St. Louis Blues Make Statement Trade: The Time in Now!!!

After 2 seasons of building the St. Louis Blues franchise, GM Sal Peralta began his third season by making a statement trade last night after acquiring Brent Seabrook from the Colorado Avalanche.  After losing to the Anaheim Ducks in the conference finals last season, Sal Peralta felt there  was something missing to take the team to the next level... a top flight defenseman and Brent Seabrook fits the bill perfectly.  " We have been very patient in building this organization by picking up key young players here and there.  We have now reached the point where our young forwards such as Mikael Granlund, Vlad Tarasenko, Taylor Hall and newly acquired Gustav Nyquist have now gained experience from last year while our key veterans remain intact, making our offense much more explosive.  However, our focus in free agency was to gain some more depth at defense.  Of all the offers sent out to the available quality defenders, not a single one decided to sign with us.  That was very disappointing but that was what necessitated the move to make a splash....and that we did!!", GM Peralta stated.

Of course, acquiring Seabrook did not come cheap after trading good young players such as Calvin de Haan and Markus Granlund as well as a 2nd in the upcoming draft and a 1st and 2nd in 2015.  De Haan was going to see a significantly increasaed role this season but the Blues organization felt that his increased ice time only meant that the defensive corps has been weakened.  Despite the hefty price paid, however, the Blues still have several quality young players in the minors with Peter Holland, Vlad Namestnikov, Brendan Smith, John Moore and Robin Lehner.  In addition, the team also has the luxury of some top prospects including Anthony Mantha, Nicolas Petan and Kerby Rychel.  In other words, despite giving up plenty of future, the organization is still deep with young talent. for upcoming years.

With the new team assembled, the projected 2014-15 lineups appears as such:

FORWARD LINES:

Taylor Hall - Frans Nielsen - Vlad Tarasenko

Gustav Nyquist - Mikael Granlund - Marian Gaborik

Mikkel Boedker - Brandon Sutter - Daniel Alfredsson

Joe Colborne - Matt Cullen - Steve Downie

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS:

Brent Seabrook - Mike Green

Mark Giordano - Fedor Tyutin

Nikita Nikitin - TBD (Moore or Smith at the moment)

GOALIES:

Starter - Semyon Varlamov

Backup - Niklas Backstrom

The St. Louis Blues are ready to compete in 2014-15.  With most of the powerhouse organizations in the Eastern Conference, this year is as good as any to make a run for the Cup!  The time is NOW!!!