The Blues had the best record among non-playoff teams this season, giving them the right to draft 16th overall in three days. Speaking to the team’s Chris Pinkert, general manager Doug Armstrong said he’s unlikely to shop the pick for more NHL-ready talent.
Blues Rumors
Blues Sign Scott Perunovich To One-Year Extension
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
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
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.
Blues Extend Doug Armstrong, Promote Alexander Steen
The Blues have shored up the future of their hockey operations department, keeping general manager Doug Armstrong in the organization past the expiration of his current deal in 2026. He’s signed a three-year extension to serve as president of hockey operations through the 2028-29 season, while longtime player Alexander Steen will replace Armstrong as GM for 2026-27 and beyond. Steen, who spent this season with the Blues as a team consultant and European development coach, has been promoted to special assistant to the GM for the next two seasons.
St. Louis also announced that Tim Taylor, their director of player personnel, has been promoted to assistant GM. Taylor has served in the role for the past two seasons after initially joining the organization as their director of player development in 2011.
Armstrong, 59, will conclude his run as Blues GM at 16 seasons when all is said and done. He’s guided the Blues to 10 playoff appearances in his 14 seasons at the helm thus far, and his roster construction yielded the club’s only Stanley Cup championship in 2019.
One of the key veteran members of that Cup-winning team was Steen, who was effective in a checking role and had five points in 26 postseason games. A Stanley Cup ring was a spectacular way to bookend a lengthy and fruitful career in St. Louis, where Steen had 195 goals and 496 points in 765 games and was one of the better defensive wingers in the game in his prime in the mid-2010s.
Armstrong wasn’t the GM who acquired Steen via trade from the Maple Leafs in 2008 – that was Larry Pleau – but he did acquire most of the core. Just one summer before winning it all, he swung a blockbuster trade with the Sabres to acquire center Ryan O’Reilly, who broke out for a career-high 77 points and took home the Selke and Conn Smythe trophies in his first year under the Gateway Arch.
Needless to say, they’re big shoes for Steen to fill as he enters a top-level executive role six years after retiring as a player in 2020. While unusual, it’s not surprising for them to announce a clear, long-term succession plan to aid in his development as a manager while keeping a sense of stability in the organization while he and Armstrong work to retool a roster currently mired in mediocrity.
As for Taylor – per the team, his responsibilities won’t change much. His duties as AGM will still revolve around managing day-to-day player personnel activities.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Blues Sign Colten Ellis To Two-Way Extension
The Blues have signed goaltender Colten Ellis to a one-year, two-way extension, per a team announcement. The deal carries a cap hit and NHL salary of $775K and an AHL salary of $85K.
Ellis, 23, is the second Blues minor-leaguer to ink extensions in the past few days. Winger Mathias Laferrière signed a similar deal to remain in the St. Louis organization on Sunday.
Like Laferriere, Ellis was slated to be a restricted free agent this summer following the completion of his entry-level contract. The Blues’ 2019 third-round choice is coming off his third professional season, and while he’s failed to earn a full-time job with AHL Springfield to date, it seems to be around the corner.
Ellis played a career-high 16 AHL contests this year, leading Springfield goalies with a 2.89 GAA and .924 SV% behind a defensively-challenged club. Add on a .923 SV% in 21 appearances with ECHL Orlando, and he’s put together a solid case for full-time backup duties with the Blues’ top affiliate next season.
The Nova Scotia native still has some time to develop and is one of the more under-the-radar goalie prospects in the league. He went on to have an illustrious junior career after being drafted by St. Louis, culminating in a lights-out 2020-21 campaign that saw him post a remarkable 23-1-0 record, seven shutouts and a .926 SV% in 24 games with the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders. He led the league in both GAA and SV% during the COVID-shortened season and was named to the year-end First All-Star Team.
Ellis will be slated for restricted free agency again next summer when his extension expires. He’ll likely split goaltending duties in Springfield next season with fellow 2019 pick Vadim Zherenko.
Blues Sign Mathias Laferriere To One-Year, Two-Way Extension
The St. Louis Blues have signed depth forward Mathias Laferriere to a one-year, two-way contract extension. The deal will carry a league-minimum $775K cap hit. Laferriere was set to become a restricted free agent on July 1st, following the end of his three-year entry-level contract signed in 2019.
Laferriere took a bit of a lateral step this season, posting seven goals and 25 points in 68 games with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds. His scoring came one point shy of his career-high posted in 18 fewer games last season. It’s been a slow start to the 23-year-old’s pro career, totaling just 60 points across his first 174 games in the AHL. Laferriere originally joined the Blues through the sixth round of the 2018 NHL Draft, amidst a QMJHL career that stretched across 238 games. He proceeded his draft selection with a career-high 28 goals and 74 points in 68 games with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, though it’d mark his only time breaking the 50-point mark across his five seasons in the league.
