Jeremy Rutherford: Thanks for joining me again on a Friday. We will go back to our regular day of Thursday beginning next week.

I just caught up with former Blue Ryan Johnson in the Vancouver locker room. He is expected to be back in the lineup tonight after missing games with a broken finger and (I believe) a broken foot.

Let's get chattin . . .

mworobec: Do you think Mason will be traded to make room for Bishop? If not what do you think the Blues will do in order to improve our goaltending this year?/next year?

Jeremy Rutherford:
That won't happen. The Blues want Bishop playing in Peoria, and they've committed to Mason with his $3 million salary. Mason is better than his 3-12-1 record, but I don't think any teams are going to look at that record and trade for him at that salary.

Ryan: JR, in last week's chat you said Pietrangelo might find himself in Peoria if he doesn't increase his intensity. While I agree with the intensity part, won't Petro have to go back to juniors if he doesn't make the Blues? I thought the rule was CHL players couldn't play in the AHL until they were either 20 or have completed 4 CHL seasons...this is Petro's 3rd year with Niagra. Can you clarify once and for all if Petro will or will not be able to play in Peoria next season?

Jeremy Rutherford:
Yes, if Pietrangelo doesn't make the Blues' roster next year, he will go back to juniors.

Tank: Hey there JR, In your article on the Blues vs. Columbus game you mentioned that the game plan going into that game was to pressure the goalie. It seemed like this worked for the Blues really well. My question to you is does Andy Murry always put alot of focus on goalie pressure because if not he should. Oh and one more thing: "They were desperate," Hitchcock said. "They lost a lot of hockey games ... they were really desperate and they played like that." Did he really say that? Whats up with that?

Jeremy Rutherford:
I agree with you. The Blues did put a lot of pressure on Mason. That could be a good strategy every night, but I don't know if Roberto Luongo is going to be as rattled as a 20-year-old rookie like Mason.

Yes, Hitchcock did make those comments. He also said that Scottrade is a real tough building to play in for the Blue Jackets, but I didn't have room to put those comments in the paper.

STL fan in IA: Hey JR,

Have the Blues given any reason why they haven't tried Backes at center instead of Tkachuk? Backes looked good there the brief time he played center earlier in the season and Tkachuk is MUCH better on the wing. KT seems to be pretty good at faceoffs so perhaps he could take the faceoff but then transition to LW once play starts? Just a thought.

What are your thoughts on using Tkachuk at center?

Jeremy Rutherford:
I still haven't gotten on answer on why Backes didn't stay at center. Andy Murray will speak with the media soon here in Vancouver, but I will be conducting the chat at the same time. So I will make sure I ask him tonight and post a response later. That's something I've been meaning to ask for a week or so.

On Tkachuk at center, I'm like everybody else (including Tkachuk) in that I think he's better at wing. To be fair, though, Murray doesn't have a lot of options.