http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/p ... e777a.html
The career of the longest-tenured current professional athlete in St. Louis sports is coming to an end.
The Blues have notified Blues defenseman Barret Jackman, 34, that they will be going in a "different direction" and thus not re-signing him this offseason.
Jackman, whose three-year, $9.5 million contract expires on June 30, will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He will be allowed to sign with another organization without compensation.
Jackman was not immediately available for comment Thursday.
In a postseason interview with the Post-Dispatch, prior to meeting with the Blues regarding his future, Jackman said he remained interested in continuing his career, if not here, somewhere.
“I have lots left in me,” he said in April. “I don’t know, four or five years. I take care of myself away from the rink. The body’s the best it’s felt in years. This is actually the best I’ve felt in years health-wise. I don’t see myself as a 40-year-old playing the game, but I’m still only 34 and feel like I’ve got lots left. I’ll continue playing.”
For the first time since Jackman broke into the NHL in 2002, a span of 803 regular-season games and 39 playoff games, it will not be with the Blues.
After climbing to second place in franchise history last season, ahead of the likes of Brett Hull and Brian Sutter, Jackman will forever remain behind leader Bernie Federko (927).
Jackman, the No. 17 overall pick in 1999, did so after acclimating his game during 12 full seasons with the club.
In a show of respect and perhaps a sign of what the Blues expected from Jackman, he was awarded the esteemed No. 5, previously worn by Bob Plager, upon his arrival to the organization. And right away, he seemed a worthy recipient.
In 2002-03, Jackman's rookie season, he had 19 points, a Plager-like 190 penalty minutes and a plus-23 rating in 82 games. He won the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie, beating out such players as Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg and Columbus Rick Nash.
A shoulder injury derailed the next part of Jackman's career, and than rules changes following the NHL lockout in 2004-05 forced him to somewhat alter his style moving forward.
But the defenseman remained a constant in the Blues' lineup, playing top-pair minutes, perhaps unfairly, during some lean years in the organization's history. And he did so without complaint, in fact, enabling the team to get through that period with leadership skills that come to warrant much adoration from teammates.
With the Blues turning themselves into a playoff contender in recent years, Jackman's minutes have been diminishing, from 23:26 per game in 2008-09 to 16:49 last season. He accepted a role behind budding blueliners such as Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk, whom he helped mentor.
But in the past four seasons, Jackman has stayed in the mix, missing just nine of a possible 295 regular-season games, none by his own choice. In those last four years, he has posted a plus-minus rating of plus-40.
This season, however, the Blues discovered a young talent in Petteri Lindbohm, a sixth-round pick in 2012, and they made a trade for Pittsburgh's Robert Bortuzzo, who showed strong work in his short time. Both Lindbohm and Bortuzzo are expected to be in the lineup next season.
That left little room for Jackman, who after making $3-plus million last season perhaps would have been too costly for a team that will be close to the NHL salary cap when it re-signs restricted free agents Vladimir Tarasenko and Jake Allen.
And so when the Blues open the 2015-16 season, it will mark an end of era, as the team will be without Jackman, who began his career here playing with Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger and finished it after playing with dozens and dozens of other defensemen.
It will be hard to replace his No. 5, and it's likely the Blues won't try to fill it for quiet awhile, if ever again.
No joke.
That, and for sounding like a character from Sesame Street in those post-game interviews.