SB Nation - Steve Regier

2009 NHL Free Agency / Teams by Cap Space / Unsigned UFA's and RFA's

Robert L — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:19:41 -0000

This is a listing of NHL teams by order of remaining cap space as of July 4. The Islanders top the list with approximately $23M left to spend. The Sharks have just under $2M remaining. The list is helpful in determining which team are closest to filling out their 2009-10 lineup. As one can see, there is much work to be done at both ends of the spectrum. The numbers figures are based on totals given by NHL Numbers.com.

1 - New York Islanders: $23.265 (18)

UFA: Andy Hilbert C 28, Dean McAmmond C 36, Mike Sillinger C 38, Thomas Pock D 27, Yann Danis G 28, Joey MacDonald G 29.

RFA: Nate Thompson C 24, Jeremy Colliton C 24, Jamie Fraser D 23, Jack Hillen D 23.

2 - Phoenix Coyotes: $21.972 (18)

UFA: Brian McGrattan R 27, Dmitri Kalinin D 29, Ken Klee D 38.

RFA: Nigel Dawes L 24, Joakim Lindstrom C 25, Enver Lisin R 23, Scottie Upshall R 25, Daniel Winnik C 24, Keith Yandle D 22.

3 - Atlanta Thrashers: $19.599 (15)

RFA: Eric Perrin C 33.

UFA: Kari Lehtonen G 25, Colby Armstrong R 26, Jim Slater C 26, Boris Valabik D 23.

4 - Nashville Predators: $17.913 (16)

UFA: Radek Bonk C 33, Scott Nichol C 34, Greg de Vries D 36.

RFA: Ryan Jones R 25, Antti Pihlstrom L 24,.

5 - New York Rangers: $16.436 (13)

UFA: Blair Betts C 29, Mark Bell L 28, Patrick Rissmiller C 30, Paul Mara D 29, Derek Morris D 30.

RFA: Christopher Higgins R 26, Ryan Callahan R 24, Brandon Dubinsky C 23, Lauri Korpikoski L 22, Nikolai Zherdev L 24, Corey Potter D 25.

6 - Anaheim Ducks: $14.295 (17)

UFA: Rob Niedermayer F 34, Todd Marchant C 33, Francois Beauchemin D 29, Bret Hedican D 38.

RFA: James Wisniewski D 25.

7 - Tampa Bay Lightning: $14.295 (17)

UFA: Matt Pettinger L 28, Wade Brookbank L 31, Jason Ward R 30, Marek Malik D 34, Josef Melichar D 30, Cory Murphy D 31, Noah Welch D 26.

RFA: Martins Karsums R 23, Radek Smolenak L 22, Matt Lashoff D 22, Matt Smaby D 24, Mike Lundin D 24, Karri Ramo G 22, Mike McKenna G 26.

8 - Columbus Blue Jackets: $13.313 (20)

UFA: Chris Gratton C 33, Manny Malhotra C 29, Michael Peca C 35, Jason Williams C 28, Christian Backman D 29.

RFA: Jiri Novotny C 25, Marc Methot D 24, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen D 25.

9 - Dallas Stars: $13.193 (19)

UFA: Sergei Zubov D 38, Brendan Morrison C 33, Joel Lundqvist C 27, Mark Parrish R 32, Landon Wilson R 34, Tobias Stephan G 25, Darryl Sydor D 37.

RFA: Mark Fistric D 23.

10 - St. Louis Blues: $12.295 (22)

UFA: Trent Whitfield C 32, Dan Hinote R 32, Jay McKee D 31, Manny Legace G 36.

RFA: Brandon Crombeen R 23, Chris Porter C 25, Steve Regier L 24, Roman Polak D 23, Jeff Woywitka D 25, Marek Schwarz G 23.

11 - New Jersey Devils: $12.129

UFA: Brendan Shanahan L 40, Kevin Weekes G 34, Niclas Havelid D NJ.

RFA: Travis Zajac C 24.

