With the NHL trade deadline nine days away, the Blues present a certain Seinfeld personality. That is, they are a show about nothing.
To explain, they recently have made some important moves while making no moves at all. Three of those non-moves before the deadline paid dividends in a 5-1 victory Thursday night.
Recent addition Andy McDonald scored a goal, as did fresh face Jason Arnott, and newcomer Kent Huskins had an assist.
The beauty of it is the Blues didn't give up a thing to get them. And with any luck, the team might add two more substantial players — Alex Steen and Matt D'Agostini — by doing nothing before the deadline on Feb. 27. Or, as Jerry Seinfeld himself might say, "Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason."
None of the players mentioned was wearing the Note a week ago, but all five might be considered significant pieces to a playoff push. In the midst of a heinous loss at Columbus and a trampoline win over New York, one couldn't help but appreciate the bigger picture.
The Blues have 25 games remaining in a regular season that has inspired champagne wishes and playoff dreams. As the trading deadline nears, fans are intrigued by the possibilities and the media satisfies the infatuation with analysis and speculation. For their part, the Blues could be a different looking team when the deadline passes without making any deals. Health-care promises to impact their roster more profoundly than trades.
"That's a sign of depth," said Alex Pietrangelo, whose three assists Thursday give him 21 points in his past 19 games. "We all know (T.J.) Oshie and (David) Backes and (David) Perron have scored a lot of goals for us lately, but we have four lines that can score and contribute.
"You can go through the whole team and find guys that can contribute. Everybody knows what Arnie and Mac can do, and what Huskie brings. For those guys to come back ... it's excitement in the room. Those guys bring a lot of energy to the room."
The energy was evident during moments of the Blues' lopsided win Thursday. After missing 51 games with a concussion, McDonald scored a goal in his third game back, giving the Blues a 3-1 lead. It wasn't the go-ahead goal, it was the go-ahead-and-book-it goal. The Blues are 27-0 when they score as many as three goals.
After missing seven games with a shoulder injury, Arnott netted the Blues' first goal of the game, tying things at 1-1 late in the first period. Huskins assisted on the team's last goal and offered steady support to Pietrangelo's blossoming offensive game. The veteran defenseman missed 47 games with a fractured ankle. Huskins was out so long he was making his debut for Ken Hitchcock, who replaced Davis Payne behind the bench in early November.
The point is, their presence changes the landscape dramatically for an otherwise young group. All three players are veterans who have gone deep into the playoffs and won Stanley Cups. Moreover, if a trade presents itself, the Blues have more moving pieces to make the puzzle work.
"What you want is depth," Hitchcock said. "At this time of the year, if NHL coaches could have 30 players, they'd have 30 players. This is the greedy time for us. We want competition for jobs. We want depth. We want flexibility on the roster. This is the real selfish time for us.
"We're getting close to the trade deadline, so we want as many players as we can maneuver around. We want to keep the players on edge that aren't performing, so they understand that it's not a given. They're not just going to get a spot on the team and keep it. It's going to be performance-based. And the third thing is, we want to know that if somebody goes down, we've got somebody comparable to come in."
Keep in mind Steen was the team's leading scorer and plus-20 when he left the lineup with a concussion Dec. 27. D'Agostini (also concussion symptoms) is a top-nine forward who had nine goals and a plus-15 rating when he was injured Feb. 7. With the Blues' lame-duck financial situation and blue-collar chemistry, it's quite possible they will do nothing before the trade deadline. Yet, that could translate into a lot.
"First of all, Huskie and Petro played well together, that's a good sign," Hitchcock said. "Getting the power-play goals (two) was a good sign. And for me, Andy McDonald adds an element that we haven't had here all year. I think getting people used to playing with Andy is going to be really important. If we get him the puck more ... we're going to be much more dangerous on the offensive side of things.
"For me, there's a lot of elements potential-wise. But we've got to clean up our own end."
The Blues have been messier than finger paint in the defensive end. Road wins at Ottawa and New Jersey had artistic flaws, the loss at Columbus was guttural and, score notwithstanding, the beat down of the Islanders was hardly masterpiece theater.
The Blues lead the league in allowing the fewest shots per game (26.4), but they have allowed 60 in their past two starts. Goaltender Brian Elliott stopped 26 shots against New York, many of them top quality. The Blues, who aspire to be quick and decisive out of their end, have been sluggish.
"There's a little part of our game ... we're giving up far too many chances and we're getting beat in areas we haven't been beat in all year," Hitchcock said. "We have to address it and get going."
Getting veteran players back won't hurt. This club has been invincible at home (25-3-4), vulnerable on the road (10-12-3). After playing host to Minnesota in a 1 o'clock matinee today, the Blues play 16 of the final 24 games away from Scottrade, starting Sunday at Chicago.
That said, 10 of the team's 12 road losses came without McDonald in the lineup, eight were without Huskins on patrol, and most have come without the Blues' corps of veterans intact. In short, the Blues are confident the squad they take through the final six weeks will be different, literally and figuratively.
"If we can do it here, ... we can do it on the road," said Perron, who has seven goals in his past six games. "Not playing as many games on the road (thus far) is maybe one of the reasons (for the poor record), I don't know.
"But I think once we get on the road a lot and play a lot of games, we'll be able to take our game to the next level and ... getting these guys back is going to help us do that."
Stay tuned as the trading deadline approaches. The Blues might get stronger by doing absolutely nothing.
