Ah, finally we come to the end of the Central, the St. Louis Blues, and the fifth preview of the day. It's been an interesting experience; tune in tomorrow, when I'll not only try to post five season preview on the site, I'll try to write ten!  Hooray!

These previews will now appear five a day (hopefully), or one division on each of Monday (Central), Tuesday (Northwestern), and Wednesday (Pacific) until the season starts on October 5th.  They will be put on-site by division, roughly in order of predicted finish.  Note that the rookies listed are only those most likely to make the team, not necessarily ones who have already sewn up a spot, and surprises always occur in training camp, though with camps out at this point the guesses are more solid than they were two weeks ago.  The In/Out portion represents significant players added and lost since the end of the 2003-04 season.  And now, on with the show...

In: Eric Brewer, Aaron Downey, Patrick Lalime, Dean McAmmond, Scott Young, Trent Whitfield

Out: Al MacInnis, Scott Mellanby, Chris Osgood, Murray Baron, Mike Danton, Pavol Demitra, Jeff Finley, Alexander Khavanov, Chris Pronger, Brian Savage

Rookies: Andy Roach, Jeff Woywitka, Doug Lynch, Dennis Wideman, Peter Sejna

Few moves this off-season were as clearly indicative of the new times in the NHL as St. Louis’s trade of Chris Pronger to Edmonton. While the Oiler fans celebrated as though it were some kind of poetic justice after the franchise had to get rid of so much high-priced talent in the past, including when they traded Doug Weight to St. Louis, the Blues and their fans are left to ponder what’s next for them. St. Louis has been notoriously bad at developing young players for years, and even with the addition of Woywitka and Lynch in the Pronger trade still have one of the worst prospect lists in the league. Yet with nearly $13.5 million in salary this season going to Weight and Keith Tkachuk alone, the Blues couldn’t afford to dive into the free agent market. At this point all St. Louis can do is put together a motley crew of veterans and youngsters, spend more money on their scouting department and hope for the best.

Strengths: 1. St. Louis has a good young defense, led by Brewer, Barret Jackman and Christian Backman. Under the new CBA rules Brewer is only one season away from unrestricted free agency, but by then Jackman and Backman may well be leading a defense that includes Woywitka, Lynch, and fellow prospects Dennis Wideman and Roman Polak. Matt Walker, meanwhile, is only 25 and is a fairly steady presence in his own zone, as are Bryce Salvador, 29,  and Eric Weinrich, who turns 39 in December but will provide some veteran leadership from the back end for at least this season. They’ll make some mistakes this year, but overall should be a fairly steady group.

2. Patrick Lalime was saddled with much of the blame for Ottawa’s 2004 playoff collapse, and rightly so, after he gave up a number of soft goals that killed his team’s chances in the first round against the Maple Leafs. However, the Blues' goal won’t be to win the Stanley Cup, but simply to make the playoffs, and Lalime does have the ability to help them get that far. Lalime’s statistics from his last four seasons as Ottawa’s starter aren’t mind-blowing, but you can’t argue with the results: in 245 games his record was 127-86-27. He had his ups and downs in Ottawa, but his consistency has improved and he is a solid NHL starter.

Weaknesses: 1. The Blues quite simply lost far too much firepower in Pavol Demitra and Chris Pronger and was unable to replace it. When you lose players of that caliber from a team that only finished 21^st in offense when they were around, as the Blues did in 2003-04, that’s not a recipe for success. While the team has Weight, who is still, at 34, a top level playmaker, and Tkachuk, who reported to camp overweight but still knows how to score, that’s only two-thirds of a top line, and this team doesn’t even have a suitable candidate to play on their right, let alone make up a decent second scoring line. This is a team so desperate for offense they signed 38-year-old Scott Young, who scored a grand total of eight goals for Dallas in 2003-04, and is depending heavily on Eric Boguniecki, who had one good NHL season in 2002-03 but has shown little before or since, Petr Cajanek, who has a total of 21 NHL goals in two seasons, and rookie Peter Sejna, who had all of 17 goals in the AHL last season, to produce. Even if Young can score twenty and Boguniecki, Cajanek and Sejna have career seasons it’ll be ugly.

2. While the Blues will be fairly solid on the blueline, they are lacking in an elite puck-mover, the kind of defenseman that can make the long pass that will be so critical in the new, two line pass-less NHL. The closest one to fit the bill is Brewer, but after watching him for four full seasons in Edmonton I can say honestly he looks like he’s taken a step back in his development. Brewer is 26, and if he’s ever going to develop into a legitimate number one defenseman it’ll have to be soon, but sometimes the mistakes he makes in all zones make him look like he’s still a rookie. Backman will be a good two-way performer, but never the kind of player the Blues need right now. If Jackman can develop an offensive side to his game the Blues will be thrilled, but he’s more of a defensive presence. After that it’s slim pickings on the Blues blueline as far as guys who can handle the puck and maybe run a power play.

Don’t be Surprised If: Weight becomes a highly-sought rental player at this season’s trade deadline. The Blues aren’t too likely to still be in the race at that point, Weight’s contract expires after this season, and he would look very good on a contender’s second line. Veterans like Mike Sillinger, Dallas Drake, McAmmond, Jamal Mayers and Weinrich could get a long look from a club trying to make a run at a Stanley Cup as well, and the Blues will be desperate to stock their club with draft choices and prospects by then.

Outlook: It really doesn’t look good in St. Louis. For this team to even get a sniff of the playoffs, Tkachuk will have to score 45-50 goals, Lalime will have to be a Vezina Trophy candidate, Weight will need to be around the 90 point mark, and Brewer will have to consistently show sides to his game that only shone through rarely in Edmonton. It’s just not very likely; it’s more likely that the Blues will be floundering around the conference basement this season.

Centres: 1. Doug Weight  2. Petr Cajanek  3. Mike Sillinger  4. Ryan Johnson  5. Trent Whitfield

Wingers: 1. Keith Tkachuk  2. Eric Boguniecki  3. Scott Young  4. Peter Sejna  4. Dallas Drake  5. Dean McAmmond  6. Jamal Mayers  7. Mark Rycroft  8. Reed Low  9. Aaron Downey

Defensemen: 1. Eric Brewer  2. Barret Jackman  3. Christian Backman  4. Bryce Salvador  5. Eric Weinrich  6. Matt Walker  7. Andy Roach  8. Dennis Wideman  9. Jeff Woywitka  10. Doug Lynch

Goalies: 1. Patrick Lalime  2. Reinhard Divis