Blues forward Martin Rucinsky will not be in the lineup tonight, a sign that the team is ready to give as much ice time as it can to players who will be in the fold next season.

Rucinsky, 37, will be a unrestricted free agent this summer and the Blues will not re-sign him.

The decision to make Rucinsky a healthy scratch tonight and perhaps many more times in the final 15 games was a group consensus among Blues President John Davidson, GM Larry Pleau, VP of Hockey Operations Al MacInnis and head coach Andy Murray.

“Between management and coaching, as I told Marty, we want to see our young kids play,” Murray said. “It’s tonight’s game and then we’ll monitor things from there. Our plan has been to play our young guys in the games coming up. We haven’t gotten the wins we would have liked to have gotten. It was felt that Marty would help get those. It’s not his fault that we haven’t, but we need to have a look at our young players.”

Rucinsky said after today’s morning skate that he understands the Blues’ decision.

“That’s how it works . . . that’s how it is . . . I don’t know what to say,” Rucinsky said. “There’s not much I can do about it. The decision is not mine; it’s theirs. I’m just going to have to live with it. I guess it’s a part of our job. I can’t control those things. What I can control is to be prepared everday for games, and if that decision comes, that I’m going to be in the lineup, I have to make sure I’m ready for it.”

There was a lot of speculation that the Blues would trade Rucinsky at the trading deadline Feb. 26 to create ice time for others. But there were no takers for Rucinsky, who is finishing the second year of a two-year, $4.75 million contract.

I asked Rucinsky if he was surprised not to be moved at the deadline.

“I wasn’t really thinking about it to be honest with you,” said Rucinsky, who has a no-trade clause. “If something would come along then I would have looked at it. If not, then fine. I wanted to stay here . . .  I’ve been here for two years. I like my teammates and I want to finish it here.”

This is Rucinsky’s 16th season in the NHL and he’s not sure if he’s going to return next year some place else.

“I don’t know . . . I haven’t thought about it yet,” Rucinsky said. “This year has been a tough year for me, all the way around. I’ll see what happens. I’m not going to make any decisions now. It wouldn’t make sense. I’ll take some time off, see what happens and I’m going to look at my options and see if I want to play . . . if I don’t want to play.”

Rucinsky said he feels like he could still help a club.

“I can play this game,” Rucinsky said. “When I’m healthy, I feel pretty good . . . I feel strong. Conditioning-wise, it’s not a problem at all. Obviously I’m not 22 years old any more, but I feel like I can skate. I think that I can contribute somehow somewhere, but we’ll see what happens.”

How does Rucinsky look back at his two years with the Blues?

“I decided to sign here two years ago, and I pretty much stuck to it the whole two years,” Rucinsky said. “I’m not the kind of person that’s going to run away from problems. I knew coming here could go either way. The team when I came here signed some new guys to try and make the team better. Obviously I know JD from New York. I decided to come here and I’m not going to look at it as a bad two years.

“I love it here, I like this city . . . when I was here the first time, it was a good year. We made the playoffs. I always like St. Louis and will have good memories. Obviously it would be way better if we make the playoffs both years, but that’s the way it is sometimes. It’s not an easy thing to do these days, make the playoffs. It didn’t happen. Everything bad is happening for some good reason. I believe in that. As long as you survive, then it’s good.”

This means that a guy like David Perron should play a majority if not all of the remaining 15 games. He’s averaging 12:13 per game now and that may increase by 1 minute or so.

I asked Perron what he thought about the Blues’ decision to sit Rucinsky and, in effect, put him on the ice more.

“I want to be in there because I deserve it,” Perron said. “Obviously I want to play every night and hearing that is cool, but if I don’t play good, I’ll be out of the lineup, too. We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks.”

Perron is basically the only young forward to whom the Blues can give more games and ice time. Remember, the Blues can not call up any players from Peoria unless it’s an emergency situation, meaning they have less then 12 healthy forwards. Right now they have 14 healthy, so three players would have to be hurt for the team to be able to call somebody up.

Meanwhile, we have learned that Blues prospect T.J. Oshie can not play in St. Louis this season. I spoke to Peoria GM Kevin McDonald today and he said the rule is tied to a player’s age when he signs a pro contract.

For any player 21 or older who plays in one NHL game, it counts as an entire season toward their contract. The Blues wouldn’t want to do that because Oshie would then be one year closer to free agency and other perks after simply playing one or two games.

The situation was different last year with Erik Johnson and this year with David Perron. Because they were younger than 21 when they signed, Johnson and Perron could have played up to NINE games without the Blues burning an entire season of holding their rights.

Oshie turned 21 last December. When his season ends at the University of North Dakota, he could decide to sign a professional tryout contract and participate in the AHL playoffs with the Rivermen. He would then sign a pro contract with the Blues over the summer. That’s exactly what David Backes did a few years ago, and everyone in the organization (and Backes) agreed that it helped him immensely.

Not much to report regarding tonight’s game. It appears that both D.J. King and Cam Janssen will be in the lineup and probably will play on the same line.

JR