ESPN's interview on Tuesday with St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville will air on ESPNEWS and SportsCenter at 6 p.m. Below is an edited transcript:

	Blues coach Joel Quenneville talks about the injury to Chris Pronger in Monday's game vs. San Jose.

On playing without Pronger:

Quenneville: I think we've got to have a more defense-oriented, maybe a more simple game plan. Before we always had direct plays with those two guys - former back-to-back Norris Trophy winners - so that's a big part of your team. They're out there probably almost 90 percent of the game - one of them for sure - and they can make stick-to-stick passes, they can make the long pass, the short pass, they have patience with the puck. We're asking guys who don't normally get the quality ice time to pickup the slack as far as getting important minutes. They've done a pretty good job in their absence.

I think it's a whole team philosophy of being a little more defensive oriented with the thought process of check, check, check. And when we do get an advantage on the power play or a scoring chance, we have to bury them. But it's not an open up the system and try to get more types of scoring chances in exchange of those types of plays.

On not getting Rob Blake and other trade decisions:

Quenneville: I think we were in the Blake hunt and we were hoping to get him. It's a little disappointing knowing he went to a team we're trying to catch and trying to beat. But those things happen. I would have liked him to go to the Eastern Conference for sure. But hey, we have to go on.

We have a great philosophy around here of if we have to improve our club, we will. We felt we made a nice addition with Scott Mellanby a few weeks ago. He's fit in nicely. If there were any more moves between now and the dead line it'd be great. A defenseman, since we're short right now, is something you've got to look at, but at the same time there is always a price to pay for those moves. (GM Larry Pleau) always considers what's best for the team short and long term.

What about Sandis Ozolinsh or Darius Kasparitis?:

Quenneville: We can't comment on players and their availability. I'm familiar with (Sandis Ozolinsh) having coached him in Colorado and Darius Kasparitis is a tough guy to play against.

On goaltending:

Quenneville: Overall team defense has been solid for the last couple of years, it's as good as it there is in the league. Everyone compliments the team defense type of play. The goaltending, we're asking them to do a little more, to be a part of the outcome of games. Roman Turek down the stretch is going to be our guy. We want to make sure, going into the playoffs, he's on the top of his game. He's coming off two solid games, that's good to see. His workload will increase as we get ready for the playoffs.

On having Pronger back for such a brief period:

Quenneville: It was good having Prongs back last Saturday. He played an unbelievable game against Boston. We were pretty excited knowing his game is in order. He makes a big impact on our team. His leadership and his presence on the ice is controlling the outcome of games. Losing him was a good news-bad news situation. It's bad news again today knowing we don't' have him for the rest of the season.

It's a big loss. We got through 15 games without him and it was a tough stretch. I think it caught up to us; earlier on we were getting through. His impact is important.

Update on the status of other injured players:

Quenneville: We're not clear on Al MacInnis. He got clearance on Monday to begin light training and working out, which is some progress, but we still don't have a time frame on him. We've got our fingers crossed that he will be able to join us sometime before the end of the season. Michel Handusz and Pavol Demitra we're hoping can join us on this four-game road trip and both play at least at some point on it. It will be encouraging for us. They are two big pieces to our special teams and offensive production. The big two defensemen are the parts we're worried about right now.

Outlook down the stretch:

Quenneville: I think down he stretch we wanted to get our team in order as far as lines, get some excitement and be peaking come playoff time. I think our focus now is let's try to remain in first place in our division. With Detroit that's going to be a great challenge and a great run. We may have to over achieve, but that's certainly our goal. Hopefully, we are plying well then, but the excitement of having the two defensemen join us prior to going into the playoffs is going to give our team a big boost and a big lift. It's a different approach than we had in mind, but hopefully that can work.