Times are tough for the Blues. Star young defenseman Erik Johnson? Gone for the season due to a freak golf carting accident. All-Star goalie Manny Legace has already missed time with the dreaded and pervasive “lower-body injury.” Now, the team’s best player so far this season, Andy McDonald, is out for 8 weeks with a broken leg. (Never mind what it says about your team when Andy McDonald is your best player) But help is on the way–the team has claimed forward BJ Crombeen off waivers from the Stars.
Crombeen, as you no doubt already knew, is the son of former Blue Mike Crombeen. The Crombeens now join the Stastnys (Peter and Yan) and the Johnsons (Brent and Bob) as father-and-son combos who will have played for the team. One of the team’s top draft picks this year, Philip McRae, is the son of ex-Blue Basil. Not to mention the Sutters (Brian, Rich and Ron), the Cavallinis (Gino and Paul), and the Plagers (Bob, Bill and Barclay)–all sets of brothers who have played for the team. Unlike many other teams, the Blues apparently devote significant resources to scouting Canadian family reunions.
A few other familial marginal players (and ex-players) the Blues hope can turn this season around:
Martin Kariya (the all-Kariya line. . .would probably suck)
Dave Babych
(sure, he’s been retired for 10 years, but he’s probably still better than Eric Brewer)
Pavel Bure (he can still skate, I’m sure of it)
Brent Gretzky (he probably can’t)
Claude Lemieux (hey, he wanted to make a comeback, right?)
Sean Pronger (nah, he’d probably get booed out of principle)
(For a frighteningly exhaustive list of NHL family links, check out this Wikipedia entry.)
November 19th, 2008 - 4:21 pm
If Archie Bunker were the coach of the Blues, I imagine he would say something like this: “No bum that can’t speak poifect English oughta stay in this locker room…oughta be de-exported the hell outta here!”