Logan Brown’s desire for a fresh start is well-known and he has gotten his wish. The Senators have sent the center along with a conditional fourth-round pick in 2022 to St. Louis in exchange for winger Zach Sanford. The draft pick will not transfer if Brown plays in 30 regular season games with the Blues this season. Both teams have confirmed the deal.
Brown was a first-round pick of Ottawa (11th overall) in 2016 but despite showing flashes of upside in the minors, he has yet to establish himself in the NHL. He had nine points in 13 AHL contests with Belleville last season but only got into one game with the Senators in 2020-21 and has just 30 career NHL appearances over his three professional campaigns. The 23-year-old recently re-signed a one-year, two-way contract worth the league minimum of $750K and will be a restricted free agent against next summer.
As for Sanford, he has been a capable depth scorer for the Blues over the last few seasons, notching at least eight goals in each of his three full seasons in St. Louis. Injuries to other forwards allowed him to play a bigger role in 2020-21 as he logged nearly 15 minutes per game in ice time (a career high) while collecting ten goals and six assists in 52 contests. The 26-year-old is in the final year of his contract that carries a $2MM AAV and Sanford will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The key to the trade from St. Louis’ perspective is the cap space. The move allows them to get back into salary cap compliance as they were projected to be over the $81.5MM Upper Limit before the swap. If Brown pans out, he will be a cheap roster piece for the Blues and if he can’t crack the roster, they’ll get the fourth-rounder for Sanford’s services. As for the Sens, Sanford should be a nice addition to their bottom six forward group. As they look to get back into the playoff picture this season, he’ll be a useful veteran on a young team and if they’re out of the mix by the trade deadline, Sanford is someone that could be flipped to a playoff contender.
Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch was the first to report that the two teams were finalizing a trade for Brown.
Good trade for both teams. A real “hockey trade” as they call it. :)
See they don’t need Sanford’s grit anymore because uncle Peter is bringing our boy Lucic into the fray… it’s all coming together
The “puppet” GM. Trader Pete as others affectionately call him, has a way with management. It’s a conspiracy, man!!!!!
Good trade for the Sens. Interesting trade for the Blues.
questionable, unless brown makes a huge leap
Not really, have you seen Sanford play? He’s bottom line player who disappears for weeks at a time, has costly turnovers constantly, and 99% chance he wasn’t going to be on team next year seeing as he’s unrestricted free agent and we will have multiple younger options about ready to play in bottom 6. That list would include guys like Kostin, Neighbors, Alexandrov, Joshua, Keenan Washeruak (most likely misspelled) etc and that’s not counting guys already there in Barbashev, sunny, Thomas, Bozak, and Kyrou, and then James Neal and Frolic on ptos for this year as well.Brown now as well who could benefit from change of scenery and into a good franchise finally. And Brown had very good numbers last two years in Ahl, he was over a point per game I believe. Sanford had decent year two years ago, and even then with getting consistent time on top line with ROR and Perron, he was mediocre at best during that stretch and horrible for most of it. 30 points is his career high and when he had double digit goals two years ago, 4 of those came in one game. Talk to me in couple of months after watching him play and guarantee he becomes your whipping boy like he was here in stl for years.
How is this good trade for Senators? Sanford is 4th line depth piece on competing team, which Sens aren’t yet and won’t be for a couple of years at the very least. He’s unrestricted free agent next year and turns 27 in November, to throw in draft pick and prospect who has produced at point per game level past two seasons in ahl and dealt with a lot of injuries slowing down his development. This isn’t a move that a rebuilding team should make. And it clears 2 million dollars for Blues who desperately needed cap space, and they get back a pick and prospect with high pedigree in desperate need of change of scenery and luck being healthy. I love it.
Brown has long been highly touted. Ottawa will likely regret this trade though Sanford is a useful bottom 6-er with some offensive upside. Who knows maybe when he hits 400games his offense takes a jump. He’s excelled at every level.
Definitely a good trade for Brown, not only getting into a new organization, but back home as well. Let’s hope he’s healthy.
Good luck Senators, he’s your problem now. No more blind passes through middle of slot in tie game or Berube putting him up in top 6 to get completely undressed and bring his linemates down. I figured we release him or put him down through waivers. Siked to get Brown who needed a change of scenery bad and to come back back hometown is just a bonus.
Brown needs to clear waivers, so there is a pretty good chance he doesn’t play 30 games for the Blues.
He has some upside though. This trade makes no sense for the Sens. They give up an upside player and a potential pick for a rather replaceable bottom 6 guy on an expiring contract.
Why did PHR have to remove the Dr unk guys messages. I wanted to link this to throw it back in his face.