Nick Leddy is one of four defensemen on long-term contracts.
Most serious fans of the St. Louis Blues are aware of their salary cap conundrum. That conundrum is what to do about all the money tied up in long-term contracts for defensemen.
I looked at the cap situations of the other teams in the league, and the Blues are unique. They have $23.5MM tied up this year and the next two years, for 4 defensemen. Meanwhile:
The Oilers have north of $25MM tied up with 5 d-men for this year and next year.
The Avalanche have $22.6MM this year and $25.75MM for the next two years.
The Penguins have $24.6MM tied up for this year and next year, including Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang.
So the Blues have the most money tied up by far, for longer than any other team in the league. This hampers them from making significant moves to improve the club, either at the trade deadline or in the offseason.
Before Pietrangelo left, Doug Armstrong suspected it, and traded for Justin Faulk. Then during Pietrangelo’s free agency, Armstrong pivoted to Krug even before Pietrangelo had signed somewhere else.
It was reported over the summer that the Blues had a deal in place to send Torey Krug to the Flyers for Kevin Hayes. But, Krug enjoys no-trade protection and he vetoed the deal, or at least his being part of it.
Of all the defensemen contracts, Nick Leddy’s is probably the most likely to move. He has 2 years left at a pretty reasonable $4MM per year. Scandella is on an expiring contract, at over $3MM. I would think he is all but certain to be moved, no matter where the Blues are in the playoff hunt. The Blues have Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, and Matthew Kessel all able to play.
On the forward side, the Blues also have a lot of money tied up in Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. These two are worth their paycheck, at least right now, because they are producing like the top-line players they are paid to be. Those two are clearly the anchor of the forward corps, for a long time. The rest of the lines will be built around them.
We’ll see if Doug Armstrong is able to divest himself of one of these contracts. It would be a miracle if he does.
Open Ice Notes 