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Golf Cart Accident Knocks Out Johnson for 6-9 Months

Sometimes it seems like we've been hearing about the eventual arrival of St. Louis Blues defenseman Erik Johnson as an elite level talent for just about forever. If you watch the game closely, it was hard to miss the coverage as Johnson made his way up the American development ladder first as a cornerstone of Team USA in several World Junior tournaments, through a stop at the University of Minnesota and his debut last season with the St. Louis Blues.

Well, it looks like Johnson's appointment with hockey stardom is going to get delayed, and significantly, thanks to the freak injury he suffered last week while getting out of a golf cart at a team-sponsored tournament:
Blues defenseman Erik Johnson has a torn ACL in his right knee and will undergo surgery in a couple of weeks, a source has told the Post-Dispatch.

Johnson, 20, is expected to be sidelined six to nine months after injuring his knee in a golf-cart incident last week at the Lake of the Ozarks.
When you're talking about bad news, it can't get much worse than this for St. Louis. At 6'4" and better than 220 pounds, Johnson was expected to play top pair minutes and run the team's power play. Needless to say, that's not an all-inclusive package that's readily available, and for a team like the Blues that's already committed to a youth movement, it's the kind of injury that's devastating both on the ice and at the box office.

NHL Season Preview: St. Louis Blues

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In:
Andy Wozniewsky, D (UFA, Tor), Brad Winchester, LW (UFA, Dal), Steve Regier, LW (UFA, NYI), Cam Paddock, C (UFA, AHL), Matt Foy, R (UFA, Min), Chris Mason, G (trade, Nsh)

Who's Out: Martin Rucinsky, LW (Europe), Mike Johnson, RW (UFA, Mon), Jamal Mayers, RW (trade, Tor)

What's Changed: The youth movement has continued with two young forwards set to compete for spots. TJ Oshie and Patrick Berglund will add to a group that already includes players like Lee Stempanik, David Backes, and Jay McClement. On the backend, Erik Johnson will continue his trek toward being a franchise defenseman.

The Blues have Brad Boyes coming off a 43-goal season. His confidence has to be at a high level, which should make for an interesting season for the 26-year-old.

In net, Manny Legace remains the starter, but he'll have a solid backup in Chris Mason and that should generate some good competition. It also gives the Blues solidity in terms of goaltending.

Overall, the biggest difference between this year's St. Louis Blues and last year's is that extra year of experience. They didn't make any major splashes on the free agent or trade markets and so will have to rely on the increased maturity of their young players and continued viabiltiy of their veterans instead.

Who's On The Hook: Boyes is under a fair amount of pressure to score 40+ goals again, but it seems to me that Kariya really needs to have an improved year in the goals category. Andy MacDonald, in his first full year as a Blue, will need to be more productive as well.

Where They'll Finish: Even with the young guys having gained a year of experience, it's difficult to see the Blues finishing too much higher than they did last year (27th in the League). They are in a tough Conference and will face serious competition in their own division from Detroit and likely Chicago.

Blogs To Watch: Bleeding Blue Note and St. Louis Game Time.

Dan Hinote Marries a Playmate

Here at the NHL side of FanHouse, we're never chary when it comes to adding more pictures to the NHL Wives and Girlfriends gallery, which is why we're overjoyed at the news that St. Louis Blues forward and former Stanley Cup champ Dan Hinote has officially tied the knot with former Playboy playmate Amy McCarthy. And yes, that Amy McCarthy is none other than the sister of former Playmate of the Year, Jenny McCarthy, who is currently dating uber-comic Jim Carrey.


Just when did I start blogging for TMZ?

I tripped over the news thanks to Michael Rand at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune -- Hinote being a native of Elk River, Minnesota -- who picked up other reports from St. Louis Today and the Rocky Mountain News.

For those of you who are crushed to learn that Amy is no longer on the market, take heart, according to Wikipedia, there's one McCarthy sister left -- that would be former ABL player Joanne.

PuckToons: The Trickle-Down Effect of NHL Offer Sheets

Every Thursday, Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity.

A summer without hockey can be a long one for an NHL fan, but at least offseason signings help to keep things exciting. With the recent outbreak of offer sheets to unsigned restricted free agents, though, GM feuds can become awfully entertaining, as well.

The Vancouver Canucks and the St. Louis Blues have been providing the fun this summer, as Greg Wyshynski chronicles at Puck Daddy. The back-and-forth poaching and matching has shown that GMs don't need to be vocal in order to make things personal.

While offer sheet battles do affect team payrolls and may irk Canucks and Blues fans, at least the antics can keep fans of 28 other teams amused while we await the start of hockey in the fall.

Alan Thicke Knows How to Crash the Net

Actor Alan Thicke whom you may remember from such roles as Dr. Jason Seaver on 'Growing Pains' and the host of the game show 'Pictionary' (OK, you probably don't remember the latter.) recently made an appearance at the St. Louis Blues' Hockey Fest. Thicke took part in the celebrity shootout, which is exactly what the title implies -- celebrities participating in a shootout. His brave efforts give us our YouTube clip of the day. I'm not sure who the goalie is in this clip but they certainly had the right idea of not getting in Thicke's way.

A Quick Guide to NHL Draft Parties

Are you a fan of a crappy hockey team? Were they eliminated from post-season contention in January? Did injuries decimate your roster? Did all those moves last summer not pay off at all?

Then I've got a day for you. It's all about you, your team, your hopes, dreams and aspirations. It's the NHL Draft and it's being held on Friday in Ottawa, Ontario. You may have heard of it. For you, the fans of downtrodden and out-of-luck franchises, this day is all about you and your teams. For one day, the worst teams will shine in the spotlight and have their hopes renewed for yet another season (unless Mike Milbury trades Roberto Luongo and Ollie Jokinen away for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha, but I digress).

