from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- One former St. Louis Blue reached out after last week’s blog in defence of Vladimir Tarasenko. “He’s not blameless,” the player said. “But he’s a convenient scapegoat sometimes.”

That said, the Blues are open for business. A lot of possibilities, and few things they won’t consider.

- Brayden Point’s 17 goals are two behind Laine and David Pastrnak for the league lead. His 31 points are seven back of Mikko Rantanen. Offence gets you the 8,000 square-foot house, the 1,200-horsepower engine, the supermodel wife and the upcoming contract. But the Lightning, who campaigned for Point to win the Selke Trophy in 2017-18, have not changed their opinion on the matter.

There was a weird four-game stretch from Nov. 8-15 (Islanders, Ottawa, Buffalo, Pittsburgh) where Tampa was outscored 7-0 with Point on the ice at five-on-five. In his other 20 games, the Lightning have either outscored their opponent (12 times) or been even (eight) during his five-on-five play — and it has swung to eight goals for, two against with Point on the ice in the four games since Pittsburgh. It’s not like he avoids everyone else’s best.

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