After a miserable 2-8-0 in their last ten games, the pressure was on GM Gareth Evans to make a move, and tonight he's made two in the matter of seconds. "To tell you the truth, one of the deals was agreed on a couple days ago but we needed to find the space. After agreeing to the second deal, we went back to the other GM to confirm that we now have space."
David Aebischer paid the price for some lousy goaltending causing him to be waived and sent to the farm team. "We were trying to move him, but nobody wants him," said GM Evans. Jimmy Howard will now be the backup to Nabakov. Radek Bonk was brought in for a 5th round pick to help shore up the defensive side of the depth lines in St Louis, most likely finding a home on the third or fourth line.
Then came the two big deals, both came with conference rivals. The first was with Calgary, sending away Adam Foote and Vernon Fiddler and getting Jason Smith, Ruslan Fedotenko, Calgary's 3rd round pick in the upcoming draft and prospect Drew Miller. The deal saw the Blues save over 1.25 million dollars which allowed them to take the earlier offer.
The second deal saw the Blues capture highly-sought after offensive defenseman Sergei Gonchar from Vancouver. GMs Joyce and Evans have been frequent trade partners in other leagues but haven't come upon a trade in this league until tonight. The deal sees Michal Rozsival and Dan Cleary go the other way. "We hated to lose Cleary who's on pace for a possible 30 goal season and Rozsival continue his strong play, but when you get the chance to add someone of Gonchar's quality for a price tag of less than 4 million, it makes it a little easier." The deal sees the Blues gain 1.3 million, so in total the Blues add just under 30k in space.
