Doug Weight to Carolina !

[Davey]

According to sportsnet.ca (on their front page), the St.Louis Blues traded Doug Weight to Carolina.

Wow this is amazing and suprising to me.

[-kj]

*weeps openly*

THIS IS NOT MY BEAUTIFUL ONCE-PROUD FRANCHISE.

[CC97]

*weeps openly*

THIS IS NOT MY BEAUTIFUL ONCE-PROUD FRANCHISE.

After making the playoffs like 28 years in a row this was bound to happen

[officeglenn]

Looks like the Blues are cleaning house ? TSN.ca is also reporting that they've sent Mike Sillinger to Nashville for Timofei Shishkanov.

[-kj]

Twenty-five years consecutive.

Yeah, I knew they were bound to miss eventually... but not like this.

[Ez Street]

damn it.....what the hell Blues! I loved Dougie Weight playing for the Lou.

[rams80]

At least they got Weight out of the fluffing division.

Honestly, how stupid do you have to be to trade your second leading scorer to a team in your division?

[-kj]

As if it really matters? When you're not even close to contending, it doesn't make much of a difference.

[HatCityEnforcer]

Let the firesale in St. Louis begin....

You had to figure after that craptacular start the Blues got off to, this was gonna happen...and it's only gonna get worse if you're a Blues fan. Pretty much, say hello to the Peoria Rivermen, now playing at the Savvis Center.

Pretty much figure that Tkachuk and any other player with any sort of value is on the block right now as well....

As for the trades...time to break em down...:

--Blues acquire Mike Zigomanis, Jesse Boulrice, Markus Kahnberg, and Carolina's #1 in 2006 for Doug Weight & Erkki Rajamaki

Zigomanis has a lot of potential that he's gotta tap into, Boulrice is pretty much a goon, and I'm not sure about Kahnberg...at least there's a pick involved (then again, I don't think it's gonna be all that high seeing how well the 'Canes are doing)...Not real sure on the book on Rajamaki, but we all know what Weight can do on the ice...

Excellent trade for the 'Canes...they get another weapon up front for guys that were in Lowell for the most part.

--Blues acquire Timofei Shishkanov from Nashville for Mike Sillinger

Shishkanov is a young player with a lot of potential, a lot like Zigomanis in a way...Sillinger's a crafty vet that can help the Preddley's out quite a bit come playoff time (plus they're right in the thick of the Central race with the Wings)...

It's a good trade for the Preds that will help them out right now...down the road, this could favor St. Louis as Sillinger's on the downside of a solid career while Shishkanov can only get better (at least that's what the Blues hope)

[gashouser27]

is there anything left to sell???

what is going on here?

[Kess]

I'm going to miss yelling "Do it, Doug!" (<--Mallrats reference).

My #39 jersey may be outdated, but it won't be replaced. The Blues are going to miss him. I just hope it puts the franchise in a better position down the road. I think HCE is right...nobody's safe.

[-kj]

So, as a Blues fan "in exile," I need some 'splainin'. What the hell happened between 2003-04 and now? The Blues going from perennial contender to nearly Quebec/early Ottawa bad seems so sudden to me.

[scooter13]

The other side of this is that the team with currently the best record in the NHL (though the Senators have three games in hand and only 4 points back) gets a top line kind of player. The Canes have become a serious threat.

[STL FANATIC]

The Lauries decided to sell the team because they got sick of losing money. They decided they did want any long term contracts, and that's why Pronger was traded.

Now as they've rapidly decreased the value of the franchise, they have refused to lower their price, and sales just keep breaking down.

It's ugly and I wanna cry.

If there is any good news...

Rumors have Dave Checketts (not local, but a seemingly dedicated owner who looks to win) possibly finalizing a deal to buy the Blues as early as today.

In a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article yesterday about a potential fire sale, Doug Weight was quoted as saying he loves St. Louis and would like to stay, but he'd consider a contender. Well, he waived his no trade clause to go to that contender evidently, BUT he was also quoted as saying he'd "be crazy" to not consider coming back to the Blues next year even if he was traded.

Also, while I don't have a quote like that from Sillinger, I do know that Sillinger has settled in St. Louis and could potential be in a similar situation where he might return to the Blues.

Finally, Kieth Tkachuk was quoted as saying that he doesn't plan on going anywhere and that he's gonna finish with the Blues. Now, I think the Blues will try hard to trade him, but he has a no trade clause, and he didn't mention the contender thing the way Dougie did. The Blues can't necessarily plan on resigning him if they do trade him, because I believe there is a team option in his contract for 2007.

So yeah, that's what I've got. I hope something happens soon that makes me look up. I had to go whip out "Note by Note" (the Blues 35th anniversay book from 2002) and read about some of the tough times with this franchise when I heard Silly got traded. I turned on the computer and saw Weight was gonna today, and I dunno.

Please, someone, anyone, save our Blues.

[yh]

--Blues acquire Timofei Shishkanov from Nashville for Mike Sillinger

Mmmmmmm shishkebab.

