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St. Louis Blues Re-Sign Kasperi Kapanen

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TSN’s Chris Johnston reports the St. Louis Blues will be re-signing forward Kasperi Kapanen. The new contract will be for one year and it will pay the Finnish a total of $1MM, according to PuckPedia.

After the Blues claimed Kapanen on waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2022-23 NHL season, he appeared to look like a promising middle-six option within the organization. Appearing in 23 games down the stretch, Kapanen put up eight goals and 14 points while averaging nearly 17 minutes of ice time per night.

Unfortunately, Kapanen could not keep up that pace over a full regular season in St. Louis as he was only able to muster six goals and 22 points over 73 games this past year. Kapanen also saw his average ice time drop by nearly two minutes as he was primarily relegated to a bottom-six role with the organization. Despite his poor showing on the offensive side of the puck, there were some positive developments in his defensive game which may have led to this contract by the Blues.

Kapanen helped St. Louis with 37 takeaways over the 2023-24 season while only giving the puck away a total of 16 times. Furthermore, Kapanen held a 90.3% on-ice save percentage in all situations while making a majority of his starts in the team’s defensive zone. If the Blues can turn Kapanen into a defensive first forward that can generate 25-30 points a year, he will be a serviceable option towards the bottom of the team’s forward core.

Blues Hoping To Extend Pavel Buchnevich

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In a recent post-draft interview, the General Manager of the St. Louis Blues, Doug Armstrong, indicated that he and the organization will be aggressive in signing forward Pavel Buchnevich to an extension this summer (X Link). The news marks a sharp pivot for the Blues organization as Buchnevich’s name had begun popping up in the rumor mill before the trade deadline.

Any potential Buchnevich extension in St. Louis will likely clock in somewhere between four-to-seven years with the AAV checking in below the identical $8.125MM salaries given to Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou on their current extensions. An extension offer would not be a surprise for Buchnevich, however, as the forward has finished top-three in team scoring in each of his three seasons with the organization.

Over three years with the Blues, Buchnevich has already surpassed his scoring total over five years with the New York Rangers. Suiting up in 216 games since the start of the 2021-22 NHL season, Buchnevich has scored 83 goals and 206 points while wearing the blue note with another one goal and 11 points in 12 playoff contests. Buchnevich also racked up impressive possession metrics this past season by leading the team with a 52.8% CorsiFor%.

Given his internal value to the Blues organization, it was always going to be difficult for Armstrong to find an adequate return for Buchnevich’s service on the trade market. Instead, the team appears set on continuing the relationship and keeping Buchnevich in the mix for the next several years.

Blues Re-Sign Hunter Skinner

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The Blues took care of one of their potential restricted free agents today, announcing that they’ve re-signed defenseman Hunter Skinner to a one-year, two-way deal.  The contract pays $775K in the NHL and $80K at the AHL level.

The 23-year-old was originally a fourth-round pick by the Rangers back in 2019 and joined St. Louis as part of the Vladimir Tarasenko trade back in February 2023.  Skinner split his playing time that season between their two AHL affiliates plus New York’s ECHL squad.

This past season, Skinner was a full-timer in the AHL, getting into a career-best 50 games with Springfield.  He picked up three goals and seven assists along with 94 penalty minutes, bringing his career totals at that level to 33 points and 151 PIMS in 132 contests.

Skinner will be waiver-eligible for the first time next season so he’ll have to pass through unclaimed during training camp to make it back to the Thunderbirds.

Penguins Acquire Kevin Hayes

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired center Kevin Hayes and St. Louis’ 2025 second-round pick, per Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff (Twitter link). Pittsburgh is sending future considerations the other way. No salary was retained, though Hayes’ cap hit is just $3.571MM, with Philadelphia retaining 50 percent of his original $7.143MM cap hit when they traded him to St. Louis.

The Blues quickly flip Hayes to the other side of Pennsylvania, just one year after they acquired him from the Flyers in exchange for a 2024 sixth-round pick. Hayes posted 13 goals and 29 points in 79 games with the Blues – a far cry from the career-high 54 points he managed in his final year with the Flyers. He was tasked as being St. Louis’ reliable, two-way forward on the second line, succeeding Ryan O’Reilly, and while Hayes did well at shutting play down in the middle of the ice – his pace wasn’t enough to inspire much.

But while he didn’t fill the right need in St. Louis, he could be exactly what Pittsburgh needs – offering predictable and reliable impact down the lineup at a relatively cheap cost. The Penguins are facing a cap crunch this summer, with three pending free agents, $7.174MM in cap space, and superstar Sidney Crosby eligible for an extension on July 1st. Hayes could assume the third-line center role behind Evgeni Malkin, making Lars Eller a bit more expendable should Pittsburgh be looking for other cap dumps.

