David Perron Fined For Cross-Checking
The St. Louis Blues are down to their last strike, on the brink of elimination after last night’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche, but at least they won’t be without one of their top players. David Perron has avoided suspension and earned a $5,000 fine for his cross-check on Nazem Kadri, one of a number of questionable incidents involving the Blues’ sniper in game four.
The incident in question occurred partway through the second period and resulted in a two-minute minor from the on-ice officials. At the same time, Pavel Buchnevich took a penalty for roughing on Kadri, after Perron and the Avalanche forward came together in the neutral zone. It wasn’t the only time Perron received a cross-checking penalty in the game–he was given a two-minute minor in the first period after delivering one to Cale Makar–and also likely wasn’t the only clip the Department of Player Safety reviewed from last night’s match.
Still, Perron was also the Blues’ best offensive player last night, scoring twice to take his playoff totals to nine goals and 13 points in ten games. Losing that kind of production would have been a devastating blow as the team tries to claw out of the 3-1 series deficit. A fine means the league will be closely watching his conduct for any further supplementary discipline but means he can stay in the lineup and try to help the Blues stay alive tomorrow night.
Tyler Bozak’s Latest Bonus Pushes Blues’ Overage Penalty Even Further
The St. Louis Blues are happy to be advancing to the second round of the playoffs, that much is certain. However, their series win over the Minnesota Wild is not without complications. Veteran center Tyler Bozak earned a $100K bonus with the Blues advancing, CapFriendly reports, which for many teams would not be an issue. However, St. Louis operated so close to the salary cap’s upper limit this season that they had no cushion for performances bonuses they had promised to Bozak and were already in the red. In fact, even before Bozak’s latest bonus was earned the Blues held the third-highest bonus overage penalty for 2022-23 at $1MM, awarded to Bozak for playing in 41+ games this season.
And they’re not out of the woods yet. Again, St. Louis would be nothing but ecstatic if they were to upset the Colorado Avalanche and earn a berth in the Western Conference Final. However, another series win would add an additional $150K bonus to Bozak’s pay check. This would bring the Blues’ total overage penalty to a league-high $1.25MM.
Bozak’s contract, signed late in the offseason, was the Blues’ attempt to fit a serviceable player under the salary cap. As a 35+ player, Bozak was eligible for performance bonuses and was willing to sign for the minimum $750K base salary, all that would be counted against the cap this season, knowing that another $1.25MM could be on the way in bonuses. The Blues were well aware of the implications, but did themselves few favors by not finding other ways to accumulate cap space this season to leave space to absorb those bonus dollars.
Now, St. Louis heads into an offseason in which they had very little cap flexibility as is and will have to manage an additional $1.1-1.25 deficit to their allowable spending. The Blues have over $70MM committed to 15 one-way contracts in 2022-23, leaving just $12.375MM to spread among the additional eight players needed to build a full roster. Except, that value is without taking the bonus overage into account, bringing their real cap flexibility down to $11.125-11.275MM. Two players the team would desperately like to bring back are veteran forward David Perron, who led the team in scoring last season, and breakout goaltender Ville Husso, who won the starting job for much of this season with considerably better play than starter Jordan Binnington. Without making considerable changes elsewhere on the roster, it doesn’t seem possible for both to return and maybe not either.
Looking At David Perron’s Impending Free Agency
With a dramatic 6-5 overtime victory over the division rival Minnesota Wild yesterday, the Blues clinched their spot in the playoffs this season. While the story of this Blues team is still unwritten, it isn’t too early to look forward to the offseason to examine what the future of this Blues team holds. With the emergence of Ville Husso as the team’s number-one goalie and Husso’s status as a pending unrestricted free agent, most of the attention paid to the Blues’ offseason decision-making has been centered around the situation with Husso and Jordan Binnington, who is the owner of a rich $6MM AAV contract extension. What has flown under the radar as a result has been the pending unrestricted free agency of winger David Perron.
