Free Agent Center Martin Hanzal
Recently the salary cap for the 2017-2018 season was announced at $75 million. That’s an increase of $2 million over last season.
The Blues have been up against the cap in the past couple seasons. And this offseason, unfortunately, little money is coming off the books. Scottie Upshall is a free agent, and I would say unlikely to be re-signed.
The Las Vegas Golden Knights will select a player from the Blues unprotected list, and several have speculated that will be forward David Perron. He will make over $3 million next season.
Freeing up his salary space, plus the $2 million extra cap room, would, in theory, give the Blues room to pursue a free agent such as Martin Hanzal. He represents a scoring upgrade from Lehtera (in a big way) and Berglund. He scored 20 goals and 19 assists in 71 regular season games. He’s more of a playmaker than Berglund is. He would slide in, I think nicely, on the 2nd line with the likes of Schwartz, Fabbri or Paajarvi.
I know that Colton Parayko is due a raise, but that could be offset by non-tendering Nail Yakupov, who was much too overpaid at $2.5 million last season.
The Blues need to do something significant to improve their team for next season. Everyone knows it.
We’re waiting, Blues. Let’s get going.
Thanks for reading.
Open Ice Notes 