A source said Friday that Quenneville, who coached the Blues from 1996-2004, could be hired to replace Paul Maurice in Toronto. Maurice was let go by the Maple Leafs earlier in the week.

Quennville was dispensed after three years in Colorado. Despite a multitude of injuries, the Avs finished in sixth place in the Western Conference this year and beat the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the playoffs. The Avs were then swept by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round.

Quenneville, who had one year left on his contract, was 131-92-23 in three seasons in Denver.

“After meeting with Joel, we mutually agreed that the best decision for both parties involved is to go separate ways,” Colorado VP & GM Francois Giguere said. “On behalf of the organization, I want to thank Joel for his years of service and wish him the best in his coaching career.”

The situation in Toronto is fairly sticky. Cliff Fletcher is running the show for the time being in Toronto and he’s in charge of hiring the management staff that will replace him. Rumors have been running wild that Anaheim’s Brian Burke will eventually become Toronto’s team president in 2009, when his contract expires with the Ducks.

This week, reports surfaced that the Maple Leafs have contacted Dave Nonis, who was  fired as the GM in Vancouver recently, asking him to come to Toronto as GM and be united with Burke in ‘09 when he arrives.

“If they do decide to bring me in, and tell me what they’re thinking, at that point there’s a decision to make,” Nonis told reporters on Thursday.

The Maple Leafs probably won’t hire a coach until they have something in place with Nonis, or another GM. But at this point, Quenneville is a possibility in Toronto, according to a source.

“There will be discussions, but you can be sure of one thing,” Fletcher told the Canadian Press. “The person coming in is going to be a strong hockey person and he’s going to have very definite opinions of his own.

“This is a start of a new era for the Maple Leafs. This is all part and parcel of that. The team missed the playoffs the last two years. A new regime is coming in place and I think when you bring in a new regime they bring their own people. It’s just common sense.”

JR

Paul Kariya

Q:  Do you have plans to beef up your offseason workouts, as Andy Murray told the media?

PK: “The main thing for myself is my strength and my power and when you’re 5-10, 180 pounds, you need to be strong out there. It’s a battle . . . it seems like every year, the guys are getting bigger and stronger. So it will be a lot of weight work and hopefully I can put on a few pounds . . . 5 or 10 pounds. I think that will be a help in the second half.”

Q: Has strength ever been a problem for you in your career?
PK: “Certainly when I came into the league, that was a big adjustment . . . going from college to the NHL. But it’s something where I’m not naturally 6-3 and 200 pounds, so that’s an aspect of the game that I always have to work on.”

Q: Do you feel like you got worn down this year?

PK: “No, but there’s definitely stretches where as an offensive player if you’re not scoring and you’re not creating anything, then you’re not feeling good about your contributions to the team. My job here is to help the team score goals and if you’re not doing that, you’re not proud of what you’re contributing.”

Q: Mentally, was this the most frustrating season you’ve had?

PK: “Well, it was up there, no question. Because we had such a successful start and everyone was speaking very highly about the Blues and about the organization and where we were headed . . . to go from the high to the low is very disappointing. It’s one thing if you’re not there from the start to the finish and know that you have a lot of work to do. But it’s another thing when you show that you can do it and the team is a playoff team.”

Q: Why couldn’t the Blues score goals this season?

PK: “If your team is 30th on the power play, you’re not going to score a lot of goals. In the league now, teams are so good, everyone is coached so well that 5 on 5 it’s tough. Especially through the second half of the season, it gets really tough to score 5 on 5. Your power play has to come through when maybe you don’t have your legs or you don’t have the jump that you normally have to score 5 on 5. With the talent in this dressing room, I think that’s probably been the biggest disappointment . . . because we definitely have the talents and the smarts and the ability to be at least top 15 power play, certainly not 30th.”

Q: Was the power-play structure too rigid? Could there have been more creativity?

PK: “I think that we definitely didn’t shoot the puck enough and we didn’t establish our shot. If you look at the top power plays in the league, they are all shot-based power plays. Then the plays, whatever you want to call them, the fancy plays, flow from there. But we just didn’t seem to get it clicking. Then at some point, I definitely think the confidence of the guys on the power play to get the job done was lacking. Anytime you don’t have success, it’s hard to keep your confidence going . . . that you’re going to be able to do it.”

Q: So what were the other problems on the power play . . . lack of defensive transition or not having the big shot from the point early in the season?

PK: “Again, you have to establish a shot, whether that’s from the point or from the halfwall. In years to come, you’re going to see a lot of goals from EJ back there and a lot of plays set up from his shot. But 30th overall, it’s unacceptable for the talent in this room.”

Q: John Davidson said that the Blues need another puck-moving defenseman to help the power play. Do you agree that you need another player like EJ to help get the puck in the offensive zone and set up?

PK: “Well, I think a guy like Steve Wagner is going to help us out, if he’s healthy. I was really impressed with him at the start of the season and where he can go. You’ve got to remember as a defenseman, and EJ was incredible the last half of the season . . . that’s the hardest position by far to come into the league in. In addition to be placed on the power play and quarterback it is really tough. So I think with those experiences, those guys are going to become really good. But it’s a tough, tough thing to come into the league and expect to quarterback a power play.”

Q: Were the Blues THAT good early in the season, or based on the secon half, were you guys overachieving at the time?

PK: “I think the record is what it is. If you put those kind of numbers up defensively, with Manny and having the top penalty-kill, the numbers don’t lie. They show what type of team we had. So I don’t think it was a question of overachieving. I think we underachieved in the second half.”

Q: One stat that sticks out is the number of one-goal losses. In the first 41 games, the Blues were 10-11 in one-goal games, and in the last 41, the team was 5-13 in one-goal games. What was the difference?

