On a team with its fair share of uncertainties, one thing is for sure; the Blues goaltending is set for years to come.

Billy Joel reminds us that “the good old days weren’t always good.”  This is true for the St. Louis Blues.  It seems that since Curtis Joseph last manned the pipes for the Blues in the early 1990s, the Blues could not come up with an answer for a starting goalie.  Grant Fuhr was and will always be a fan-favorite, but injuries plagued him for his last two seasons in a Blues jersey.  We all know the Roman Turek and Brent Johnson sagas are hard for Blues fans to talk about.  The goalie carousel continued after the lockout, which has seen Patrick Lalime, Curtis Sanford, Manny Legace and Chris Mason take on the starting job at different points.  Remember Reinhard Divis and Jason Bacashihua were once involved in starting games too.  This is all very painful for Blues fans to remember, but those dark days may be behind us.

Jaroslav Halak was brought in last summer from Montreal after a dazzling playoff-performance for the Canadiens.  Halak then inked a four-year, $15 million contract.  He is the clear-cut number one guy in St. Louis, posting a 19-17-6 record, 2.63 GAA and a .907 save percentage.  He has had his share of questionable goals against, but he has proven time and again that he can come up with the big saves when his team really needs him to do so.

Halak is not the only promising goaltender in the Blues organization though.

The Blues will be making a lot of business for U-Haul in the coming days.

Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong has been very busy the past 36 hours, sending Captain Eric Brewer, defenseman Erik Johnson and center Jay McClement packing.  But the Blues get a pretty impressive return for all three players.

The Blues moved Brewer to Tampa Bay Friday afternoon, acquiring the rights to unsigned-prospect Brock Beukeboom and a third-round draft pick in the 2011 draft.

“I was quite honest with Eric, where we are in the standings. It's an uphill battle," Armstrong said to members of the media Friday. "It gives Eric a chance to go to a Stanley Cup-contending team that has a chance to play into June.

"It allows him to show his worth and it allows us to get some things for the future."

Brewer waived his no-trade clause to join the Lightning.  He was happy to move on.

"I think in the end, you just want to make a good decision for everyone and put yourself in a really good spot to play hockey for a long time," Brewer said after hearing the trade went through. "Playing in Tampa will certainly change that this year."

After an atrocious start to the 2011 calendar year, the Blues still only find themselves seven points out of the eighth and final playoff spot.  Just shows you what a strong start can do for your hockey club.

Rumors are aplenty currently for the Blues to get that magic back from the start of the season.  We heard about the Alexei Kovalev rumors.  We listened to the Johnson-for-Malkin rumors.  And yes, we are interested in these rumors that Boston wants Captain Eric Brewer to fill out their big defense.  But here is what I want to see; Mikhail Grabovski boarding a plane to St. Louis.

Hey, we can all dream, can’t we?

But here is the reality; the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to shake up their roster.  GM Brian Burke has already moved defenseman Francois Beauchemin and forward Kris Versteeg and has publicly stated that more moves are coming.  Burke is also claiming that he is pushing his team to the playoffs, despite being eight points out of a playoff spot with just 25 games remaining.

When things are not going right for a hockey team, it’s easy to point fingers at the goaltender.

It is true in this case when it comes to puck control.  Two games in a row, Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak has misplayed the puck, almost directly resulting in two goals against.  Friday, he was caught behind the net, resulting in an easy goal for the Wild.  Saturday, he shot it out of play, resulting in a delay-of-game penalty.  The very next play, Minnesota took control and scored a goal.  Simple solution; Halak needs to stop playing the puck.  Completely.

That is where the finger-pointing should stop.  Taking puck-handling out of the equation, Halak is proving that he can be a number one goaltender.  He just needs a better defense in front of him.

I’m as tired as you are of watching the Blues lose big games that they needed to win.  Since the start of 2011, the Blues are a dreadful 4-9-4 and have shown a strong lack of drive.  Blues writers and fans have been pointing a lot of fingers at Halak.  He is the number one goalie who is supposed to pull the Blues out of their slump and raise them into the standings by shutting teams down.