Blues Acquire, Extend Alexandre Texier

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The Blues have acquired winger Alexandre Texier from the Blue Jackets and promptly signed him to a two-year deal, his agent Dan Milstein confirmed. It’s a $4.2MM deal broken down evenly into a $2.1MM salary and cap hit each season, PuckPedia reports. The teams later made the trade official, confirming a 2025 fourth-round pick is headed to Columbus in return.

Texier, 24, is coming off a triumphant return to North America after spending the 2022-23 season on personal leave, suiting up on loan to the Swiss National League to be closer to his family in France. The Blue Jackets 2017 second-rounder put up career-highs across the board, notching 12 goals, 18 assists and 30 points in 78 games. The French pivot had always been an intriguing, versatile prospect, but COVID and injuries had limited him to a previous career-high of 46 appearances in his three previous full NHL seasons.

The Blue Jackets had tried working Texier higher up in the lineup, moving him to the wing and getting him a decent chunk of time on their penalty kill. But with a higher-skilled, younger wave of prospects coming through the pipeline, he’d become expendable. They’ll need to replace the 1:46 he averaged shorthanded per game, though.

Meanwhile, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong does solid work here to pick up a solid depth-checking forward for a mid-round pick. The extension is quite reasonable, to boot. It comes in slightly lower than Evolving Hockey’s two-year, $2.33MM AAV projection.

Texier will serve as a younger, more defensively responsible replacement for some of the Blues’ mid-20s depth forwards hitting free agency this summer, namely failed reclamation projects Kasperi Kapanen and Jakub Vrána. He’ll be in contention for a third-line wing role but could also lock down a bottom-six center spot. It’s his natural position, although he didn’t play there a ton in Columbus and was abysmal in the faceoff dot, winning just 35.5% of his draws.

Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic was first on the return.

Blues Hire Claude Julien As An Assistant, Promote Steve Ott To Associate Coach

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The St. Louis Blues have hired former Stanley Cup champion head coach Claude Julien to their coaching staff as an assistant coach and made a few other moves to their coaching staff. Julien led the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup back in 2011 and has been an NHL head coach for 19 seasons beginning his career with the Montreal Canadiens back in 2002.

Julien lasted three seasons in Montreal and then moved to New Jersey and spent just a single season with the Devils before joining the Bruins where he served as head coach for ten years. During that run, Julien accumulated a franchise record of 419 regular season wins and was named the 2009 Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s best coach. The Bruins made seven trips to the playoffs during his run behind the bench and played in two Stanley Cup Finals. Julien returned to Montreal in 2016 and coached the Canadiens for another five years until 2021.

The Blues have also promoted former player Steve Ott to associate coach and extended his contract through the 2025-26 season. Ott has served behind the Blues bench for eight years and was a big part of their 2019 Stanley Cup championship. Ott is a veteran of 848 NHL games spread out over 14 seasons, three of which he played in St. Louis.

In addition to the hiring, St. Louis has also extended the contracts of assistant coach Mike Weber and goaltending coach David Alexander through the 2025-26 season.

Blues Sign Scott Perunovich To One-Year Extension

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The Blues have gotten defenseman Scott Perunovich under contract for the 2024-25 season, per a team announcement. His one-year extension carries a cap hit of $1.15MM.

Perunovich, 25, managed to stay mostly healthy this season for the first time in a while. He stayed on the NHL roster all season and made 54 appearances, his most since his junior days while recording 17 assists and a +1 rating. It was his second NHL season after logging 19 games of action in 2021-22 and spending all of his injury-plagued 2022-23 in the minors.

While the fact that Perunovich has no goals through 73 career NHL games may be eye-opening, he was once the top offensive defense prospect in the organization. And while 25 is a bit old to still bear the “prospect” title, that might still be the case. Perunovich has been electric during his assignments to the minors, putting up 42 points in only 39 games with AHL Springfield over the past three seasons.

Injuries have had just a catastrophic effect on his development. After winning the Hobey Baker Award during his final season with the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2019-20, a left shoulder injury cost him all of 2020-21. He started 2021-22 off healthy, but left wrist surgery ended his season halfway through. Yet another shoulder injury sustained in training camp in 2022 delayed his debut last season to late February.

That said, a $1.15MM cap hit quite literally carries zero risk for the Blues if he can’t hold onto an NHL spot next season for whatever reason. It’s the richest allowable cap hit that can be buried in the minors without penalty. But the diminutive yet dynamic left-shot defender should be in line for an everyday spot in the lineup next season after putting up solid playmaking numbers in his limited minutes.

The Hibbing, Minnesota native was set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer. He’ll carry that same designation again in 2025 when his new deal expires.

Brian Elliott Expected To Retire, Joins Blues Front Office

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Veteran netminder Brian Elliott appears to be calling it a career after 16 seasons. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong told reporters today that the team has hired Elliott in a goalie development and scouting role, all but confirming that his playing days are over (via Matthew DeFranks of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Elliott last played in the NHL with the Lightning in 2022-23. He was not re-signed by the club and became an unrestricted free agent, not suiting up at all during the 2023-24 campaign.