The NHL Draft is Friday and here are some of the best ways to experience it if your team had a forgettable year.

For Tampa Bay Lightning enthusiasts (you've got the first pick!):
The Lightning will host three parties starting at 6 p.m. to make it easy for fans throughout the Tampa Bay area to come out and cheer on the team as it lays the groundwork for an exciting 2008-09 season. Boston's in Tampa, Barnacles in Brandon and Courtside Grille in Clearwater/St. Petersburg will be the party sites as the first round is televised live on VERSUS starting at 7 p.m. The Lightning Girls, the Lightning Energy Team and ThunderBug will make appearances at the parties, with t-shirts and autographed merchandise available for fans.
Come for the first pick, stay for the Lightning Girls! Then stay some more cause you've thrown back too many to drive legally.

Coyotes Expected to Sign Gopher Wheeler



Back in 2004, a Minnesota high school star named Blake Wheeler was the first-round pick of Wayne Gretzky and the Phoenix Coyotes. Eyebrows were raised, as Wheeler wasn't projected by anyone to be a potential top pick.

Four years later, it appears Wheeler will finally get a chance to play professional hockey.

The Minnesota Gopher junior is expected to sign a deal to join the Coyotes organization, forgoing his final year of eligibility at Minnesota. Wheeler starred at Breck School, a private school in the Twin Cities area, leading them to the 2004 Class A state championship. He played one year of junior hockey in the USHL before joining Minnesota, where he has tallied 42 goals in his Gopher career.

Some Gopher fans have been disappointed with Wheeler's production, expecting more out of a guy Gretzky was so high on when he played in high school. But Wheeler has rounded into a nice player, and he's the kind of guy whose size and hands make for a constant threat. If there's one negative to his game, it's his tendency not to play strong on his skates. Wheeler isn't a diver, but he can look like one at times, and that's as bad as actually being one.

In other signing news, we're still waiting for 2005 first-round pick T.J. Oshie to sign with St. Louis. Oshie just completed his junior year at North Dakota, helping his team to a fourth straight Frozen Four appearance. I would be lying if I said I thought Oshie would return to school, but I thought the same thing last year.

(A tap of the stick goes to Western College Hockey.)

(UPDATE: WCH now reports that Wheeler has withdrawn from classes at Minnesota and has 30 days to sign with Phoenix before becoming a free agent.)

Keith Tkachuk Nets #500

Finishing out a season where there wasn't a whole lot to cheer about, the St. Louis Blues had an opportunity to forget about the impending end of their NHL season when they were able to celebrate the 500th goal of Keith Tkachuk's career.

The goal, an empty-netter, came with just 1:34 remaining to salt away a 4-1 win for St.Louis over the Blue Jackets. The goal was his 27th of the season.

While "Walt" deserves a pat on the back -- he's lost in the crush of his teammates in that photo to the right -- I can't help but think about his achievement in terms of many of his American-born contemporaries in the NHL.

This season we saw Jeremy Roenick pot his 500th goal as he found a reason to keep skating in San Jose, while Mike Modano managed to take the all-time scoring lead for American-born players while continuting to play a diminished role in Dallas.

Simply put, we're watching a whole generation of American-born players in the twilight of their careers. All three were part of the post-Lake Placid generation of players who were inspired by the Gold Medal win in 1980, and all three wore Team USA colors in the inaugural World Cup of Hockey, helping that team to a victory that shocked the entire hockey world, Canada in particular.

But now there are fewer days ahead than behind, and one wonders if the new generation of Americans, represented by players like Patrick Kane, Jack Johnson and Kyle Okposo, among others, will be able to represent the Red, White and Blue as ably in international play.

'Sorry That We Hurt Their Feelings'



As of today, the Chicago Blackhawks are six points out of the final Western Conference playoff berth. The St. Louis Blues are also six points out ... of last place in the conference. Yet the war of words between the two teams is at playoff intensity.

In a 4-3 overtime win by the Blackhawks on Sunday, the Blues got physical with star rookies Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. This didn't sit well with Chicago coach Denis Savard, who singled out Barret Jackman and David Backes of St. Louis in his postgame diatribe:
"I'm ticked off at a bunch of their players taking shots at us, free shots," Savard said. "After whistles, taking cross-checks behind the head, behind their backs. Jackman a few times ... Backes goes after Niklas Hjalmarsson. How tough is he? We'll figure it out someday."
Jackman offered his candid rebuttal on Monday, in a rant that ended with "sorry that we hurt their feelings."

The Ice Sheet: Iginla for the Hart?

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Back at the season's midpoint, Eric Duhatscheck of the Globe and Mail made the case that Calgary's Jarome Iginla was the leading candidate for the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP. Over the weekend, Ross McKeon over at Yahoo! tried to nail it down for the Edmonton native, saying that while both Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin have had great seasons, Iginla has demonstrated the additional intangibles that make him Hart-worthy:
Iginla is a fierce leader who is the best money player in his sport. When the game is on the line, Iginla is going to do something to help his team. He is clutch. Saturday night, for example, he scored a natural hat trick when his team was down a goal to put them ahead in a must-have home game against rival and division-leading Minnesota Wild.

[...]

Iginla is on pace for 99 points and will appear in all 82 games for the Flames as long as he doesn't miss one of the last seven. Nine of his 48 goals have been game-winners.

But Iginla's game goes beyond numbers. He's the only captain among the top three candidates. He's tough as nails, a willing combatant if he feels he needs to drop the gloves. He's engaging, inspiring, relentless, the total package.