12 - Toronto Maple Leafs: $12.022 (20)

UFA: Brad May L 37, Bates Battaglia L 33, Andre Deveaux C 25, Boyd Devereaux C 31, Jeff Hamilton C 31, Kris Newbury C 27, Ben Ondrus R 27, Jay Harrison D 26, Jamie Heward D 38, Martin Gerber G 34, Olaf Kolzig G 39, Curtis Joseph G 42.

RFA: Jeremy Williams R 25, Justin Pogge G 23, Jaime Sifers D 26, Ryan Hollweg C 26.

13 - Chicago Blackhawks: $11.797

UFA: Aaron Johnson D 26.

RFA: Cam Barker D 23, Troy Brouwer R 23, Ben Eager L 25, Colin Fraser C 24, Kris Versteeg R 23.

14 - Colorado Avalanche: $11.654 (15)

UFA: Joe Sakic F 39, Ben Guite R 30, Brian Willsie R 31, Andrew Raycroft G 29.

RFA: Kyle Cumiskey D 22, David Jones R 24, Cody McCormick C 26.

15 - Montreal Canadiens: $10.454 (16)

UFA: Alexei Kovalev F 36, Saku Koivu C 34, Alex Tanguay L 29, Robert Lang C 38, Mathieu Schneider D 40, Tom Kostopoulos R 30, Mathieu Dandenault D 33, Patrice Brisebois D 38, Francis Bouillon D 33, Marc Denis G 31.

RFA: Tomas Plekanec C 26, Matt D'Agostini R 22, Guillaume Latendresse R 22, Kyle Chipchura C 23, Gregory Stewart L 23.

16 - Los Angeles Kings: $10.285 (21)

UFA: Derek Armstrong F 36, Denis Gauthier D 32, Kyle Calder L 30.

RFA: Jack Johnson D 22, Teddy Purcell R 23.

17 - Washington Capitals: $9.720 (15)

UFA: Viktor Kozlov C 34, Alexandre Giroux C 28, Bryan Helmer D 26, Brent Johnson G 32.

RFA: Jeff Schultz D 23, Shaone Morrisonn D 26, Milan Jurcina D 26, Eric Fehr R 23, Boyd Gordon R 25.

18 - Buffalo Sabres: $8.976 (16)

UFA: Matt Ellis L 24, Dominic Moore C 28, Andrew Peters L 29, Teppo Numminen D 40, Maxim Afinogeno F 29,

RFA: Andrej Sekera D 23, Drew Stafford R 23, Clarke MacArthur L 24, Patrick Kaleta R 23.

19 - Florida Panthers: $8.405 (18)

UFA: Ville Peltonen L 36, Richard Zednik L 33, Jassen Cullimore D 36, Nick Boynton D 30.

RFA: Anthony Stewart C 24, Steve Eminger D 25, Tanner Glass L 25.

20 - Carolina Hurricanes: $8.083 (18)

UFA: Ryan Bayda L 28, Dennis Seidenberg D 27.

RFA: Tuomo Ruutu C 26, Anton Babchuk D 25.

21 - Vancouver Canucks: $7.282 (18)

UFA: Mats Sundin C 38, Jason Krog C 33, Rob Davison D 29, Ossi Vaananen D 28, Curtis Sanford G 29, Michel Ouellet R 27.

RFA: Shane O' Brien D 25. Kyle Wellwood C 26, Jannik Hansen R 23.

22 - Minnesota Wild: $6.296 (20)

UFA: Stephane Veilleux L 27, Krys Kolanos C 27, Marc-Andre Bergeron D 28, Kurtis Foster D 27, Martin Skoula D 29.

RFA: Dan Fritsche C 23, Benoit Pouliot L 22, Kyle Brodziak C 25, Josh Harding G 25.

23 - Edmonton Oilers: $6.404 (20)

UFA: Ales Kotalik R 30, Dany Sabourin G 28.

RFA: Liam Reddox L 23, Gilbert Brule C 22, Ryan Potulny C 24, Rob Schremp C 22, Denis Grebeshkov D 25, Ladislav Smid D 23.

24 - Detroit Red Wings: $5.554 (16)

UFA: Darren McCarty R 37, Aaron Downey R 34, Chris Chelios D 47.

RFA: Jiri Hudler C 25, Ville Leino L 25.

