The St. Louis Blues and forward Jaden Schwartz avoided arbitration
on Friday after agreeing to a five-year 25.75 million-dollar contract.
Blues general manager, Doug Armstrong said of the
24-year-old, “He is an important player
for us now and an important player in the future. He is entering the best part
of his career, and to have him signed, having [Vladimir] Tarasenko signed, we
have got Jake [Allen] signed for five years now and [Alex] Pietrangelo for four
more. We have access to [Robby] Fabbri and [Colton] Parayko, so the nucleus of
our team is obviously getting younger.”
He added, “Getting key
players signed to term under contract, it is good for the organization, and we
can now build around these players.”
By signing Schwartz and Tarasenko, both 24-year-olds and the
trust that they put into Fabbri (20) and Parayko (23), show that the Blues are
becoming a younger, faster team.
By allowing veterans like, captain David Backes, Troy
Brouwer and Steve Ott the opportunity to walk as unrestricted free agents, and
trading goaltender Brian Elliott to the Calgary Flames this summer, prove the
amount of trust that they have in their young core.
Armstrong said, “You
evolve the way the league is evolves, and there has been a core group of
players that has now matured. Now it is time for the next wave to take charge.
I do not think it is that we are trying to make a statement. It is just the
reality of the business that Tarasenko, and Schwartz and Allen and Parayko now
entering the part of their careers now where they need to be the ones doing the
heavy lifting.”
This past season Schwartz played just 33 games after
fracturing his left ankle during practice on October 23. He put up eight goals
and 14 assists on the 2015-2016 campaign. During the postseason, he added four
more goals and 10 assists in 20 Stanley Cup Playoff games, helping the Blues to
the Western Conference Finals against the San Jose Sharks.
Armstrong said, “We
had hoped to get something done [before the arbitration hearing Wednesday]. We
actually started talking about this last year at the start of the season about
a new contract and term, but then the injury happened [and] both sides thought
it best to put it off at that time knowing we would get back to it. Then you
get into the postseason, and it takes a little time to put these deals
together. Ultimately, both sides were able to find the right amount of years
and right dollar value.”
The Blues are less than four million-dollars under the
salary cap, with 22 contracts on the books for the upcoming season. Once Vladimir
Sobotka rejoins the club, later this summer, that number will change.
Sobotka is spent the past two seasons over in the Kontinental
Hockey League, with Omsk Avangard. He is expected to opt out of his KHL
contract to return to St. Louis. Sobotka salary cap hit will add 2.725 to the Blues
total.
Armstrong added, “This
year looks like we are in a solid spot now. Obviously, next year we have some
key players that are unrestricted free agents [forward Alexander Steen and
defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk] that we will have to resign or open up space to
for us to do other things.”
He added, “With the
cap staying relatively stagnant the last couple of years, we forecast it would
stay the same and we think we are in a good spot with the contracts we have moving
forward. You want a core group of players with their contracts extended out and
then you fill support around that.”
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