The St. Louis Blues made a big move after an interesting offseason. Dozens of rumors surrounded this franchise about selling some of its stars. Now we sit here in the middle of July, and Robert Thomas and Jordan Binnington are both still members of the Blues’ organization. Jordan Kyrou, on the other hand, is not.
The Blues traded Kyrou to the Washington Capitals for Connor McMichael, prospect Milton Gastrin, and the 16th-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. With that pick, the Blues took center Maddox Dagenais with that pick. Essentially, the Blues got a very big package for their best scorer.Â
That wasn’t enough for the Blues. They needed to double down on this move. And that’s exactly what they did on Thursday. The Blues avoided arbitration with McMichael, giving him a six-year contract worth $6.75 million per season.Â
That contract is rich. For context, that’s less than $1.5 million than what Kyrou is making as an average salary. It's definitely more than most expected him to get, but not by much. AFP Analytics predicted that if McMichael were to sign a long-term deal, he would make around $6.4 million on a five-year deal.
Connor McMichael got paid because he was traded
McMichael is a fine player, but he doesn’t seem missed in Washington. Last season, he had 14 goals and 46 points last season. That’s a fine player, but at 25 years old, this is close to what he’s going to be. He did have 26 goals and 57 points a year ago, which would be well worth this contract. With the salary cap going up, 26 goals is going to cost a team around $7 million.Â
At the end of the day, the Blues wanted to commit to McMichael because he is the biggest piece in the Kyrou trade. They did buy a few unrestricted free agency years, so they might end up in the green on this deal. It’s a massive number on the surface, but it’s unlikely this turns into a complete disaster like similar contracts for the likes of Ondrej Palat or Brayden Schenn.Â
McMichael will be good player in St. Louis. If he scores at least 20 goals on average throughout the contract, then this should be a decent number for him. It’s shocking at first, but the price will only get better as the years go on. McMichael is coming off a relatively down year, and there’s room for growth.
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