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Blues Re-Sign Robby Fabbri And Mackenzie MacEachern

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The St. Louis Blues remain a busy team this off-season, today inking two restricted free agents to new contract extensions. The team announced a one-year, two-way deal with forward Mackenzie MacEachern and soon after announced a second contract, a one-year, one-way deal for forward Robby Fabbri. The financial terms for neither deal have been disclosed.

Fabbri is the more well-known of these two players, even though he has not played a game since February 2017. The small, speedy winger has been sidelined with multiple ACL injuries in his right knee and missed the entirety of the 2017-18 season. However, Fabbri impressed as a rookie in 2015-16 and was scoring at an even higher rate the following season prior to his initial injury. The Blues have high hopes that the 2014 first-round pick can return to form, but for now it is no surprise that they will play it safe with a one-year deal. Fabbri needs to re-establish his value in St. Louis and that starts with being able to fully participate in training camp this fall and earning his top-nine role back.

MacEachern will also be looking to make an impression on the Blues front office at camp in September, as the 2012 third-rounder still has yet to make his NHL debut through two pro seasons. However, MacEachern faces an uphill battle, as the big forward recorded only ten points with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves last season. MacEachern showed more offensive upside while playing at the University of Michigan, but has yet to find his game at the minors.

After signing two of their restricted free agents today, the Blues now have five qualified RFA’s remaining to sign this off-season, including regulars from last season like winger Dmitrij Jaskin and defenseman Joel Edmundson.

Ryan O’Reilly Traded To St. Louis Blues

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The St. Louis Blues added some forward depth today by signing Tyler Bozak and David Perron, but weren’t done making a splash. The team has acquired Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O’Reilly. The Sabres will receive a 2019 first round pick, a 2021 second round pick, Tage Thompson, Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund. The deal will be completed today and the Blues will pay O’Reilly’s $7.5MM signing bonus, due just before midnight. The 2019 pick is top-10 protected, meaning should the season get away from the Blues they will not have to give up a high pick next summer.

While the deal certainly brings several assets to the Sabres, getting rid of the Sobotka and Berglund contracts were imperative for the Blues to get something like this done. TO complete the deal without giving up one of their top prospects like Robert Thomas or Jordan Kyrou, while also protecting their deep defensive corps. The Blues are ready to compete once again in 2018-19, and have brought in some experienced forwards to put them over the top.

For the Sabres, they not only deal O’Reilly before having to pay his signing bonus, but also get five useful assets. While Sobotka and Berglund were slightly overpaid and potentially hurting the Blues salary structure, they’re clear upgrades on some of the bottom-six options that Buffalo has used over the past few seasons. Thompson meanwhile is an excellent prospect in his own right, and should give them another key building block in their quest for redemption. Grouping the 20-year old Thompson with Rasmus Dahlin, Jack Eichel, Casey Mittelstadt and others will give Buffalo a core that they can really market as a future perennial playoff team.

Pierre LeBrun and Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic were the first to confirm the trade.

St. Louis Blues AddTyler Wotherspoon, Brian Flynn

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The St. Louis Blues are getting some extra help in their own zone. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the team has signed defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon to a one-year, two-way contract. Wotherspoon is set to make $700K at the NHL level, with $400K guaranteed. The team has also signed forward Brian Flynn according to Bob McKenzie of TSN, inking a one-year two-way deal worth $650K in the NHL.

Chad Johnson Signs With St. Louis Blues

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The St. Louis Blues already lost Carter Hutton on the open market, and have now found their replacement goaltender. Chad Johnson—formerly of the Buffalo Sabres, where Hutton ended up—has signed a one-year $1.75MM contract with the Blues.

Johnson should serve as a one-year stopgap behind starter Jake Allen to allow goaltending prospect Ville Husso develop in the AHL for one more season. Husso, who posted a 2.42 GAA and a .922 save percentage with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage remains their best option for a long-term goaltender, but the team felt he needed another season in the AHL before he was ready for NHL duty.

The 32-year-old veteran has been a reliable backup for five seasons, although he truly struggled last year in Buffalo behind their porous defense and complained about the team at the end of the year. Johnson finished the season with a horrid 3.55 GAA and a .891 save percentage, but fared much better the previous two years.

 

Tyler Bozak To Sign With St. Louis Blues

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The St. Louis Blues have already been linked to David Perron, and will be bringing in another veteran forward to help out their group. Bob McKenzie of TSN reports that the Blues will sign Tyler Bozak when free agency opens, while Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports it will be a three-year deal worth $15MM.

