Ronald Caron, the long-time St. Louis Blues general manager, currently serves as the team's senior advisor.

Which means that he is no longer in charge of the team's day-to-day operations, a role ably filled by Larry Pleau.

But "The Professor" still scouts a bit, and, thankfully, still makes media appearances.

The following conversation took place on June 4, 1999, the day after Brett Hull and the Dallas Stars defeated the Colorado Avalanche and advanced to the Stanley Cup's final round vs. the Buffalo Sabres.

To say that Caron, who still bleeds Blue, seemed pleased that Brett Hull was one step closer to a championship is putting it mildly.

You the reader can judge for yourself.

StLSO: Good morning, Mr. Caron.
Caron: Good morning Mark.

StLSO: You had hockey and baseball last night. Which one would you like to talk about?
Caron: I ended up watching more hockey. I didn't miss any minutes of hockey. I had the Cards also...the Yanks...I couldn't catch up with them...I was too much focussed on the hockey game. However I appreciated the outcome of the game between the two New York teams...and I'll try to catch up with that later this afternoon.

StLSO: Ron, can you go back and review, once again, what transpired when you acquired Brett Hull...what was it, ten or twelve years ago.
Caron: I think it was 1988. Really, I had very little knowledge about Brett Hull, in terms of having scouted him. By pure accident, I saw him play Tier II in Penticton, at that time he was kind of pudgy and so-forth...relied on shooting the puck frequently...and scoring goals.

The word I got from our scouts was that he had no ambition in following his Dad's footsteps...in other words, to become a professional hockey player. And that was my only look. He got a goal that day. I remember Ralph Backstrom was scouting him for college, he was coaching the University of Denver.

And I just lost track of him, but I kept following his records in terms of achievement. It stayed in the back of my mind...then I found that he agreed to follow his friend to Minnesota-Duluth [University] and this was the decision he made to develop his hockey desire, and became at home in school and began to establish new records in college.

I had this in the back of my mind and when he got out of college he signed with Calgary...and they had a coach by the name of Terry Crisp who was more interested in defense than offense.

Brett was declared some kind of a non-active player on the ice, strictly floating and positioning himself for scoring chances.

He was sent down to Moncton of the AHL, and in very little time his talent and drive gave him a chance to score like 25 goals in 20 games, and he was recalled by Calgary and our scouts got to see him and they came back to me and said 'he had changed...he seemed like he had the drive to play and is busy away from the puck'.

So I went out to see him play and I enjoyed the big change that I noticed.

I had a vision that it would be good for the Blues to acquire his rights. I said he would score 50 goals one day, and number two, with his name, Hull, and I said, it would be nice to have this player in St. Louis...where he could become our top scorer...he was not old.

I went after it with Cliff Fletcher...and finally, I was successful in making a trade before the deadline by telling Cliff Fletcher...'you want to win the Stanley Cup...I have the players that can help you win the Stanley Cup'.

I ended up trading a goaltender, [Rick] Wamsley, and Mr. Ramage, and officially, Calgary won its only Stanley Cup ever in the history of the franchise, by making that trade.

StLSO: The other player that came to St. Louis was Steve Bozek.
Caron: I needed the player to be thrown in. He was a college grad...had been out for four years...he could skate and score but he was a little expensive for our days...I believe he was a $200,000 player at that time...we made use of him to finish the season but released him back to Calgary...and that completed the deal, and Calgary has its Stanley Cup.

And the Blues had Brett Hull, up to last year. That's the story of the transaction.

StLSO: So the first time you saw him play was in a Calgary Flames uniform?
Caron: No, as I said, he was playing Junior B for Penticton. The first time in the pros he was playing for Calgary, but he didn't get a lot of ice time. You could see that he wanted more. His coach was Terry Crisp. They didn't get along too well. You could see that they were not made to live together.

StLSO: Yes. Terry Crisp is on television now.
Caron: Anyone could be on television now, Mark. I have more of my former drafted players on television, managing, coaching and so forth.

Barry Melrose was the 36th selection in 1975...for the Montreal Canadiens. He never got to play, played WHA, was tough for his size, aggressive, so forth.

I have behind the bench of Dallas, Doug Jarvis, who was selected by Toronto, in 1975, was immediatedly traded for a player from college, and I was involved visiting North Dakota University in 1969, and Rick Wilson, who is behind the bench with Mr. Hitchcock, whom I traded to St. Louis in 1974...he and his wife got a son in March of 1975 when I visited St. Louis for the NCAA, when Mike Zuke was declared the best player in the tournament, defeating Minnesota 6-1, playing for Michigan Tech.

