A major announcement is expected sometime soon to formally announce Davis Payne as the Head Coach of the Blues moving forward. A 12:00 noon meeting is scheduled with the players alert them of the news. What does this mean for Rick Wamsley who is currently the Head Coach in Peoria? We'll learn more this week about Wamsley's future with the Blues organization. Wamsley has more one more year remaining on his current contract.
Today Keith Tkachuk will be celebrated by the fans along with his teammates and many people in the organization. Who would have thought we’d see Tkachuk leave the game so celebrated especially when you consider the criticism he endured just a few short years ago coming out of the lockout.
This guy deserves a lot of credit for taking his career in his own hands and getting it together pretty quickly. He was able to overcome some decent adversity and develop into one of the true all time great players in the history of the St. Louis Blues.
I hear the question asked all the time is Keith Tkachuk is a Hall of Famer? To me there shouldn’t be a huge debate when you combine the numbers he put up with the era he played in. Former teammate Scott Mellanby recently told me he absolutely deserves to be in the HOF because he played in the 1990’s. He didn’t have the luxury of playing in the 1980’s when 100 points was pretty much an automatic if you were any good. Have you checked out the goaltending in the 70’s and 80’s recently? Watch some video and you’ll see that it’s just slightly more difficult to score goals nowadays.
It’s not just the goaltending, it was hard to score goals in the 90’s with all the crap involved in the game. The words clutching and grabbing became part of the vocabulary when describing the NHL in the 1990’s.
Tkachuk made his living in front of the net and truly paid the price to score goals. I was recently asked what Tkachuk’s defining moment was in a Blues uniform? I really couldn’t think of a true moment but then thought about the goal he scored off his face this season against Chicago. Watching a puck deflect off Tkachuk’s face and find its way into the back of the net defined how tough and fearless this guy was. He lost four teeth in the process but just a few short days later he was back in front of the net occupying the most dangerous part of the ice. We all had a pretty good idea this would be Tkachuk’s last season in the NHL and dealing with the injuries probably confirmed that it’s time to walk away. A few games after losing his teeth Tkachuk took another shot up high that displaced a finger which required surgery. It wasn’t an easy season for Tkachuk but he’ll look back one day and say it was all worth it.
Erik Johnson reaches several bonuses….
Word is Erik Johnson was held out of the final game of the season in Nashville as a precaution because of some minor knee soreness. It’s probably a good thing he didn’t play considering there’s a clause in is contract if he averaged at least .49 points per game he would receive a pretty significant bonus of over $200,000. Coming into the final game Johnson averaged .49 pts per game on the nose. If he would have played in the game and held scoreless his point per game average would have dipped below .49. I guess you can say it paid not to play.
Johnson also received bonus money for goals, assists, and ice time. He came up just one point shy of 40 points which would have given him bonus money for his point total as well. According to a story I wrote back in April, 2007 he receives $212,500 for every bonus he reaches.
David Perron did not receive any bonus money this season. Only players on entry level deals or veterans over the age of 35 can qualify for bonus money.
Rink Rats!
The early word is former Ottawa and Los Angeles executive Roy Mlakar is the favorite to take over the Tampa Bay Lightning as their President and CEO.
Former Minnesota GM Doug Risebrough is an early favorite to replace Brian Lawton as General Manager. Risebrough and Mlakar have been longtime friends.
Brendan Shanahan recently tweeted…Wanted to congratulate Keith Tkachuk on an amazing career. Really respected his style, and thanks for the scarred lip.
Goaltenders Chris Mason and Steve Mason will represent Canada at the upcoming World Championsips.
Blues Clues!
Word is T.J. Oshie will represent USA in the upcoming World Championships as long as his shoulder checks out ok.
Erik Johnson, Ty Conklin, and David Backes have turned down invitations from USA hockey to play in the Worlds.
Chris Mason will represent Canada at the Worlds.
Alex Steen could represent Sweden in the Tournament. That decision is undetermined at this time.
Roman Polak played down the stretch with a severely injured should as well but he doesn’t believe surgery will be necessary.
Patrik Berglund missed the last few games with a shoulder.
Carlo Colaiacovo played much of the first half of the season with a small fracture in his ankle. The rest over the Olympic break allowed him to get healthy as he finished with 9 points and a plus three in his final ten games.
Word is Jackman was held out of the last few games with neck/back soreness following a pretty hard hit at the hands of Predators forward Patric Hornqvist.
I understood the Blues wanted a new face in the organization when the current Ownership group took over. Larry Pleau had been with the Blues for a number of years and it was probably wise to move John Davidson in as the main voice for the Blues. Now with Doug Armstrong talking over does it still make sense to have Armstrong in the background? Should he be more of a voice and a face like we see from most GM’s in the NHL? I’m interested to see how this plays out.
A decision on the future of Rick Wamsley could come very soon. He has a contract for next season as an Asst. coach in the NHL but obviously finished the season as the Head Coach in Peoria.
Doug Armstrong will head over to Europe to scout the Worlds.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
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St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN • 
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