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St Louis Blues Blogger • 1380 ESPN •
The St. Blues robbed the Atlanta Thrashers blind in the Keith Tkachuk Trade.
I understand Tkachuk is a great player, but Atlanta paid a crazy price for his services.
Tkachuk will give Atlanta a physical presence that they don’t have and will certainly help them as they compete for a division championship.
The Blues deserved at least a first round pick in return for Tkachuk. To somehow land a first, second, third, potentially another first round pick and a player for a rental is ridiculous.
The Atlanta situation is a little different from most teams when you consider they have never made the playoffs. It is crucial that they introduce their fans to playoff hockey. They should have plenty of prospects stock piled after having so many high draft selections over the last several years.
They certainly sent the fans a message that they want to win.
Which is really the same message the Blues are sending to their fans.
The Blues first envisioned trading Tkachuk last spring when they decided to pick up his option. The club wasn’t expecting to realistically be in the playoff picture prior to the season and knew having Tkachuk would give the team some options come deadline time.
John Davidson and Larry Pleau certainly deserve high marks for this one.
Not to mention the Blues will likely re-sign the former 50 goal scorer in the summer.
Tkachuk just did the Blues a big time favor by waiving his no-trade clause and accepting the deal. It will be interesting to see if the club asks for another favor in the summer.
Tkachuk will return to the Blues in the summer as long as he is fair with his asking price. The Blues can only afford so much and will hope Tkachuk gives them some type of hometown discount.
Tkachuk will want at the very least what Doug weight is making (3.5 million).
If Tkachuk really wants to return to St. Louis he will be back next summer, if he is looking to go to the highest bidder, his days in St. Louis are over.
No matter how it turns out for Tkachuk, he is a good man who has taken some shots during his time in St. Louis.
He had some great years in a Blues uniform and should be respected for his time spent with the organization.
People who really got to know him respect him for how he treats people behind the scenes. He’s as generous as they come when it comes to tipping trainers, equipment mangers, and stick boys.
He’s got a big heart and cares a lot about the city of St. Louis and especially the hockey community in St. Louis. He is very close with his kids and will struggle being away from them for the next few months. Tkachuk obviously wants to win a Stanley Cup and his family understands the situation.
Tkachuk first admitted to me that he was willing to be moved right after the Nashville loss just after the all-Star break. From that point going forward he was mentally prepared to handle knock on his hotel room door late Saturday night.
It was Andy Murray, who holds Tkachuk in high regard, at the door waking up Tkachuk to tell him the Blues had a deal on the table that would send him to Atlanta.
It didn’t take long for Tkachuk to say yes.
He and Scott Mellanby didn’t necessarily see eye to eye while the two were teammates in St. Louis. Both these guys are pros and I’m sure they will have no issues putting what happened in the past behind them.
Atlanta gave St. Louis a list of players from their roster they could choose from and the Blues chose Glen Metropolit. Shortly after receiving Metropolit the Blues were receiving a number of calls from other clubs that are interested in the 32 year old forward.
The Blues will discuss the possibility of re-signing Bill Guerin with his agent Bob Murray sometime before the deadline. There is the Fear that Guerin will cost too much money for the Blues.
There have been no discussions between the Blues and Guerin regarding an extension.
The Blues are trying to deal him and at the end of the day Davidson will compare the deal they are getting in return for Guerin vs. how much it would take to re-sign him. Whichever option the Blues feel is best for them moving forward will be the deciding factor.
If they don’t find what teams are offering acceptable, they will explore re-signing Guerin.
The Blues are close to re-signing Jamal Mayers. Negotiations are ongoing. It would be a shame if a deal can’t be reached as Mayers has played his entire career with the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues had internal discussions regarding what to do with Mayers on Sunday and the ball is in their court. The decision is up to Davidson and Pleau, Mayers wants to stay.
There are several teams interested in Mayers including the Toronto Maple Leafs.
There have been no real discussions involving Radek Dvorak who is eligible to become unrestricted this summer.
Both the Blues as well as Don Meehan would agree that the negotiations involving Eric Brewer were fair.
The fact that there won’t be a whole lot of big name free agent defenseman this summer helped Brewer in negotiations.
