The Blues.....a playoff team again?

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 09:35:50 -0700

The new St-Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts has guaranteed the team will win its home opener October 12 against the Boston Bruins. Checketts has even gone as far as expressing optimism that the Blues can get back to the playoffs as early as next season. Here's a little reminder; the Blues finished last season with the worst record in the NHL...

But during the offseason, the Blues made some changes to their lineup. First of all, they called back Doug Weight from the Stanley Cup champs Hurricanes, who left St-Louis just before the playoffs.
Then they added some scoring touch with czech forward Martin Rucinsky from New York. Dan Hinote, from the Colorado Avalanche, was brought in for a more physical play.

Bill Guerin will look to re-establish himself as one of the league's top power forwards altough his 05-06 season was terrible. The Blues also wanted to bring some defensive experience to the lineup and they did just that by signing long time veteran Jay McKee from the Buffalo Sabres, who had a great playoff run.

One of the reasons why St-Louis was last in the NHL was because of their goaltending situation. The 2 rookies, Sanford and Bacashihua, couldn't get the job done. Detroit's Manny Legace has been signed by the Blues. He had a great regular season with the Red Wings but crumbled in the playoffs.

Now if we look at all these signings, we can say that the Blues have definitely improved but will they be a playoff team again, I don't know!

Leave your thoughts!

CoMagz koh19's column

The Blues.....a playoff team again?