With Johnson Injured, Where do the Blues Turn Now?

Many Blues fans I've talked to were disappointed that no claim was made toward Schneider after the Johnson injury.

Where to now? Is the entire season now sacrificed in the hopes of adding another stud d-man (Hedman/Cowen) to the stable? Are the Blues at all willing to give up pieces of their future to help the current team? And how forgiving will the fans (who I suspect are still not fully used to bottom-dwelling) be if another season is lost?

Man that's a tough one. I love Davidson's approach, it seems nice and calm and collected. He's not gonna make those big bold moves right now, he seems content to let the team grow as a young core.

I think the success of this team has so many question marks, that it might be nice to think about the playoffs, but ultimately it'll be a race for a top 5 pick I think.

-can McDonald be an 80 point guy again
-does Tkachuk have something left in the tank
-can Boyes repeat last year's goal totals
-can Kariya be an 80 point guy again
-do they have the D at this point
-can Mason and Legace hold the fort
-can Berglund and Oshie help what was a bad offense

Too many questions IMO. It'd be fun to see them do well though, especially Berglund and Oshie, I like both of these guys.

Berglund especially seems like a great prospect to me. He draws some Sundin comparisons.

I suppose now it makes more sense to wait for the future and add another stud d-man in the draft (just imagine a top-4 of Johnson, Hedman/Cowen, Pietrangelo and Cole), but I'm not sure how effectively they've been able to sell the whole "re-building" approach.

Schneider just seemed like an obvious pick-up to me.

asq2 wrote:Berglund especially seems like a great prospect to me. He draws some Sundin comparisons.

I suppose now it makes more sense to wait for the future and add another stud d-man in the draft (just imagine a top-4 of Johnson, Hedman/Cowen, Pietrangelo and Cole), but I'm not sure how effectively they've been able to sell the whole "re-building" approach.

Schneider just seemed like an obvious pick-up to me.

Man their D is gonna be lethal - either way. Schneider would've been a great stop gap and cost nothing. When does Johnson's salary officially come off the books. There might be a time period of sorts and claiming Schneider would've put them over the cap?

That's all I got on that one.

504Heater wrote:

asq2 wrote:Berglund especially seems like a great prospect to me. He draws some Sundin comparisons.

I suppose now it makes more sense to wait for the future and add another stud d-man in the draft (just imagine a top-4 of Johnson, Hedman/Cowen, Pietrangelo and Cole), but I'm not sure how effectively they've been able to sell the whole "re-building" approach.

Schneider just seemed like an obvious pick-up to me.

Man their D is gonna be lethal - either way. Schneider would've been a great stop gap and cost nothing. When does Johnson's salary officially come off the books. There might be a time period of sorts and claiming Schneider would've put them over the cap?

That's all I got on that one.

They're closer to the Cap than I thought, actually, but I'm pretty sure that if Johnson is put on the long-term injury list (or whatever it's called, is it the LTIR?), his salary would come off of the books.

That's a friggin mystery now that you mention it. Are they thinking of starting their younger guys this year?

504Heater wrote:That's a friggin mystery now that you mention it. Are they thinking of starting their younger guys this year?

Up front, yes, but I didn't think they were on the back-end. Certainly Pietrangelo won't be there. I hope they aren't actually considering playing Wozniewski.

Oh goodness, that's not a great idea. Junland's really good, maybe they throw him into the fire the way LA, Atlanta etc. seem to be doing.