St. Louis Blues Think Out of the Box; Michael York on Waivers

A friend of mine sent me this email that he received from the St. Louis Blues yesterday:

Ticketmaster Name Your Price Sale Starts Today!

Want Blues season tickets but not sure you can fit them in your budget? Now you can.

For one week only, fans can name their own price in select sections on full season tickets, 10 game plans and single game tickets for all October home games during the Ticketmaster Name Your Price Sale.

The sale, which is a first in the sports industry, begins Monday, Sept. 29 and continues through Sunday, Oct. 5.

During the week, you can "Name Your Price" on any of the following tickets:
*Full Season Tickets
*10-Game Packages (a premium game plan or weekend plan)
*Single Game Tickets in October, including Opening Night vs. Nashville

The Blues know there's nothing better than a sold out Scottrade Center with exciting, pulse-pounding Blues action. Name Your Price today before it's too late.

If your price is accepted, your order will be processed immediately.

Hurry. This once-in-a-lifetime offer ends Sunday, Oct. 5.

I know this is bit gimmicky, but it's also an interesting and creative way to try to fill their building.

It's a tough and competitive environment out there, and I get the sense that the Jackets' marketing staff is living and dying by this "if we win they'll come" strategy. That may be true for a while, but keeping arenas full is a living and breathing thing and the Jackets have to continue to get creative in finding new ways to attract new fans to games every game every season..

We've seen in Detroit that even if you ice a great product, you still may not be able to fill your arena every night.

Michael York has been put on waivers by the Jackets, according to the very reliable Andy Strickland on hockeybuzz.com. Remember that York signed a two-way deal, which essentially means he'll earn a much higher salary in the NHL than if he plays in the AHL. Like any veteran, he'll have to pass through waivers before being assigned to the Syracuse Crunch.

York quite frankly just hasn't had a strong camp—and as of now doesn't appear to be in the fold for anything more than a year in Syracuse. Should he go unclaimed (which I think he will) and the injury bug really strikes the Jackets, he may be a depth call-up, but that appears to be it at this point.

Check out this great read over on NHL.com with Rick Nash. Nash has some more juicy quotes for us to eat:

"I think last season was the first season teams actually started taking us serious," Nash said. "We weren't as consistent as we wanted to be, but you could sense that teams were taking us serious. We're the only team to not make the playoffs (in the NHL), but with Ken Hitchcock as our coach, now teams are watching us and that puts us on the map.

"We're lucky for how patient our fans are already, but we have to show them a good product and start winning to get the whole city excited."

"I think I'm responsible to take this team to the next level," Nash said. "They have invested a lot in me and they have made me the captain to lead this team to the next level."

Those are words I love to read from our captain. Read more from Nash here.

Looks like Columbus has invited another enforcer to Crunch camp. According to Lindsay Kramer, former Crunch enforcer Mike Sgroi is slated to join the Crunch for camp.

This is the part that interests me the most though. Kramer speculates on why, with John Mirasty in the fold, would the Crunch invite another enforcer:

Maybe this is how it shakes out now - Mirasty impressed the Blue Jackets during the preseason and will be on-call as Columbus' tough guy. Sgroi is signed to play in Johnstown again, which is now Columbus' ECHL affiliate. When Mirasty is called to pinch-hit for the Blue Jackets, Sgroi can pop up to Syracuse for those three-in-threes.

Honestly, that was my first thought as well. I thought Mirasty showed he's competent enough for spot "tough guy" duty at the NHL level.  But its also important to have someone patrolling the Crunch ice in his absence—especially with the kids we have down there.

We'll see how this plays out, as Mirasty would have to be signed to a two-way contract before the Jackets could even think about calling him up.

-LTL