With only three 28-year-old D-men heading into free agency this summer (Scott Hannan and Brad Stuart being the other two) made Brewer’s situation very unique.
Brewer would have been vibrant in the open market.
If the Blues were going to maximize the return value for Brewer they would have had to allow another team to try to sign Brewer long-term. His value would not have been as strong if he was just a rental. If a team knew they were going to have Brewer for several years they would spend more in a trade.
The Edmonton Oilers are dealing with the same situation with Ryan Smyth. The Oilers want to keep him and they realize they won’t be maximizing their return if they trade him as a rental.
Where is the market going, it is going up or is it going down as we approach the next day and a half?
One thing we know for sure as we approach the deadline, as the supply shrinks the demand will continue to go up.
It was nice of Manny Legace to accept less money in the first year of his contract in order to make it work for the Blues. Legace said all along that he wanted to stay in St. Louis and he remained committed to the organizations through the negotiating process.
His agent Ed Ratushny was impressed with how Pleau and Davidson handle the negotiations.
Ratushny said Pleau and Davidson are quite a team. He finds it interesting how Pleau does all the number crunching and JD brings the insight and great perspective.
He said it is almost like JD is the color commentator in terms of how he goes about his role in the negotiations. Ratushny said it was fun dealing with them.
David Backes has been living with Keith Tkachuk since he was called up several weeks ago. Tkachuk told Backes that he would have to move out if he was ever traded. Backes knew this day was coming and told me the other day “it’s off to the hotel”
There is some serious pressure on the scouting staff in the Blues organization. The next decade is set up beautifully for the Blues.
The Blues had two first round picks last year and could have as many as three first round picks this year, not to mention a surplus of picks throughout the other rounds.
They have some options in terms of what they want to do with all these picks but if the Blues are truly going to turn this franchise around, the scouting staff needs to deliver.
If T.J. Oshie wants to play in the NHL next season it is up to him. JD said it’s his decision.
St. Louis native Philp Mcrae has returned to the London Knights last week after helping team USA capture the top spot in the Vlad Dzurilla tournament in Piestany, Slovakia. Philip is the son of former NHL veteran Basil.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
abs9kmox@hotmail.com
I understand Tkachuk is a great player, but Atlanta paid a crazy price for his services.
Tkachuk will give Atlanta a physical presence that they don’t have and will certainly help them as they compete for a division championship.
The Blues deserved at least a first round pick in return for Tkachuk. To somehow land a first, second, third, potentially another first round pick and a player for a rental is ridiculous.
The Atlanta situation is a little different from most teams when you consider they have never made the playoffs. It is crucial that they introduce their fans to playoff hockey. They should have plenty of prospects stock piled after having so many high draft selections over the last several years.
They certainly sent the fans a message that they want to win.
Which is really the same message the Blues are sending to their fans.
The Blues first envisioned trading Tkachuk last spring when they decided to pick up his option. The club wasn’t expecting to realistically be in the playoff picture prior to the season and knew having Tkachuk would give the team some options come deadline time.
John Davidson and Larry Pleau certainly deserve high marks for this one.
Not to mention the Blues will likely re-sign the former 50 goal scorer in the summer.
Tkachuk just did the Blues a big time favor by waiving his no-trade clause and accepting the deal. It will be interesting to see if the club asks for another favor in the summer.
Tkachuk will return to the Blues in the summer as long as he is fair with his asking price. The Blues can only afford so much and will hope Tkachuk gives them some type of hometown discount.
Tkachuk will want at the very least what Doug weight is making (3.5 million).
If Tkachuk really wants to return to St. Louis he will be back next summer, if he is looking to go to the highest bidder, his days in St. Louis are over.
No matter how it turns out for Tkachuk, he is a good man who has taken some shots during his time in St. Louis.
He had some great years in a Blues uniform and should be respected for his time spent with the organization.
People who really got to know him respect him for how he treats people behind the scenes. He’s as generous as they come when it comes to tipping trainers, equipment mangers, and stick boys.
He’s got a big heart and cares a lot about the city of St. Louis and especially the hockey community in St. Louis. He is very close with his kids and will struggle being away from them for the next few months. Tkachuk obviously wants to win a Stanley Cup and his family understands the situation.
