Wagner sent to Peoria - again
Blues defenseman Steve Wagner was ready to return from a bruised arm tonight. But he won’t be playing in St. Louis.
Wagner was an obvious absence at today’s morning skate, and afterwards Blues coach Andy Murray announced that Wagner had been sent to Peoria.
Wagner is clearly one of the Blues’ top defensemen, so on the surface this is a mysterious move.
“For asset-management purposes, he was assigned to Peoria,” Murray said. “He’s good enough to be here, but it’s asset-management.”
Murray wouldn’t go into any specifics, but it’s clear by the words “asset-management” that the Blues are shopping a defenseman.
John Davidson and Co. need to have their tradeable defensemen on the ice every night, so that other teams have a chance to see them. That means Wagner would be a healthy scratch here, and by sending him to Peoria, the Blues can keep him playing and save some money by paying his AHL salary instead of his NHL salary.
Wagner is learning that the NHL is a tough business.
So who are the Blues shopping?
Barret Jackman is back in the lineup tonight and Matt Walker is out. Here are the likely pairings:
Brewer/Salvador
Jackman/Backman
McKee/E. Johnson
The contracts of Brewer ($4.25 million) and McKee ($4 million) make moving them a tough task. Erik Johnson, of course, isn’t going anywhere. That leaves Jackman and Salvador (both unrestricted free agents after the year) and Backman (one more year at $3.4 million salary; $2.3 cap hit).
Teams were allowed to begin negotiations with their own players who are in the final year of their contracts beginning on Jan. 1. So, it’s assumed that the Blues have spoken with the agents of Jackman and Salvador and at least have an idea of what those players will be looking for.
Can the Blues afford Jackman, Salvador or both? If not, they’ll be on the market.
Or is it Backman that the Blues will try and move. It’s doesn’t seem likely that teams would be willing to pay Backman $3.4 million next season.
Backman has no goals and seven assists this season. That’s right on pace with his career-high of 18 points, which he’s had three times with the Blues. I spoke with Backman this morning about his play this year.
“It’s been a little bit up and down so far,” Backman said. “The last game was pretty good . . . a step in the right direction. I hope I can keep going in that direction. I feel that I have more to give and can play better overall. I want to show that in the second half of the season.
“Overall, I feel like I want to find that consistency in my play, that I go out and play every night. I think it’s been too much up and down this year. I want to get back to producing some offense. I think the most important thing is to start from the backend and be solid there. When I do that, other things come.”
The knock on Backman is that he hasn’t lived up to his potential, specifically on offense. I asked Backman if it’s unfair for others to create expectations for him and then be disappointed when he doesn’t live up to them.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess everyone has different expectations of different guys. From what everyone tells me, they think I have more potential. I feel that, too, that I have more to give. That’s what they compare you to sometimes, what you’re capable of doing. When you don’t do that, that’s not good. I don’t know if it’s unfair. Nothing is really fair. The bottom line is I can only go out there and do my best and work as hard as I can.”
Tonight is Erik Johnson “figurine” night at Scottrade Center. I don’t know what to call it because it’s not really a bobblehead. Here’s a picture:
I joked with Johnson that a player should have to be at least 20 years old to have a figurine night in their honor.
“I have three buddies in town and they said, ‘You just invited us down because it was bobblehead night . . . you want us to think that you’re big-time,’” Johnson said.
Johnson hadn’t seen the figurine yet, but he quipped: “It’s got to be good-looking. We’ll see what it’s like.”
The lines tonight should look something like this:
Kariya-McDonald-Boyes
Stempniak-Tkachuk-Perron
Backes-R. Johnson-Mayers
King-McClement-Hinote
Manny Legace is in goal.
JR
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Does Backman have a bad contract? Probably. But you cannot just look at the âreal dollars” paid to him next year, but the cap hit. Next year Backman will make 3.4 million, however his cap hit is only 2.3 million. I think there are plenty of teams that would absorb that cap hit without thinking twice. I think many teams would consider Backman a 2.3 million player. Only teams with a close eye on the finances, like the Blues for example, really have to worry about the real dollars.