02.26.2008 10:49 am

Farewell to Bryce . . . hello to hometown kid

Larry Pleau took a good look at former St. Louis Sting winger Cam Janssen in the 2002 draft, but didn’t take him. It was too bad, because the fearless Janssen would have been a great story playing for his hometown Blues.

The kid hits, like Ian Laperriere. And he fights, like Lappy did — with a good bit more force. Blues fans like this sort of player.

Now Janssen, who has been mending from a shoulder injury, will that chance to play in St. Louis. The Blues dealt defenseman Bruce Salvador to the Devils to bring him home.

“I love my hometown,” Cam said. “I’m pumped.”

The popular Salvador became expendable when the Blues re-signed Barret Jackman, a looming free-agent-to-be. Salvador was also headed to free agency and keeping both players was problematic.

Could Salvador, 32, return this summer ala Keith Tkachuk? Yes, unless he signs an extension with the Devils. But the Blues have some kids stacked up on defense, awaiting their chance to play. Something has to give.

Other defensemen would have to part to create that opportunity here. Steve Wagner, Roman Polak and Jeff Woywitka were relegated to the Rivermen this year because of the defensive surplus and Matt Walker has spent a lot of time sitting.

Salvador is a class act and a real asset in the community. We’d all like to see a happy ending for him here . . . but as we sad, something has to give.

In the near term, Salvador joins a Stanley Cup contender with a real chance to win. And the rebuilding Blues have added one more young forward to their mix.

“To my mom and dad,” he said, “this is blockbuster deal. I want to play hockey. I want to go to a team that wants me in the lineup. I’m excited. I’m going to be a hard worker who sticks up for his teammates. They have a tough team already with that D.J.King. I’ll try to add to that and chip in a goal here and there.”

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Blog Comments: Rules of the Road

You’ve got to be kidding me!!!!
I just threw up on my keyboard!!
“95 games in the NHL and has one goal with 205 penalty minutes”
“Janssen is an enforcer who has not played a game this season.”
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????
Do the blues get a jar of lube with this screwing??????
At least get a deep draft pick for Sal.
What the @$%! is JD & LP smoking?
The Blues #1 problem is putting the puck in the net & what do they do? Get a thug, oh sorry, a enforcer. I read JD’s statement. It sounded as if he was putting a dress on a turd.
What a colossal screw!!!!

— Cory

11:20 am February 26th, 2008

I couldn’t agree more with Cory! Do me mean to tell me Pitt wouldn’t have offered more for a legit 4 or 5 dman? The Blues have plenty of 3rd and 4th line guys! This better the beginning of bringing some sort of scorer to this team! I’d love to see what Atl is wanting for Hossa. We haven’t had a “real scorer” since Hull. Boyes could be the real deal but you have to have more than 1 scorer, as all us Blues fans know from Hull, 1 scoring line does translate into a winner!

— Paulie

12:02 pm February 26th, 2008

I have no clue why the blues would do this. Janssen is a minor leaguer. Not even a draft pick?? Give me a break.

Welcom home Cam, break someones face.

— LaMullet

12:23 pm February 26th, 2008

Bad trade. Only logical explanation is this was Larry Pleau’s deal, and not JD’s……………….if they did this because he’s a STL kid, well, it wasn’t worth it. I’d rather have a 5th or 6th round draft choice for Bryce.

— Bill

12:24 pm February 26th, 2008

I can’t tell you how disappointed I am with this deal. As a blues fan that has been SO happy with the new ownership/managment, I just don;t understand this deal at all. Although I have enjoyed watching Salvador as a Blue, I understand why we needed to trade him. But why make this deal? For the life of me, I do not see how this deal fits into JD and LP’s game plan. It’s hard for me to believe that no team in the league would offer a 3rd or 4th rounder for Salvadors service. Instead, we have another 4th liner that might get 3 minutes of ice time. I’d just assume keep Salvador for the next month and see what happens next off season. The playoffs are not out of the picture and I’m sure Salvador would be much more valuable than Janssen could ever be. Let’s hope there are more deals to follow???

— Pat

12:25 pm February 26th, 2008

A couple of thoughts:

yeah, this trade looks crappy on the surface, but I have to assume two things:

1. this was a salary dumping move. Janssen is making $550k a year. Salvador was making 1.5M. so they’re saving a million right away, but you have to assume Salvador was going to ask for double or triple that over multiple years. on that level it makes sense, albeit it’s still a bit odd.

2. there has been talk about some division and attitude issues in the locker room. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Blues dumped a guy who was causing problems for a kid they know will play hard in their system. This may have quite a bit to do with Murray’s coaching style…

I’m not defending the trade - i’m with you: i think it’s crap, but if those two things are correct, it’s a better move than numbers suggest. Personally, Salvador was an underachiever and I’d rather see some of the Rivermen kids on the blue line. I’m not losing sleep over it, that’s for sure.

— Josh

12:41 pm February 26th, 2008

All that I can do is shake my head. I agree with everything said above. I too hate to see Bryce go, but something had to give. What they got for him - worthless to the needs of the team. Cam may someday become a steady player, but they’re a dime a dozen; the Blues need goals now or in the future if necessary. Cam Jannsen will provide neither. Nonetheless it’s not his fault, so welcome back to St. Lou and to the Blues Cam. Good Luck

— Tim E.

