Playoff streak in jeopardy, Blues on pace for different record

~ St. Louis' run of 25 consecutive postseason berths may be replaced by a franchise mark for worst season.

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Blues general manager Larry Pleau has a new mantra. At least he's getting paid to be around the game he loves.

"I haven't had a job since I was 16 years old, and I'm going to be 59 in June," said Pleau, whose team is the worst in the NHL. "So I've been a pretty lucky guy."

That was before the Blues dropped their seventh straight game, a 5-3 loss at home to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. They've scored 10 goals during the current slump, which rivals their franchise-worst 11-game losing streak earlier in the season.

Forget about the 25-season playoff streak, the longest current run in professional sports. They're on track for not only the fewest points in the league this season, but the fewest in franchise history.

The Blues enter Thursday's game at Washington with a 10-29-5 record and 25 points, six fewer than the next-worse team, through 44 games. The franchise worst is 48 points and an 18-50-12 mark in 1978-79, the season before they began their current playoff run.

"It's just tiring and it's ridiculous, and I'm not putting blame," Blues center Doug Weight said. "We do have to be positive, or it's going to get worse. But it's incredibly hard."

It's not all Pleau's fault. He put this post-lockout team together with severe restrictions after owners decided to sell the team and strip down payroll and avoid long-term commitments.

The Blues signaled that they would not be a factor when they traded star defenseman Chris Pronger to the Oilers before the season started. The main player they got in return, Eric Brewer, faces possible surgery for a dislocated shoulder.

Their big goalie pickup, Patrick Lalime, is trying to rehabilitate his game at Peoria of the AHL after failing miserably.

Their few remaining assets -- Weight, Keith Tkachuk and Mike Sillinger -- could be bait at the trade deadline. For the first time in a long while, the Blues figure to be sellers rather than buyers.

"I don't discuss any of that," Pleau said. "I never have, so why would I now? You can reason anything you want."

So, as the slide continues, the once-packed Savvis Center has thousands of good seats available. As financial constraints keep major upgrades out of his grasp, Pleau tries to think happy thoughts. When he was 16, he was an apprentice electrician for two months.

Now, that was a job.

"You're asking me: How this is? This is hockey. This is great," Pleau said. "Do we like losing? No, we don't. Of course, we don't. Do we like our record? No, we don't.

"You can go from 16 to 59 and not have a job? My kids are healthy, my wife is healthy."

Players can't hide their frustrations so well. The latest loss was one of those "almost" games when the Blues rallied from three goals down against future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur to tie the score and then faded. The loss dropped them to 5-14-3 at home.

"I guess it's a broken record," defenseman Barret Jackman said. "We've got to take the positives out of this game and the few bright spots in a long year of disappointments."