The St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong has done it again and shocked everyone with not only the acquisition of Justin Faulk from Carolina but also extending him 7 years at a $6.5 million AAV.
In case you missed it the St. Louis Blues have acquired Justin Faulk and a 2020 5th round pick from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Joel Edmondson, prospect Dominik Bokk and a 7th round 2021 pick.
Armstrong and the 27-year-old Faulk then agree to terms on a 7-year extension at $6.5 million a season. What a typical Armstrong shocker! If you’re like me you are wondering what on Earth does this mean? Questions are swirling in your head.
I would like to take the time to hopefully iron out your thoughts and hopefully mine, with a few speculative scenarios for the Blues future roster in 2020-21. I’m not a cap genius, and I don’t know what he minute terms were on the trade, but according to CapFriendly this trade puts the Blues salary cap at $82,724,999 of $81.5 million for the 2019-20 season. With $1.238 coming from LTIR.
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So for the sake of the article, we will assume that this puts the Blues over the salary cap with Derrick Pouliot still on the NHL roster along with Robby Fabbri, and Mackenzie MacEachern.
We know that the Blues will likely only carry seven defensemen into the season. So, that sends Pouliot to the AHL freeing up $700k.
It also means that one other player is probably headed down and Kostin definitely isn’t making the big club.
The other player heading down will likely be MicMac, freeing up another $750k bringing the Blues to just under the total cap at $81,274,999. Just a smidge under the cap.
Again, I am no salary cap guru and don’t know all the ins and outs. It’s a glaring hole in my armchair GM resume I understand.
So for the sake of simplicity, this could mean that the Blues and Armstrong are not done yet making trades this season. Here comes the speculation.
In a previous article, my first ever at Bleedin’ Blue, I wrote that Alex Pietrangelo may be playing his last games as a Blue. The reason being he is in the last year of his contract and will be due a substantial pay raise.
The mindset would be to trade the red hot captain now and get everything we can in return for the future. The Blues are deep at defense and, with the addition of Faulk, are even deeper. Does this move indicate the Armstrong is considering the future and willing to move on from Petro?
I certainly am not saying that Faulk is a tit for tat replacement, but, with all the defense the Blues have, moving Petro and replacing his offense with Faulk makes sense. Doug Armstrong is no dummy, despite what some Army critics may think.
It also makes me wonder if the play of Kostin has encouraged Army to start shopping Brayden Schenn as he too is in the final year of his contract. Kostin has been on fire and certainly has to have the Blues thinking how do we get him on the team now?
Maybe this doesn’t mean anything other than Pouliot and MicMac are headed down. We all know with the Seattle expansion next season the salary cap will increase. We also know that the draft will bring losses to everyone in the NHL. Casualties to the draft.
Perhaps Armstrong sees this a way to ensure some of his other players aren’t taken? Maybe Faulk is a one year player being sacrificed to Seattle in the draft next year? One thing I know is that Army has improved the team today with the addition of Faulk.
Faulk is a powerplay quarterback, with solid offensive numbers from the back end. He will definitely do more in contributing to the team offensively and perhaps help unlock the secret to a successful powerplay for the Blues.
The regular season is just around the corner and things have gotten exponentially exciting for the 2019-20 Blues. Faulk is a great addition and will certainly slot into the system nicely. The Blues defense somehow just got even more dangerous. Who he pairs with will be even more interesting. I can’t wait for Oct. 2nd!
Drop the puck!