PK: “It was not getting that extra goal. As I said, a lot of times as the season goes on, it becomes tougher to score. Look at the league scoring . . . it’s not going up. It goes down. So it becomes tougher to score. So look at a team like Montreal. They’re the top-scoring team in the league . . . why? . . . because they have the best power play. Period!”

Q: Do you anticipate the team being better next year?

PK: “No question about it. We have such a young team here that the experience of going through an NHL season . . . guys like Erik Johnson and David Perron are just going to be better, they’re going to be stronger, they’re going to have an extra summer of working out. That’s going to help them a lot. Even guys like Lee Stempniak and David Backes, guys like that, are going to be helped out from this experience.”

Q: Andy Murray said he was going to be harder on the veterans next  year. Did you notice a difference between how he treated the vets and how he treated the kids?

PK: “I think every coach has his own way of getting things down. If Andy didn’t feel the way he handled this year was working, then he’s going to change it.”

Keith Tkachuk

Q: The team was made up of veterans and young players. Were you able to blend the locker room?

KT: “Yeah we were. I think the room is solid without a doubt. Eric Brewer has done a solid job about being captain, making sure everything is going smooth and on the same page.”

Q: All of the Blues players had their picture taken with you and the puck from you’re 500th goal. How cool was that?

KT: “It’s pretty cool. I think it will set in more in a couple of days when I really think about it. The whole reaction after I scored . . . when the whole team came off the bench, it meant a lot to me. It was a great feeling and I’ll always remember that.”

Q: Do you see yourself as a center or winger, or do you have a preference?

KT: “I think the games that I played better were on left wing. I like playing center, I do. I said this year that I was a centerman. Now, I’m leaning the other way. I don’t know what they’re going to do, so . . . wherever they tell me to play, I’ll play.”

Q: If the Blues are unable to bring in a free-agent forward, and T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund are the only additions, can the offense and power play get better?

KT: “Well, the power play can’t get any worse. It better be better because that’s the reason why we’re doing (media day) today instead of being in the playoffs. We didn’t have any goal-scoring. One guy, Boyzie.”

Q: But you really can’t expect Oshie and Berglund to come in and change the power play dramatically?

KT: “I don’t know. You’ve got to ask Andy Murray that. We’ve got to find ways to score with the man-advantage. The good teams, playoff teams, are pretty much at the top except Colorado.

Q: Was the power-play structure too rigid?

KT: “No, it has nothing to do with that. You can draw up plays and put your diagrams out. But it’s about working and having five guys out there taking what they give you and score goals. The power play just struggled and couldn’t find a way out of it.”

Barret Jackman

Q: What was the most frustrating part of the season?
BJ: “I think after having a great start, just slumping so much. After Christmas and on the big road trip, where we didn’t fare too well . . . there were a couple of places where we felt we played well enough to win, but just didn’t put the puck in the net. There’s a lot of things to be disappointed about.”

Q: What does this team need to do in the offseason?

BJ: “I think the goal-scoring is obviously an issue for us. There are some guys struggled putting the puck in the net. Hopefully next year everybody has a good year and we get back to the way the guys have been the last few years. As acquisitions go, that’s Larry and JD. Once the free-agent market comes up (July 1), they’ll assess the team and see who’s out there and see if there’s anybody worth bringing in.”

Q: Could you assess the defense overall?

BJ: “We didn’t get many points from the backend . . . we didn’t get many goals . . . maybe 15. “That’s not enough for a defense to chip in. Offensively, we were disappointed with those numbers. But defensive we played pretty well. There’s still some games you could look at and say, ‘If we did this, if we did that . . .’ we would have had a few more wins. But it’s one of those things where everybody didn’t play well enough because we’re not in the playoffs.”

Q: How did Erik Johnson look?

BJ: “I think good. As a 19 year old coming into the league, he was learning and had some growing pains. But the last half of the season, I thought he really picked up his game and felt a lot more comfortable and started doing the things that everybody knew he could do. It’s nice to see him do it at this level.”

Q: The team is going to be even younger next year with Oshie and Berglund.  How important is it to have leaders in place and doing their job?

BJ: “It’s going to be really big. All the leaders are going to have to step up next year and give a quick lesson to the rookies about what it’s going to take to win. It’s going to be a lot of hard work next year and some more growing pains, but hopefully we can be more consistent. And hopefully the younger guys can come in and big a good fit.”

Q: We were told that Eric Brewer played through a lot of pain with his shoulder injury. Did you know about it and could you tell?

BJ: “Yeah, for quite a while he was playing through pain. He never let it show, he went about his business and played hard every night. He was a true leader this year.”

Eric Brewer

Q: How bad was the injury?

EB: “It hasn’t been too bad. It’s just something (surgery) that needs to be done. We’ve got the time to do it.”

Q: Did the injury happen in the fight in Phoenix Oct. 4?

EB: “Yeah, I kind of jammed it and that didn’t help. But I was fine after (four games) off. It wasn’t just that. I mean, we play hockey, so . . .”

Q: Do you expect the surgery to keep you out for the early part of training camp in September?

EB: “I don’t . . . I don’t know until they fix it, though. We’ll see how it goes.”

Q: How much did you enjoy wearing the C?

EB: “It was awesome. I enjoyed it. It definitely opened my eyes a little bit to some things, but I think that was to be expected. It was a little different for sure. We filtered a few things through me, which I’ve enjoyed. It kind of gives you a different insight from everybody. But I must say I’ve enjoyed it.”

Q: Murray said that he plans to hold the veterans more accountable next year. What are your thoughts on that?

