2005 ST. LOUIS BLUES PREVIEW

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2005-06 St. Louis Blues preview

(MySportsbook.com) - Like many teams, the St. Louis Blues turned a page this past summer.

Chris Pronger, the team's captain and anchor for much of the last decade, was traded to Edmonton. Al MacInnis, one of the league's all-time great defensemen, retired. Pavol Demitra, the team's primary offensive catalyst in recent years, signed with Los Angeles.

In addition, the team was put up for sale, leaving everything in somewhat of a state of limbo. Without stable ownership in place, it was tough for the team to go out and make any significant additions that would require hefty contracts.

The team did get decent value back for Pronger, obtaining defensemen Eric Brewer and Jeff Woywitka in the deal. Brewer is in the upper echelon amongst NHL blueliners, while Woywitka is a former first-round pick with a solid upside.

This season will also mark the first full one behind the bench for head coach Mike Kitchen. He replaced Joel Quenneville late in 2003-04, sitting at the helm for only 21 games.

There are a lot of questions surrounding the Blues, and it's a matter of whether or not they can overcome the significant losses they suffered. Making the playoffs for a 26th consecutive season will be a stretch.

FORWARDS - With Demitra gone, the Blues still have solid first-liners in Doug Weight and Keith Tkachuk. However, the latter player began camp on a down note, failing his physical and getting suspended by the team. Before the lockout, Tkachuk posted 33 goals and 38 assists in 75 games. He has been injury prone and isn't the dominant presence he once was, but the 33-year-old remains a capable scoring option.

Weight remains one of the league's top set-up men, as he has posted 52 and 51 assists in the last two seasons, respectively. However, an issue for the Blues is the fact that Weight's 14 goals were the second-most in 03-04 tallied by any player currently on the roster.

Eric Boguniecki will be asked to get back to the level of his rookie season, when he registered 22 goals and 27 assists (02-03). The following season he was limited to 27 games due to a concussion and shoulder injury.

After that, the Blues' forward corps is filled with a lot of solid offensive players, but no one that really scares the opposition. Petr Cajanek is a smallish center who can handle the puck, while Jamal Mayers, Dean McAmmond, Dallas Drake and Mike Sillinger are all players who contribute certain intangibles, but aren't more than 10-15 goal guys.

Overall, the Blues have significant depth problems up front and are counting way too much on Tkachuk and Weight, two players who are injury prone at this point in their careers.

DEFENSE - Brewer is only 26, and he already has an Olympic gold medal and six NHL seasons under his belt. The time, though, has come for him to become "the guy" for the Blues, as he no longer has co-anchor to lean on in former Oiler teammate Jason Smith. Brewer tallied seven goals and 18 assists in 77 games during the 03-04 campaign, but what will be under the microscope is what kind of physical game he plays.

A key for the Blues will be 2003 Calder Trophy winner Barret Jackman, who missed most of 03-04 due to a shoulder injury. Jackman ranked third among rookies in ice time during his first campaign (20:02) and led the Blues with a plus-23 rating. In addition, he posted three goals and 16 assists, while showing an edge with 190 penalty minutes.

Christian Backman, Eric Weinrich and Bryce Salvador are the other returnees, while Matt Walker hopes to finally make an impact after battling various injuries over the years. At 6-3, 227 Walker needs to inject some of that nastiness that left with Pronger.

Overall, despite key losses, the Blues will likely survive defensively. Perhaps not enough to compensate for a lackluster attack, but their blueliners will be respectable.

GOALTENDING - Patrick Lalime joined the Blues after a solid, but maligned career with the St. Louis Blues. He went 25-23-7 with a 2.29 goals-against average in 57 games (55 starts) for the Sens in 03-04. The previous campaign he won 39 games and had a GAA of 2.16, the kind of production the Blues will be looking for.

The one thing with Lalime is that he has never been a flashy netminder. His teams in Ottawa played outstanding team defense, something he benefited greatly from.

Reinhard Divis will likely serve as Lalime's backup. He went 4-4-2 with a 2.77 GAA in 13 games for the Blues during the 04-05 campaign. He played in his native Austria during the lockout.

WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE - The Blues simply lost too much since the lockout and don't have enough scoring depth. Barring some unforeseen occurrence, this will be a year of transition for the franchise as a whole, and we'll likely see St. Louis miss the postseason for the first time since 1979.

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