Carlo Colaiacovo returns to the St. Louis Blues (image courtesy of Scott Neer)
Doug Armstrong announced today that the St. Louis Blues have signed former defensemen, Carlo Colaiacovo to a one year contract, pending a physical. Certainly an interesting move to say the least, given that Ryan Whitney, who attended the Blues training camp this year, and didn’t look out of place, was placed on waivers a few days ago. However, it seems like Armstrong didn’t want a one-way contract, which pretty much implies that Carlo’s deal is a two way contract.
Now there has been a lot of outbursts since the deal was announced, and the fans, who watched Colaiacovo play 259 games as a Blue already, do not seem to be happy with it. For good reason, as Carlo has a bad habit of getting injured at the worst possible times. He was most recently bought out by the Red Wings, after an injury riddled season.
The interesting thing with Colaiacovo, is that he’s not a bad hockey player. He posted 106 points (18 goals, 88 assists) during his previous tenure as a Blue. He’s not a liability on the defensive side of the puck either. Carlo is an ideal 5/6 defender who can provide a decent offensive touch.
My main concern with the signing of Colaiacovo is that Ian Cole might have his spot taken in the line up. We all know that Hitch has a habit of putting a puck mover with a shut down guy. He could opt to replace Cole with Colaiacovo on a pairing with Roman Polak.
Ian Cole has earned his spot in the line up, has been shutting down plays nicely and has been moving the puck surprisingly well on the break out. As long as Cole isn’t removed from the line up just so Hitchcock can play Colaiacovo, and Carlo is the Blues seventh defender, then there shouldn’t be any issues with this signing.