That should not come as a surprise, though, as flying under the radar has become something of a trademark for Perron. Since he was selected from St. Louis to play for Vegas in the Expansion Draft, Perron has quietly become a star scoring winger in the NHL, flirting with point-per-game production several times over the past five years. After his campaign in Vegas where he had 66 points in 70 games, Perron signed in St. Louis, and with the Blues for the past four seasons Perron has a combined 218 points in 245 games, which is a 73-point pace over 82 games. That’s the kind of production that makes a player an elite winger, but Perron isn’t often viewed as the elite winger his production says he is. So, that can complicate his contract situation, as he has been by all accounts one of the better scoring wingers in the NHL for the past five seasons, but doesn’t carry the same name recognition that other scoring wingers hold. As an example, Max Pacioretty, one of the other successful scoring wingers from Perron’s 2007 draft class, has 187 points in 218 games over these past four seasons, which is 70-point pace. So Pacioretty has had similar levels of production to Perron (actually slightly lower) over the past four seasons’ worth of games, but Pacioretty is routinely mentioned as one of the league’s best left wingers while Perron typically maintains a lower profile.
So, why is that relevant for Perron’s free agency situation? Because relative to his production, Perron has been underpaid. Perron’s contract in St. Louis carries a $4MM cap hit, a number that is significantly below market value for wingers who score at a 70+ point pace. To use the Pacioretty comparable again, his extension with the Golden Knights holds a $7MM AAV, and the going rate for wingers like Perron and Pacioretty is around $7MM, if not more. So that begs the question, is a $7MM+ contract something Perron will be aiming for this offseason? Moreover, given that Perron is already 33 years old, will he be able to get a contract at that number with any real term attached to it, beyond just one or two years? The market will obviously dictate the answers to those questions, but since Perron’s career has reached new heights as he’s aged (rather than getting worse with age, as happens with most players) it will be fascinating to see how the open market values him. Wingers who can score like Perron don’t grow on trees, so despite his age, it cannot be put out of the question that Perron will be able to earn a major contract.
While talented scorers like Perron don’t grow on trees for most NHL clubs, they seem to be readily available for Perron’s Blues. The Blues’ top three forward lines are an embarrassment of riches, and the team has seven players above 50 points on the year, and two more (Ryan O’Reilly and Brandon Saad) are set to reach that plateau by the end of the season. The team’s wealth of weapons up front further complicates Perron’s free agency situation, as, given the raise he is in line to receive, St. Louis may not be in a position to retain him. St. Louis’ forward corps has significant money on the books, with Brayden Schenn, Pavel Buchnevich, and Saad already locked into long-term deals. Additionally, two centerpiece young talents in Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou are set to be restricted free agents after next season. Two franchise icons in O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko also are set to be free agents after next season as well.
All of this is to say that the Blues are going to have some major decisions to make in the near future, and it’s very possible that given the contracts set to expire, the situation with Husso this offseason, and the team’s need to add to their defense, there simply isn’t enough room to pay Perron what he deserves. While Perron’s third tour of duty as a Blue has been a success, and Perron obviously has a real connection with the market and the organization, if he wants to be paid like the elite winger he has been for the past five seasons, it’s going to be difficult for him to get that contract in St. Louis.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
St. Louis Blues Announce Several Roster Moves
The St. Louis Blues continue to move players on and off the roster in an attempt to stay salary cap compliant while they deal with injuries and COVID absences. Today, several transactions were processed to make the puzzle pieces together. The team has moved David Perron to long-term injured reserve, while putting Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn on normal injured reserve. Tyler Bozak and Justin Faulk have been activated from the COVID protocol, while Alexei Toropchenko has been recalled.
Perron’s LTIR designation is retroactive to November 27, just after the last game he played in, meaning he won’t have to wait much longer if he is healthy enough to return. LTIR requires a player to miss either ten games or 24 days (whichever is longer), meaning he could potentially return for the Blues’ game next Tuesday. That gives the team some time to operate with the extra cap relief and hopefully get Jordan Binnington back out of the COVID protocol.
Faulk and Bozak’s return is a huge positive, given how the protocol affects a team’s cap. Their hits still counted toward the $81.5MM cap ceiling despite being unavailable, leading to the Blues playing shorthanded several times. If they’re healthy enough to return, it will be a big help while figuring out the rest of the roster.
Toropchenko meanwhile will be facing his NHL debut should he get into a game. The 22-year-old forward has nine points in 22 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds this season after spending last year in the KHL. The 6’3″ winger hasn’t shown a huge amount of offensive upside, but can add another big body to the Blues’ bottom-six–something head coach Craig Berube has used consistently since arriving in St. Louis.
