The Blues have placed defenseman Nick Leddy on standard waivers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Leddy, 34, cannot be bought out since the first window has closed. Since he’s on standard, not unconditional waivers, this move isn’t made with a contract termination in mind, either. Instead, the Blues are seeing if there are any takers for the final season of his contract, which carries a $4MM cap hit but only $3MM in actual salary, per PuckPedia.
St. Louis had been working in conjunction with Leddy to find a trade partner to give him more ice time this season, but no offers materialized, Frank Seravalli reports. Any of the league’s 31 other teams can now have him for free by submitting a claim in the next 24 hours, including the 16 teams on his no-trade list.
Leddy signed a four-year, $16MM extension with St. Louis in 2022 that had largely provided fair value until last year. The 13-year veteran missed over half the season with a lower-body injury and only had five points and a plus-six rating in 31 games when healthy, averaging 18:40 of ice time per game. He’d averaged at least 20 minutes per game for the previous 10 seasons.
It remains to be seen what happens in the event Leddy clears waivers. If the Blues have made up their minds that he won’t be on their roster next season, he could either accept an AHL assignment and take home his $3MM guaranteed salary for next season or request a mutual termination, forfeiting his money but allowing himself to pursue an NHL opportunity elsewhere in free agency.
One of the league’s consistent top-four fixtures throughout the 2010s and early 2020s, Leddy has 75 goals, 341 assists, and 416 points with a -36 rating in 1,042 career games with the Blues, Blackhawks, Islanders, and Red Wings. Before his injury-plagued 2024-25 campaign, Leddy had posted 59 points and a +21 rating in 180 games with St. Louis, who initially acquired him from Detroit at the 2022 trade deadline.
The Blues have been open to parting ways with veteran defensemen to make way for a youth movement. They opted not to re-sign Ryan Suter and will now look to offload Leddy to both free up cap space for future trade discussions this summer while also giving more opportunity for players like fresh trade pickup Logan Mailloux, Matthew Kessel, and Tyler Tucker to play more consistent NHL roles.
Image courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images.
Where will he go?
San Jose should take him. They get $4m closer to the cap floor while only spending $3m, and they can flip him at the deadline to a contender looking for veteran depth
Came here to say exactly this. This is exactly the sort of move GMMG should make – and it makes the Bordeleau trade look a lot better.
blackhawk legend
As a Blues fan, I like this. Leddy served his purpose here, but with the Blues getting younger on D, this makes sense. Hopefully this frees up $4M in cap space. With putting Krug on LTIR that puts the Blues at a little over $11M in cap space. Plenty to work out the deal for Byrum at $7M (especially if they free up more in the trade) and still sign a center like a Pius Suter
I wonder if these guys prefer getting claimed off waivers, or to be “traded for future considerations”?