When the Doug Weight-Andy McDonald trade was made, nine out of 10 folks agreed with the Blues that it was the right move to make. Six weeks later, that’s still the case.

With Weight in town today, he is garnering many of the headlines, but let’s not forget how good McDonald has been for the Blues. McDonald seems to work quietly and then you look at his numbers and say, ‘Wow.’

Despite the Blues being 1-5-2 in their last eight games, McDonald has eight points in that stretch. In fact, he has 11 points in his last 10 games. Since joining the Blues, McDonald has 16 points in 16 games (5 goals, 11 assists).

“I think the transition, it’s been pretty easy,” McDonald said. “I think everyone has really gone out of their way. The coaches have been great, trying to prepare me for the situations, trying to help me adapt to their kind of style. There’s a lot of good players here, so when you’re playing with good players, it happens pretty easy out there.”

McDonald has continued to produce, despite being shuffled on different lines. He was playing with Paul Kariya and Brad Boyes and now he’s playing with Boyes and Lee Stempniak.

The move has given the Blues two potential scoring lines, which they have lacked this season.

“We have depth, we just need consistency,” McDonald said. “You need two or three lines that can score on a regular basis. I think we’ve fought that a little bit, but there’s enough talent in this room and enough leadership that we should be able to have more than one line score every night. We should be able to do that and if we do, I think we’ll have success.”

Although the Blues’ power play still ranks 30th (and there is no excuse for that), McDonald has the unit playing better lately. He’s very decisive going to the net and cycles the puck as good as anyone the Blues have had in a while on the PP.

“He’s so good at carrying the puck in his zone, or in the corner, settling it down and giving the power play a chance to set up,” Paul Kariya said. “He’s been great. The biggest thing with Andy, he’s such an explosive skater. When he gets his legs underneath him, he’s really tough to stop. He’s been great, I think, from day one . . . since he got here. But he had the injury (pulled chest muscle) and it took him a while to get it back.”

I asked McDonald what he’s doing well when he’s scoring points, and he said: “Probably my skating, making good plays with the puck, generating offense. I seem to be around the puck a lot when things are going well. Probably those things.”

Blues coach Andy Murray weighed in the on the Weight-McDonald trade Thursday at practice. (Keep in mind when you read Murray’s quote that the Ducks were able to add Scott Niedermayer to their roster when they got rid of McDonald’s contract for next year).

“The trade was good for both teams,” Murray said. ”The Ducks got two players — they got Niedermayer and they got Doug Weight — for Andy McDonald. Pretty good trade from their perspective. From our perspective, we got a player that’s got a contract for next year, is a little bit younger. I would not say at this time that he’s any better than Doug Weight was for our team. But we’ll have Andy McDonald with us for the next number of years. That’s certainly an asset that we needed to acquire because to go out on the free agent market and acquire a centerman at the end of this year, you’re talking about probably $5-6 million dollars in a player probably wanting a five-year contract the way the contracts are. I think it was a deal that helped both teams.”

The acquistion of McDonald almost paid off in other ways, too. He and teammate Paul Kariya were recruiting Teemu Selanne to St. Louis, but he ended up re-signing with the Ducks this week.

“Yeah, we tried to put the word in his ear about maybe coming to St. Louis, but his situation . . . his family is in Orange County and I think that was an easy decision for him. Obviously he’s a friend, so whatever makes him and his family happy, that’s good for him.”

The Blues may have a twist in their lineup tonight. In practice Thursay, Matt Walker ran drills on right wing with Jay McClement and D.J. King. It appears that with a physical opponent tonight in Anaheim, Murray put Walker in the lineup and sit David Perron for a game.

Remember on Wednesday, the Blues recalled Mike Glumac and then retracted it an hour later. Perhaps they decided that Walker could fill the role of the physical forward for one game, and that’s why Glumac was not called up.

Here’s what the forward lines could look like tonight:

Kariya-Tkachuk-Backes

Stempniak-McDonald-Boyes

Hinote-Johnson-Mayers

King-McClement-Walker (Perron)

The defensive pairings stay the same tonight and Manny Legace will be in goal.

Only one other note: It’s been reported that Martin Rucinsky is skating with the team again and could be back within a week or two.

I asked Rucinsky about the possibility of being traded to a playoff contender at the deadline. He’s in the final year of his contract and the Blues aren’t going to re-sign him. If the team is out of the playoff race, there’s no reason Rucinsky should be playing ahead of a younger player.

The Rangers (Rucinsky’s former team) were rumored to be interested in the left winger.

Rucinsky, to my knowledge, does have a no-trade clause and could veto a deal.

“I’m thinking just like I was thinking at the beginning of the year,” Rucinsky said. “Hopefully I can help this team make the playoffs first of all . . . that’s the priority. When we get (to the playoffs), making a good run. Right now, we’re on the edge and we need to put a good stretch together and hopefully we can do that. I’m here and I want to be a St. Louie Blue. I started the season here and I want to finish the season here.”

JR