EB: “I think at the end of the day, if we would have scored a few more goals, it changes the outlook on things. . . . A lot of things change with a few games that would have come out differently. At the end of the day, you have to look at some of the guys that have been around, who are here to get the job done. When you don’t make the playoffs, that’s the way it works.”

David Perron

Q: Does it seem like the season flew by fast?

DP: “It’s just crazy. I remember my first day here and getting into the hotel for training camps . . . moving different places and ending up at Nelson’s (house). The year went by really fast. I’m glad that I was here the whole year and the coaches and players really helped me.”

Q: Have you ever had the chance to step back and say, ‘Wow, I played in the NHL this year?’

DP: “All year, reporters would ask me that question because my path was kind of different than many people. I just tried not to think about that and keep improving every day. The offseason is a big part. I hope the Blues know that I’ll train real hard this summer and that it’s an important summer for me. I’ll come back in really good shape next training camp.”

Q: Was it a grind? Did it get to a point where it was overwhelming?

DP: “Yeah, mentally it’s hard. You know what happened the whole year? Sometimes you get frustrated and you see what the fans might think, and you’re like, ‘They’re right!’ I want to play, I want to play. But in the end, it’s what the coach thinks and you’ve got to deal with it. When you’re on the ice, play your best and I think that’s what I did at the end of the year. It was a grind, but it was a fun year and I learned a lot.”

Q: Do you feel like you got on the same page with Andy?

DP: “It’s not that we were on the same page, it’s just that I had to learn and maybe he had to know me a little bit more. I’m glad that I had the chance to play more at the end of the season. One thing I learned is just let the thing happen and when you’re on the ice, play your best. That’s why I’m looking forward to next year. It’s not like I’ve played one year in the NHL and now I’m all set and I can play for 15 years now. I’ve got to work every year.”

Q: What do you want to do to your physique? Do you want to be bigger?

DP: “I don’t want to gain too much. I don’t want to gain 20 pounds or something. Ten or 15 would be good . . . lose some body fat. I’m around 10 right now, so it’s all right. I want to come here stronger and bigger, but not the expense of my skills. I want to work on my quicker shots, one timers and stuff like that. One thing for sure next year, I want to shoot the puck more. I had around 70 shots, which is not enough. When you play more, obviously you’re going to have more shots. But I know I’ve got to shoot more.”

Q: Obviously, you got so much more experience with the Blues than in junior hockey. Can you begin to explain the learning experience it was for you this season?
DP: “I’m glad I was here. Great teammates, great coaches, great organization. It’s been the best year of my life and I’m looking forward to next year.”

Q: Next year, the Blues are going to have more young guys. Will you be able to help Oshie and Berglund through the growing pains that you went through yourself?

DP: “Yeah, I will, for sure. They’re going to make their mistakes like I did and sometimes Erik did. It’s part of the game and that’s how they’re going to get better. Even if I would go tell them, ‘Do this, do that’ . . . sometimes you’ve got to learn on your own. I think for sure I’m going to be able to help them and they’re going to help me.”

 Jamal Mayers

 Q: How is your eye? (In the second-to-last game of the season at Nashville, Mayers got hit in the eye with a stick blade).

JM: “It’s one of those freak things. I think if I didn’t trip over my own feet, I would have been fine. But it’s kind of an unfortunate accident. Not being able to see for a few days was pretty tough. It’s coming along just as they expected . . . probably a little too slowly for me . . . but everything is fine with it.”

Q: How thrilled were you to be named to Team Canada’s roster for the upcoming World Championships?

JM: It’s an honor and I’m excited about the opportunity. It should be pretty special that it’s in Canada. I’m not sure the last time that’s happened. Obviously I’d rather be in the playoffs, but I guess I get a chance to keep playing.”

Of course, the Blues would rather be opening the first round of the NHL playoffs Wednesday, but they weren’t nearly good enough in the second half and therefore their season came to an end Sunday with a 4-1 win over Columbus.

The Blues finished with a record of 33-36-13 for 79 points, which was the fourth-fewest points in the NHL this season. That means the club will have a 10.7 percent chance of winning tonight’s lottery and thus picking No. 1 overall in June.

Here’s the breakdown of the 14 teams in the lottery and their chances of winning:

1. Tampa Bay Lightning (25%)
2. Los Angeles Kings (18.8%)
3. Atlanta Thrashers (14.2%)
4. St. Louis Blues (10.7%)

5.  New York Islanders (8.1%)
6. Columbus Blue Jackets (6.2%)
7. Toronto Maple Leafs (4.7%)
8. Phoenix Coyotes (3.6%)
9. Nashville Predators via Florida (2.7%)
10. Vancouver Canucks (2.1%)
11. Chicago Blackhawks (1.5%)
12. Anaheim Ducks via Edmonton (1.1%) 
13. Buffalo Sabres (0.8%)
14. Carolina Hurricanes (0.5%)

This is the way the draft lottery works: NHL officials will draw four numbers. The combination order of those four numbers drawn determines who wins the lottery.

For example, let’s hypothetically say the numbers 2-7-3-9 pop up tonight. NHL officials will look at their chart and see that that combination belongs to the Atlanta Thrashers. Therefore, Atlanta would climb from No. 3 to No. 1 and have the first pick in the draft.

The way the percentages work is that 25 percent of the combinations belong to Tampa Bay, 18. 8 percent to the LA Kings, 14.2 percent to Atlanta, 10.7 percent to the Blues and so on . . .

The most spots a team can move up in the draft lottery is four and the most any team can fall back is one spot. That means only the top five teams in the draft lottery have a shot of ascending to No. 1 tonight.

