St. Louis Could Have a Hull of a Team

Weighed down by an armful of packages and shopping bags from designer boutiques, Brett Hull lagged a step behind Wayne Gretzky as they crossed the lobby of the St. Louis Blues’ hotel here Thursday.

“I’m just a tote boy now,” Hull said, smiling.

That wasn’t quite the change Blues Coach/General Manager Mike Keenan hoped for when he acquired Gretzky from the Kings Tuesday. But Hull’s enthusiasm about caddying for and playing with Gretzky was a good omen for the Blues’ offensive prospects and their playoff chances.

The Blues, who had the NHL’s third-lowest goal total when they made the deal, are counting on Gretzky to elevate the play of his teammates, especially Hull. When Hull is happy and has that predatory look in his eye, he can carry a team, and Hull hasn’t stopped grinning since the trade was announced.

The Blues may not be deep enough to carry off the Stanley Cup this spring, but Keenan isn’t done dealing. They have good goaltending, strong team defense and a dash of toughness, but a rugged defenseman and a scorer are still on Keenan’s shopping list. “It’s pedal to the metal until March 20 [the trading deadline], and then I can concentrate on coaching,” he said.

Even if Keenan makes no other moves, he might get by. Gretzky arrived just as the Blues were gaining confidence, having rallied for victories at Chicago and at home over Detroit during a 5-1-2 run. Gretzky will make them a force in the weak Western Conference, as hinted in his debut Thursday with a goal in the Blues’ 2-2 tie with the Vancouver Canucks Thursday at GM Place. Hull had an assist on Gretzky’s goal.

“In the last five years, teams have become more interested in going for it now, not building for the future, because that’s what fans want when they’re spending big bucks,” Blues defenseman Murray Baron said. “We’re an older team and we’re looking to do it now, not five years down the road.

“There’s a few top teams in the league, like the Rangers and Detroit. In our conference, Detroit is rolling along, and you can’t catch them. But it’s a new season when the playoffs start. Gretzky’s been through that, and he brings a lot of leadership to this team.”

Gretzky’s main impact is likely to be on Hull, because they are among the few players capable of instinctively reading and anticipating plays.

“Brett sees the game completely differently from everyone else,” Keenan said. “I remember times during the Canada Cup he would come to the bench so frustrated, and I’d say, ‘Brett, you don’t understand, they can’t see what you see.’ He’d say, ‘Why didn’t that guy pass to me?’ And I’d say, ‘If he could, he’d get paid a lot more than he is.’ The guys who see it most are Wayne, Mario [Lemieux] and Brett.”

Asked if Gretzky is still the best player in the NHL, Keenan nodded yes without hesitation. “He still has the incredible talent to see the ice,” Keenan said. “I would never downgrade Mark Messier, and Mario may be the most talented right now . . . [but] Wayne has done it a lot longer, year after year. He had a tough year but he still got 80 points.”

Actually, he got 81 points with Dan Bylsma as one of his wings. Imagine what he will do on a line with Hull, who had 34 goals before Gretzky arrived. Imagine the potential for havoc with a power play featuring Hull, Gretzky and hard-shooting defenseman Al MacInnis. If that doesn’t increase the Blues’ 16% success rate, which ranked 20th in the NHL, nothing will.

“That will be scary,” Canuck defenseman Jyrki Lumme said. “A good power play could easily get you five, 10 more wins a year. Gretzky may be older, but he’s still playing great.”

Said Blues goalie Grant Fuhr, Gretzky’s teammate in Edmonton and last season with the Kings: “He definitely makes us a better team. He’s going to help us score a lot more goals. We just have to keep playing as we are defensively.”

However, their playoff position might not get better. They are fourth, a point ahead of Vancouver, and they trailed the third-seeded Chicago Blackhawks by 13 points. That doesn’t concern Keenan, who knows what happens in the playoffs is what really counts.

And by playoff time, Gretzky should feel comfortable wearing the Blue note and Keenan should feel safer at the Kiel Center. Blues fans had so loudly booed his electronic image after he traded Curtis Joseph and Brendan Shanahan, he ordered the scoreboard operator not to show his face. “We’re just going to leave it off the board,” Keenan said, “and keep putting Wayne’s up there.”