25 - Boston Bruins: $5.340 (18)

UFA: Stephane Yelle F 35, P.J. Axelsson L 34, Manny Fernandez G 34.

RFA: Phil Kessel F 21, Matt Hunwick D 24.

26 - Ottawa Senators: $4.649 (22)

UFA: Mike Comrie C 28.

RFA: Brendan Bell D 26, Brian Elliott G 24.

27 - Pittsburgh Penguins: $3.137 (19)

UFA: Mike Zigomanis C 28, James Connor L 26, Miroslav Satan L 34, Petr Sykora R 32, Janne Pesonen L 27, Philippe Boucher D 36.

RFA: Paul Bissonnette R 24, Tim Wallace R 24, Ben Lovejoy D 25, John Curry G 25.

28 - Calgary Flames: $3.053 (19)

UFA: Todd Bertuzzi R 34, Andre Roy R 34, Rhett Warrener D 33.

RFA: Dustin Boyd C 22.

29 - Philadelphia Flyers: $2.125 (20)

UFA: Josh Gratton L 26, Boyd Kane L 31, Andrew Alberts D 28, Lasse Kukkonen D 27, Martin Biron G 31, Antero Niittymaki G 29.

RFA: Jared Ross C 26, Danny Syvret D 24.

30 - San Jose Sharks: $1.774 (16)

UFA: Claude Lemieux R 43, Jeremy Roenick C 39, Tom Cavanagh R 27, Alexei Semenov D 28, Mike Grier R 34, Marcel Goc C 25, Tomas Plihal L 26, Lukas Kaspar L 23.

RFA: Torrey Mitchell C 24, Thomas Greiss G 23, Brad Staubitz R 24.

2009 NHL Free Agency Primer For The St. Louis Blues

Brad Lee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:57:16 -0000

The NHL realizes there is a ton of summer left before training camp starts, right? So there's really no good reason for free agency to open less than a week before the draft. But alas, it's already upon us with signings beginning Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how quickly players start agreeing to contracts after the period opens. Because teams and agents would never start talking early.

So the Blues with the buying out of Fragile Jay McKee's contract now have a little more cap room. They've got one glaring opening. Let's take a little closer look.

Pending Unrestricted Free Agents: Manny Legace, Trent Whitfield and Dan Hinote.

Pending Restricted Free Agents: B.J. Crombeen, Chris Porter, Steve Regier, Roman Polak, Jeff Woywitka, Steve Wagner.

Salary Cap Space: About $10 million. We think. The rookie contracts with potential bonuses built in makes it a little more difficult to get it right.

Blues' budget for payroll: Good question.

Key needs: Backup goaltender. Backup goaltender. Backup goaltender. And we think they're going cheap. There's been talk about Josh Harding, the restricted free agent in Minnesota. Judging by the Blues' response last summer when the Canucks went after David Backes and the number of young players who could hit RFA status in the next couple years, I don't think they want to go that route for fear of having the tables turned on them in short order. So they need a guy to spell the bearded yet shaved Chris Mason. And I think they learned their lesson last year signing an expensive goaltender that gives the incumbent goalie night sweats and fear of losing his job.

Oh, and they better sign Roman Polak or there's going to be some nasty shit on this blog in short order if another team comes in and snatches him up.

I guess they could use a puck-moving defenseman with the added adjective of affordable. And Paul Kariya and his $6 million contract will come off the books next year, so it's concievable they could go after a forward in that salary neighborhood, but I don't expect them to do that.

Potential targets: Ty Conklin was good enough to play backup to Chris Osgood. I'd think he's good enough to play backup for Mason. Craig Anderson is young and cheap. But he could be looking for a better chance to compete for the starting job. Antero Niitymaki would keep Gallagher up at night making sure his name was spelled right on every page of the paper. Curtis Joseph is available, right? That would be "fun."

Who would you like to see the Blues pursue? And if you say Marian "Non Smyth Trophy Winner" Hossa, be prepared to face some ridicule. Tell us down below in the comments.

Islanders' 2004 draft: A keeper and 2 who got away

Dominik — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:00:32 -0000

More photos » by Michael Dwyer - AP

The Islanders' best picks from 1996 and 2004: Blueliners who got away.