Let’s say that Carolina somehow wins with its 0.5 percent chance . . . the highest the Hurricanes can move up is No. 10. The top nine picks would stay in the same order, Carolina would go to No. 10 and teams 10-13 would fall back one spot.

That’s all it is . . . one combination of four numbers will determine the entire draft order for the first 14 teams.

So the Blues will be picking either No. 1 (if they win the lottery), No. 4 (if any team 1-3 or 9-14 wins the lottery) or No. 5 (if any team 5-8 wins the lottery).

The NHL has held this type of draft lottery system in seven of the last eight years. The only year it was different in 2005, when the league was coming out of the lockout. There were no standings from the previous season to base the lottery on , so the NHL devised a unique system in which every team had a shot at the No. 1 pick. Pittsburgh won it and selected Sidney Crosby in a no-brainer decision.

So throw out the 2005 draft lottery. In the other seven years, the team with the best odds of winning the lottery won just twice time: the Blues in 2006 and the Florida Panthers in 2002.

In those seven years . . . 

- The team with the 2nd-best odds has never won the lottery.

- The team with the 3rd-best odds has won two times.

- The team with the 4th-best odds has won once.

- The team with the 5th-best odds has won twice.

Here’s what happened in those years . . .

In 2007: Chicago moves up from No. 5 to No. 1 and selects Patrick Kane.

In 2006: The Blues win the lottery and retain the No. 1 pick, selecting Erik Johnson.

Other notable picks that year: Jordan Staal (No. 2), Jonathan Toews (No. 3), Nicklas Backstrom (No. 4), Peter Mueller (No. 8).

2005: Pittsburgh wins special lotto and takes Crosby.

Other notable picks that year: Jack Johnson (No. 3), Carey Price (No. 5), Anze Kopitar (No. 11).

2004: Washington moves from No. 3 to No. 1 and selects Alex Ovechkin No. 1.

Other notable picks that year: Evgeni Malkin (No. 2).

* That year, the team that got the short end of the stick was Chicago, which had the second-best odds of winning the draft (18.8%). Instead, Washington won and moved up from No. 3 to No. 1 and got Ovechkin. Pittsburgh, with the best odds of winning the draft (25%), fell to No. 2 and took Malkin. Chicago dropped to No. 3 and took defensemen Cam Barker. OUCH!

2003: Pittsburgh moves from No. 4 to No. 1 and selects goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

Other notable picks that year: Eric Staal (No. 2), Thomas Vanek (No. 5) and Dion Phaneuf (No. 9)

*Perhaps moving up to No. 1 overall didn’t help the Penguins after all!

2002: Florida won the lottery and retained the No. 1 pick. However, the Panthers made a trade with Columbus, sending the No. 1 pick to the Blue Jackets, who took Rick Nash with the selection. Florida then took Jay Bouwmeester at No. 3 . . . OUCH!

2001: Atlanta moves from No. 3 to No. 1 and selects winger Ilya Kovalchuk.

Other notables that year: Jason Spezza (No. 2). This is another draft where moving up was huge. After Kovalchuk and Spezza were taken, Tampa Bay picked third and took Alexander Svitov. That’s who Atlanta would have been left with, but instead they got an All-Star in Kovalchuk.

2000: New York Islanders move from No. 5 to No. 1 and select Rick DiPietro.

Other notable picks that year: Dany Heatley (No. 2) and Marian Gaborik (No. 3). If you had to guess right now which one of the those players deserves a 15-year contract, who would it be?

So how will history write itself tonight? Tune in at 7.
JR

The cabbie said: “I just took the Blues coach to the rink a little while ago and he gave me a $20.”

The player got his $10 back and said the coach must be a big tipper.

When the two players got to the rink, they asked Andy Murray about giving the cabbie a $20 for the short ride.

“What are you talking about?” Murray says. “That wasn’t me.”

The players surveyed the locker room and found out that it was . . . Keith Tkachuk.

The cabbie thought Walt was the coach and not a player. Believe me, that is some serious ammo in the locker room . . . especially because today is Walt’s 36th birthday.

The Blues will meet Detroit for the second time in four days tonight. I wrote Tuesday that the Blues played “another solid game” against the Wings. Well they did . . . up until the third period.

The game was tied 1-1 until the third period, when Detroit got a power-play goal from Johan Franzen for the win.

Murray wasn’t happy with the Blues’ determination level in the third period. The Blues had just three shots on goal - they missed four shots and had four others blocked.

“We need to match their level that we didn’t have in the third period,” Blues coach Andy Murray said this morning. “We need to be smart with our discipline. We can’t be running around . . . we need to be real focused on our discipline. It’s not like we haven’t beaten them before, so we know what we need to do.”

The Red Wings lead the season series 4-3, so the Blues could pull even in the final meeting of the season between the teams.

As Murray alluded to, the Blues can’t be running around tonight. That happened on Tuesday, and the refs called unsportsman-like conduct penalties on both teams.

I asked Murray if he said anything after King and Downey were whistled for unsportsman-like conduct. (For those of you that didn’t see it, when the penalties expired, King and Downey skated toward their benches. King, though, detoured to the Wings’ bench and tapped Downey on the shoulder, looking for a fight. Nothing happened).

“The only thing I said to DJ when he chased (Downey) across the ice was, ‘You can’t do that . . . this is the NHL . . . you can’t do that,’” Murray said. “To me, if they would have given him an unsportsman-like for that, it was warranted. You can’t chase a guy across the ice right to their bench. The play is going to our zone and you’re chasing a guy that’s going off and isn’t going to fight you anyway? They should have given him an unsportsman-like in my opinion. I just said you’ve got to get after one of their defensemen. Make Downey have to respond to you.”