Bozak will be an upgrade for the Blues who have now swapped out Bozak for Kyle Brodziak, who is expected to sign with Edmonton. The 32-year-old Bozak finished last season with pedestrian 11 goals and 32 assists with the Maple Leafs as he has progressively seen his playing time decrease over the last five year when he averaged 20:57 ATOI. That average has dropped to just 15:39, but a solid face-off percentage of 53.6 percent helps.

Bozak, who has spent his entire nine-year career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, was 22nd all-time in games played with Toronto and tallied 136 goals and 365 points. With the unlikelihood that Toronto would bring him back due to their long-term cap restraints, Bozak was in high demand as the need for centers in the NHL has reached a premium.

Blues To Sign David Perron

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Winger David Perron is heading back to St. Louis…again.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Perron has agreed to a four-year, $16MM deal to rejoin the Blues.  This will mark his third seperate stint with the team.

Perron is coming off of his best season by far that saw him post 16 goals and 50 assists in just 70 games with the Golden Knights, who acquired Perron via the Expansion Draft.  His 66 points ranked him second among players available on the open market behind only John Tavares.

However, his struggles in the postseason may very well have hurt his value.  He scored just once in 15 postseason games and was even a healthy scratch at one point.  To be fair, he still wound up with nine playoff points (1-8-9) which tied him for eighth on the team.

St. Louis had been on the lookout for a top-six winger to replace Perron all of last season and as it turns out, Perron will effectively fill the spot he initially vacated.

With the signing, the Blues still have a little over $12.6MM in cap space at their disposal, per CapFriendly.  However, a good chunk of that will be earmarked for their restricted free agents, headlined by defenseman Joel Edmundson and winger Robby Fabbri.

Snapshots: Van Riemsdyk, Komorov, Lehner, Mrazek, Brodziak

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While the free agent market is escalating fast as the window opens tomorrow, the bidding war that surrounds unrestricted free agent center James van Riemsdyk has increased in the last few hours. The Toronto Maple Leafs winger, who tallied a career-high 36 goals last year, is being heavily courted by several teams. TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports (Tweet link) that nothing is close yet and the free agent is still deliberating and hasn’t narrowed down his list beyond a handful of teams.

Regardless, optimism is abound as Arizona Sports 98.7 Sports host John Gambadoro (Tweet link) writes that the Arizona Coyotes are aggressively in the mix for van Riemsdyk and could get an answer as soon as tonight as to where the free agent will sign. AZ Sports Craig Morgan (Tweet link) adds that there is optimism that the Coyotes are a serious contender. The Athletic’s James Mirtle writes (Tweet link) that the Buffalo Sabres are also pushing hard for van Riemsdyk and it looks like the veteran sniper could break the bank with his deal.

  • The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline (Tweet link) writes the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Rangers are both interested in unrestricted free agent Leo Komarov. The former Toronto Maple Leafs’ center had a down year as the 31-year-old scored just seven goals and 19 points in 74 games. The veteran instigator is coming off a four-year, $11.8MM deal that he signed back in 2014.
  • With the goaltending market already spinning at high speeds, the Carolina Hurricanes must sort out their goaltending situation quickly, according to Chip Alexander of the News & Observer. With backup Cam Ward expected to sign with the Chicago Blackhawks and the struggles that surrounded starter Scott Darling last year, the team must find someone who can share duties with Darling, especially if he struggles for a second-straight year. Alexander writes the team has shown interest in former starters Robin Lehner and Petr Mrazek, both goalies who were not given qualifying offers earlier this week.
  • Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that while there are reports that Blues’ unrestricted free agent Kyle Brodziak is close to signing a deal with the Edmonton Oilers, the Blues are still in the mix to re-sign their veteran center. The 34-year-old center played three years in St. Louis and posted his best numbers yet, tallying 10 goals and 33 points.

 

Eastern Notes: Tavares, O’Reilly, Ryan, Pickard

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With the John Tavares watch about to hit the 11th hour before free agency hits, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple reminds people that the superstar center doesn’t have to make a decision today. He can wait to make a decision later. However, the longer he waits, the more telling his decision will be.

If he opts not to agree to a contract tonight, then the New York Islanders are almost guaranteed to be out of the running for Tavares as even the Islanders can’t offer an eighth year after tonight. If all New York can offer is seven years, then it’s highly unlikely he’ll return to New York.

The other implication to not choosing a team today is that many teams are waiting for Tavares to make a decision as well as players. The dominos will begin to fall after Tavares signs, so the longer Tavares waits, the more the market will be held up. For example, Toronto, who has dubbed center Derek Ryan as their consolation prize if the can’t sign Tavares, according to The Athletic’s James Mirtle (subscription required), must force the highly-coveted Ryan to wait. That’s also the case with trade candidates such as Jeff Skinner and likely Ryan O’Reilly as their value is likely to shoot up once Tavares is off the board.