Browse more photos »

The [Islanders'] 10 draft picks from 2004 have played a total of 511 NHL games for an average of 51.1 games per player -- the fourth-highest average among the 30 teams for this draft class.

>>from the Islanders' turn in the Hockey's Future series on the 2004 draft

When you put it that way, the Islanders' 2004 draft performance doesn't sound so shabby (definitely check out HF's player-by-player rundown). The problem on the road from there to now is a matter of player development, roster management and, as always, luck.

Two of the three NHL regulars in the Islanders' 2004 draft haul are no longer with the club, though their mutually agreed partings fetched the Islanders additional first- and second-round picks in the upcoming 2009 draft (plus Ben Walter, a Group VI UFA this summer). Another pick who got away scored three goals in eight NHL games this season.

If Chris Campoli was the well-known biggest steal of this haul as a 7th-rounder (227th overall) who's already played 253 NHL games, 1st-rounder Petteri Nokelainen was the biggest heartbreaker. While Campoli requested a trade this past season after not feeling the love under Scott Gordon, "Nokey" was shipped to Boston by mutual agreement in Summer 2007 after his uneven recovery from the serious knee injury that sabotaged his 2005-06 season.

As Chris Botta chronicled in December, Nokelainen was a character guy -- like many in that draft class -- and it absolutely killed him to be on the shelf so long, which is why the proverbial "change of scenery" was sought. Time and time again we hear a player is never fully recovered from a serious knee injury until his second season after surgery. That could certainly apply to Nokelainen, who got in 57 games in 2007-08 with the Bruins and -- though little used by Boston this past season -- was acquired by Anaheim as the successor to unsung (except by Sleek) two-way forward Sami Pahlsson.

Those 57 games in 2007-08 are why the Islanders have Boston's 2nd-round pick this month. The fact he's not developing into a Pahlsson for the Isles is more dumb luck rather than mismanagement. The return of Walter, on the other hand ... could be up for debate. (Mind you, prospects slow to recover from a knee injury are not exactly prime trade chips, which is why the conditional pick was a smart score for Garth Snow.)

Campoli, of course, is another matter. His career took off quickly, and each year his ceilling seemed to get higher. From dependable depth defenseman, to two-way guy, to ... power play regular? It's amazing that a 227th overall pick is who the Senators sought to be a power play quarterback 1A, and almost as amazing that the last-place Islanders could no longer make it work with him. You'd like to see the Islanders be able to hang on to an asset like that, but sometimes personal aspirations and management's evaluation do not align. It happens. Considering Campoli's years of service on the Island and the return from the Sens of the 26th overall pick this summer, the Islanders certainly got their money's worth out of what is almost always a worthless pick.

Fifth-round pick Steve Regier is the biggest still-open case from the Islanders' 2004 class. His 18 games with the Isles over three different seasons never amounted to much, and he was let go last summer. Upon signing with St. Louis, he continued to put up his Bridgeport-like totals of around 20 goals and 50 points with AHL Peoria. But it was that curious call-up with the Blues -- three goals in eight games, though all in the first two -- that makes one wonder if the big winger might yet have something to offer at the NHL level.

Of course the Islanders still have a real NHL asset from that draft who hasn't gotten away. Blake Comeau was one of the few youngsters to get a real chance under Ted Nolan, and his hockey sense shined in 2007-08. Which made it all the more perplexing for fans when he started Scott Gordon's tenure back down at Bridgeport. However, having learned whatever parts of Gordon's scheme he was slow to pick up on, Comeau became a regular by mid-season and a fixture with some scoring touch (7-18-25 in 59 GP) on a "kid line" that gave us Islanders fans hope.

The jury is still out on what Comeau will become and whether Campoli will continue to improve. But scouting-wise, the Islanders deserve credit for a solid 2004 draft. And hey, at least not all of them got away.

