Retaining Keith Tkachuk had become a forgone conclusion for the Blues. Larry Pleau finally wrapped that up Friday, freeing the front office to focus on other matters.

Hockey Guy talked to Pleau and he reiterated the team’s quest to add a puck moving defenseman and a strong second goaltender. Plenty of both could hit the free-agent marketplace come July 1.

The search for another D-man says a lot about the current group, Even with Erik Johnson returning from his knee surgery, Eric Brewer optimistic about his return from neck surgery and first-round pick Alex Pietrangelo from his 2008-09 travels (junior hockey, World Junior Championships, AHL), the Blues still see the need for more help.

Does this mean that the Blues:

• Aren’t counting on Pietrangelo to help this season?
• Don’t see import Jonas Junland helping this season after his season in Peoria?
• Don’t see Carlo Colaiacovo blossoming into a long-term puck mover here?
• Don’t see Roman Polak, a restricted free agent, developing into a solid puck mover her?

At a glance, the turn of Johnson, Brewer and Pietrangelo would fix the matter. Put each one of them into a defensive pairing and the puck moving improves. Junland, who scored 13 goals in 70 games at Peoria last season, could mix in if Alex needs more time to beef up.

Of course, the Blues hockey staff wasn’t overly impressed with Junland’s AHL effort. Despite the team’s myriad injuries last year, Junland saw duty in just one NHL game. That triggered much speculation that he would return to Sweden to continue his pro career.

And we also heard rumbling that Pietrangelo had to get stronger and tougher to hold up against NHL fore-checkng. He didn’t dominant at the OHL and WJC level last season, so there is reason to doubt his readiness for this season.

If the Blues try to swing a blockbuster deal for a defenseman (Chris Pronger?), Pietrangelo could move in such a deal.

Brewer is optimistic about his return, but he still has lots of work to do. He has tried to play through pain in the past and that didn’t serve him or his team well.

Colaiacovo did nice things for big stretches of the regular season, scoring 29 points in 63 games, but he broke down during the playoffs. Do the Blues see a spot for him next season, or will he become one of the trade chips this summer?

Jay McKee ($4 million) and Barret Jackman ($3.26 million) require strong puck-moving partners. If the Blues could some how move out McKee and put an offensive defenseman in his slot, that would be ideal.

But that would also be difficult to do. And in fairness to McKee, he did a very nice job down the stretch last season as the Blues made their move.

Bottom: Hockey Guy believes the Blues could generate a LOT more offense from the blue line with the players coming back, but we all must respect the franchise’s commitment to improve.