St. Louis Blues: Why All The Hubub About Mini-Parm?

The St. Louis Blues signed Landon Ferraro to a one-year, two-way deal on July 9, 2016. In typical fashion, the internet reacted with some disdain.

Why is there such furor over the signing of mini-Parm as I will choose to call him. Just for backstory on that, Ferraro’s father is Ray Ferraro.

Ray Ferraro wrapped up his career with a cup of coffee with the St. Louis Blues in 2001-02. He got the nickname Chicken Parm from John Buccigross during their time at ESPN when Ray would co-host NHL2Nite during the playoffs since the team he was on was almost always out of it. He was eating chicken parmesean, dropped a piece in the marinara on accident and got a stain on his dress shirt and a nickname that would stick.

So, why the dislike over the signing of his son to the roster? Sadly, much of it comes from the fact that almost all of us have never had an agent and thus never gone through prolonged negotiations over contract terms.

The biggest reason people seem to be upset over the signing of anyone is that Jaden Schwartz is still out there listed as a restricted free agent. People are wringing their hands over the idea that he filed for arbitration.

None of that is out of the ordinary. It also does not mean that he is in danger of not being signed. Last season, 25 players filed for arbitration and the vast majority of them did not settle for the decision handed down. Either they settled with the team before it got to a judge or the team and player came to a longer term agreement after the decision was given.

Jeremy Rutherford, the Blues main beat writer, even stated on the radio a few weeks ago that these situations sometimes last into August. So again, why the fan disdain?

It mostly boils down to Doug Armstrong’s statement that Schwartz was the team’s main priority. Just because someone is your main priority does not mean you push everyone else to the side for the sake of upholding the literal interpretation of your statement.

The Blues still had holes to fill and they filled them. That does not mean that Schwartz is not a priority or that Armstrong is not doing everything he can to get a deal done. It simply means that the Blues know he is going to cost the most money and they want to get all their p’s and q’s right before they start dotting i’s and crossing t’s.

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So, we circle back to mini-Parm, Landon Ferraro. Those picking on Armstrong for the signing are mostly doing it because they want to complain about something because they’re unhappy for other reasons. Ferraro is not being brought in to be an NHL player.

If the Blues were confident of his ability to play in the NHL, they would have given him a one-way contract and perhaps not brought Magnus Paajarvi back. Instead, they put Ferraro on a two-way contract and are only guaranteeing him $350,000 with a chance to earn up to $700,000.

Ferraro is listed as a center, a position the Blues still need some depth at at lower levels and they filled it. He is talented enough to slip over to the wing as well, which gives the team flexibility given their recent injury history as well.

Ferraro is simply an inexpensive option that has NHL experience and will be a good fill-in player if the occasion arises. He can play on the fourth line to fill in for Ryan Reaves on the wing or slip in as a center if needed.

At 24, he’s not quite done developing. He has six NHL goals to his name and he scored five last season with the Boston Bruins.  He had a good scoring touch in the AHL as well with 27 goals in 2014-15 in Grad Rapids.

Not that it makes a difference to doubters, but there were quite a number of Boston fans that were disappointed at his departure. He plays quite a lot like his father, with a lot of grit and determination and stick-to-itevness. He just doesn’t have his father’s talent or hasn’t shown it yet anyway.

So, in the end, don’t take it out on Ferraro. He doesn’t know anything of the Blues’ contract talks with other people. He didn’t go to Armstrong and say “Sign me and forget about this Schwartz guy.”

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He was simply looking for a place that wanted him and the Blues provided that. If the Blues have relative health throughout the season, Ferraro will likely never get out of Chicago.

The Blues are going to get something done with Schwartz. Just because it’s taking longer than we would like does not mean he’s not a priority or that any additional signings should be mocked.

Too many of us need to just take a breath and let things play out as they will.