Tonight’s game should have a different look. Detroit’s Aaron Downey won’t be in the lineup, and neither will the Blues’ Cam Janssen.

Darren McCarty - yes DARREN MCCARTY - will make his return to the Red Wings’ lineup, and Dan Hinote is healthy enough to return for the Blues.

The McCarty story is amazing. The Wings signed the troubled forward to a one-year contract on Feb. 25 and after a rib injury, he’s ready to go. He last played an NHL game a year ago with Calgary, and the last time he played with Detroit was four years ago.

“Obviously, hockey-wise, I’ll be a little bit nervous, but whatever reaction there is and whatever emotion that I have, it’s going to be genuine,” McCarty said.

The Red Wings are expecting a rare sellout with the longtime fan favorite back in the lineup.

“It’s great to see a name like McCarty back in the lineup,” Hinote said. “He’s done a lot for the Detroit organization and a player that I looked up to when I was coming up through the ranks. To go what he’s been through and battle your way through hell to get back in the NHL, it’s a testament to his character. It’s no big surprise . . . playing against him, you realize he’s that type of guy. It’s great to see his name back on that board.”

The Blues expect McCarty to be “wired up” and hope they can bait him into some penalties.

“He’s going to run around, he’s going to hit,” Hinote said. “But that’s right up our alley, too. That’s the game we want to play. So more power to him and it’s going to be a fun night.”

Hinote says he’s thrilled to be in the lineup himself. He has missed the last 14 games with a muscle strain in his side.

“He’s champing at the bit and deserves to get back in there,” Murray said. “He’ll give us some grit, too. He’s worked hard at it and he’s such a warrior for us, so we want to get him in.”

Hinote had a great comment about fighting his way back into the lineup with six games left to play on a team not in the playoff hunt.

“There’s never nothing to play for,” Hinote said. “So many people made sacrifices for us to be where we are today. To not care about these games, or not give a full effort because you’re out of the playoffs would be an insult to all those people. That’s just never going to happen. No matter if there was one game left or two games left, I’d work my butt off to get back in. The window to play professional sports is so small. You never know when it’s going to be your last game. Every game matters that much more. I’m glad to be back.”

On defense, Jay McKee is healthy and will play tonight. Roman Polak will be sent back to Peoria.

Manny Legace will start in goal for the Blues.

Tonight, Detroit will honor former Blues captain Dallas Drake for playing in his 1,000th NHL game recently.

“You’ve got to be a little bit lucky to stay healthy for the most part,” Drake said this morning. “I’ve been fortunate to play for a lot of good organizations and I still love to play. That’s the important thing . . . if you still like to play and you can stick around for a few extra years . . . that’s what I’ve kind of done.”

Finally, I have this gem from Blues defenseman Matt Walker. Several of us were standing by the locker room door this morning, talking about movies we had seen recently. I recommended the Ben Stiller movie “The Heartbreak Kid” to whoever would listen to me.

Walker walked by us and said: “I don’t watch movies on the road. It’s too heavy carrying the VCR everywhere.”

JR

The answer is Scott Young (2000-01). That was a career year for Young, whose previous high had been 30 goals with the Quebec Nordiques in 1992-93.

I ask the question because with 38 goals and seven games remaining, Brad Boyes has a chance to reach the 40-goal milestone.

When I asked Boyes this morning for his guess on the last 40-goal scorer for the Blues, he took the safe route and said: “Brett Hull.”

Hull’s last 40-goal season for the Blues was in 1996-97, when he had 42. Hull had eight 40-goal seasons with the Blues and ‘96-97 was his last.

How many 40-goal scorers have the Blues had in their 40-year history? Boyes would become the 13th individual if he can score two more - some like Hull did it multiple times.

The previous 12 in Blues’ history: Scott Young (40), Brett Hull (41, 72, 86, 70, 54, 57, 43, 42) Brendan Shanahan (52, 51), Tony McKegney (40), Doug Gilmour (42), Mark Hunter (44), Joe Mullen (40, 41), Bernie Federko (41), Brian Sutter (46, 41), Wayne Babych (54), Chuck Lefley (43) and Garry Unger (41).

“Hopefully I can be the next,” Boyes said.

Boyes became a true goal-scorer this season. With 38 goals and 19 assists, this is the first time in his career (at any level) that his goals have outnumbered his assists.

Take a look:

1997-98: Mississauga (27 g, 50 a)

1998-99: Erie (24 g, 36 a)

1999-00: Erie (36g, 46 a)

2000-01: Erie (45 g, 45 a)

2001-02: Erie (36 g, 41 a)

2002-03: St. John’s/Cleveland (30 g, 34 a)

2003-04: Cleveland/Providence (31 g, 41 a)

2004-05: Providence (33 g, 42 a)

2005-06: Boston Bruins (26 g, 43 a)

2006-07: Boston Bruins/St. Louis (17 g, 29 a)

2007-08: St. Louis (38 g, 19 a)

Who thinks Boyes will reach the 40-goal plateau? Here’s how he’s fared against the Blues’ remaining opponents:

The Blues have 2 games left vs. Detroit: In 6 games this season, Boyes has one goal.

The Blues have 1 game left vs. Chicago: In 7 games this season, Boyes has one goal.

The Blues have 2 games left vs. Nashville: In 6 games this season, Boyes has six goals.

The Blues have 2 games left vs. Columbus: In 6 games this season, Boyes has three goals.

