The Story so far...

The Blues have made two trades within the last 24 hours and heading into the 2008 draft. The first, on Thursday night, was the trade of Jamal Mayers to Toronto for a third round pick. The second was the acquisition of goalie Chris Mason from Nashville for a fourth round pick.

It has been stated over and over here and in other places that the Blues have too many non-scoring forwards. We all wanted this problem corrected but I never thought it would involve the release of Ryan Johnson (he hasn't been resigned as of yet) and the trade of Jamal Mayers. These were the two best defensive forward the Blues had. The two best penalty killers that the Blues had. Perhaps McClement and Hinote can step up but I no longer have faith in the penalty killing and wonder what the opposing teams' top lines will now do to the Blues.

Jamal Mayers was drafted by the Blues as a fourth round pick and first played for the team in 1996. He played in excess of 590 games for the Blues and only nine other players in Blues history have played more. At the time of his trade, he was the longest tenured professional athlete in St. Louis, including the players of the Blues, Cardinals, and Rams.

The Chris Mason acquisition was a good one. For a fourth round pick, the Blues got a better than average backup that will push Ben Bishop in the years to come for playing time.

The first round of the draft is tonight with the Blues picking fourth overall. Speculation points to either Alex Pietrangelo or Luke Schenn, both defensemen, as the Blues pick. I don't think the dealing is done, however.