Hey, Mockba, I can oversimplify the apparent demise of the Blues with the following bullet points:

* Bad goaltending. Nobody within the organization anticipated that Patrick Lalime was going to be as bad as he has turned out to be. Curtis Sanford is a serviceable backup being used way beyond his reasonable capacity to stop NHL shots with any consistency (although he has had some moments of brilliance, but not enough to merit a full-time #1 slot). And the parade of backups to the backup are simply not ready (if ever) for prime time.

* Slow defense. Seriously, you could time some of these guys with a calendar. In general, the Blues' defensive corps is not dealing with the new uptempo offenses very well. Pronger's long gone, as is Chopper and Jackman is still trying to adapt his game to the new rules. There's apparently some promising young blueliners down on the farm but they're a year or two away.

* Ineffective coaching. Mike Kitchen, despite his title, is an interim coach. Ownership's not going to invest in a top coach if it means spending more money than simply promoting a guy who was a capable assistant with a preexisting knowledge of the players. I've heard he's relying a lot on Curt Fraser for assistance. A new owner will (hopefully) invest in some new and better players and find the right coach to work with that group. Kitchen is basically being rewarded for being a loyal assistant. He's a caretaker at this point.

* Dreadful ownership. The Lauries were rather transparent about their ulterior motive - landing an NBA team. Since that didn't happen and with St. Louis running no better than third behind Oklahoma City and Kansas City (and possibly further behind with Louisville and Las Vegas still interested in teams), the Lauries have essentially given up. They're trying to sell the team with as much profit (or as little loss) as possible and in order to do that they have to keep payrolls low. Well, you get what you pay for. New ownership by default would put more energy and hopefully more resources toward rebuilding this franchise.

* Eroding fan support. The lockout hurt to an extent. The retirement of a very popular player, the trade of another very popular player and the general stripping of the roster has hurt even more. The 20,000 seat rink which was traditionally 95% full is barely peppered with 6-8,000 fans on most nights, hence no home ice advantage. And the folks who stay to the bitter end usually boo the team off the ice. Everyone knows (or at least wants to believe) that this is not the "real" Blues and is simply a placeholder until a new owner arrives. I'm confident that once new ownership is secured and they start getting involved with rebuilding the team, the fans will be back.

[Kess]

I would add to that list, yh, the blue line. The Pronger trade and MacInnis retirement took the top two defensemen off the team. Brewer's been hurt and Jackman hasn't been as effective in the "new" NHL. Look at the defensemen on the roster now - Christian Backman, Kevin Dallman, Jackman, Steve Poapst, Bryce Salvador, Eric Weinrich and Dennis Wideman. There's some potential there, but as for the here and now...ugh.

[Suigi]

Shweet news for the 'Canes.

I smell Cup finals for the former Whalers. What a way to send off Ron Francis.

As for the Blues, well...remember what happened to Ottawa and Quebec. They got a load of high draft picks, played it smart in the front office, brought up their budding stars slowly, and began to dominate.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For example, let's examine the draft history of the Nordiques during their crappy years:

1987 - Drafted Joe Sakic 1st overall.

1988 - Drafted Curtis Leschyshyn 3rd overall.

1989 - Drafted Mats Sundin 1st overall, and Adam Foote 22nd.

1990 - Drafted Owen Nolan 1st overall.

1991 - Drafted Eric Lindros 1st overall.

1992 - Traded Eric Lindros to Philadelphia for Peter Forsberg, Steve Duschene, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Ron Hextall, Chris Simon, Philly?s first-round pick in 1993 and 1994, and $15 million in cash. Not really a draft, but still.

1993 - Drafted Jocelyn Thibault 10th overall.

Now things get complicated: Thibault was part of the Patrick Roy deal in 1995-96, Duchesne was part of the Claude Lemieux deal, Uwe Krupp was brought in around the same time, Mike Ricci was traded in '98 for that draft pick that wound up being Alex Tanguay, Ron Hextall was traded for a draft pick that became Adam Deadmarsh, who was then traded to Los Angeles for Rob Blake.

All told? Two Stanley Cups, a stranglehold on the divison title that lasted roughly a decade, and a team that, simply put, was freakin' amazing.

Will this happen to the Blues? Perhaps, if they play it smart.

[Kess]

* Slow defense. Seriously, you could time some of these guys with a calendar. In general, the Blues' defensive corps is not dealing with the new uptempo offenses very well. Pronger's long gone, as is Chopper and Jackman is still trying to adapt his game to the new rules. There's apparently some promising young blueliners down on the farm but they're a year or two away.

Wow. How did I miss that the first time around? Well said, yh.

Play on.

[BCBoy]

Can't say I didn't see this coming. The Blues have had Weight on the trade block quite a while.

All I can say is, Eastern Conference watch out because Carolina is F'Real!

[NJTank]

I knew the Blues were in touble when they traded Pronger and Tkachuk showed up overweight.