On the St. Louis Blues …
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: (mailbag) The percentage that Blues are able to trade Jay Bouwmeester and re-sign Kevin Shattenkirk is likely between zero and two percent.
Before the Edmonton Oilers traded Taylor Hall to the Devils, the Oilers may have wanted more than Kevin Shattenkirk for Hall. They may have been okay with not extending him first, which could have been why they would have wanted more. Rutherford doesn’t think Shattenkirk would have signed with the Oilers long-term.
Jeremy Rutherford: Blues GM Doug Armstrong on Vladimir Sobotka: “I talked to the agent once every 2-3 days and I get insurance he’s not going back to KHL, he’s coming to St. Louis. We’ve moved ahead that he’s coming back, but until we get it in writing, there’s nothing we can do except take his word”
Tom Timmermann: If Sobotka returns to the Blues, they should be about $1.2 million below the cap.
Jeremy Rutherford: GM Armstrong said that they have a couple big players entering the final year of their deals. The team will talk to them, but it won’t happen before the season starts.
Jeremy Rutherford: The Blues and Jaden Schwartz talked contracts ranging from one to eight years. Agent Wade Arnott said that five years was “where the discussion ended up becoming most palatable for both sides”
Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GM Armstrong on the Schwartz negotiations.
“We had a lot of conversation since about July 4-5, after free agency settled down,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. “Both sides knew what the other side wanted. He wanted some security and some term. We wanted to give him some security and some term, so it was just trying to get the value of the arbitration years and then the free-agent years and making everyone comfortable.”
Schwartz’s agent Wade Arnett.
“We’re pleased that we were able to finalize a longer-term deal for Jaden with the Blues,” Arnott said. “Of course, we filed for salary arbitration. The team had the choice of a one- or a two-year deal if we went all the way through with the (arbitration) process. We were prepared for that, however, it was the player’s intent to continue to negotiate something longer term and we’re happy that we got something done here today.”