Injury Notes: O’Reilly, Wild, Schenn
St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly is likely to return to the lineup Sunday night when they take on the Anaheim Ducks, per Blues writer Chris Pinkert. The 30-year-old center missed the team’s last four games while in COVID-19 protocol. He’s likely to return to top-line duties between David Perron as well as Brandon Saad, who’s also missed time while in COVID-19 protocol this season. Prior to departing the lineup, O’Reilly had five points in five games while averaging 19:13 of ice time per game.
Other injury notes from around the league:
- The Minnesota Wild activated both Mats Zuccarello and Rem Pitlick from COVID-19 protocol today, according to a team tweet. Zuccarello is the Wild’s most productive player this season in terms of points per game, notching three goals and four assists for seven points through six games. He returns playing on a unit with Marcus Foligno and Joel Eriksson Ek. Pitlick, who was claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators earlier in the season, only played one game before entering protocol. However, he did notch an assist in that game and should return to the lineup in a fourth-line role centering Brandon Duhaime and Kyle Rau.
- Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reports Vancouver Canucks defenseman Luke Schenn could miss a couple of weeks with what Dhaliwal calls a “knee issue.” Schenn was absent from Vancouver’s practice Sunday. Schenn has two assists through five games this season, often serving as a healthy scratch.
Central Notes: Bowness, Toews, Perron
Going into the final year of a contract as a coach is a scenario that a lot of teams like to try to avoid but that’s not the case with the Stars and bench boss Rick Bowness. Speaking with Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News regarding his expiring deal, Bowness stated “That doesn’t bother me one bit. Shouldn’t bother the players”. The 66-year-old also admitted to turning down three deals with more money and term before originally committing to Dallas so clearly, there is some comfort in going with short-term agreements. After a disappointing and injury-riddled season, many expect the Stars to bounce back this season which would bode well for his future behind the bench.
More from the Central Division:
- Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews is expected to travel with the team on their upcoming three-game road trip and could be cleared to play at some point in that stretch, reports Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. The 27-year-old was a significant addition to Colorado’s back end last season as he logged nearly 25 minutes a night while chipping in with 31 points, the most in his career. For the time being, Colorado is carrying a minimum-sized roster (though that could change by next week) so no roster move would be needed to activated Toews.
- In a recent reader chat, Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggested that he thinks Blues winger David Perron could take another team-friendly deal around the $4MM mark if he has a similar showing to last season. While he could likely garner more on the open market, the 33-year-old hasn’t hidden his desire to be in St. Louis, signing back there each time he has reached free agency. In order for him to remain there, Perron will need to take a below-market deal with St. Louis having over $72MM in commitments to just 14 players for next season, per CapFriendly, not leaving much wiggle room to fill out the rest of the roster.
Injury Notes: Boeser, Severson, Perron, Hoffman
While Vancouver fans are relieved to see Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes back in action after they signed new contracts to stay with the team, they’ll have to wait a bit longer to see one of their young core members debut this season. Head coach Travis Green said Friday morning that it’s doubtful Brock Boeser plays in that night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Boeser has been on the shelf with an undisclosed injury since October 2. He was expected to only miss one week, but that timeline has passed and his status is now day-to-day. In his absence, it appears rookie Vasily Podkolzin will now get a look on the second line with Pettersson and J.T. Miller.
Some other injury notes from around the league:
- New Jersey Devils head coach Lindy Ruff notes that defenseman Damon Severson is progressing and could play in New Jersey’s game next Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken. The Devils play their season opener tonight, meaning Severson might only be on the shelf for one game. Severson suffered an undisclosed injury on October 4 and has been listed as day-to-day since then.
- The Montreal Canadiens could see a big free-agent addition make his debut soon. Head coach Dominique Ducharme says that winger Mike Hoffman could be ready for the team’s Tuesday or Thursday night games next week, but he’ll miss Saturday’s tilt against the New York Rangers. That’s about right on time for Hoffman, who was projected to miss four weeks with a lower-body injury suffered in late September.