Despite the measly regular season scoring, Laferriere showed an impressive ability to show up when it mattered during his juniors career – posting 19 points across the last 20 playoff games of his CHL career. The intangibles that earned him those postseason points are now earning him a serviceable role with the Springfield Thunderbirds. But on a one-year deal, his focus next season will be much more on maintaining that role than it will be rivaling the Blues lineup. Still, an NHL contract will make him eligible for a call-up should St. Louis need the depth. That will put him in competition with players like Zachary Bolduc, Zach Dean, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Juraj Pekarcik for St. Louis’ fringe lineup roles.
How Will The Blues Manage Their No-Trade Clauses?
Even before the 2023-24 NHL season, the St. Louis Blues held slim hopes of cracking one of the top three spots in the NHL’s Central Division. The team was only a year removed from finishing 37-38-11, falling to sixth place in the division, and trading off the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly during that year’s trade deadline season.
Aside from moving out veteran rentals, the General Manager of the organization, Doug Armstrong, became adamant about shaking up the team’s defensive core last summer. In one of the biggest trades to not happen, the Blues had a deal in place to send struggling defenseman Torey Krug and his bloated contract to the Philadelphia Flyers. As things would turn out, Krug ultimately used the no-trade protection given to him in his current deal to block his inclusion in the trade, leading to a much smaller deal of Kevin Hayes being acquired for a sixth-round draft selection.
While largely bringing back the same defensive core into the 2023-24 season, the Blues performed much better but would end up on the outside looking in. As the best team to not make it into the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, St. Louis finished fifth in the Central Division with a 43-33-6 record. Although Jordan Binnington put together a solid year, the Blues’ downfall would again be their defensive core and lackluster play.
Heading into the summer, St. Louis will once again be looking to shake up their defensive core, which will require superb innovation from Armstrong. Krug, Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, and Nick Leddy have full no-trade clauses built into their contracts until next summer, meaning Armstrong will need their full cooperation for any trade moving them out of the organization. However, even if Armstrong could convince one of the players to waive their protection, the return value would likely be subpar at best.
If one is not moved this offseason, the quartet will account for just under 27% of the Blues’ total cap space next season. Armstrong could look to move one in a classic hockey trade to address other organizational needs, or strictly go the route of a cost-saving technique. Leddy should represent the most likely to move out of the four given that his contract will end after the 2025-26 NHL season with a manageable $4MM AAV for the remaining years.
Approaching his 15th season in the NHL, Leddy just turned 33 years old and has continued to be a reliable puck-mover from the back end. Throughout the regular season, Leddy played in all 82 games for St. Louis and scored three goals while putting up 25 assists, 23 of which were at even strength. If Armstrong can convince the Eden Prairie, MN native to waive his no-trade protection this offseason, moving out Leddy would allow the Blues to save valuable cap space and open a spot for Scott Perunovich in the top four of the defensive core.
Blues Round Out AHL Coaching Staff
- The AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds (affiliate of the Blues) announced that they’ve hired long-time NHL blueliner Jaroslav Modry and AHL veteran Chad Wiseman as their new assistant coaches. Modry spent the last three seasons coaching in his native Czechia while Wiseman had been coaching with OHL Guelph since 2018-19. They join NHL veteran Steve Konowalchuk on a new-look coaching staff.
Blues RFA Mikhail Abramov Signs In KHL
Blues pending restricted free agent center Mikhail Abramov has signed a one-year deal with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, per a league announcement. Torpedo acquired Abramov’s KHL signing rights last week in a trade with CSKA Moskva, dealing the rights to Flames pending RFA defender Nikita Okhotyuk the other way.
If they choose, the Blues can still retain Abramov’s signing rights if they issue him a qualifying offer by the June 30 deadline. It’s unclear if they plan to do so, but it is clear that he won’t be re-signing with the club this summer.
Abramov, 23, was a fourth-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2019. The Russian center spent parts of two seasons playing for their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, before his signing rights were dealt to St. Louis as part of the return for Ryan O’Reilly in February 2023.
He’s suited up for the Blues’ primary affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, ever since. Abramov has put up fine middle-six production in the minors since the deal, compiling 19 goals and 44 points in 80 games in a Springfield uniform, but has yet to earn an NHL call-up.
Now five years removed from his draft, he’s opting to return home – at least for the time being. Abramov hasn’t played there since suiting up in low-level juniors with CSKA in 2017-18, coming over to North America entering his draft year to play with the Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL.
Torpedo is coached by Hall of Fame center Igor Larionov and boasts two of the top five 2024 draft-eligible Russians in hulking defenseman Anton Silayev and winger Nikita Artamonov. They’re both contracted with Torpedo through the next two seasons.