24 days to end the season; not a chance Halak plays all 14 games. The best chance to see Elliott in net is probably going to be Friday night at home vs. Columbus, because it's
really unlikely Hitchcock throws him into the net vs. Chicago on Thursday night. A return of Jake Allen before season's end isn't out of the question, but that's going to require both Halak and Elliott to have a bad outing in net ... maybe more than one from each.
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Days to the trade deadline: 2
We're now under 48 hours, and teams are starting to identify needs/wants better and lay the groundwork for trades. How many actually get pulled remain to be seen, but I thought one of the more interesting comments of the day was from Leafs GM Dave Nonis, who basically echoed Armstrong's comments from Friday when he said that he'd prefer to do a hockey trade and swap assets for assets but
"it's not a year where there's a lot of players available."
That could certainly change between now and 2pm Central Wednesday, and all it takes is two teams to tango - but I'd be surprised to see that "wow" trade take place at this year's deadline. At the entry draft? Probably a lot better chance to see them there.
For the Blues? Well, at the time I typed this I wasn't expecting us to do much ... but I also didn't expect Calgary would deal their #1 defenseman for a draft-protected #1 pick, a guy who is probably a 5/6 guy on the blueline long-term (at best) and a goalie taken years ago who may or may not ever make the jump to North America. Now, with 9 defensemen on the roster it's pretty clear
someone is going to go one way or the other.
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More during the game; comments in the usual spot, and a recap after the game.
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