They had a son. Rick Wilson came and saw me and said 'we have a son, name is Landon Wilson'. Landon Wilson is now the property of the Boston Bruins.

I have a lot of closeness with the Dallas team.

Bob Gainey was our first pick in 1973 when I was with Montreal. I really enjoy the individual, great human being, tough mentally, defensively minded.

One time when he played against the Russians...they declared Gainey the best player they had ever seen play the game. He was not a goal-getter in terms of points, but when he got some they were big ones.

But he could fore-check and he could hit without taking penalties and he understood the game defensively.

I also drafted another player from North Dakota, number 3 who plays for Dallas.

StLSO: Craig Ludwig.
Caron: Big, big guy who came from the Wisconsin area but was not offered a scholarship by Bob Johnson and had to go to North Dakota.
Ludwig played for Montreal big-time. He's an old-style defenseman...he blocks shots and plays his position very well. He brings a big dimension to that team, a focus on defense and don't throw the puck away...and they get some relief from the forwards.

This is my connotation with Dallas.

StLSO: You talked about Craig Ludwig. Rob Ramage has told me that Ludwig plays with the same shin pads he used in college.
Caron: I wouldn't be surprised by that. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't illegal. They look like half goaltender pads. They are kidding him all the timebut there's no doubt that Bob Gainey, having played with him, knew what he could contribute to his team-to-be and he got him when he was in Minnesota.

StLSO: Did you see the million dollar smile that Brett Hull had at the end of the Dallas-Colorado Game 7?
Caron: Yeah, he was like a little boy. He was really showing his joy in public...appreciates being with a group of athletes who accepted him the way he is. I've got to give credit to Ken Hitchcock, his coach, who managed to sell Brett Hull on a program...and I think Brett has never played as well a game of hockey, and enjoying it as wel as he's done in the playoffs, where he was so busy away from the puck doing what the Dallas Stars do...which is defense first, and the offense will take care of itself.

StLSO: You know, your Blues exposed certain weaknesses in Dallas. The Blues may have a pretty strong hockey team next year. In particular, some of your younger players, with their speed, exposed some of the weaknesses in the Dallas defense.
Caron: You have to remember that this was round two for Dallas. Mr. Hitchcock kept praising the Blues over the last two years. And this is how they scouted Brett Hull...he kept saying that 'they always play well against us and always give us trouble'.

The young Blues were very active against Dallas. I remember when Pierre Turgeon scored, making it 2-2. New hope and new joy and new ambition evolved from that game.

Dallas left immediately after the game...I think there were three days before the next game. They went to work. They did not take any time off. They didn't feel tired. Hitchcock said 'no we're not playing desperatewe believe in what we dowe'll just have to do it better'. This is how they won game 5...and came to Kiel for game 6, and they won in overtime.

StLSO: You have 40-45 years of playoff hockey experience. Can you describe some of the similarities and differences between NHL regular season hockey and playoff-style hockey.
Caron: The regular season is like going to school, studying, learning, and getting ready for the exams at the end of the yearwhich is the Stanley Cup.

So therefore, the regular season is like a marathon, and as you're trying to win all games, you're learning about your athletes that perform, and the coach adjust to the values and weaknessses of the players.

You don't teach individual offense, this is something that an athlete is gifted with...but putting this togetherthere are three zonesyou will teach how to break out of your own end...and hopefully crossing the red line and attacking in the offensive zone without mortgaging the defense, which is backchecking.

The Stanley Cup conquest is so special because you have to win four rounds to win the Cup. It is something that you build up, that you're taught, you're born with...there is mysticism with going to the Finals...and having a chance to win it.

So it's something condensed...you hope to be healthy with all of your playersby that time you've got to be at your best. It would be like playing tennis to win the U.S. Open in tennis or the French Openor in golf, you're on your own, but you need to shoot the lowest score to win the tournament.

There are special players that need to upgrade their individual game in order to move the team to achievement.

StLSO: Is Mike Keane one of those players?
Caron: Let's go back to Mike Keane. Mike Keane came out of Western Canada, was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, played hard, is respected by his teammates, good penalty killer, and would score the odd goal after clearing his share of defensive responsibilities. With the system that Dallas has right now, it is good for guys like Langenbruner, like Keane, like Carbonneau, they only move in the neutral zone after taking over from the opposition and taking the puck away from them.

He becomes creative and he goes to the net. There is no doubt...I've watched him play...there is no doubt that Keane benefited from knowing the habits of Patrick Roy.

