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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 3052810" data-attributes="member: 2012">Blues goaltending job up for grabsAssociated Press9/8/2006 3:09:08 PMIt stands to reason that one of the more interesting training camp battles in the NHL begins next week in the Show Me State when the St. Louis Blues open training camp.Manny Legace, Curtis Sanford and Jason Bacashihua have been given no promises as to who will be the starting goalie.''When you look at it all three of our goalies, they have a lot to prove, and the spot and the opportunity is there for somebody to jump up and be that No. 1 guy,'' Blues GM Larry Pleau said this week. ''So the competition has got to be key for us . . . I think they all understand, there's really no promises, it's wide open. Come and show everyone in the hockey world that you're the No. 1 goalie.''Added team president John Davidson: ''We feel that the competition level is going to be very good in camp, and, you know, if somebody plays well, they are going to play. And if not, somebody else will have a shot at playing, so it's a good situation for us.''Legace is the veteran of the group, a 33-year-old Toronto native who came over as an unrestricted free agent, having been handed a ticket out of Detroit after the Red Wings' first-round exit to Edmonton last spring. Despite a 37-win season that ranked fifth among all NHL goalies, never mind a 2.19 goals-against average that was third-best, Legace was given his walking papers because of his disappointing playoff.With few interested teams in the mix, the Blues got a real bargain when he signed a US $1.4-million, one-year deal.''Frankly, he had a terrific regular season in Detroit and when it didn't work in the playoffs, people pointed to goaltending which is understandable but I think there was more to it than just that,'' said Davidson, who joined Pleau on an NHL conference call. ''I think Manny's kick in the playoffs was something he learned a lot about. He's really got an outstanding attitude.''He just wants to play. He wants to win and wants to prove to the whole hockey world that he could do that. Now we, frankly, love the attitude and that's why he's here.''Added Pleau: ''When you look at a Legace in his career, that's what he wanted is the opportunity to show everybody in this league that he's No. 1, and one thing we could offer is the opportunity for that.''The Blues had a tough call to make before finally signing Legace because both Sanford and Bacashihua impressed at different times last season. Sanford, 26, went 13-13-0 with a 2.66 GAA and .908 save percentage in 34 games before getting hurt. The 23-year-old Bacashihua, who likely will be the odd man out behind Sanford and Legace, went 4-10-0 with a 3.23 GAA and .899 save percentage.''We saw how well at times Sanford played and Bacashihua played, and Curtis suffered the knee injury and we didn't want to be in a position where if an injury happened again, we would be hanging and we'd have a problem,'' said Davidson. ''So we've got depth.''Throw in 20-year-old Czech Marek Schwarz, whom the Blues feel may be their NHL starter one day, not to mention 22-year-old Russian Konstantin Barulin, and St. Louis feels it has more depth than ever between he pipes.''Schwarz is going to play in the American Hockey League in Peoria,'' said Davidson. ''(Signing Legace) gives a depth where if something happens along the way here, we don't have to force (Schwarz) into something he shouldn't be doing, unless he earns it.''With the three goalkeepers that are the main ones, the internal competition is terrific. We now have depth there, and at the same time in signing Manny, it put us in a position where we didn't have to make a trade where we lose a significant draft pick or at least maybe a significant prospect.''So we've helped ourselves for the immediate season, and we've helped ourselves hopefully for the long term, also.''</blockquote>

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