St. Louis Blues: Chicago Shows Reason Blues Can’t Throw Money Around

The Chicago Blackhawks spent a ton of money during and after they won their Stanley Cups. What they are going through now shows the St. Louis Blues why they can’t.

A little more than a quarter of the way through the 2019-20 NHL season, the St. Louis Blues have only played the Chicago Blackhawks once, which is odd in and of itself. For those somehow unaware, the Blues took down the Hawks 4-0 which was a good indicator of the differences between the two franchises at this point in time.

Regardless of the outcome of one game, the more telling thing was a particular oddity having to do with the Blackhawks roster. Chicago’s cap troubles had gotten so bad that they had to play with only 11 forwards due to injury and not enough cap space to bring anyone up from the AHL.

The Blackhawks were the model for success in how to play on the ice during their run at three Stanley Cup championships. They are now a cautionary tale that the Blues must pay keen attention to if they are to thrive as long or longer than Chicago did.

The Blues must be cautious as they proceed forward as a franchise after their first championship. They do have a window in front of them where they could win another, however tossing money at that window as Chicago did is not the way long term.

Some will say that three Stanley Cups is more than worth the price the Blackhawks are paying. However, the counter to that argument is that the Pittsburgh Penguins have won just as many Cups and, though they do have some ups and downs, are not in the same cap hell.

The Blues are in an odd spot right now and need to learn everything they can from Chicago’s mistakes. The Blackhawks actually are spending slightly less than the Blues against the cap in 2019-20, but they are so top heavy that trying to fit in anyone making more than a rookie wage is very difficult.

Chicago’s top two contracts are both over $10 million per season. Their top two defenders have earned as much as $8 and $9 million respectively, with staggered salaries keeping their AAV down to something manageable.

Making matters just as bad, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are both 31 and both under contract through the summer of 2023. Brent Seabrook is 34 and Duncan Keith is 36 and they have four and three more years left on their deals, respectively.

Fans love to whine about the money the Blues are spending on their current goaltender situation. Funny enough, the Blackhawks are spending over $2 million more on their duo.

The Blackhawks were determined to keep their core together for the long haul, but when you keep winning, that costs money and years. Now, Chicago is stuck with those high-dollar, long-term deals with little room to improve from within.

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The Blackhawks did not go crazy with trades, but they pulled enough deadline deals to rob themselves of enough draft picks to keep replenishing themselves. The draft picks they did have progressed at high rates, which made them too expensive to hold onto by the time they reached free agency.

The Blues are approaching a point very soon where tough decisions will need to be made. Those decisions will impact the franchise both now and in the future.

Most notably, the Blues have to make a big decision regarding their captain, Alex Pietrangelo.

Interestingly, only a few months removed from a large part of the fan base wanting to run him out of town, now things have switched and a vocal contingent wants to pay Petro whatever he wants. That, right there, is something they absolutely cannot do.

Nobody wants to lose a player as talented as Pietrangelo. Whether you think his current production in 2019-20 is just due to a contract year or him finally returning to the form that made him a potential Norris Trophy candidate, the bottom line is Pietrangelo is a top-two defender on almost any team in the NHL.

That said, the Blues cannot just open their checkbook and write a blank check. It would be great to keep Pietrangelo, however, it has to be at the right price.

The assumption, at this point, is that Pietrangelo could and would command a salary larger than the one just signed by Roman Josi. Starting in 2020-21, his cap hit will be just over $9 million.

Sadly, if Pietrangelo is wanting that number or more, the Blues will have to let him walk. It is great that the Blues ownership is willing to spend up to the salary cap.

However, they cannot have too much money tied up in a few players. If the Blues break trend and pay someone $10 million or more, they lose all the flexibility they have created up and down their roster.

In the past, we have all argued that it makes no sense to pay someone $5 million or more to be a third line player or sometimes even a fourth line player. However, the Blues flexibility at the top, considering their top player only has a hit of $7.5 million, gives them the ability to have higher quality players at reasonable prices in other spots in their roster.

If St. Louis just opens up the pocketbook to one player, they lose that freedom. Perhaps Doug Armstrong keeps pulling the magic, but it would be just as likely that St. Louis could end up just like Chicago, with problems so large that they struggle to fill their lineup due to a short term injury. That is not a place any fan should want their team.

We all want the Blues to be as good as they can for as long as they can. Spending money for the sake of it just to say the window is open now is not the way to go though.

Hopefully, things will work out in St. Louis’ favor and Pietrangelo will stay. The Blues have already convinced others, such as Brayden Schenn, to take a little less to stay with a winner. Maybe they can do it again.

The bottom line is they have to have the freedom to keep an entire roster if deserving. Keeping one or two guys at the cost of depth simply is not worth it.

The Blues can keep winning if they keep to their current system. Roll out four competitive lines and overwhelm the competition with tenacity more than pure talent.

We can complain about individual contracts until we are blue in the face. The Blues have been smart with their cap dealings overall and they have to continue that, even if it means losing a prominent name eventually.