Training camp 2.0 begins for Blues; Pietrangelo hopeful of remaining
in St. Louis; Perunovich signs; Tucker, Hofer on roster; no Blues opt out
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The winter boys were back in town.
In July.
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| (St. Louis Blues photo)
Blues players (from left) Robert Thomas, Jacob de la Rose, Sammy Blais,
Zach Sanford, Troy Brouwer and Tyler Bozak were part of the resumption
of training camp on Monday.
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Yes, that's right, July, and as crazy as that sounds, it'll get even crazier of the NHL's Return to Play Plan goes off without a hitch when the 24 remaining teams begin their quest for the Stanley Cup, including the defending champ Blues, who will be part of the Western Conference Round-Robin, a three-game mini series with the Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars in a race for the top seed before competing in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
All teams opened Phase 3 of the plan, which was training camp 2.0 to the 2019-20 season on Monday, and the Blues had 30 of their 33 players in attendance.
"It's nice to get back out here," captain Alex Pietrangelo said. "Any time you get the group back together, it's a nice feeling. With regards to ramping it up, Chief sat down with me and the coaches and we've kind of come up with a plan. We do have quite a bit of time before we start. We have two, two and a half weeks until we play a game. Start slow, then we kind of ramp it up and get into our full team drills but for now, it's just kind of getting that conditioning back up, kind of getting the muscles and hips and everything back to playing in situations and we'll keep ramping it up every day until we get that full group back together.
"I think for a lot of us, we kept our brain in it and kind of knew at some point we were getting ready to play. ... We were crisp, we were good. Obviously a pretty furious practice out there if you were there and watching it. Guys were pretty sharp and the mental side of it was pretty good too."
The three omissions from practice Monday were defensemen Colton Parayko and Robert Bortuzzo among the notables, and 2018 seventh-round pick, defenseman Tyler Tucker, who general manager Doug Armstrong said got clearance Saturday to come to St. Louis and participate.
As for Parayko and Bortuzzo, the immediate suspicion is that the two received positive tests for COVID-19, and while the NHL is making all announcements regarding players not participating in any activity the rest of this season, Armstrong had some light-witted humor when asked about the two veteran d-men.
"They changed their cell numbers during the break, so I haven't had a chance to reach them yet, so they didn't know there was practice today.
"They'll be back in short order. We're not allowed to talk about it. You'll see them on the ice this week."
The Blues conducted two practices with two groups, including Vladimir Tarasenko, who was activated off injured reserve and will be ready for action when the Blues play an exhibition game Aug. 26-28 (date, opponent and time TBA) before opening against the Avalanche in the round-robin games Aug. 2.
"Vladimir was participating here in Phase 2 and I've been able to get a glimpse of him through that time frame and his shot is still dynamic," Armstrong said. "He seems to score at will. That's something you sort of take for granted and watch every day and then you realize how special it is when you don't get to see him for four, five months actually or longer. It was great to see him out there. He looks fantastic. I know he's still knocking off some of the rust and I think having the exhibition game and then the three preliminary games is going to benefit someone like Vladi who hasn't played in a long time."
The fact that Tarasenko, who was originally slated to return in mid-to-late March, got an extra four months to rehab and prep couldn't have worked out better for the Blues considering he hasn't played since Oct. 24 and had surgery on his dislocated left shoulder Oct. 29.
"We weren't going to bring him back until he was 100 percent," Armstrong said. "We don't want to be penny wise, pound foolish with someone that's a cornerstone with your franchise. But I think having more time to strength, more time to condition has certainly helped him. Then you get to that level and he's 100 percent and he's like a racehorse. He wants to get onto the track and start running. We've had to hold him back. Having him out there today and over the next couple of weeks as we get into Edmonton, it's certainly going to be a benefit to have a healthy Vladi Tarasenko."
Unlike the normalcy of the regular season that's a marathon to the playoffs, teams all begin anew, healthy and ready to jump into the blazing saddle of the fierce intensity that comes with playoff hockey, much like the World Cup of Hockey.