After being selected by the Senators in the ninth round of the fabled 2003 draft, Elliott embarked on a star-studded stint at the University of Wisconsin. He backstopped the Badgers to the 2006 national championship while being a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top player in the NCAA. He turned pro with Ottawa after his college career came to an end, later making his NHL debut in 2007-08.

That was the last we saw of “limited” NHL action for Elliott, who broke onto the Sens’ roster full-time in 2008-09 as part of a rotation with Alex Auld and Martin Gerber. He didn’t earn any Calder Trophy love that year, but he did put up solid numbers with a 16-8-3 record, .902 SV% and 2.77 GAA in 31 showings for Ottawa.

Elliott took over as the Sens’ starter in 2009-10 and continued to hold the role into the 2010-11 campaign, but his level of play dipped. While it didn’t matter much behind the Senators’ underpowered offense of the early 2010s, his .894 SV% that year was far below average for the time. Shortly before the 2011 trade deadline, Ottawa sent him packing to the Avalanche in a one-for-one swap for Craig Anderson, one that would pay off handsomely for the Sens.

Unfortunately for Colorado, Elliott’s stay in Denver was brief. He won just two of his 12 games down the stretch while posting a .891 SV%, leading the club to let him walk as a free agent that offseason.

Armstrong, then in his early days at the helm of the Blues, quickly turned him into one of the best value signings in club history. After signing a one-year, two-way deal, Elliott cracked the Blues’ roster as the backup to Jaroslav Halák. He didn’t stay the backup for long, though. He forced his way into true tandem action with Halák that year thanks to his league-best .940 SV% and 1.56 GAA in 38 appearances, helping the duo take home the Jennings Trophy. Individually, Elliott also finished fifth in Vezina voting, one of two times he’d earn consideration for the award.

Elliott spent the next four years in St. Louis, making 164 starts and 17 relief appearances. He compiled a sparkling 104-46-16 record behind one of the league’s better teams in the mid-2010s, boasting a .925 SV%, 2.01 GAA and 25 shutouts in a Blues uniform. The team made the playoffs each season he was there, including a run to the Western Conference Final in 2016, in which Elliott had a .921 SV% and 2.44 GAA in 18 postseason games.

The Blues had the younger Jake Allen waiting in the wings, though, and deemed Elliott expendable after a solid run. They dealt him to the Flames for a pair of draft picks – one of which became Jordan Kyrou – putting a bow on his time in St. Louis.

Elliott’s lone season in Calgary was the beginning of his decline. He wasn’t bad, but his .910 SV% was only around league-average for the time and was far south of his level of play with the Blues. The Flames let him walk to free agency the following summer, where he signed a three-year deal with the Flyers that yielded similarly mediocre results. In fact, in his seven years of service with Calgary, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay after the Blues traded him away, Elliott only had one above-average season. That came in limited action as a backup to Andrei Vasilevskiy with the Bolts in 2021-22, putting up a .912 SV% and 2.43 GAA in 19 appearances.

After struggling with a .891 SV% in his second and final season in Tampa, though, it wasn’t a surprise to many to see the now 39-year-old Elliott out of the league this season. Now 39, he likely wraps up his career with a 279-167-54 record, 45 shutouts, a 2.57 GAA, and .909 SV% in 543 regular-season games. He also had a 17-26 record and .904 SV% in 48 playoff games.

PHR congratulates Elliott on a lengthy stint at hockey’s top level and wishes him the best as he takes his next steps in the sport.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Blues Have Potentially Made Brandon Saad Available

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As Blues GM Doug Armstrong looks to shake up his roster, it appears one player who could be in play is Brandon Saad.  Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that there are rumblings that St. Louis has made the veteran available.

The 31-year-old has spent the last three seasons with the Blues after inking a five-year, $22.5MM contract back in 2021.  After a strong first year with them which saw him put up 24 goals and 25 assists in 78 games, Saad took a step back in 2022-23, seeing those numbers drop to 19 and 18 in 71 appearances respectively despite a small uptick in ice time.  That had him in some trade speculation last summer although coming off a down year, nothing came to fruition.

It’s a slightly different situation this time around.  Saad bounced back with 26 goals this past season while playing in all 82 games for the first time since 2017-18.  On the surface, it might seem strange that St. Louis would be open to the possibility of moving him after that productive of a season, especially being a team that finished in the bottom ten league-wide in goals scored.  However, it’s also fair to say that his trade value should be a lot higher now than it was a year ago which has to also be taken into consideration.

It’s worth noting that Saad is one of many Blues players to have some form of no-trade protection in their contracts.  In this case, Saad has a full no-trade clause so even if Armstrong finds a trade to his liking, it could be vetoed as Torey Krug did last summer when he scuttled a trade to Philadelphia.

With free agency on the horizon, several pending UFA wingers will be seeking long-term agreements in what could be the busiest market over the last few years.  If a team doesn’t want to make that type of commitment to someone but wants to add to their top-six winger group, someone like Saad could be an intriguing fallback plan, making him someone to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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