30 Teams in 30 Stories

Signing the Blues

Goals were hard to come by in St. Louis
 
After some high-priced dips into the free agent pool the past few seasons, the St. Louis Blues had high hopes for theis season.
 
Those hopes weren't realized however, as Season 15 turned into a disaster from the start.
 
St. Louis stumbled to a 4-15 start to the season and never recovered. While the club poted a valiant 30-25-8 record after that poor start, they could undo the damage that had been done, largely the result of some weak efforts from some high-priced players.
 
"We did not get the bang for the buck from some guys," said General Manager Jesse Funk. "We knew we overpaid to a degree, you have to to get someone in free agency, but we didn't come cose to getting what we paid for this year."
 
While forwards Marian Gaborik and Curtis Glencross finished first and fifth respectively in team scoring this year, the duo combined for just 57 goals and 109 points despite receiving $19 million in salary. That represents just under 30 per cent of the team salary cap going to those players, and not nearly enough scoring coming back. Add in $8.5 million for Niklas Backstrom and $5.65 million for defenseman Robyn Regehr and the Blues find themselves very top heavy with salary going forward and not nearly enough to show for it.
 

The Blues will need a lot more from Marian Gaborik and Curtis Glencross.
 
While Backstrom and Regehr performed admirably, those four players salary equates to $33.15 million, or over half of the salary cap. As a result, St. Louis is left trying to fill their lower lines with bargain basement salaries, and often the skill level matches the salary.
 
How St. Louis finds some cap room could be the ultimate question this off-season, as to do so would likely mean one of the big four salaries is on the move.
 
In the mantime, St. Louis needs to figure how to get more from their unacheiving offense which ranked 26th in goals last season. The powerplay would be a good place to start, as the Blues finished dead last on the man advantage, scoring at just a 10.87 percentage. Gaborik managed just six powerplay tallies all season.
 
Shots are also an issue, with the Blues finishing 26th in the league in shots for while ranking 24th in shots against. Comparing shots for versus shots against, St. Louis finished 28th, besting only the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks.
 
"We need to get more pucks to the net," said Gaborik, whose 215 was the top mark on the etam last year. "If we get the puck on net more often, maybe it'll stay out of our end as well."
 
St. Louis does have some players in the minors who are expected to challenge for a roster spot next season, namely Roman Horak and David Rundblad, but none are likely to stimulate the offense in their first season. With only $450,000 approximately in cap space as well. it's likely to the trading block the Blues shall go this off-season.
 
David Rundblad - 2009 NHL Draft Portraits
David Rundblad is a future face of the Blues franchise.
 
"We have to be creative. We don't hve a lot of wiggle room," said Funk.
 
 

. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to 30 Teams in 30 Stories

  1. Katty says:
    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Leave a Reply