SALT LAKE CITY -- Before he gave the keynote address to the Associated Press Sports Editors convention, Blues owner Dave Checketts took a few minutes to talk hockey.

He was still excited over the trade for goaltender Jaroslav Halak from Montreal and looking forward to today's draft.

"Halak's the guy who was playing out of his mind to beat the Caps and Penguins," Checketts turned and said to one of his non-hockey friends from Salt Lake while waiting to give his speech.

Checketts said ticket sales have gone up since last week's deal with Montreal for Halak.

As part of his prepared speech to the sports editors, Checketts mentioned his desire to fulfill St. Louis' "40 years" of wanting the Cup.

Later in his Q-and-A session, he laughed a bit about how his "ambitious" statement to the Post-Dispatch in describing the team's off-season took on a life of its own.

He said by "ambitious" he knew there were a lot of things going to be happening, such as Jarmo Kekalainen's departure, Doug Armstrong taking over, etc.

"I might have put JD in a tough spot," Checketts said. "It wasn't like we were going to go out and spend up to the cap, we just can't do that."

Still, Checketts is excited about what the Blues could do before tonight's draft, leaving at least a hint of possible deals.