Sydor has case of the Blues

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It took until a week before NHL teams open training camps, but Darryl Sydor finally knows where he’s going.
Sydor, one of the five owners of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, will report to the St. Louis Blues’ camp on Sept. 12.
“I’ve got a tryout deal,” Sydor said Friday night while watching the Blazers and Chilliwack Bruins in an exhibition game at Interior Savings Centre.
Sydor’s deal means that the four hockey-playing Blazers owners all will be in NHL camps, the others being Shane Doan (Phoenix Coyotes), Jarome Iginla (Calgary Flames) and Mark Recchi (Boston Bruins).
Sydor started last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins and finished it with the Dallas Stars, who acquired him in exchange for defenceman Philippe Boucher, 36, who announced his retirement earlier this week.
Sydor earned US$2.5 million on a contract that expired with season’s end. He wasn’t about to say how much of a paycut he’ll take if he makes the Blues, but smiled and said: “I’m cap friendly.”
“I’ll go in there and be a leader,” said Sydor, 37. “It’s a good, young team. I’ll go there and do anything they want.”
Sydor noted that the Blues have five defencemen on one-way contracts, including Eric Brewer, who is coming off back and knee surgeries and won’t be ready to start the season.
Sydor, who is going into his 17th NHL season, said he isn’t surprised that it took this long for him to find a landing spot, not in the salary cap era.
“Everybody puts guys in different categories and levels,” he said.
He added that he had thought he might have to wait even longer, suggesting that there were times when he thought nothing might happen until teams got to camp and maybe even into the season.
“People have their teams and want to see how they play,” he explained.
Sydor also has played with the Los Angeles Kings, Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I’m really excited about this,” he said.
Despite having been in the NHL since the fall of 1992, Sydor said he knows only one player on the Blues’ roster. That would be goaltender Ty Conklin, another free-agent signee with whom he played in Pittsburgh.
Sydor also knows Doug Armstrong, the Stars’ former general manager who now is the Blues’ vice-president of player personnel. In fact, Sydor thinks Armstrong may have lobbied on his behalf.
“He knows what I can do . . . how I play,” Sydor said.
Sydor has been skating with the Blazers and will do so again today. He will leave Sunday for Dallas to see his family — the children are back in school there — and then it will be on to St. Louis.
Should he stick with the Blues, his family will join him in St. Louis.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com