St. Louis Blues Free Agency Live Blog

Free agency has started for the St. Louis Blues and the NHL and the show has already boggled minds. Refresh often

The Boston Bruins signed David Backes to a one-year deal. This one boggles the mind. Everything was written about Backes wanting a long-term, big money deal and he goes to Boston for one season? People will blame Doug Armstrong, but this is ridiculous thinking by the St. Louis Blues former captain. Don’t give me that nonsense that the Blues didn’t offer anything. Backes was butthurt he didn’t get the long-term deal at home so he just bolted.

Troy Brouwer has now joined the Calgary Flames. The deal has not been disclosed yet, but things are not going well to open up the free agent period for St. Louis. Fans are not going to be happy that the Blues are biding their time, whether you agree with the strategy or not.

11:30

According to TSN, Loui Eriksson is going to the Vancouver Canucks. Another name the Blues were interested in is gone.

Eric Staal is now with the Minnesota Wild.

Now they’re flipping the Backes contract. Apparently they offered five years at $6 million per year.

Forgot to mention this in the earlier section. The Blues brought back David Perron on a 2 year deal worth just north of $3 million per season. I’m doing my best to think the team knows what it is doing, but Perron was the very first person to go when the team needed to shake things up and get more accountability. Now you bring him back? He’s got great skill, but that was never the problem. He comes off as a bit of a malcontent at times and pouts and stickhandles his way into trouble. Hopefully he’s learned from other teams because this doesn’t seem a fit for Ken Hitchcock or Mike Yeo.

James Reimer went to the Florida Panthers. So, that takes away a backup goaltender option for the Blues. It’s looking more like Anders Nilsson will be the option there unless they feel Pheonix Copely can step up.

11:40

The Blues have actually made a signing, though fans won’t like it (half the fans anyway). Jake Allen has signed a four year deal with the Blues. It’s worth $17.4 million overall, which comes out to a little above $4 million per season. That’s a solid deal, especially if Allen lives up to the potential the team believes it has. It also pretty much makes him the man until at the very least the Blues can figure what they have with Husso.

Kyle Okposo is going to Buffalo for the next seven years. The Blues don’t have a ton of money to spend, but the ones that are worth the money are coming off the board quickly.

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Andrew Ladd signs with the NY Islanders for a seven years as well. He would have been a good replacement for Troy Brouwer, but that was obviously not to be.

11:50

The Blues sign Carter Hutton as a backup goaltender. I actually like this deal quite a bit. Hutton was a very solid backup for the Nashville Predators. He gets two years at just over $1 million per year. Hutton isn’t a flashy signing, but he’s being brought in as the exact same role that the Blues brought Brian Elliott in for a few years ago and then Elliott ran with it. Hutton stood in very well when Pekka Rinne went down, so he’s going to provide some good minutes behind Jake Allen.

12:20

Milan Lucic is going to Edmonton (yes, this was reported earlier). It’s a seven year deal worth $6 million per year. The only reason this is news for us is it keeps any hope – slim – alive of a trade with Edmonton. There defense is still poor even with the addition of Larsson. The Blues might be still able to swing something for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins if Shattenkirk will drop this nonsense of only wanting to extend with Eastern Conference teams.

Going back to the Staal deal with Minnesota, I’m actually disappointed the Blues did not get involved. He signed for 3 years, but the deal is only $3.5 million per season. Yes, Perron is a younger player, but you gave just as much money to him and the Blues didn’t really need another winger. Staal is still good enough that if he wasn’t your top center, he at least could have replaced Paul Stastny on the second line and allowed him to move up.

12:30

Well great, just great. The Blues bring back a player that nobody really wanted back and sign a backup goaltender. So, either Armstrong botched the trade market or Shattenkirk thwarted the deal and now the Blues lose two quality forwards and bring back essentially nothing.

Chris Stewart signed a two-year deal in Minnesota at just over $1 million per. Somewhat surprised the Blues did not bring him back at that price since we’re bringing back underachievers. In all seriousness though, a player with his potential shouldn’t be getting that little amount of money. It just goes to show that he doesn’t have the drive to achieve his full talents, because the skill was in there. You only saw it in flashes though.

12:40

Still a bit upset that the Blues are seemingly out of everything. Hopefully that’s Armstrong just mincing words.

The Reimer not coming to St. Louis was a bit surprising, but it’s understandable for all parties. He’s got a five year deal in Florida. The Blues were never going to offer a backup that. He’s also getting over $3 million per season. Clearly the Panthers think he is capable of taking over for Roberto Luongo if they offered that length of term. The Blues were only searching for a backup for Allen and someone to bridge the gap to Husso.

12:50

The deals are kind of petering out. Honestly, as much as I’m mad the Blues haven’t done spit here, I think the NHL is getting into trouble again. Loui Eriksson is probably the only player that will live up to his contract of six years, $6 million. Long term deals for guys that aren’t franchise players bite you in the long run. Even Hossa, for all he’s brought, is starting to weigh on the Blackhawks. Andrew Ladd is a great player/locker room guy but is he really worth a seven year deal? People can bash on Armstrong in the short term, but he’s not locking the Blues in a closet in the corner that’s freshly painted either.

1:00

Admission – we have U-verse and don’t get NHL Network. However, apparently Doug Armstrong was on NHL Network and said he has no intention of trading Kevin Shattenkirk. Why? Why say that? Even if it’s a smoke screen, it doesn’t really help out. It might actually scare some GM’s who are willing to take him at his word away. On the other hand, Marc Bergevin said he was not going to trade P.K. Subban either.

1:20

I wasn’t in on the idea of bringing back Stempniak, but there were several who were. For the money, I suppose he would have been a comparable option to Perron although Perron has more upside and is younger.

2:00

The Blues signed Andrew Agozzino to a one-year contract. He’s spent a bit of time in the Colorado Avalanche’s system, but only seen 10 NHL games. He’s going to end up in Chicago with the Wolves, but at least provides depth that the Blues have lost since most of their minor leaguers will be depended on when players get hurt.

2:30

The feeding frenzy seems to have wrapped up. A few underwhelming roster names trickling in. Armstrong truly is likely done for the day. We’ll keep updating this page and also using Twitter with any other interesting moves.

Next: Blues Players To Watch Next Season

There are still some ok names out there. Brad Richards, Tuomo Ruutu, P.A. Parenteau, Jiri Hudler, Paul Gaustad, Kris Versteeg and Mikkel Boedker are all still out there. Not saying the Blues will or should even consider them, but there are still options if the team is inclined. Maybe even a move for Thomas Vanek on a tryout contract similar to Upshall or Brodziak last year. Of course, they report Vanek may have signed with the Red Wings shortly after I post that.

4pm update

Mikkel Boedker signed a four-year deal worth $4 million per year with the San Jose Sharks. There’s another option gone for the Blues. They’ll be up against the cap with Schwartz and Sobotka’s money, but it’s still disappointing that Perron is likely the only player they’re going to sign via free agency.

Keep refreshing this page later in the day for any further updates.