Beiträge von vitt

  • Pöck bzw. Brandner

    Frage mich, warum Thomas Pöck und Christoph Brandner bei den letzten Vorbereitungsspielen ihrer jeweiligen AHL-Teams nicht im Kader aufscheinen.


    Sind sie verletzt oder in einem Formtief.....????

    Bitte um Infos!

    danke

  • Tickets für WM 2005

    hab gerade karten (can/usa) über internet reserviert. hat gut funktioniert!
    man kann jedoch nur für 4 personen im stück bestellen.
    die nette überraschung am ende: für jede bestellung 9,50 eur
    nachnahme!! also bei 5 personen...........nicht gerade billig

  • Lalime zu den Blues

    Schlechte Nachrichten für Reinhard Divis. Nach Jason Bacashihua wurde Patrick Lalime von Ottawa verpflichtet.


    St. Louis Blues Acquire Goaltender Patrick Lalime From Ottawa
    In Exchange For A Conditional Fourth Round Selection
    In the 2005 NHL Entry Draft

    St. Louis, MO, June 27, 2004 - Senior Vice President and General Manager Larry Pleau announced today that the club has acquired goaltender Patrick Lalime from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a conditional fourth round selection in the 2005 Entry Draft.

    Lalime, 29, played in 57 games last season with Ottawa, posting a 25-23-7 record along with a 2.29 goals against average. He has spent the past five seasons with Ottawa, with his best season being the 2002-03 campaign. During the 2002-03 season, he played in a career high 67 games while also setting career highs in wins (39) and shutouts (eight). He ranked second among NHL goaltenders in wins and was tied for second among league netminders in shutouts. He ranked fourth in minutes played (3,943), and fifth in goals-against average (2.16), while being named to his first career NHL All-Star Team.

    The St. Bonaventure, Quebec native tied an NHL postseason record by recording three consecutive shutouts during the 2001-02 postseason. He is Ottawa's all-time postseason leader in games played (41), wins (18) and shutouts (five). He has played in 322 career NHL games, registering a 167-112-32 record along with a 2.39 goals against average. The 6'3'' 192-pound goaltender was originally Pittsburgh's sixth round selection, 156th overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft.

    :angry:  :angry:  :angry:

  • Saison 2003/04

    Blues are planning to cut payroll again next season
    By TOM TIMMERMANN
    Of the Post-Dispatch
    04/19/2004


    St. Louis Blues head coach Mike Kitchen, left, and Larry Pleau, Senior Vice President and General Manager.
    (James A. Finley/AP)

    The Blues trimmed their payroll for this season by a few million dollars after losing in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. Now, after struggling to get into the playoffs and then making an early exit again in 2004, general manager Larry Pleau plans to trim the payroll again and go with a younger team next season.


    Even with the dollars going down, Pleau believes the team's performance can go up.

    "We want to be competitive," Pleau said Monday. "We're going to cut payroll. We did some last year and we'll continue to cut payroll. ... If you look at the National Hockey League today, success is not dictated by how much your payroll is. The parity of the game is so close right now.

    "Things can change quick. It's easy to say we're going to change everybody. We're not going to change everybody. We're going to try to make the proper changes, create a chemistry that's competitive and get ourselves back to being competitive with other teams. ... Is it going to take a year, is it going to take two years? Only time is going to dictate that. But we are going to get younger and our payroll is going to be less."

    Pleau said the size of the payroll hasn't been set but will be "considerably less" than the $60 million the Blues spent this season. He also said the team will stay out of the high-priced free agent market.

    But even if the Blues don't lavish a big contract on anyone new, cutting the payroll significantly won't be easy with the contracts they already have in place. Pleau plans to build around defenseman Chris Pronger, a restricted free agent who will receive a qualifying offer of $9.5 million for next season. Winger Keith Tkachuk will make $9 million and center Doug Weight $7 million. That's $25.5 million tied up in just those three players, and there are 20 or so more players to deal with after that.

    Getting rid of Tkachuk or Weight will be tricky, since both have no-trade clauses. One player who seems likely to be dealt is forward Pavol Demitra, a restricted free agent who made $6.5 million last season.

    "You have to look at everything," Pleau said. "You're looking at your contracts, what you're committed to, what your options are there. You have to look at the play over the season, the play in the playoffs. You can't make a snap decision at this time."

    The biggest problem for the Blues this season was scoring goals, and when asked about that on Monday, Pleau focused on Tkachuk and Demitra.

    "In the playoffs, if Pavol and (Tkachuk) contribute offensively to their abilities, we're not talking about (scoring troubles)," Pleau said. "You can't just blame two players, but Pavol struggled all year as far as putting the puck in the net."

    "Your best players have to be your best players," said coach Mike Kitchen, who didn't mention Tkachuk and Demitra by name. "That takes a lot of pressure off the rest of your lineup. ... We had a few players who didn't play up to their capabilities and there were some timely goals that weren't scored and some timely goals that were scored against us. And that really hurts your team."

    Complicating any rebuilding plan is that the Blues' farm system is not bubbling over with big scorers. Farmhands Peter Sejna, Johnny Pohl, Mike Glumac and Jay McClement may be ready to make the move to the NHL, but also could benefit from more seasoning in the minors. If next season is delayed or canceled by a lockout, that could help give them time to develop.

    Besides Weight and Tkachuk, four other Blues are under contract for next season - Reed Low, Bryce Salvador, Brian Savage and Matt Walker. Savage probably will be returned to Phoenix. Several other Blues, most notably Barret Jackman and Christian Backman, are restricted free agents who will be retained by the Blues through qualifying offers.

    The Blues also have to make a decision about goalie Chris Osgood. The team has an option on him for next season at $3.3 million. If the Blues decide not to keep him, they will have to acquire a goalie or turn the spot over to backup Reinhard Divis or Curtis Sanford, the top goalie at Worcester. Though both have potential, neither is proven at the NHL level.

    "We have a big decision to make with Chris, there's no doubt about it," Pleau said. "We have an option on his contract and what we'll do we're not sure. Can I sit here and say he lost the series for us? I can't say that. ... Could Chris have done more? Of course he could have. Would we have liked him to do more? Yes. Do we expect more from him? Yes. Did he jump out and win that one game for us? No."

    One thing that will be different about this offseason is that there will be no talk of firing the coach. Kitchen, who took over for Joel Quenneville in February, will spend the summer getting ready to put his own stamp on the team, something he couldn't do in the desperate playoff dash.

    "It was such a push to get into the playoffs, you have to do what's best for the team and stay positive and at the same time keep them focused," Kitchen said. "(Starting fresh) you can mold a team more to what you'd like."

    http://www.stltoday.com/sports/blues/