Snapshots: Blues, Hall, Seguin

The St. Louis Blues will have a vastly different look this season after a summer of big changes. In an online chat on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website, Jeremy Rutherford chatted about some of the differences Blues fans can expect this coming season.

Regarding the Brian Elliott trade, Rutherford believed Blues GM Doug Armstrong made the trade to avoid losing him for nothing next summer when Elliott is a UFA. While the trade could go wrong if Jake Allen struggles or gets hurt, the trade makes sense, asset-management wise.

Former captain David Backes left town for a bigger contract in Boston; while Backes claimed Bruins forwards Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand convinced him to sign in Boston, Rutherford shut down that idea saying players will sign wherever is best for them and that if the Blues had offered Backes a fifth year, then it wouldn’t have mattered what Bergeron and Marchand said. As far as replacing Backes as captain, Rutherford felt it was safe to assume one of the remaining assistant captains (Alex Pietrangelo and Alex Steen) would be the new captain. The new assistant would likely be one of Paul Stastny, Jaden Schwartz, and Vladimir Tarasenko – who Rutherford believed was “pretty disappointed to not get an A last year”.

Here are some other notes from around the hockey world:

• It’s New Jersey Devils day on Pro Hockey Talk, and they have named Taylor Hall as their player under pressure this season. Adam Gretz justified the choice by saying while he knows Hall will produce, he’ll be under scrutiny because of the perception that he’s at fault for the Oilers misfortunes over the last six years and the high price that the Devils parted with to acquire him. Oscar Klefbom’s comments about Hall and Ben Scrivens subsequent agreement will also be weighing on Hall as he looks to prove his former team and teammates wrong.
• Speaking of top picks from the 2010 NHL Draft that Peter Chiarelli has traded, Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin says he’s ready to go for the upcoming World Cup in September. Seguin missed all but one of the Stars playoff games with Achilles and calf injuries. Seguin told Steve Hunt of NHL.com it’s been “a bit of a different summer as far as training-wise just coming off an injury, but feeling great and looking forward to the World Cup”.