Blues Re-Sign McClement, Eight Others Accept Qualifying Offers

[Thrillhouse]

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Blues’ President John Davidson announced today the club has re-signed center Jay McClement to a multi-year deal. Davidson also announced that Eric Brewer, Jason Bacashihua, Jon DiSalvatore, Doug Lynch, Aaron MacKenzie, Tomas Mojzis, Peter Sejna and Jeff Woywitka have all accepted their qualifying offers.

“We are counting on Jay to take his game to another level this season as he should get more ice time in all situations,” said Davidson. “We are expecting all of our players who have signed their qualifying offers to have more impact with the Blues’ organization as they gain valuable experience.”

[Sandmachine]

I'm hoping the Blues rebound this year. I forgot about Brewer, as he was injured at the end of last season. Is Jamal Mayers back with the club? I don't follow them enough to know their contract situations. He seemed to step up his game last season in the fighting department (activity-wise) and as far as scoring goals.

Although not the most mobile defensive corpse, I like their style. From what their website roster says....it looks like they could have pairings that might look like this:

Brewer - Salvador
Jackman - Walker
Wideman - McKee

Wideman showed a lot of promise offensively last year, but it also sounded like he might still make poor decisions. I figured it'd be a good match putting him with a veteran stay at home D-man such as McKee. I imagine they'll probably include Backman in their top 6, though from what I've heard, he's not much of a player defensively, and his offensive potential is overrated. Woywitka is also listed. Don't know much about him, other than it seems he must have some potential if he was drafted in the first round. Looks like he's no extreme slouch in terms of physicality (based on PIMs).

I'm a little worried about their offense again. A healthy and determined Keith Tkachuk could put up tons of points this coming season, like he did the time he played last season, especially as he has Weight back with him. There's not much proven skill besides Tkachuk, Weight, and Guerin (if he rebounds after last year's nightmare season). However, the rest of the guys seem like hard-working players who at the end of last year started to show some progress. McClement, Hoggan, Glumac got some valuable experience last year, and can perhaps build on that. Orszagh might help out the power play. Then there are the character guys like Drake, Hinote, and Mayers who hopefully give the team a boost, as well as make the games interesting with their aggression.

There's no heavyweight on the roster at this point, but there's quite a few guys capable of sticking up for their teammates. In other words, their team toughness seems better than average (for what it's worth in todays NHL). As I have said, I still think toughness can be to one's advantage still, even with the new rules. Obviously, the days of gooning it up are gone, but if one team continues to steamroll another team physically, and that team is able to step up when challenged to a fight, the fans love it and it really helps the team play better in general. There's more jump to their step. The Blues will need this extra jump, considering their lack of talent up front.

Hinote, Jackman, Walker, Mayers, Drake, Wideman Salvador, Guerin. Tkachuk seems in the middle of a lot of chippiness too, so I think Blues games should be pretty entertaining....I hope.

Last I checked, they still have DJ King and Zack Fitzgerald in the system. King's skating was suspect when I saw him play in Worcester, so I don't know if we'll ever see him in the NHL. Haven't seen Fitzgerald play, so I can't say.

If I screwed up and said someone is on the Blues who isn't really on the Blues, feel free to correct me.

[bustoff]

Fitzgerald was skating at Mills with the other Blues rookies. I still hope the Blues sign an enforcer since King probably won't get a shot at it.

[NJDevils17]

i really like the blues next year. they've made some very good moves. although they might not make the playoffs next year, i think they'll make it in 2 years definitley. all the blues really need is a winger who can get 20 goals, a mobile defenseman (spacek would have been great, but he's already taken), a goalie (the best one you can get now is legace), and maybe an enforcer if they have some cap room left.

[DaleHunter32]

didn't Jeff Woywitka play some games with the big boys this year. I know he was a major part of the Pronger deal, he was 1 of Edmonton's best prospects at the time. Wouldn't be surprised if he wedges into the line-up sometime next season