Boyes is expected to remain on his line with Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya tonight. The 12 forwards should be the same against Detroit, but if you watched Sunday’s game against Chicago, you perhaps noticed that Andy Murray changed two of the combinations. Here’s a look:

Kariya-Tkachuk-Boyes

King-McDonald-Backes

McClement-Johnson-Mayers

Stempniak-Perron-Janssen

“What we did . . . (Chicago) changed their combinations,” Blues coach Andy Murray said. “They were trying to get bigger guys out against McDonald. So we put King on that line. Really what we switched was Stemper and D.J. That gave David Perron another skill guy to play with. I thought David had some good puck mojo. I wanted to support him with another offensive guy, so we put Stemper with him. Both of those units had some success.”

Danny Hinote practiced today, and while he won’t be in the lineup tonight, he could return before the season is over.

The defense will stay the same tonight. Jay McKee skated hard today and said afterwards that he needed one more workout before rejoining the lineup, perhaps Friday in Detroit. At that time, Roman Polak will return to Peoria.

My guess is that Manny Legace will be in goal. I didn’t get a chance to ask anyone, but Murray said yesterday that he thought Legace would be available tonight.

Don’t forget: Erik Johnson will join me on JR Live Thursday from 3-4. You can submit your questions for EJ now.

 JR

Will Hannu Toivonen be the backup to Manny Legace in 2008-09? That could be decided with his performance tonight and in the few remaining starts he may see.

Toivonen has looked a little better lately. The Blues didn’t play well in front of him in San Jose in the first period. In the second and third periods, he looked as good as he has since the early part of the season.

Toivonen will see a skilled team tonight in the Ottawa Senators. They are fourth in the NHL with 231 goals. While playing with Boston, Toivonen was 1-1 in four games against the Senators with a 1.30 goals-against average. His victory was a shutout.

“We need to know what we’ve got,” Blues coach Andy Murray said of Toivonen’s start tonight. “We look at the game in San Jose . . . our team didn’t give him much of a chance. It’s important to know what we’ve got, so he’s going back in there tonight. We hope to give him a stronger start tonight.”

Toivonen will be looking for his first win since a 4-3 win over Edmonton December 7. That victory improved his record to 5-3. He’s 0-5-3 since then.

“Should be fun . . . it’s a fun building to play in,” Toivonen said. “One of the best teams in the league. They’ve got tons of skill of front . . . a few of the best players in the league. I just have to try to have some fun and get a win. Obviously the big thing is to get a win. I haven’t won in a while. That’s the main thing.”

Some in the organization has said that Toivonen’s confidence has been the root of his struggles this season. When asked if that were true, Toivonen said: “To some extent.”

When asked about these last few starts being an audition for the backup job next year, Toivonen said: “Every goalie wants to play as much as possible. You have to make the best of it every time you get out. Just enjoy the moment.”

The Blues will try to complete a sweep of the Northeast Division this season. It’s interesting that the Blues have the fewest road wins in the NHL (11, tied with Tampa Bay), and yet they have beaten Toronto, Boston, Buffalo and Montreal all on the road this season.

“The most important thing is to be 5-0,” Murray said. “We talked about that this morning. We played the Leafs when the Leafs had got it going and then they dropped after we beat them. We played Buffalo . . . I think Buffalo had won six or seven in a row when we played them. Boston had been on a good streak and we went in and beat them . . . and then they slid a few games. Montreal obviously couldn’t be much hotter. Figure that out.”

Jay McKee will not play tonight and could be sidelined for many of the remaining games. His bone bruise in his foot was very sore after Tuesday’s game. Roman Polak stayed with the Blues just in case and he will be in tonight.

Polak, who has been paired with Jeff Woywitka recently, will join Eric Brewer on the top pair tonight.

“We’ll try Roman there,” Murray said. “We’ve got six defensemen that we can play with. Roman has shown us that he can play and we want to continue to look at him.”

Polak said “I’m not sure how long I’m going to be here, so I’m playing like it’s my last game. I played with Brew last year, probably all 19 games, so I know him. Sure it helps, but sometimes it doesn’t matter. I was playing with Woywitka and I was playing good with him. I could be playing better, though. I’m ready for tonight.”

Woywitka will be with Matt Walker and Barret Jackman will be with Erik Johnson.

The forward lines will be the same tonight. Martin Rucinsky and Cam Janssen are both out.

Two years ago, Perron was playing Tier 2 Junior hockey and tonight he’ll be skating on the ice of the team he watched growing up, the Montreal Canadiens. Perron will be facing his favorite player in the NHL, Alexei Kovalev. Asked if this was a dream today, Perron said: “That’s exactly what it is.”

Perron got his hands on about 20 tickets for tonight’s game but there will be many more family and friends in attendance. How much is the bill for the tickets? “Uh, I didn’t even look,” Perron said.

He better look at his credit card statement before he buys the tickets. The story has already circulated that on Sunday night, the Blues spent $39,000 at the team’s annual rookie dinner, in which the rookies pick up the tab. Perron apparently was on the hook for $13,000 of that bill.

He doesn’t seem to be worried about that stuff right now. Perron has had March 18 marked on his calendar since the summer, even before he made the roster in training camp.

“The schedule got out the same week as the (development camp) and I saw Montreal in March,” Perron said. “I said, ‘I hope that I can play in this game if I make the team.’ It’s just great to be here.”

Perron admits that his adrenaline will be free-flowing. Andy Murray had a talk with him after the morning skate and you can bet the conversation was about keeping his emotions in check.

“I think that’s why he wants to start me on the fourth line tonight,” Perron said. “Just take some pressure off me. He said, ‘Just play your game. You know how to play with these guys. Put the puck in their zone, be physical and be good defensively and we’ll see what’s going to happen.”

It appears that Perron will be playing on a line with D.J. King and Yan Stastny tonight.

