“This might be the best chance Matt Walker’s ever had as a Blue,” Blues coach Andy Murray said. “I told him that the other day: ‘Matt, this is a great opportunity for you.’ His contract is up this year and to me the best chance for him to earn a new contract is not some place else . . . it’s in St. Louis. He needs to show us that he can be an everyday player. He’s a guy that’s shown us he can  come in and out of the lineup and do the job for us. We need to find out if he can be an every night player.”

Woywitka is looking at the opportunity the same way.

“It’s good for me,” he said. “I’ve worked hard since the start of the year. It got sent down to (Peoria) early. That wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, that’s for sure, but I didn’t have the camp I should have had. I worked myself back up and I’m getting the opportunity now.”

Woywitka thought he recent stint with the Blues was a positive.

“I felt really good,” he said. “I came in, adjusted well . . . I had to show something. You don’t know how long the stint is going to be. I had the mindset that I’ve got nothing to lose and you’ve just got to go out and play.”

Woywitka has the chance to show he’s the type of player the Blues don’t have - a good solid defensive defenseman with offensive potential. Currently, Erik Johnson is the only player to fit that mold.

“I want to be the kind of guy that can kill penalties and be on the power play,” Woywitka said. “Make the first pass, join the rush. I may not get a whole bunch of points here, but I want to move the puck . . . create things and make things happen.”

Murray wants to see Woywitka turn into that kind of player.

“Jeff Woywitka has been a solid offensive performer in the American Hockey League,” Murrays said. “He’s yet to do it consistently at the NHL level. I think part of that is feeling comfortable in your environment. He does have that potential. But first of all, he’s got to make sure he establishes himself as a guy that’s got credibility defensively.”

Bryce Salvador is expected to make his debut with the Devils Friday night. I had a good chat with him late Tuesday night and the trade had still yet to set in. He said it didn’t really hit him until he checked into his hotel and the employee behind the check-in desk said, “So, Mr. Salvador, you’ll be joining us for 64 nights.”

Salvador said he’ll always have fond memories of St. Louis.

“A lot of great people that had become good friends, not just in the hockey organization but outside of the organization,” he said. ”I was fortunate to be in the organization for 10-plus years . . . when you’ve been around the team that long, it’s really tough to remember that it’s a business.

“I think really the hardest thing is the friendship I had with Jamal (Mayers). We couldn’t really even talk about it. I think we had a little discussion and another one over the phone. I think it’s easiest to not try and tackle it now. St. Louis has been great and I love training there in the summer.”

As far as going to New Jersey . . .

“I haven’t really opened that page yet,” Salvador said. ”But the initial reaction is that I’m excited. One side your sad, the other side I’m excited. The New Jersey organization is a great organization. I’ve heard nothing but great things about it, and I’m excited about the opportunity to go there and help them win the Cup and provide leadership on the ice and in the dressing room.”

Salvador’s agent, Carlos Sosa, said he thinks the Blues might have been able to work out a deal for the defensemen if they had traded Christian Backman earlier in the day. That would have allowed them to get Backman’s $3.4 million salary off the books for next season and freed up some money.

“I don’t know if the cart got before the horse or horse before the cart,” Sosa said. ”I don’t know how it played out, but according to them, the process worked for them. I guess we’ll have to wait see.”

I wrote about David Perron in this morning’s newspaper and I’ve gotten a lot of feedback about the situation. Most importantly, it looks as though readers are glad the Blues went out of their way to spell out the situation.

As I writer, you can’t always fit everything you get during the interviews into the story. Here’s an excerpt that I had leftover that did not appear in the paper.

Recently, John Davidson told me, David Perron sought out advice from Barret Jackman on how to be a good professional. 

“He asked Barret Jackman to go talk to him,” Davidson said. ”That’s the kid I think . . . he may not say it to you . . . but I think that’s the kid reaching out, saying, ‘OK, I’ve got to figure this out. I’ve got to figure it out.’

“When you see him get a hold of Barret, that means he’s reaching out and also he’s a good kid. He’s got to learn. If you don’t try to learn, than we’ve got a bigger problem.”

More Davidson on Perron . . .

“Has he impressed us at times? Yes,” Davidson said. ”Has he disappointed us? No. But he’s still part of a process here. And every kid is different. Some kids are 19 going on 24. Some kids are 19 and they’re 19. When I was here as a 19 year old, I was probably 18. Just telling you the truth. When I got here, I never heard about state taxes. I never heard about anything with business. I think he’s very similar. We’re trying to work with David and it’s not like David plays a game and that’s it to the next game.