  • It looks the O’Reilly sweepstakes are even more muddled than ever as many felt that if the Buffalo Sabres were to trade away their star center, it would be before the Sabres would have to fork over his $7.5MM signing bonus which is due at midnight tonight. If no deal is made within the next few hours, then the situation can go two different ways, according to Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. The most likely scenario would suggest that if they pay him the $7.5MM themselves, the plan would be to keep O’Reilly and hope that he wants to stay with the team. However, Harrington also adds that perhaps Buffalo is willing to eat the $7.5MM to get a greater package in return from a team with the possibility that a trade has already been worked out and they are both waiting for July 1. The scribe adds that the two teams who have most coveted O’Reilly are the Montreal Canadiens and the St. Louis Blues. However, the Blues are not offering their top prospect, Robert Thomas, as part of any trade.
  • While many teams believe that the holdup of a potential Erik Karlsson trade is being held up because of the $2MM bonus due to forward Bobby Ryan on July 1, that is not correct, according to Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch. The scribe writes that Ryan and the four years and $29MM remaining on his contract, which are expected to be included in any Karlsson deal, already received his $2MM bonus on May 15, which means he will only cost a team $5.5MM next season.
  • Sean Shapiro of The Athletic writes that many teams are looking for cheap backup goalie options and suggests that Toronto Maple Leafs’ Calvin Pickard could quickly find himself in high demand. Pickard, who was a solid backup for the Colorado Avalanche during the 2016-17 season, found himself in an odd position after being taken in last year’s expansion draft by the Vegas Golden Knights and then traded off to Toronto to share AHL goaltending duties with Garret Sparks. Together they helped clinch the Calder Cup Trophy as he finished with a 2.31 GAA and a .918 save percentage. Backing up Sparks during the AHL playoffs, Pickard got into three games, putting up a 1.00 GAA and a .956 save percentage.

Blues Would Prefer To Wait Until July 2nd To Do A Ryan O'Reilly Trade

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The Sabres are currently seeking a first-round pick, a second-rounder, and a good prospect if they are to move center Ryan O’Reilly, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (video link).  They were seeking the third-overall selection from Montreal at the draft last week but that was a move that the Canadiens weren’t willing to make and they weren’t able to acquire an additional first-rounder to include instead.  Despite not getting a deal done, Montreal remains interested and they are willing to pay his $7.5MM signing bonus that is owed on Sunday.  Meanwhile, the Blues also are interested and LeBrun classifies them as the current frontrunner for O’Reilly’s services.  However, their preference appears to be to wait until July 2nd passes before making a deal.  However, it has been previously reported that Buffalo’s asking price will go up if that is indeed what happens.

Free Agent Rumor Round-Up: Maroon, Grabner, De Haan, Rieder

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Teams are free to speak with impending free agents prior to the official opening of free agency on Sunday, July 1st. As usual, that has produced a flurry of rumors regarding which teams and how many teams are talking to each of the biggest names. Here is an update on some of those rumors:

  • Unsurprisingly, winger Patrick Maroon has been linked to his hometown St. Louis Blues. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports and Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch confirms that the Blues have reached out to Maroon’s camp in hopes of bringing him back to where his hockey aspirations first began. Maroon is coming off a career-high 43-point season and especially looked strong after a Trade Deadline deal from the Edmonton Oilers to the New Jersey Devils. Blues beat reporter Andy Strickland adds that Maroon has not closed the door on a return to either Edmonton or New Jersey, but that the Blues are one of at least six other teams who are pursuing the power forward.
  • The Boston Bruins were busy making their pitch to John Tavares today, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t also thinking a few steps ahead. Mark Divver of the Providence Journal says that the Bruins have “checked in” on two-way speedster Michael Grabner, another Devils deadline acquisition. Not only do the Bruins need another veteran right-shot forward and want to continue to add quickness to the roster, but it also might not be a coincidence that Grabner spent years playing alongside Tavares with the New York Islanders.
  • In a shallow class of top-four defenseman, Calvin de Haan is drawing a lot of interest despite missing most of the season with the New York Islanders due to injury. The 27-year-old former first-round pick is one of the more reliable and younger options among defenders on the market and is set to cash in as a result. Kings beat writer Dennis Bernstein reports that Los Angeles is the latest team to show interest in de Haan, bringing the speculated total number of teams interested in the blue liner into the double-digits.
  • When the Kings declined to offer Tobias Rieder a qualifying offer yesterday, it was only a matter of time before teams came calling on the new UFA. Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal states that the Vancouver Canucks are one of those interested teams, but that four or five other suitors have already emerged. The two-way winger is one of the youngest and most versatile options available on the market.

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