Prospects Scoring, Penalty and Goaltending Stats

Tomorrows Blues — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 04:24:11 -0000

Compiled by Brian Weidler, "Game Time" Prospect Department

======== PROSPECT SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS THRU 28 FEB 2009 -- FORWARDS AND DEFENSEMEN ========

Player	Club (League)	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	PP	SH	FG	GW	Pt/G	PM/G
BARRIBALL, Jay	U. Minnesota (WCHA)	RW	29	9	20	29	- 3	50	3	0	2	2	1.00	1.72
BERGLUND, Kristofer	Luleå HF (SWE)	D	52	3	22	25	+ 6	36	0	1	0	0	0.48	0.69
COLE, Ian	Notre Dame (CCHA)	D	32	6	16	22	+12	46	3	0	1	2	0.69	1.44
CUNDARI, Mark	Windsor (OHL)	D	54	9	19	28	+24	132	0	1	2	2	0.52	2.44
DRAZENOVIC, Nicholas	Peoria (AHL)	C	58	9	18	27	+ 3	33	3	2	1	1	0.47	0.57
ELLER, Lars	Frölunda HC (SWE)	C	48	12	17	29	+13	28	3	0	6	1	0.60	0.58
ERSTAD, Travis	Wisconsin-Stevens Pt. (NCHA)	C	26	10	7	17	0	56	3	0	1	3	0.65	2.15
FAIRCHILD, Cade	U. Minnesota (WCHA)	D	29	8	21	29	+ 1	46	5	0	2	0	1.00	1.59
FAST, T.J.	Peoria (AHL)	D	33	1	3	4	- 1	8	0	0	0	0	0.12	0.24
	Alaska (ECHL)	D	9	0	1	1	+ 1	6	0	0	0	0	0.11	0.67
FILEWICH, Jonathan	Peoria (AHL)	RW	30	4	7	11	- 7	6	1	0	1	0	0.37	0.20
	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL)	RW	19	2	2	4	0	6	1	0	0	0	0.21	0.32
	... Total	RW	49	6	9	15	- 7	12	2	0	1	0	0.31	0.24
FREDRIKSSON, David	HV-71 (SWE)	RW	34	3	2	5	- 4	53	0	0	0	0	0.15	1.56
HJALMARSSON, Simon	Borås HC (SWE-2)	RW	40	14	19	33	+ 6	28	2	1	0	3	0.83	0.70
HELLSTRÖM, Alexander	Peoria (AHL)	D	29	0	0	0	- 4	26	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.90
	Alaska (ECHL)	D	9	0	3	3	+ 4	7	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.78
JUNLAND, Jonas	St. Louis (NHL)	D	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0.00	2.00
	Peoria (AHL)	D	52	10	16	26	- 4	36	5	2	3	0	0.50	0.69
KANA, Tomas	Peoria (AHL)	LW	18	1	06	1	- 5	15	0	0	0	0	0.06	0.83
	Alaska (AHL)	LW	18	4	9	13	+10	40	0	0	0	0	0.72	2.22
LEHTERA, Jori	Tappara Tampere (FIN)	C	57	8	38	46	- 2	34	3	0	0	2	0.81	0.60
LEMTYUGOV, Nikolay	Peoria (AHL)	RW	27	5	14	19	- 2	20	3	0	2	0	0.70	0.74
	Severstal Cherepovets (KHL)	RW	21	7	4	11	0	8	2	0	0	0	0.52	0.38
LIVINGSTON, James	Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)	RW	61	19	17	36	-21	76	8	0	2	0	0.59	1.25
McCOLLEM, Matthew	Harvard Univ. (ECAC)	RW	27	6	8	14	- 5	24	5	0	0	2	0.52	0.89
