Welcome to the second-to-last most meaningless games of the season! After the Blues play the NorthStars tonight in Dallas, they'll be flying off to Sweden for the opening of the regular season starting next Friday.
Of course, they have one more unbelieveably meaningless game to play before they take on the Red Wings for two games, as they have an exhibition/pre-season game at and against Linkoping. You know, a game that would have been meaningful to really only one player? Yep, the player they just sent to Peoria. Poor Jonas Junland, who was born, raised and played for Linkoping before coming to America. Instead of going home an NHL hero, he got to go to Peoria. Oof.
That game, by the way, will be played on Tuesday.
But tonight is the night for non-Junlands. More important than a final American tune-up for essentially the Blues' regular season roster and a first tune-up for the team's broadcast teams, it's the last chance for the Blues to make their final roster decision. With just one cut left to make to get down to the NHL-mandated 27 roster spots filled, tonight becomes Tyson Strachan versus Alex Pietrangelo. Will Pietrangelo be returned to his junior team for another year or will Strachan be sent to the AHL to await a call-up when someone gets injured or when Pietrangelo is returned to juniors after another nine-game season?
You can hear the game on KMOX or streaming through their website for those of you out-of-town, out-of-country or out of old school radios that aren't built into your cars.
This is your GDT.