Tkachuk first admitted to me that he was willing to be moved right after the Nashville loss just after the all-Star break. From that point going forward he was mentally prepared to handle knock on his hotel room door late Saturday night.
It was Andy Murray, who holds Tkachuk in high regard, at the door waking up Tkachuk to tell him the Blues had a deal on the table that would send him to Atlanta.
It didn’t take long for Tkachuk to say yes.
He and Scott Mellanby didn’t necessarily see eye to eye while the two were teammates in St. Louis. Both these guys are pros and I’m sure they will have no issues putting what happened in the past behind them.
Atlanta gave St. Louis a list of players from their roster they could choose from and the Blues chose Glen Metropolit. Shortly after receiving Metropolit the Blues were receiving a number of calls from other clubs that are interested in the 32 year old forward.
The Blues will discuss the possibility of re-signing Bill Guerin with his agent Bob Murray sometime before the deadline. There is the Fear that Guerin will cost too much money for the Blues.
There have been no discussions between the Blues and Guerin regarding an extension.
The Blues are trying to deal him and at the end of the day Davidson will compare the deal they are getting in return for Guerin vs. how much it would take to re-sign him. Whichever option the Blues feel is best for them moving forward will be the deciding factor.
If they don’t find what teams are offering acceptable, they will explore re-signing Guerin.
The Blues are close to re-signing Jamal Mayers. Negotiations are ongoing. It would be a shame if a deal can’t be reached as Mayers has played his entire career with the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues had internal discussions regarding what to do with Mayers on Sunday and the ball is in their court. The decision is up to Davidson and Pleau, Mayers wants to stay.
There are several teams interested in Mayers including the Toronto Maple Leafs.
There have been no real discussions involving Radek Dvorak who is eligible to become unrestricted this summer.
Both the Blues as well as Don Meehan would agree that the negotiations involving Eric Brewer were fair.
The fact that there won’t be a whole lot of big name free agent defenseman this summer helped Brewer in negotiations.
With only three 28-year-old D-men heading into free agency this summer (Scott Hannan and Brad Stuart being the other two) made Brewer’s situation very unique.
Brewer would have been vibrant in the open market.
If the Blues were going to maximize the return value for Brewer they would have had to allow another team to try to sign Brewer long-term. His value would not have been as strong if he was just a rental. If a team knew they were going to have Brewer for several years they would spend more in a trade.
The Edmonton Oilers are dealing with the same situation with Ryan Smyth. The Oilers want to keep him and they realize they won’t be maximizing their return if they trade him as a rental.
Where is the market going, it is going up or is it going down as we approach the next day and a half?
One thing we know for sure as we approach the deadline, as the supply shrinks the demand will continue to go up.
It was nice of Manny Legace to accept less money in the first year of his contract in order to make it work for the Blues. Legace said all along that he wanted to stay in St. Louis and he remained committed to the organizations through the negotiating process.
His agent Ed Ratushny was impressed with how Pleau and Davidson handle the negotiations.
Ratushny said Pleau and Davidson are quite a team. He finds it interesting how Pleau does all the number crunching and JD brings the insight and great perspective.
He said it is almost like JD is the color commentator in terms of how he goes about his role in the negotiations. Ratushny said it was fun dealing with them.
David Backes has been living with Keith Tkachuk since he was called up several weeks ago. Tkachuk told Backes that he would have to move out if he was ever traded. Backes knew this day was coming and told me the other day “it’s off to the hotel”
There is some serious pressure on the scouting staff in the Blues organization. The next decade is set up beautifully for the Blues.
The Blues had two first round picks last year and could have as many as three first round picks this year, not to mention a surplus of picks throughout the other rounds.
They have some options in terms of what they want to do with all these picks but if the Blues are truly going to turn this franchise around, the scouting staff needs to deliver.
If T.J. Oshie wants to play in the NHL next season it is up to him. JD said it’s his decision.
St. Louis native Philp Mcrae has returned to the London Knights last week after helping team USA capture the top spot in the Vlad Dzurilla tournament in Piestany, Slovakia. Philip is the son of former NHL veteran Basil.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
abs9kmox@hotmail.com
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