Blues Trade For Goalie Chris Mason

by Brad Lee on Jun 20, 2008 10:13 AM CDT

What do you mean I've been traded??!!

By Brad Lee

The Blues sent a fourth round pick in this weekend's NHL draft to the ~~Kansas City~~ Nashville Predators for goaltender Chris Mason. Here's what the busy John Davidson said about the trade:

Acquiring Chris really solidifies our goaltending position which was one of our goals going into this weekend. We are looking forward to a big day today at the draft.

Mason posted a 2.90 goals-against last year in 51 games but his save percentage was a pedestrian 89.8 percent.Mason has been a Blues killer in recent seasons. Over the last three years, Mason had a record of 12-3-1 with two shutouts against St. Louis. Yikes. Hopefully he won't shatter his teammates' confidence in practice.

This makes sense for Nashville. They had a logjam at goaltender with Mason, Dan Ellis and prospect Pekke Rinne in the AHL. Someone had to go and Mason and his $3 million salary for next season were it.

So what does this trade mean? Well those crazy-ass rumors about the Blues trading for Ottawa's headache, Ray Emery, have gone down in flames. It also means Emmanuel Legace better show up in camp with a healthy knee and ready to compete for playing time. We've been as big of backers as Legace as anyone, but Mason isn't Hannu "Ears" Toivonen. He'll arrive this summer ready to push Legace for playing time. At age 32, some would say Mason is in the middle of his prime playing years. It's interesting that Mason like Legace was considered a career backup goaltender and didn't get a chance to start until near the age of 30.

After this deal, the Blues are left with the 4th overall selection tonight, as well two second-round picks, three third-round picks, and one selection in each of the 4th, 5th, and 6th rounds of the weekend's draft.

So Blues fans, do you like the Chris Mason or do you not like the Chris Mason? Let us hear it in the comments.

And if we would have known today would be so much fun with all these moves, we would have taken the day off. This has already been more exciting than trade deadline day for the Blues.

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Comments

I gave Mason a plethora of shit last season, but he really did to an excellent job filling in for the void left by their Vokoun deal. Goaltending timeshares have proven before this season that they can help get a team to the playoffs, and with Legace’s knee problems it will be nice to have someone other than Ears to lean on when needed.

For now, I can see this being a 50/30 game split between the two… it’s going to be up to Legace to earn those 50, though.

by The Fantasy Files on Jun 20, 2008 10:21 AM CDT reply actions

Great moves by LP and Company today.

The Blues have essentially swapped Mayers and a fourth-rounder for Mason and a third-rounder. I hate to see Mayers go, especially in light of his ability to do as illustrated in the Mayers thread below, but a big problem areas for the Blues has just been addressed.

by GT Prospect Department on Jun 20, 2008 10:38 AM CDT reply actions

Yeah. He was defienitely a Blues killer. That’s the first thing I thougth of when I heard about the deal — at least we don’t have to play against him anymore. It’s a good depth move and insurance policy.

by Pagan on Jun 20, 2008 10:52 AM CDT reply actions

i agree, pagan. the best part of this deal could be that the blues don’t have to face mason, even if he doesn’t play many games behind manny (although i have hope that he will). i’m still looking forward to what j.d., pleau, and co. might do with the rest of the picks (one in the first round, two in the second, 3 in the third). i’m definitely impressed so far. hopefully they’re not done yet.

by Jessica on Jun 20, 2008 11:02 AM CDT reply actions

I wonder if Atlanta would take Tkachuk and agree to draft Filatov.

by Pagan on Jun 20, 2008 11:06 AM CDT reply actions

Good move by the boys today with the Mason deal….I agree I would rather have a good 30 game game guy behind Emmanuel with some good experience – regular & playoff – sorry Ears – but it’s time to get the puck out of the Lou!

by Diana on Jun 20, 2008 12:04 PM CDT reply actions

I like the Chris Mason AND his bald head.

So the Nashvilles ARE good for something.

I’m not as much of a Filatov-hater as some.
If he’s there at #4 and the Finn says take him, I’m down.

by brian on Jun 20, 2008 12:41 PM CDT reply actions

When I heard about this on my way to work, I thought it was great. Now we have a solid 1-2 punch at goal without having to disturb the Alaska Aces playoff bid. This coupled with the Mayers deal (gonna miss Jamal) moving us up in draft position has me feeling a lot better about tonight and tomorrow.

Off topic — I assume that Nashville is pretty sure they have Dan Ellis wrapped up for next season, right?

by Milo on Jun 20, 2008 12:45 PM CDT reply actions