- With the St. Louis Blues’ season opener looming Saturday in Colorado, they could be without forward David Perron, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jim Thomas. Perron was absent from the Blues’ practice today but was seen at the facility wearing street clothes. Head coach Craig Berube called it a “maintenance day” for Perron, who’s questionable for the game with an undisclosed injury.
West Notes: Wild Offseason, Perron, Lehner
The Minnesota Wild seem to be a team on the way up. The team may have lost in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs to the Vegas Golden Knights, but put together an interesting season in which they should continue to get better.
The Athletic’s Michael Russo (subscription required) writes that the team expects to have a busy offseason, which includes dealing with the challenges of the expansion draft as well as re-signing restricted free agents Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kevin Fiala. While all three should get significant raises, trading one of them is always a possibility. In fact, Russo suggests the team could consider packaging Fiala in a deal to upgrade at the center position in a bold move, even suggesting that the Wild could be serious bidders for Buffalo’s Jack Eichel.
- In a Q&A with St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, beat writer Lou Korac writes that the Blues are focused on getting an extension worked out with veteran winger David Perron. The 33-year-old has only gotten better as he’s gotten older. After a 16-goal season with Vegas back in 2017-18, he has been a key contributor for the Blues since signing with them. He scored 23 goals in 2018-19, 25 goals in 2019-20 and posted a 19-goal, 58-point campaign this year in 56 games. “He’s passionate about the game,” said Armstrong. “He works at the game, he’s evolved with the game, his puck-protection skills are top level. His ability to create offense for himself is top level. He goes to the harder areas. He’s here next year and as long as he wants to play, I don’t know why the St. Louis Blues wouldn’t want him.”
- In a somewhat surprising development, The Athletic’s Jesse Granger reports that Robin Lehner, not Marc-Andre Fleury, is expected to be in net tonight for Game 1 against the Colorado Avalanche. Many expected Fleury to get the nod for an eighth-straight game. The veteran was dominant against the Minnesota Wild with a 1.71 GAA and a .931 save percentage in those seven games. Of course, Lehner is also considered a top goaltender for the Golden Knights. The 29-year-old finished the season with a 2.29 GAA and a .913 save percentage in 19 regular season games. Head coach Peter DeBoer did something similar a year ago, allowing Fleury to start Game 1 against the Dallas Stars in the conference finals. Fleury played well, but Vegas lost, which prompted DeBoer to play Lehner for the rest of the season. Could we see a reverse move made this year?
NHL Announces Blank COVID Protocol Related Absences List
May 25: The list is empty again today. Moving forward we will only publish it if a player is added to the protocol.
May 24: The long-awaited day has finally arrived. When the NHL released it’s COVID Protocol Related Absences list on Monday evening, it contained no names. It is the first time since the list originally debuted at the start of the regular season that the contents has been empty. Granted, the list now only includes the 14 active playoff teams as opposed to all 31 clubs, but it still marks a major achievement in the league’s battle against the Coronavirus.
Of course, the final step toward a league-wide clean bill of health actually came with the elimination of the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. When the Colorado Avalanche completed their sweep of the Blues, they also ended the seasons of the only two players on the latest CPRA list: David Perron and Nathan Walker. In fact, every player who has appeared on the list since the playoffs began on March 15 has now been eliminated – Perron, Walker, and Blues teammate Jake Walman and Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, whose team was bounced by the Boston Bruins on Sunday as well.
With the NHL already feeling confident enough in its COVID-19 status as to allow relaxed policies to vaccinated teams, the hope is that this empty CPRA list becomes the norm and not the exception. With postseason results obviously carrying much more weight than regular season results, the league does not want to see any of their playoff series tainted by COVID results. The Blues’ absences, particularly Perron’s, were certainly felt, but as major underdogs against Colorado anyhow, the league escaped without much controversy. They hope that can continue throughout the postseason and that the CPRA list becomes a permanent thing of the past moving forward into next season.
COVID Protocol Related Absences: 05/23/21
Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. Here is today’s list:
St. Louis – David Perron, Nathan Walker
As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:
(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol
Players removed today: None
The Blues were able to get Jake Walman off the list on Friday and he was making his NHL playoff debut on the third pairing for St. Louis today in their loss to Colorado. With their season coming to an end with a 5-2 loss to the Avs, this may be the end of Perron and Walker appearing on this list as only teams that are still participating in the playoffs are listed on a daily basis.