The St. Louis Blues have become the target of much speculation over the last week, after issuing extensions to Sammy Blais, Mackenzie MacEachern and most notably, Marco Scandella. The latter deal ate up another $3.275MM of cap space on the back end for each of the next four years, precious real estate for a team with arguably the top pending UFA. Alex Pietrangelo, the Blues captain, and best defenseman is up for a new contract.
Over the weekend Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic wrote about a $9MM-per-season ask that may have to come down thanks to the stagnant cap and today Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet gave some similar thoughts on the radio:
I don’t think there has been a lot of dialogue on this one this year. I think there has been on again and off again negotiations. I believe that the Blues made it clear they were willing to go around [Oliver] Ekman-Larsson. Ekman-Larsson is $8.25×8, and I believe the Blues are willing to go a little bit higher because he’s their guy, he’s their captain, they won the Cup and everything. But I don’t believe they were willing to go into the [$9MM/year range] or anything more than that and that’s where they were stuck at this particular point in time.
It is important to remember some of the moves that Blues GM Doug Armstrong has made in the past with key players. At the 2017 trade deadline Armstrong traded away pending free agent Kevin Shattenkirk despite the Blues sitting in a playoff spot. They would eventually finish with 99 points and advance to the second round, only to lose to the Nashville Predators in six games (scoring just 11 goals in the series). Even though Shattenkirk was an absolutely integral part of the Blues at that point—his 42 points through the first 61 games trailed only Vladimir Tarasenko for the team lead—it was clear he was not going to sign a long-term deal before testing free agency. Armstrong bit the bullet and traded away a franchise star for futures.
In 2018 is was much the same story for the Blues. As the trade deadline approached, St. Louis was in the midst of a season-long seven-game losing streak, but still just within a few points of a playoff position. They were obviously still a strong club, but it didn’t seem to be their year (that would come soon enough). When the Winnipeg Jets came calling, Armstrong decided to trade off another star player that wouldn’t be re-signing. Paul Stastny, who sat fourth on the team in scoring through the first 63 games, was dealt for another package of futures including a first-round pick.
Make no mistake, Shattenkirk and Stastny are not Pietrangelo. The 30-year old is one of the most well-respected captains in the league, a Norris-level defenseman, and a current Stanley Cup champion. He also has been with St. Louis for his entire career and would go down as one of the best players in franchise history if he never played another game. His two-way skill is a huge part of what makes the Blues so special, which makes it easy to understand why he too wasn’t dealt away at the deadline.
But there will be a limit for the Blues and if Armstrong’s history is any indication, he won’t hesitate in moving on if he feels that’s what right for the organization. The fact that the salary cap situation is still so unclear makes the $79MM+ in commitments the team has already made for next year quite dubious, meaning they would have to move out some significant money to make room. Of course, there is still time to do that, especially if compliance buyouts or some sort of salary relief is put in place.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Remember, Doug, getting rid of Petro would NOT constitute a business decision, but rather a BAD decision!
The Faulk trade and signing keeps looking worse and worse. 6.5 that coulda/woulda/shoulda been going to 27.
@Ol Voodoo – I second that motion! It will be hard for Faulk to *not* turn out like Bleepin-Kirk in the coming years.
The Faulk trade WILL turn into a great trade. He doesn’t have a role on the team yet. He is very capable of being the elite player Army saw on him. No doubt Army knows what he is doing.
@RedFeather – You may be in the minority camp on that one, I’m afraid. Even a few prominent talking heads were remarking, as some of us here were at the time, that the Faulk signing was either confusing or just not smart.
Amen
I think he was going to Toronto (who would let Barrie and Ceci walk and bring up a Marlie to fill the other hole) before the shutdown messed up the cap. Now, who knows?
No way we can get Alex, we have half the cap tied up in 4 forwards! We can’t afford another big contract unless we move one out and dubas won’t move the big 4 and make himself look bad. We need to build within for the next couple years until the cap starts rising
As stated here and other stories I have read possibility of moving out Kapanen ($3.2 m signed through 2022) and Johnsson(# 3.4 m through 2023) *if healthy or activated of LTIR , other than proposed moves of Ceci($4.5m UFA contract) and Barrie($2.75 m UFA) both Free Agents. They have depth in AHL and recent prospect signings and from Europe, etc. and when? Draft is held to fill forward spots of depth players , thou Hyman’s pending contract may throw monkey wrench in that scenario? and on top of it all what is in Dubas mind , I will leave that alone.
We don’t have depth in the minors, imo liljgren isn’t going to amount to much and sandin isn’t very good in his own end and at forward bracco Robertson talented but not what we need with the big 4 contracts! Even trading the third liners kapanen,johansson or kerfoot what are they really going to bring back
@Sillysundin – Sounds like a definition for Salary Cap Hell, eh? It would’ve worked out better, if the cap had risen to anticipated levels. Now, all bets are off…
better give up on Reilly if you write-off players not good in their own end. Sandin just turned 20. With an AP you don’t have to rush Sandin into top 2 minutes.
sillysundin your a terrible leafs troll on this site. lilly has changed his game from being a offensive dman to a more defensive one. Sandin is still a teenager, Bracco is only making the team if hes a top six as his style doesnt translate to bottom six but he would be good replacement for Johansson. kerfoot needs to go and robertson is going to be a stud. leafs are fine for years to come prospect wise just no elite game changers coming just guys who will be middle of the lineup type good but not great (other than robertson and sandin)
LA kings could be a potential landing spot for Pietrangelo
If he is not a maple leaf next season then start kissing some young kids starting to decide to think should we be here… They need a veteran puck moving dman period……
It would really stink if he lands in Colorado. They’re a good team, and with cal so we he’d put them at the top of the conference.