Ryan Johnson has returned to the team after returning home to Thunder Bay, Ontario, for family reasons. He’ll be back at center, moving Jay McClement to left wing on a line with Jamal Mayers. McClement said that except for spot duty he never played wing growing up. But when Murray asked him to play there last week, McClement said he embraced it.

“It’s different, but I like it,” McClement said. “I felt like I got in on the forecheck a little more. Playing center, most of the time you’re down low in your own end and when you get the puck out, you’re behind the play. It felt like I got in on the fore-check more. It’s an adjustment, but Jammer and RJ are guys that talk a lot on the ice, so it helps me. I need them to talk me through a lot of stuff because it’s not a familiar place to be when you’re getting a rim on the wall in your own end. I like it, though.”

Brad Boyes could be back at center tonight. Boyes played center when he scored five goals in three games recently.

“We liked Brad’s game at center,” Murray said. “He seemed to have his feet moving in those games when he was in the middle.”

Jay McKee will be back in the lineup tonight after missing three games with a bone bruise in his left foot.

“It’s really not going to change a whole lot,” McKee said. “Andy asked if I’d be able to get through the game. I mean, there’s no guarantees. If I take a shot in the same spot, it’s going to be awful tough to take another shift. Bone bruises are something where it’s not a ligament or a strain, where you can kind of take a look at it and put a time frame on it. They take their time. It’s something I’m sure for the rest of the season I will feel, but if I don’t try it tonight, then when? I should be fine getting through the game unless I get kicked there or take a shot.”

McKee’s availability means that Roman Polak will be returned to Peoria. He was called up under emergency conditions.

Manny Legace will be in goal tonight.

Murray’s main message to the Blues this morning was staying out of the penalty box. Montreal has the No. 1-ranked power play in the league with 82 goals on 334 opportunities. For comparison, the Blues have 41 PP goals on 299 chances.

“We’ve talked about that, being smart and staying out of the box,” Murray said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of it in Anaheim.”

Finally, a Blues’ contingent visited former GM Ron Caron yesterday in Montreal. Caron lives here, and according to one player, he still has his fastball despite deteriorating health.

“It was good to see him,” said Blues forward Yan Stastny, whose dad Peter was brought to St. Louis by Caron in 1994. “He was pretty excited to see all of us. We shared a few stories. Rick Wamsley was there and he asked (Caron) what his best trade was. He said the Brett Hull trade, and Wamsley was on the other end of that trade with Calgary. If you know Mr. Caron, he has a very sharp mind and that is still there.

“He goes back really far. He was giving us stories about the 1970s Stanley Cup run. He doesn’t leave out details. He throws out years, he throws out places, he describes players. It was fun.”

JR

Keith Tkachuk will also miss his second straight game tonight with a sore left shoulder. I’m expecting Yan Stasny to return to the lineup tonight, making Martin Rucinsky a healthy scratch.

Monday’s game in Calgary turned quickly on the Blues, who were blown out after cutting their deficit to 3-2 in the second period.

Matthew Lombardi netted a short-handed goal against the Blues in the second period, and the Flames went on to rout the Blues after that. It was the ninth shorthanded goal of the season against the Blues, and the Flames later added another (with an empty-net) to make it 10 shorties against this season. That’s the second-highest total in the NHL.

The Blues altered their power play Monday by mixing up the personnel and keeping just one player (defenseman Erik Johnson) back at the point. Some of you were wary about that formation going into the game, and it did end up backfiring on the team last night. The puck was on the side of forward Brad Boyes, who had to defend Lombardi down the ice.

“I wish I could put my finger on the cause,” said Blues forward David Backes, who scored the Blues’ power-play goal in the first period. “We’re semi-taking a risk by having only one d-man out there. We’ve put a lot of emphasis on scoring goals lately and kind of pushing a little bit, maybe taking a few more chances than we need to. But give them credit. That Lombardi’s got some good wheels and he had good finish on that play.”

Andy Murray’s take on the shorthanded goal after the game: “That’s Matthew Lombardi, one of the fastest guys in the league attacking a forward on the blue-line, who we have playing the point. We don’t have any support coming back to help. I’ve seen Matthew do that before.”

The shorthanded goal came against backup goalie Hannu Toivonen, who allowed three goals on 18 shots. Toivonen, who hadn’t played with the Blues in 30 days, didn’t seem to make a great effort on the shorthanded goal, and he didn’t look real sharp on at least one of the other goals against. (The third against Toivonen went off Jeff Woywitka’s stick).

I don’t know where the future is going with Toivonen. I would suspect that he’s playing his way out of the team’s plans for next season.

So why was Manny Legace pulled in the first place? He was yanked with the Blues trailing 3-1 after one period. He allowed three goals on 11 shots, but all three of the goals went off his own defensemen.

No. 1 by Tanguay went off Brewer’s stick

No. 2 by Huselius went off McKee’s leg

No. 3 by Iginla went off Brewer’s pants

The Blues felt that Legace wasn’t looking sharp and, looking at the big picture, they wanted Toivonen to play either Monday or tonight. So they put Toivonen in to start the second period and held Legace out so that he could start tonight.

“We didn’t think our team was playing well defensively,” Murray said after the game. “It was a decision made at that point, with the score 3-1, to try to get a spark to put him in there and put Manny in the game against Edmonton.”

Legace didn’t agree with leaving the game. “I was shocked,” Legace said. “I didn’t think I deserved (to be pulled). I thought I made some pretty big saves. After the second goal, I thought I made three or four good saves. It wasn’t like I was playing bad. . . . That’s their decision. You’d have to ask them what they were thinking, what they’re thought process was. They never talked to me about it. Maybe they have more behind it than I know. It stinks when you get pulled. I hate it. I’d rather stay in there and lose 6-0 or 7-0 than get pulled. But some nights you deserve. I didn’t think tonight was one of them.”

