A closer look at the Blues

The time is now for the St. Louis Blues.

No longer a talented team with little playoff experience, it’s time for the Blues to move forward and the team’s moves late last season and over the summer shows management understands that concept.

Picking up Ryan Miller at the trade deadline last spring seemed a gutsy move for a team that rightly considers itself a Stanley Cup contender. However, that move didn’t pay off and Brian Elliot was actually more consistent between the pipes for the Blues.

So the Blues were not upset about letting Miller move on this past summer and will bank heavily on Elliot this season as they have not added a veteran goaltender to the lineup…yet.

The key off season move was picking up free agent Paul Stastny who was considered the plum pick up as the July 1 frenzy approached.  It’s a great fit on this team as Stastny was shuffled down the depth chart  on a team loaded with good centers at Colorado but he will get plenty of ice time here. He gives the team a nice 1-2 punch at the position with David Backes.

The team actually added a little more depth and certainly some team toughness and leadership with the addition of another center, Steve Ott.

He will likely play more in a checking role with the Blues but he gives the team a little more physical presence and this is a guy that can get under the skin of his opposition on a regular basis.

An interesting move on defense took place when the blues traded Roman Polak, a solid physical defensive defenseman to the Maple Leafs for Carl Gunnarson, giving the team a little more offens from the blue line.

The Blues were represented at the annual Traverse City NHL Rookie Tournament recently and while it went 0-3 in pool play against the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild, but only one of those games — a 7-2 loss against the ultimate tournament champion Blue Jackets was a lopsided decision. The other two were both overtime defeats and the Blues Rookies gained a measure of satisfaction with a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres the the Seventh Place contest.

The Blues invited 60 players to its training camp which began on Friday and the team quickly got into pre-season action with a game against the Blue Jackets in Columbus onSunday night (see story).

The Blues will hit the road once again tonight (Monday) with a game in Dallas against the Stars followed by four straight home games before wrapping up the pre-season schedule Oct. 3 at Minnesota.

First cuts could come soon after tonight’s game as the  Chicago Wolves will open its training camp in the near future as well.