Patrick Berglund

St Louis Blues have overnight confirmed, that Patrick Berglund has penned a two year extension on his contract. Bergy will get $4.5m over two years, the actual deal being $2m in the 1st season and $2.5 in the 2nd, although the cap hit will be a constant $2.25m.


Last season was difficult for Berglund. He appeared in all 82 regular season games for The Blues,but due to injuries to Perron and Oshie as well as the trade of Boyes, he didn't get to play on a set line or in a set position. Despite all that the managed 52pts (22 goals, 30 assists) and an overall rating of -3, which really doesn't do his efforts justice.

I think the deal shows that the Front Office have the faith in the 22yr old, yet puts the ball firmly in his court. Perform over the next two seasons and you could be writing big numbers next contract, whether that be with The Blues or somewhere else...

Decent extension for a young player about to start reaching his peak seasons.

Great deal for the Blues IMO

I like Berglund and agree this is a good extension for him and the team. The Blues do have some exciting young players.

mc_homer wrote:I like Berglund and agree this is a good extension for him and the team. The Blues do have some exciting young players.

Indeed. But when is this collection of talented kids going to achieve something? Is there a coaching issue? Because on current ability that is a playoff team, and on potential a serious contender. Any thoughts Driz?

They'd surely be a lock for a play-off spot in any division in the east except maybe the Atlantic that could be holding them up from that next step up. 24mil of cap space last season perhaps 1 or two strong or possibly a big UFA signing could give them the push they need.

Oh ladies and gentlemen, if only the answer was a simple as you make it. Rather than one obvious problem, I think we have a lot of smaller contributary factors.

The owners want to sell the club, hence the $24m cap space. They are trying to do the job on the cheap at the moment, but trying to still make saleable. Nobody wants to buy, why?, I have no idea. We have, as you all seem to agree, one of the most talented young squads in the league. We have an arena which is bigger than most, which the fans pack out game in game out. We may not have the history, but in our 44yr existance we have made the play-offs over 30 times.


The coach: Davis Payne. In my opinion, he is doing a great job. When he joined in December 09, we were in turmoil. Andy Murray had turned the youngsters into quivering wrecks. Everytime they made a mistake, they were either hauled off the ice or shifted onto another line. They were in the end too scared to play hockey. Then Payne made the step up from Peoria(yet another cheap option by the owners) and gave them their mojo back. We had our best 2nd half of the season ever(25-8- and we made the play-offs from absolutely nowhere.

This season, to be fair to him, he again hasn't done much wrong. He had us playing some awesome hockey early and late season. This is possibly where I make a slight critisism of Davis Payne. We were flying, and at some point we were going to crash land. It was up to him to bring the team down gently.Instead he allowed Thornton, Chara and some other thug from Columbus to do it for him. That week and the subsequent injuries to Perron and Oshie along with the trades of Brewer, Johnson and Boyes have made it a steep learning curve. The only fear I have is that one of the 'bigger' teams may spot the real potential he has and snap him up before we get the best of him.

The players we have now need to take the next step. We need a leader, not a captain, but a leader. We had one in Tkachuk and we have missed him this passed season. The previous season on a road trip, he did something very simple, but it concentrated everybodies minds. At the end of the morning skate, the players were messing about, 37 yr old Tkachuk hopped over the boards onto the next rink and joined some locals. He played a couple of shifts on a defensive line to ' sharpened up his back checking'. At the moment we don't have that player.

What we do have in Perron (should he ever play again), Oshie, Backes,Stewart, Steen, Berglund and McDonald is quality going forward. What we need to finish that peice of the jigsaw, is a player of the next level. A Thornton, Richards or Parise. Defensively in Pietroangelo, Cole, Shattenkirk, Colo and Polak we are good, but we need a 'grizzled', 'been around the block' Pronger type d-man just to add a bit of nouce and muscle.

So ladies and gentleman, I apologise, perhaps it is that easy. New owners, 2 stellar players and a bit of lady luck...

ST LOUIS BLUES 2011-12 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS

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