Good morning ...

Reading Time 5 Minutes:

1. The Cardinals face a major decision on catcher Yadier Molina. With the departure of pitching coach Dave Duncan, Molina is more valuable than ever. He's a great defensive catcher, an improving offensive player, and someone that the pitching staff entrusts as a leader.

It seems to me that if the Cardinals want to keep Molina beyond this season, his price will only go up, so they'd be wise to try and make a deal sooner than later. Barring a major injury, Molina figures to be an in-demand free agent after the season. The meter is running.

2. The Rams made an interesting hire in bringing in Frank Cignetti as the QB coach. Cignetti left his post as the offensive coordinator at Rutgers. He has vast experience in college football and also put in some NFL time as an assistant at New Orleans and Kansas City. His name probably didn't get many Rams fans excited, which is fine. But I like what I'm hearing. Kevin Weidl of ESPN tweeted this: "Good hire by the Rams. One of the more underrated developers of QBs and should help Sam Bradford immensely."

There's another reason why this may turn out to be a good fit: Cignetti's personality. He's animated, energetic, and fairly aggressive. Why does that matter? Rams head coach Jeff Fisher is excited by Bradford's talent, but wants to see the young QB develop more of a take-charge personality. And that includes raising hell with the coaches if they're calling stupid plays or failing to make necessary adjustments. Bradford needs to come out of his shell a bit more. Cignetti seemingly has the kind of personality that can draw out the fiery side of Bradford's demeanor. Longtime NFL assistant Rick Venturi, now with radio station 101 ESPN in St. Louis, formed a positive impression of Cignetti when they were on the New Orleans' staff in 2000-2001. And Venturi believes Cignetti will be right for Bradford.

3. David Perron has the potential to be the Blues' most impactful player. Please notice that I didn't say best player, or most valuable player, or most highly regarded player around the NHL. We're talking impact here. We're talking about someone that can step up and make a difference to strengthen the team's weakest area: scoring punch. Perron's two goals in Tuesday's 3-1 win at Ottawa were the type of goals that the Blues have been lacking. Perron went to the net. He got in close. The Blues' forwards generally spend too much time on the perimeter.  (Not all of them. But overall it's pretty noticeable.)

Perron obviously has plenty of natural-born offensive ability and flair and is capable of elevating this team. Consider: when Perron has scored at least one goal in a game during his career, the Blues are 32-12-6 in those games. When Perron records at least one point in a game in his career, the Blues are 69-29-16. He can be huge. In 27 games since returning from his lengthy shutdown due to concussion symptoms, Perron has 6 goals and 13 assists. But you get the feeling that he's sharpening up and ready to deliver more impact.

4. With the Blues headed to New Jersey for Thursday night's game, we'll make a call to the New Jersey State Police to see if they can help the team find Chris Stewart, the missing power forward. No goals and only 20 shots in his last 10 games despite receiving nearly 151 minutes of ice time during the 10-game stretch. It is a strange case. Stewart is visible at the practice rink, and inside the arena. But then the game starts and ... poof! Where did he go? Seriously. Stewart should be a formidable presence, given his combination of size, quick feet, and flexible hands. I'm not sure why we rarely see his "A" game. With the Blues so banged up at forward, the time is right for Stewart to crank it up.

5. We have praised Missouri's basketball team for its record, its hard work, its unselfish and unified play. But I wanted to mention something that deserves more praise: this is a classy group. It really is. Two things made that perfectly clear in recent days. First, after MU raced back to upend Kansas on Saturday night, Kim English and Marcus Denmon took a stand and discouraged fans from rushing the court at Mizzou Arena. Why? A simple reason: the Tigers' players expect to win home games, even against Kansas, so there's no need to act like you've never won a big game before. I like that. Second, when Oklahoma's Steven Pledger missed a 3-point buzzer shot that would have tied Missouri on Monday night, he slumped to the floor -- distraught by the miss. MU's Ricardo Ratliffe and English displayed first-rate sportsmanship and fine decency by walking over to Pledger to help him up and console him. The OU hoops office was so impressed by that, it posted a photo of the scene on Twitter and praised Ratliffe and English.

Thanks for reading ...

-Bernie