McRAE, Philip	London (OHL)	C	56	29	31	60	+ 6	52	9	2	5	6	1.07	0.93
NIGRO, Anthony	Guelph (OHL)	C	25	7	11	18	- 1	31	1	0	1	2	0.72	1.24
	Ottawa (OHL)	C	36	21	20	41	+ 7	28	8	1	1	4	1.14	0.78
	... Total	C	61	28	31	59	+ 6	59	9	1	2	6	0.97	0.97
NIKITIN, Nikita	Avangard Omsk (KHL)	D	53	4	12	16	+ 7	28	2	0	0	1	0.30	0.53
NILL, Trevor	Michigan State Univ. (CCHA)	C	32	1	2	3	- 7	6	0	0	0	0	0.09	0.19
PADDOCK, Cam	St. Louis (NHL)	C	16	2	1	3	- 4	0	0	0	0	0	0.19	0.00
	Peoria (AHL)	C	45	4	5	9	- 8	83	0	0	1	0	0.20	1.84
PALUSHAJ, Aaron	Univ. of Michigan (CCHA)	RW	36	10	32	42	+21	24	3	0	2	2	1.17	0.67
PELUSO, Anthony	Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)	RW	36	9	6	15	-13	68	1	2	3	0	0.42	1.89
	Brampton (OHL)	RW	20	6	6	12	+ 4	48	1	0	1	2	0.60	2.40
	... Total	RW	56	15	12	27	- 9	116	2	2	4	2	0.48	2.07
PERVYSHIN, Andrei	Ak Bars Kazan (KHL)	D	54	6	21	27	+27	28	4	0	0	1	0.50	0.52
PIETRANGELO, Alex	St. Louis (NHL)	D	8	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0.13	0.25
	Niagara (OHL)	D	31	8	21	29	+ 7	26	2	0	0	3	0.94	0.84
PORTER, Chris	St. Louis (NHL)	LW	6	1	1	2	- 1	0	0	0	0	0	0.33	0.00
	Peoria (AHL)	LW	54	3	7	10	-10	68	0	0	1	0	0.19	1.26
REAVES, Ryan	Peoria (AHL)	RW	38	5	6	11	+ 3	91	0	1	0	0	0.29	2.39
REGIER, Steve	St. Louis (NHL)	LW	8	3	1	4	- 1	4	2	0	0	0	0.50	0.50
	Peoria (AHL)	LW	53	17	22	39	+ 9	47	6	1	1	5	0.74	0.89
SACKRISON, Andrew	Minnesota State Univ. (WCHA)	C	27	1	5	6	- 1	18	1	0	0	1	0.22	0.67
SCHULTZ, Ian	Calgary (WHL)	RW	53	15	24	39	+18	118	4	0	3	0	0.74	2.23
SKACHKOV, Evgeny	Traktor Chelyabinsk (KHL)	LW	54	14	18	32	- 1	56	4	0	0	0	0.59	1.04
SONNE, Brett	Calgary (WHL)	C	57	46	46	92	+36	54	15	1	7	10	1.61	0.95
STASTNY, Yan	St. Louis (NHL)	C	34	3	4	7	-14	20	0	0	0	0	0.21	0.59
	Peoria (OHL)	C	10	2	0	2	- 2	2	0	2	0	0	0.20	0.20
STRACHAN, Tyson	St. Louis (NHL)	D	27	0	3	3	+ 6	39	0	0	0	0	0.11	1.44
	Peoria (AHL)	D	29	2	3	5	- 5	67	0	0	1	2	0.17	2.31
TALBOT, Julian	Peoria (AHL)	C	45	15	15	30	+ 3	31	9	0	4	2	0.67	0.69
WAGNER, Steve	St. Louis (NHL)	D	22	2	2	4	- 5	18	0	0	0	0	0.18	0.82
	Peoria (AHL)	D	34	6	13	19	- 9	29	1	1	1	0	0.56	0.85
WARSOFSKY, David	Boston University (HEA)	D	34	3	14	17	+17	24	1	1	1	0	0.50	0.71
WINCHESTER, Brad	St. Louis (NHL)	LW	44	10	4	14	- 2	73	4	0	0	0	0.32	1.66
	Peoria (AHL)	LW	13	4	2	6	+ 1	46	2	0	1	0	0.46	3.54
WOYWITKA, Jeff	St. Louis (NHL)	D	46	1	13	14	- 1	44	1	0	0	1	0.28	0.96
	Peoria (AHL)	D	7	0	7	7	+ 3	2	0	0	0	0	1.00	0.29