There were few bright spots for the Blues. Murray said they had 17 scoring chances, but only three goals.

“The Perron-Boyes-Kariya line was effective,” Murray said. “I thought they had lots of ofefnsive zone time. I thought Paul was around the puck more last night. He didn’t show any shots on the score sheet, but I thought he was around the puck more. I thought David was real effective. Brad had two goals, but could have had five. So that line was effective.”

Boyes scored Nos. 35 and 36 last night, giving him back-to-back, two-goal games. What’s he doing better lately?

“I think he’s skating better,” Murray said. “He told me from the day he got here. He told me, ‘Coach, make sure you stay on me to keep my legs moving.’ I am consistently on him about that. I think his legs have been moving. He’s coming back and stealing pucks, getting in the lane. I think he’s been skating better.”

Boyes’ line will remain in tact tonight. The others will be shuffled as Murray inserts Stastny and takes out Rucinsky.

Speaking of Rucinsky, several of us in the media wondered if Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff could have gotten a four-minute minor for throwing the puck at Rucinsky’s face last night. After all, Rucinsky did bleed. Well, Murray told us that the officials told him that only happens with a stick violation. The most the refs could do under the rules was assess a five-minute major for throwing the puck, and the officials told Murray that they didn’t feel a major was warranted.

One final note: Ben Bishop will sign an amateur contract with the Blues today and join the Peoria Rivermen for the rest of the season. Good luck to Ben!

JR

Tkachuk re-aggravated an old injury when he and Jay McKee collided in the second period of Saturday’s 4-2 loss to Vancouver.

“I’m not going to play tonight and I doubt tomorrow night,” Tkachuk said. “Hopefully I’ll be better by San Jose (on Friday). It’s stiff and I have no strength in it right now. It kind of jammed me. I didn’t see (McKee) coming. I just got drilled hard.”

Tkachuk said that he originally injured the shoulder in a fight with Calgary’s Dion Phaneuf earlier this season. ”It got better, but that hit (Saturday) did not help,” Tkachuk said.

One game after being told that his playing time might be limited the rest of the season, Martin Rucinsky is expected to take Tkachuk’s spot in the lineup tonight.

The Blues have also made some changes on their anemic power play. Today in practice, this is how the units were divided . . .

The first unit: Erik Johnson at the point, with Brad Boyes and Andy McDonald on the sides and David Backes and Keith Tkachuk in front of the net. (Tkachuk did practice this morning and took turns with Rucinsky in that spot).

This unit was set up in the ”umbrella,” in which the four forwards make the arc in front of the net and Johnson stands in the middle of the ice at the blue line.

The second unit: Barret Jackman and Eric Brewer at the point with David Perron and Paul Kariya on the sides and Lee Stempniak in front of the net.

Reaction to the changes . . .

Boyes: “I think our unit is going to look more at shooting the puck with two guys in front (Backes and Tkachuk/Rucinsky). David Backes obviously is great in front of the net. That’s the goal there.  The second unit . . . change it up, give two different looks. It doesn’t hurt to change things up.”

Stempniak: “I guess any time you’re not having a lot of success, you’ve got to change something,” Stempniak said. “Just changing the look . . . it’s something that (opponents) haven’t been able to scout and hopefully it gives us a little bit of an edge. We’re excited to see how it works and hopefully we’ll get a couple of power-play goals.”

The Blues did not skate on Sunday because there wasn’t ice available at the time the Blues wanted to practice. So instead, the team went to the local theater and watched Will Ferrell’s new movie “Semi-pro.”

Most of the players gave the movie “two thumbs up.”

“Yean, it was good,” Barret Jackman said. “It’s Will Ferrell, so . . . everything he does is pretty funny.”

It seems kind of funny to have 23 guys sitting together in a movie theater. It seems like a field trip for adults.

“It’s different, but a lot of laughs and a lot of jabs going back and forth between the guys,” Jackman said. “Anybody else in the movie might not have liked it, but we had a good time.”

Of course, no movie is complete with licorice, snow caps, popcorn and soda. Which Blue left the concession stand with their hands full?

“Manny . . .” Jackman said. “A bag of Twizzlers and a huge bag of popcorn.”

Is that true Manny?

“Me?” the Blues goalie fired back, getting defensive. “You should have seen the bag of popcorn ‘Jacks’ had.”

The team liked being away from  the rink for the day.

“It’s such a long season . . . you’ve got 82 games and a lot of practices,” Jackman said. “Changing it up a bit, especially if you’re struggling, can never hurt.”

I talked to David Perron briefly about his breakaway Saturday against Vancouver. He was denied by Roberto Luongo, but a minute later, Boyes scored for the Blues. Perron said it felt good to get into the open ice, but unfortunately it came at the end of his shift.

“It would have been nice to score, but I was exhausted at the end of my shift,” Perron said. “I saw the opening and (Lee) Stempniak made the nice pass. I tried to go five-hole. I thought the defenseman caught since I was real tired. It would have been nice to score, but then we scored right after that. So, maybe it ended up being momentum for a goal.”

Also in Vancouver, D.J. King and Cam Janssen were in the lineup together. King talked after that game about what it was like playing together.

“We both know our style of game and we’ve just got to keep it simple,” King said. “It works when you’re both on the same page. It’s exciting to watch and it’s good for us because we have to wear teams down.”

Yan Stastny did not play Saturday because of a 103-degree temperature and he had strep throat. Stastny did practice today, but I don’t think he’ll play. It appears that Janssen and King will be in the lineup again, but don’t hold me to it.

Legace, the Twizzler’s man, will be in net.

JR