12:44 pm February 26th, 2008

Saved a $mil in salary and depending on how many free tickets the kid has at his disposal may have increased the ticket sales by 2 or 3 per game. Its unfortunate that there is no way of it happening, but would have loved to see a press release saying we obtained a player with the Name St. Louis vs a player from St. Louis.

— MARK

12:49 pm February 26th, 2008

This surprises me in that I thought the days of getting nothing for something was over with JD. Apparently this one was LP’s move. Cam’s a tough kid, but he’ll play less than King so what’s he really worth? A fight a week? Wow, what a bargain. Ridiculous “trade”.

— JC

1:06 pm February 26th, 2008

Hate to beat a dead horse, but this one’s a real head scratcher. Everyone in the league knows the Blues can’t score and are deep at defense. Don’t mind getting rid of Salvador, but for a goon with one NHL goal to his credit??? At least draft picks can be used to possibly get a scorer for next year. The garage league needs to look into this. Only makes sense if Salvador told Jersey up front that he won’t sign with them next year. Another re-sign deal a la Weight and Tkachuk will really have Bettman up JD’s butt.

— gregg

1:17 pm February 26th, 2008

I have to echo everyone else. This is a disappointing trade. We already have plenty of “energy” guys and I think the Blues have way overestimated the lure of a home-town boy. This can’t even be played off as a salary dump since, as he is at the end of his contract, they’ve already paid Salvador the bulk of his money. I’d rather have had Salvador for the remainder of the season plus the freed-up money they would have had if he had walked at the end of his contract.

I have yet to see an objective reason why an energy guy with one career NHL goal and a career -5 makes the team better. I think losing Salvador makes the team worse (and until this season, I wasn’t too keen on Salvador); even if there were a blockbuster trade later today does not negate the unequalness of this trade.

Bottom line: I don’t care how many faces Janssen can smash into the boards, if the end result isn’t more pucks in the net, this trade is a big thumbs down.

— Melissa

1:54 pm February 26th, 2008

Another grinding forward to take a skilled player’s time. If this guy takes Perron’s spot, it will just be almost too much to take.

I don’t think he will become a fan favorite. He takes way too many undisciplined penalties.

I think this is an insult to Salvador, the team, and fans alike.

— BB

2:46 pm February 26th, 2008

I think Josh hit the nail on the head, this is definitely a salary move. It could be a very interesting offseason as far as signing some free agents. Just because we didn’t land a Hossa or a Campbell now, doesn’t mean we don’t have a chance to sign them this summer. Remember, Paul Kariya came out of nowhere. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

— JS5981

3:15 pm February 26th, 2008

I will continue the beating on the proverbial dead horse and echo the “what the *^%# sentiment.”

I get unloading backman for to clear salary, even if all we got was a fourth rounder. But nothing for salvador is staggering. Why does scott stevens keep popping into my head? I thought Jersey was done screwing us?

For what it is worth, I hope they win the cup for his sake.

— Scott

4:30 pm February 26th, 2008

The Blues couldn’t get anything more than this for Bryce!? You’ve got to be kidding me. I think a draft pick would have been better. I don’t understand this one at all. As someone said above maybe Larry Pleau orchestrated this bomb. 1 goal in 95 games - what help is he going to be?

— Brad

5:43 pm February 26th, 2008

Salvador has long been a favorite of mine. I see no possible way keeping Jackman over SAlvador for 4 years is a good thing. & on top of that i cant imagine Salvador would have cost that much either, & hes the better player!!! Jacks is always a step slow and poorly positioned, Bryce is always right there, nothing spectacular but always steady. he will be sorely missed.

& what do we need Jansen for? don’t we already have King. don’t we need a scorer?? yes? oh we dont ? forgive me I guess I missed that memo.

Backman, I wont miss much, he seems lost.
too bad we couldn’t move ruchinsky

— joepro

9:52 pm February 26th, 2008

btw any chance we might pick Salvador up again next season????

— joepro

9:56 pm February 26th, 2008

Danny T….

Thanks for the blog!…

— Danny T.

3:12 am February 27th, 2008

As a Devils’ fan, I have to say that you are getting an energy player who hits and fights, the fans will enjoy him and hopefully he’ll get to play more than the 5 minutes a night he got in Jersey. That said, he won’t do a ton for the team and if he’s out of the lineup, you won’t really notice. I’m glad with the Salvador deal as we needed some more experience on the blue line, adding to our no-name, solid playing core. He’ll fit in nicely with White, Martin, Vishnevski, Oduya and the rest. Truth be told I would have rather had McKee or Jackman, but too much salary to take on. As for the poster who referenced that Scott Stevens keeps biting you in the ass, you did get Shanahan as compensation if I remember correctly.

— Dan

7:09 pm February 28th, 2008

[...] against the trade deadline, the reeling Blues deal classy and free agency-bound defenseman Bryce Salvador in exchange for young right winger (and local product) Cam [...]

— Turbulent week for St. Louis sports fans | Waveflux

8:45 am February 29th, 2008

Stewart…

Thanks for the blog!…

— Stewart

7:06 am March 3rd, 2008

Ted Williams…

I will dream of your poetic words tonight….

— Ted Williams

7:16 pm March 11th, 2008

Ted…

Wow! This was a really enlightening article….