Dan in San Antonio: JR,

Thanks for the chats. I saw the current makeup of the lines, and they look really strong. There were three legit scoring lines, and the 'energy' line was last years shutdown line. As odd as this will sound given the years of the Blues making due with grinders, will we miss some of that? Maybe all the injuries caused me to give up on having this much talent, but it just seems shocking to see those lines written down.

Thanks again,
Dan

Jeremy Rutherford: The Blues had the makings of three scoring lines last year before injuries claimed Kariya, McDonald and Oshie. Now that they're back on the ice, the skill depth is back. The way I look at it, if you have Steen-McClement-Crombeen as a fourth line, you've got three pretty good lines above them.

Matt: Hey JR,

Are the Blues or NHL going to do re-air the 1st Game in Sweden since it will be on Verses, and not everyone has Verses?

Has there been anyone at camp that has really raised their stock, with a great camp, and has there be anyone whose stock has dropped, because of a bad camp?

Matt

Jeremy Rutherford: I'm not sure about a TV replay. I'm sure you'll be able to find it somewhere.

Raising their stock: Brad Winchester, Derek Armstrong, Alex Pietrangelo, Ben Bishop

Stock falling: I'm not going to get into names here, but Andy Murray said this week that he's put a few veteran players on alert.

forehandbackhandwaterbottle: What is your relationship with Andy Strickland? Do you consider him your competition? Do the two of you feed off of each other? Do you have the same sources? What does Andy discuss that you will not touch...vise versa?

Jeremy Rutherford: We're are dating.

Just kidding. I know Andy very well and he does a terrific job covering the Blues. As far as competition, I've never been a reporter who looked at my job as battling another media member head-to-head. It's about telling stories and letting people inside the locker room. Sure, my job requires me to break news, and that's a fun part of the job. But I like telling stories a lot more.

Andy has a lot of sources and breaks a lot of news, but hopefully over the long haul, I'll break some news, too. We do talk a lot about the Blues, but don't really share secrets. With his website, Andy gets into a lot more rumors than I do. I'm not a big rumor guy, but obviously there's a market for that.

forehandbackhandwaterbottle: A question I posted on the boards...

What if:

Brewer returns, Pietrangelo and Sydor are both playing well. The two of them are rotating with Mike Weaver...each sitting about every third game. What kind of decision does the team make? Will they keep 8 defenseman or try to work a trade with another team? Or do they cut ties with Sydor/Weaver?

Jeremy Rutherford: That's a good question, and it may be coming sooner than later.

Brewer has been skating lately and is starting to feel a lot better. I still think it'll be November or December before he plays. If those other guys are playing well when he returns, that will be a good problem for the Blues to have. The key there is Pietrangelo . . . if he stays, they're going to play him. The Blues have a lot more allegiance to his development than the do Sydor.

I doubt the Blues would keep eight defensemen, so somebody will be moving. Too early to speculate who.

forehandbackhandwaterbottle: Which will fall out first...BJ Crombeen's front tooth, the the hair on top of your head?

Jeremy Rutherford: You probably mean, 'Which fell out first?' because I looked in the mirror today and my hair is gone. Then I went to the rink today and interviewed Crombeen, and his tooth is gone, too.

I'll have to ask him when he lost it. I started losing my hair a few years ago.