If you remember, when he came in on his second goal, he was on the left side, coming to Roy's right side, and Roy committed himself by coming out of his net eight to ten feet.

Ozolinsh just looked at itdid not make a move to prevent Keane from faking Roy to the short side and moving to his right and putting it in the open net.

In my early days of hockey, I saw Jean Beliveau doing this frequently, when Beliveau was a number one hockey player with great moves.

The art of stickhandling now and deking seems to be gonewe don't see this often enough any more. To me, you practice this in your scrimmagein your workouts with the team.

I will tell you something. I never ask any questions about the Dallas people that I know very well.

I am positive that they don't spend 50% of their time working on drills as most teams do.

They work as a group as a position teamand this way, they learned how to use a nice little trap play...where last night, Colorado has three shots in the second period and in the third period their first shot came at the fourteen minute mark.

They execute like a football team and each one knows its position and only goes on offense after clearing their zone.

StLSO: Even the television coverage in the playoffs is better...the networks seem to use more cameras with more and better and lower angles. Langenbrunner and Keane and Carbonneau...they are really fun to watch, aren't they?
Caron: Very much indeed. They give you everything they have. They are not afraid. They are aggressive...they understand defense.

And let me share something with you.

I was involved in drafting Carbonneau 43rd or 44th in 1979. His stats, as a junior hockey player playing for Orval Tessier in Chicoutimi, were as good if not better than Denis Savard.

And that's one of the reasons why I selected Doug Wickenheiser instead of Savard, in 1980.

Because we had Carbonneau and Pierre Mondou, who was drafted in 1976these two were very talented and had good stats in the Quebec League, but did not have what I would call a big physique.

But both played the game two ways...and when Carbonneau came to the National League, Montreal turned him into a defensive hockey player and he won the Selke three times.

He is great on face-offs.

Really, it was a nice gift by the Blues, under Mr. Keenan's regime, to make Carbonneau available in the draftwe didn't protect himand guess whatnobody took him.

Mike, for financial reasons, he said, and I'm not questioningwe make decisions for a reason or a purposeMike decided to give Bob Gainey a call, you see, everybody that worked in Peterborough knows each otherthis is why the Stars drafted Langenbrunner 40th overall , second round.

Those two, Keenan and Gainey, came out of the Peterborough system.

But back to Carbonneau.

I signed him for three years at $900,000 a year so he could bring his family to St. Louis.

Which was a good sum of money but nothing ridiculous.

I think he played one year for Keenan, the half-year they were on strike.

However, he did not protect him in 1997...pretending that he made too much money.

The deal between Gainey and Keenan sent Paul Broten to St. Louis and Carbonneau to Dallas.

Broten had a one-way contract in which he earned $500,000...a difference of $400,000 between the two.

Broten had a cup of coffee with the Blues...could not do ithe was sent to Worcester, and eventually was loaned to Manitoba and Randy Carlyle.

So a lot of mistakes are made in the game of hockey or baseball or even this afternoon, there's a horse named Charismatic who is running for the Triple Crown.

This horse was available on waivers three months agoby running in a claiming race. There is no doubt that those that owned the horse lost their patience that the horse would achieve what they expected it to achieve.

StLSO: I'm looking at player bios in the Hockey Guide. Jamie Langenbruner is an American, was born in Minnesota and played high school hockey before playing junior hockey in Peterborough for two years. And I'm also noticing that Guy Carbonneau had 72 goals and 110 assists in 1980. He played for Orval Tessienow how do you pronounce this town that begins with "C"?
Caron: Shi-kit-tim-ee.

StLSO: That must be an Indian name.
Caron: Yeah. Let me tell you who comes from Chicoutimi. In the '20s, before my time, there's a trophy in the National League which was awarded to the goaltender Georges Vezina, who played for the Chicoutimi seniors before my time. And the name of the rink is the Vezina Forum in Chicoutimi.

StLSO: How far north is that, Ron?
Caron: I used to teach school on a Friday, hit the road around 3pm, and drive to Chicoutimi, put on a new shirt and see two hockey games that evening in Jonquiere. This is exactly 305 miles northeast of Montreal.

StLSO: Oh my. So they have three weeks of summer there.
Caron: Yeah you got that right. I even went to the Indian reserve to see a young Indian hockey player who was sought by everybody in the province of Quebecnamed Arthur Quoquochiwho ended up being drafted by Boston in 1969, I believe

StLSO: Ron, I'm hoping we can contact you once more before your vacation and talk some Stanley Cup hockey . Can we do that?
Caron: That would be nice.

StLSO: Thanks for joining us.
Caron: My pleasure.