Jeremy Rutherford: Hope everyone is staying out of the rain and doing well today. Let's get started

Scott L: Howdy JR:

Why is Alex Pietrangelo getting no games under his belt? I understand he is getting his chance to be in the NHL and will get his opportunity at some point, but with him only playing one game compared to Strachan's handful in which he is playing for Peoria, does it feel like a waste of time for Pietrangelo where he could play juniors one more year? I'm finding this to be a questionable move by Andy Murray.

Jeremy Rutherford: It's a fair question, Scott, but right now the Blues need to win games. I did a survey of folks who cover the team on a regular basis, and all agreed that, while Pietrangelo has improved immensely, he isn't one of the top six defensemen on this team right now. The Blues are more comfortable with Tyson Strachan as their sixth guy than Pietrangelo.

Pietrangelo deserves to be in St. Louis with the way he worked in the offseason, but with the Blues 3-3-1, they need to win games. He is getting practice work and off-ice conditioning that is invaluable. Even Pietrangelo would tell you that he's benefiting more from being with the Blues (and not playing regularly) than going back to junior.

Ty: I've read that the Blues feel that their defense has been adequate. And I agree that defensively they aren't bad, however, it seems as a defensive unit they don't either have the ability or willingness to skate the puck out of the zone (except for EJ). I've seen a lot of neutral zone dumping of the puck to our forwards. We aren't skating it out and creating speed through the neutral zone, which is creating lots of turnovers and easy offensive opportunities for other teams. Defensive possession would seem to improve this offense dramatically. Do you agree and have the Blues acknowledged this? Possession play seems to be lacking in our own zone.

Jeremy Rutherford:
The defense has been adequate, but you're right . . . with the exception of the Anaheim game, we haven't seen the defensemen skate with authority into the neutral zone. The haven't been too many breakouts where the defensemen are feeding the forwards the puck with speed.

The Blues don't have too many d-men who can do that, with the exception of Johnson. They do have guys, though, who are capable of making short, crisp passes out of the zone . . . and then it's up to the forwards to make something happen. The forwards aren't doing that right now.

Matt S: Thanks JR, I was wondering who won the shootout competition from camp? Last I heard Cam had the lead but I never heard who was the winner.

Jeremy Rutherford: There was never a winner announced, but to my knowledge, David Backes has the most shootout goals in camp.

Dale Rolando: Jeremy,
I know it is a long season, but do you see any reason to panic, especially after the Pittsburgh game? Glad to see Andy Murray address the situation, after reading your article this morning. Watching the game on Versus Tuesday night, he sure looked steamed during the timeout. Thanks for taking the time to answer all of our questions.

Jeremy Rutherford:
I'm sure some Blues fans are beginning to panic already. When I hear that, I think about the team being in 15th place in the West last February. That was beyond time to panic, and still the Blues played their way into the postseason. Obviously, we'll probably never see a run like that again in our lifetime, so they don't want to get themselves in that position. With that said, seven games in an 82-game schedule is nearly 1/10th of your season. The bottom line is the Blues can't allow their early performance to snowball. Tuesday in Pittsburgh was ugly. I'm interested in seeing how the team bounces back at home Friday.