"Part of it is we'll have a little bit more time than we had in the World Cup," Pietrangelo said. "Secondly, any time you get back with your group, guys that you're familiar with, guys that you know extremely well, I think the energy's there, you feed off each other. That's what our group does day in, day out. You get back into the setting, I think the energy ramps up pretty quickly."
* Pietrangelo goal is to sign with Blues -- Speaking of Pietrangelo, the Blues' captain should have already made his decision for 2020-21 and beyond.
Free agency was supposed to start on July 1, but again, these are uncertain times, and with free agency moving to Oct. 9 this season, Pietrangelo remains hopeful of re-signing in St. Louis after his seven-year, $45.5 million contract expires at the conclusion of these playoffs and he can become an unrestricted free agent.
"It's kind of a tough question to answer right now," Pietrangelo said. "There wasn't a whole lot going on. There's a whole lot of questions regarding everything moving forward, CBA a lot of things that both sides were kind of sitting down waiting to see what was going to happen before any discussions. Quiet, but we're worrying about the playoffs right now. We'll move forward and see what happens here.
"Not much to say about it other than the same thing Army said. The goal is to get something done. That's been the goal since the beginning. We'll see where things go. Focus right now is to get through this thing healthy and playing. We'll see where things end up."
Now that the Blues and Armstrong know the salary cap will remain at $81.5 million for the next two seasons, and the Blues have some sort of idea where that number will go beyond with six years of labor peace following a new collective bargaining agreement, Armstrong's focus in this won't come any time soon.
"We're going to deal with it when the season's over," Armstrong said. "We know what the cap is and we'll make decisions based on that."
* Perunovich officially signs -- Hobey Baker winner and 2018 second-round pick Scott Perunovich officially signed his two-year, entry-level contract on Monday.
But the defenseman's contract won't kick in until next season and he won't burn a year of entry-level status off this season.
Perunovich's contract is for $4.35 million, including a cap hit of $925,000, and includes performance and signing bonuses.
Perunovich is coming off a 40-point season (six goals, 34 assists) with the University of Minnesota Duluth, a season cut short of a chance at an NCAA three-peat.
"Scotty is going to sign his contract starting in 20-21," Armstrong said. "He's going to sign a two-year deal. Under the transition rules or rules allowing players to play, he was not going to be able to participate this year. He was in town and doing some work. He's back in Minny now and won't be here for Phase 3 as he prepares to get ready for the main camp next season."
* Surprise players on roster -- Of the Blues' 33 players on this camp roster, 31 of them wouldn't be called a surprise and include San Antonio's Klim Kostin, Jake Walman, Ville Husso, Austin Poganski, Derrick Pouliot and Niko Mikkola. But Tucker and goalie Joel Hofer are.
Tucker, who split last season with Barrie and Flint of the Ontario Hockey League and had 56 points (17 goals, 39 assists) in 56 games, will arrive this week.
"Out of the group that we have here, Tyler Tucker's going to come and join us," Armstrong said. "He got word Saturday that he was able to come and participate. He's going to be on the ice later this week, so we're actually going to have 33. We're going to have to make a decision on one, because Tucker can't come (to Edmonton)."
Hofer, who played with Portland of the Western Hockey League last season and who helped Canada to a gold medal at the world juniors, joins Jordan Binnington, Jake Allen and Husso to give the Blues four goalies in camp.
They can take 31 players to Edmonton.
"It's someone that we watched for this year and what he did for Portland in the Canadian Hockey League and the World Junior," Armstrong said. "I think it's a great steppingstone for him. We certainly needed four goaltenders for this training camp. It gives him an opportunity to skate with our guys and get to know them. We're going to take 31 players to Edmonton and it's a great opportunity for him to be with this group.
