Kevin Lorenz posted on September 03, 2010 00:00
Closing the door:
Over the summer the Blues acquired net minder Jaroslav Halak to solve their goaltending problem once and for all. He comes to the Show Me State with quite the resume; he averaged 36 saves in 6 playoff games against the top-seeded Washington Capitals, and another 29 saves in 7 games against the high-powered Pittsburgh Penguins. 
His regular season numbers don’t exactly suck either (lifetime 56-34-7, 2.62gaa, .919 save%). Aside from the numbers, the most impressive thing about him may be that he’s a winner, and has won at every level he’s played from Major Junior to the Olympics and the NHL. Sure he will be expected to close the door to the back of the net, but can he effectively close the door on fifteen years of critics who have said the Blues cannot keep or develop a solid goaltender.
Growing Paynes: The story of young coaches taking over in the NHL and invigorating their teams has been a hot one over the past couple of seasons (see Dan Bylsma and Pittsburgh 2008). Joe Sacco took a young Colorado Avalanche team from their predicted 30th place finish to an 8th in the West playoff appearance in 2009-2010. While most agree that Davis Payne’s hiring was too late in the season to save the Blues in 2009-2010 he did energize a struggling team to a 23-15-4 record. Will the team continue to respond to his message?
Boys to men? (Oshie, Berglund, Perron, EJ)
2005 to 2008 were fun years for prospect geeks who happened to be Blues fans. Columnists and fans alike could confidently muse about when that first Cup would parade down Market Street, and how many the Blues could win with their current crop of prospects. 
The 2007 NHL draft marked the peak of that prospect fever as Blues fans raved about the future dynasty ruled by superstars in the making T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund, David Perron, and Erik Johnson. In the summer of 2007, the sky was the limit for those four players; in 2010 some fear the sky is falling. Will these guys turn out to be good players, or great players? The Blues are hoping the 2010-2011 season is the year they find out.
The New Kids:
Those looking for new prospects to nerd out over will feel comfortable in St. Louis…or maybe Peoria. One thing you can’t say about the Blues is that they aren’t full of potential. In 2005 the “kids” were Jay McClemment, David Backes, Lee Stempniak, and Dennis Wideman. In 2008 you saw Oshie, Berglund, Perron, and Johnson win over St. Louis. In 2011 will St. Louis embrace Alex Pietrangelo, Ian Cole, Vladimir Tarasenko and local boy Phil McCrae? Three of the four will be in Peoria and/or St. Louis this season…get to know them.
Cashing out: The Blues need a new owner of 75% of the team. While the maintains that the ownership situation isn’t affecting day to day hockey operations, and while I admittedly am not an expert when it comes to business matters, I do know this: a team with a full ownership in place is in a better situation than one searching for money.
Remember the lockout?
If you don’t you may be reminded soon. Ok so I’m obviously being a little dramatic, but this Ilya Kovalchuk vs the World situation is just a little bit past weird. Larry Brooks, a writer for the New York Post has reported that the NHL will issue an ultimatum to the NHLPA regarding not only the Ilya Kovalchuk contract, but also the Roberto Luongo, and Marian Hossa contracts as well. The ultimatum is essentially an attempt to rewrite the CBA on the fly. Brooks reports that the NHLPA has until 5pm today to approve these measures:
1. That the cap hit on future multi-year contracts will not count any seasons that end with the player over 40 years of age. The cap hit would be calculated on the average of the salary up through age 40 only.
2. That the cap hit on future contracts longer than five years will be calculated under a formula granting additional weight to the five years with the highest salary.
If the NHLPA doesn’t accept, the league will reject the Kovalchuk contract, move to void the Luongo contract, and will look to investigate the Marian Hossa contract as well. You can read Larry Brooks' column for more information here.