CLOSE TO BOLD?
By Lowetide
10 years ago
Earlier today, the St. Louis Blues signed forward Derek Roy to a 1-year, $4M contract. The deal–and the rfa’s still on the Blues list of ‘things to do’ might mean a solid scoring winger shakes loose from the very deep St. Louis depth chart.
The Blues as we speak have have about 8M to sign the following rfa’s:
- R Chris Stewart, their leading scorer and a coveted PF
- D Alex Pietrangelo, a franchise type defender coming into his own
This is going to be close, and I think there might be a chance for a club (oh, say the Oilers) to jump in and help St. Louis while also improving their own lot. As we’ve discussed for ages, and MacT has mentioned many times, the Oilers need a complementary player to go with the fab five (Hall, Nuge, Yak City, Ebs, Gagner). The internal candidates are:
- Magnus Paajarvi, a solid young player but thought to be shy offensively.
- Ryan Jones, recently signed and possessing offensive ability
- Jesse Joensu, newly signed big man who has a nice range of skills but lacks NHL success
- Ales Hemsky, thought to be headed out of town but only if a replacement can be found.
IS THERE A MATCH?
About a week ago, leading up to the draft, there were reports of Perron’s possibly being available:
- Jeff Gordon, St. Louis Post-Disptach: The Blues also engaged in some preliminary trade chatter as other teams checked in on goaltender Jaroslav Halak and winger David Perron.
Those rumblings appear to have re-started and with the signing of Roy this could be closer now. The Fourth Period repeated the Perron rumor as the weekend started and things could heat up at any time.
Perron is a very skilled forward who can play at a very high level. In 340 NHL games, he’s scored 84-114-198, which works out to 20-28-48 per 82 games. Here is the Hockey News description of the player:
As you can see, there’s some health issues–Perron has had concussion problems and he spent some time in Ken Hitchcock’s doghouse last season. Still, there’s a talent player here.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
So far this summer, General Managers have had a terrible time making trades. However, the window of opportunity may be opening for Craig MacTavish. The St. Louis Blues may be willing to deal one of their skill forwards for a less expensive forward or a package of prospects. And this should take place in other NHL cities as teams near roster completion and find themselves up against the cap.
David Perron could have a new NHL address in the coming days, and other names may emerge. Edmonton has the trade assets, the cap room and the desire to make a bold move.
Stay tuned!
Recent articles from Lowetide