"If we decide to go with (four) goalies, 'Hof' will be ready. He has great experience, skated with these guys and if we need to bring him in, the NHL has said if you get below a certain number of goaltenders, they understand the importance of that position and allow you to fill in."
Hofer had a 1.46 goals-against average and .946 save percentage in six games for Canada and was 34-8-5 with a 2.49 GAA and .915 save percentage in 48 games for the Winterhawks.
* No Blues opt out -- There have been a couple handful of NHL players and coaches that have opted out on the Return to Play Plan.
Armstrong said the Blues have none.
The deadline for opting out without penalty or fine was 5 p.m. (CT) Monday for players to give notices to their teams that they were out. As of Monday afternoon, Armstrong said the Blues were going with their full roster.
"No. We have had no one," Armstrong said. "... Everyone in our group has indicated they want to play.
"During the whole Phase 2 or even prior to Phase 2, we always let the players know that their health and safety is at the forefront and they'd have 100 percent of our support. So we didn't call each individual to ask them that question (of whether they wanted to opt out or not). I think they knew going in that we'd support whatever decision they made. No one has come to us asking not to participate."
* Big test for Blues in immediate future is being responsible -- The Blues made it to Phase 3 training camp mostly unscathed. Mostly as in almost everyone has had negative test results stemming from COVID-19.
When they closed down a Phase 2 practice last week when it was disclosed that at least three players tested positive, the wonder was if this would impact things when the Blues hit Phase 3.
It could, and likely will at some point; maybe not in St. Louis but somewhere in the NHL, but now the focus shifts to maintaining responsibility for two weeks before players hit the "bubble" and hub city of Edmonton.
"We've had that conversation," Pietrangelo said. "I think the biggest thing for us is doing what's right for each other and doing what's right for each other's families. We've just got to get to the bubble and then we can obviously go from there. It's really important that everybody is smart right now to make sure we do what's right and keep everybody safe because you get everyone together, things change. We've got a smart group. We all know what's at risk here, and I'm not too worried about it."
How does a family man like Pietrangelo, with young triplets and a wife at home, feel about returning?
"It was a really long conversation, more than one conversation with me and my wife had," he said. "Ongoing discussions, I guess, is a good way of putting it. I think the safest way to do it is to get to the bubble. Once we're there, at least I know my family's going to be safe. This is going to be the hard part obviously getting through training camp and going back and forth to the rink. I think our team's going to take the necessary precautions. A lot of us have young children and we know what to expect. We want to keep each other safe. Those are ongoing discussions in our house, and I'm sure other guys are going the same thing. Just trying to be as smart as I can and take this thing day by day."
* Jordan 'Guitar' Binnington -- Move over Ryan O'Reilly. There's come competition when it comes to the ranks of playing a guitar.
With four months to spare and plenty of time to pick up new hobbies, and staying in St. Louis the entire time, Binnington turned to music to help occupy some of his time away from fitness.
"I'm still not concert worthy," Binnington joked. "But it's a nice little hobby during the free time that we had. I'm just keeping the mind busy and try to come out with something to show for it. It's still a work in progress."
From a goalie's standpoint, Binnington said he's found ways to stay shape mentally and physically to prepare for the season to resume despite the long layoff.
"We were aware that it was going to happen for the last couple months, so stay within striking distance," Binnington said. "Now we have a little time to pick it up here even more and come together as a group and just get back to our foundation. We'll see what happens here.
"Anything you can find to keep the body moving on a day to day basis, whether it was biking or swimming, working out, keeping the mind sharp different ways you can at home. I think everyone's on the same page and same boat throughout the league. Just take care of yourselves as well as you can."
As for COVID-19, Binnington said don't take it for granted.
"It's real," he said. "It's a very uncertain time. In those times, I think all you can do is take care of yourself and be a good citizen to those around you. I've kept it pretty tight, wearing masks everywhere I go, keeping our distance and conversations. You miss hugging people and shaking people's hands a litle bit, but always keep it tight with the family."
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