Morning Skate » Blog Archive » Carlo Colaiacovo and Alex Steen in uniform tonight for the St. Louis Blues

11.26.2008 4:19 pm

Carlo Colaiacovo and Alex Steen in uniform tonight for the St. Louis Blues

The immigration paperwork is complete.

After saying Carlo Colaiacovo and Alex Steen wouldn’t make their Blues’ debuts until Saturday, the two are in Denver and will be in the lineup tonight. I didn’t get a chance to talk with them yet, but they arrived at the rink around 11 a.m. and were getting up to speed.

Colaiacovo is expected to be paired with Jay McKee on defense, which means that Steve Wagner and Mike Weaver will be healthy scratches. The Blues will not carry eight defenseman permanently, so one of the defensemen will be sent to Peoria after tonight.

Right now, it looks like Wagner would be the guy because he’s the easiest guy to move. Wagner and Roman Polak do NOT need waivers and Jeff Woywitka doesn’t need waivers until he’s played 10 games or been up from Peoria 30 days. Weaver, although he’s on a two-way contract, would need to clear waivers to go to Peoria. He’s played 214 NHL games.

Colaiacovo will not be on the power play tonight, although part of the reason the Blues traded for him was his offensive ability. He did not play on the power play in Toronto and will have to work his way into the powre-play mix in St. Louis.

Polak played in Lee Stempniak’s spot on the point in Nashville, but tonight, David Perron could be manning the point. If the Blues move Perron to the point, Steen could play the half-board spot that Perron had been playing since the injuries to Andy McDonald and Patrik Berglund.

Steen could get a chance on one of the Blues’ top lines. He has played primarily a third- and fourth-line role in Toronto this year, but with all of the injuries on the Blues’ roster, they could give him a crack at one of the top-six spots. Steen can play in the middle, which gives the Blues the option of playing Keith Tkachuk at left wing.

Chris Porter will return to Peoria.

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You know you’re getting old when . . . Tkachuk played with Thomas Steen, Alex’s dad, in Winnipeg.

Tkachuk has played in 1,074 NHL games. The combined total of the other 11 forwards in Tuesday’s game at Nashville . . . 1,105.

Here’s the breakdown: Brad Boyes (265), Jay McClement (248), David Backes (140), Cam Janssen (125), Brad Winchester (122), David Perron (80), Yan Stastny (66), B.J. Crombeen (26), Steve Regier (22), Chris Porter (6) and Cam Paddock (5).

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Former Blue Peter Stastny and his wife, Darina, will be pround parents tonight. Their sons, Yan Stastny and Paul Stastny, will face each other tonight for the first time. They had breakfast together this morning in Denver and said they’re looking forward to the game.

Yan: “It’s pretty unique . . . it’s pretty special. It’s just another game, but for me especially, it’s fun to compete against him. We train so hard in the summers together, but it’s something very unique for me, for my brother and for the family in general.”

Paul: “We’ve been working so hard our whole lives. It’s always been a dream to just play in the NHL. Whether it was playing together or against each other, it’s something we’ve been looking forward. Our parents are most proud about this. We’ll go out there and have fun and it’s something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.”

Any last words for each other?

Yan: “Keep your head up.”

Paul: “I will.”

Peter and Darina will not be in attendance tonight. They’re both in Europe, but the Stastny boys said they will have plenty of mutual friends in the seats at Pepsi Center.

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Perron and Boyes had a couple of nice moves in the shootout Tuesday night in Nashville helping the Blues improve to 3-2 in the shootouts this season. I didn’t have space in the newspaper to talk about the shootout, because the storyline was all about Chris Mason, but here’s a quote from Perron from last night:

“We watched some shootouts with (Blues assistant Rick Wamsley) before the game, and we kind of knew that (Nashville goalie Dan Ellis) was going to stay on top of his crease,” Perron said. “But with a good goalie like he is, you still have to make a good move. I’m glad I got my first-career shootout goal.”

Someone asked me the other day for the Blues’ shootout stats. The Blues are 7-for-15 as a team, and the goalies have stopped 11 of 16 chances against. Here is the breakdown through last night’s game . . .

Brad Boyes: 3-5

Andy McDonald: 2-3

David Perron: 1-3

T.J. Oshie: 1-1

Patrik Berglund: 0-1

Paul Kariya: 0-1

Keith Tkachuk: 0-1

Manny Legace: 7 saves on 10 shots

Chris Mason: 2 saves on 2 shots

Ben Bishop: 2 saves on 4 shots

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