Jeremy Rutherford: I hope you enjoyed having T.J. Oshie with us last week. I will be taking your questions today. I will be on vacation next week, and when I return, we will ramp up our draft conversations. We've got a week's worth of draft coverage planned for the Post-Dispatch leading up to the June 20-21 draft in Ottawa. So that should be fun to work on, and then of course, the free-agency period will open shortly after the draft. Lots ahead . . . keep the questions coming!

Tank: Hey JR, I think the Blues have one of the best uniforms in the NHL and I can not wait to see the new third jersey. That you know of, has any Blues goaltender expressed interest in wearing predominately yellow pads? I think this would look great with the Blues' jersey.

Jeremy Rutherford: Now those would be bright. Who wears the bright orange ones? DiPietro, Biron???? I don't see Manny wearing the yellow. He's not a flashy guy, and I think you'd have to be confident in yourself to wear the yellow pads.

Brad T: Thanks JR for these chats and answering my question.
I haven't heard too much about RJ anymore, what's the story? Are the Blues interested anymore?
It would be a shame to loose someone so good at their position. Have you heard anything?

Jeremy Rutherford: As of a week ago, the Blues have not offered RJ a contract. The Blues say that they still have some decisions to make before they would entertain re-signing RJ. Those decisions include whether Yan Stastny or Chris Porter could fill R.J.'s role cheaper. From what I gather, R.J. is asking for a three-year deal in the neighborhood of $1.3 million. That's not a bad price, but I don't think the Blues are interested in a three-year deal. R.J., whose a third- or fourth-line player would be 34 by the end of the contract. I would give him two years for year and I would consider three. But the Blues have to look at what they have coming up, and then decide if three years makes sense to them.

Adam: Why doesn't the NHL mirror the NBA's playoff scheduling format? Then we wouldn't have to wait 5 days for another playoff game.

Jeremy Rutherford: I can't answer your question because I have the same question. The NBA sometimes has second-round series beginning when some first-round series aren't wrapped up. I don't know if the issue in the NHL is TV-related. It doesn't make sense. Granted, Pittsburgh had to wait until Detroit wrapped up its series, but the Finals should have begun two days later. The series will be a good one, but any casual fan who got caught up in Pittsburgh's run, or watched Detroit lay the hammer on Dallas in Game 6 has probably forgotten that by now.

Jeff Q: JR,

Thanks for a great chat w/ TJ.

1. Does the signing of Eller mean that the Blues are pondering letting McClement, RJ, and Stastny all go? Or does it point more to the Blues keeping one of the 3 for a 1-2 year contract?

2. Give McDonald's contact being up next year and his earning potential being 4mil +...do you see the Blues going for a vet to add depth this year while allowing for a cheaper than 4 mil contract to fill gap time till TJ and Berg could assume both the #1 and #2 Center roles?

3. Can the Blues of 08-09 be what Chicago, Phoenix, and Edmonton were 07-08? Or would it be more realistic to say that would be 09-10? Meaning seeing a sustained impact from guys like TJ, Berg, Eller, DP, (...and maybe the #4 draft pick?) the way the other teams got help from Kane, Towes, Mueller, Hanzel, Gagner, etc?

Jeremy Rutherford: 1. No. Eller will probably play in Sweden next year, which doesn't effect any of those players you mentioned.

2. The McDonald contract worked perfectly for the Blues. They got a skilled center in the Doug Weight deal to help them last season, and now they get a first- or second-line center this year for $3.3 million. That's a lot cheaper than if they had to go into free agency looking for one. If McDonald performs, the Blues will try and re-sign him. If not, they'll let him go. At that point they can either use that money on somebody else or bank on Oshie and Berglund coming through, based on what they do this season.

3. Those teams weren't much better than the Blues and got great play out of their young kids. I think everyone in the league considers the Blues to have the same caliber of young talent as the teams you mentioned. Which team is able to put it together faster remains to be seen. But I don't think the Blues have to wait until 09-10 to match those teams.