============================ PROSPECT GOALTENDING STATISTICS THRU 28 FEB 2009 ============================

Player	Club (League)	GP	Mins	GA	SA	GAA	Record	SO	Save %	SA/60	G	A	Pt	PM
ALLEN, Jake	Junior de Montreal (QMJHL)	49	2824	134	1607	2.85	26-23-0	3	91.66	34.14	0	0	0	2
BARULIN, Konstantin	CSKA Moscow (KHL)	41	2443	95	1033	2.33	22-13-6	2	90.80	25.37	0	1	1	18
BERRA, Reto	HC Davos (SUI)	6	371	18	177	2.91	2-4-0	0	89.83	28.63	0	0	0	0
	SC Langnau (SUI)	3	180	11	109	3.67	2-1-0	0	89.91	36.33	0	0	0	0
	EV Zug (SUI)	6	370	17	208	2.76	1-5-0	0	91.83	33.73	0	0	0	0
	... Total	15	921	46	494	3.00	5-10-0	0	90.69	32.18	0	0	0	0
BISHOP, Ben	St. Louis (NHL)	5	226	12	109	3.19	1-1-1	*1	88.99	28.94	0	0	0	0
	Peoria (AHL)	32	1858	88	850	2.84	15-16-1	1	89.65	27.45	0	2	2	2
HOLT, Chris	St. Louis (NHL)	1	19	0	3	0.00	0-0-0	0	100.00	9.47	0	0	0	0
	Peoria (AHL)	13	742	21	311	1.70	7-5-0	1	93.25	25.15	0	0	0	2
	Alaska (ECHL)	5	300	9	168	1.80	3-2-0	1	94.64	33.60	0	0	0	0
KARPOWICH, Paul	Clarkson Univ. (ECAC)	25	1421	65	713	2.74	7-13-4	1	90.88	30.11	0	0	0	0
SCHWARZ, Marek	St. Louis (NHL)	2	15	0	5	0.00	0-0-0	*1	100.00	20.00	0	0	0	0
	Peoria (AHL)	10	523	31	235	3.56	4-4-4	0	86.81	26.96	0	0	0	0
	Alaska (ECHL)	5	304	16	166	3.15	2-2-1	1	90.36	32.76	0	0	0	0
	BK Mlada Boleslav (CZE)	10	619	34	395	3.30	3-7-0	1	91.39	38.29	0	0	0	0
TOIVONEN, Hannu	Ilves Tampere (FIN)	50	2833	124	1390	2.67	18-22-9	2	90.94	29.44	0	0	0	0

* Bishop / Schwarz shared a shutout vs. FLA on Oct. 25, 2008

Broken ankle derails McDonald's season

James Mirtle — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:55:52 -0000

There are a couple of interesting things in this little article on Andy McDonald's broken ankle, starting with the rediagnosis from a broken leg and ending with the fact the Blues just demoted a player who scored two goals in his debut with the team:

After originally reporting Andy McDonald's injury as a broken leg, the St. Louis Blues on Monday confirmed the veteran center has a broken left ankle and figures to miss at least two months.

McDonald suffered the injury late in the first period Sunday during the Blues' 3-2 shootout loss to Montreal at Scottrade Center.

After watching Steve Regier score his first two NHL goals Sunday against Montreal, the Blues reassigned him to minor-league Peoria. The move has more to do with NHL salary vs. minor-league salary than Regier's play last night.

McDonald's a big loss for the Blues, a team that had a heckuva time scoring last season (especially on the power play). He's struggled defensively this season but leads St. Louis in scoring with 18 points in 16 games and has logged 21 minutes a night on a very young roster that's battled a few key injuries.

This is going to mean a lot more ice time for the likes of David Perron, Patrick Berglund, David Backes and others. St. Louis is already last in the Western Conference, and Andy Murray's job could be in jeopardy if they stay there much longer.

The Regier tidbit is interesting. The Blues have plenty of room under the cap, so this is purely a cost cutting measure, one facilitated by the fact the team has a long break until Friday against Anaheim.

Regier makes just $500,000, so they can't be saving all that much. Still, you wonder if this is a loophole they should close by stipulating players can't be demoted simply for breaks in the NHL schedule.

UPDATE The Blues say McDonald will miss eight weeks with what they're calling a broken left leg and that he will not need surgery.