Blues Sign Two Defensemen, Release Protected List

By pbadmin

The St. Louis Blues announced yesterday that they have signed defenseman Alexander Khavanov, a 1999 8th round draft pick. Khavanov
is 28 years old, stands 6ft. 2in. tall and weighs 190 pounds. He played last season for a Dynamo Moscow team that won their first ever
Russian Elite League Championship. Khavanov recorded 5 goals and 12 assists, good for 17 points, in the regular season.

The Blues also signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Vladimir Chebaturkin. He has good size at 6-2, 226 pounds, and is 25 years
old. Chebaturkin played in the AHL last season for the Lowell Lock Monsters and racked up 1 goal and 8 assists while adding 113 penalty
minutes. He was voted the teams most valuable defensive player of the year. Vladimir also has played in the NHL for the New York Islanders.
He played in 17 games this past season and recorded 1 goal and 1 assist with 8 penalty minutes.

No doubt these two moves are an effort to shore up the depth in the organization as the Blues will lose a defenseman in the expansion draft.
The Blues decided to protect both goaltender Brent Johnson and defenseman Bryce Salvador. In another surprise defenseman Jeff Finley was
left unprotected. Some other interesting names that were left off of the protected list were Scott Pellerin, Tyson Nash, and Reed Low. Here is
a complete look at the both protected players and unprotected. 

Protected:
 
Craig Conroy         C
Pavol Demitra       RW
Michal Handzus       C
Jamal Mayers        RW
Pierre Turgeon       C
Scott Young         RW
Al MacInnis          D
Chris Pronger        D
Bryce Salvador       D
Brent Johnson        G
Roman Turek          G
 
Available:
 
Bob Bassen           C                  Marc Bergevin            D
Derek Bekar         LW                  Vladimir Chebaturkin     D
Sylvain Blouin      LW                  Dave Ellett              D
Jim Campbell        RW                  Jeff Finley              D
Kelly Chase         RW                  Edvin Frylen             D
Mike Eastwood        C                  Yuri Gunko               D
Derek King          LW                  Bryan Helmer             D
Reed Low            RW                  Dan Keczmer              D
Tyson Nash          LW                  Ricard Persson           D
Scott Pellerin      LW                  Dmitri Plekhanov         D
Andrei Petrakov     RW                  Rudy Poeschek            D
Pascal Rheaume      LW                  Libor Prochazka          D
Stephane Richer     RW                  Darren Rumble            D
Stephane Roy         C                  Matt Smith               D
Tore Vikingstad      C                  Jamie Mclennan           G