- Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: So far, contract extension talks between the St. Louis Blues and David Backes have been infrequent. Backes has a full no-trade clause, but there is no certainty how things will play out between now and the trade deadline.
“I guess you could always see it playing out any way,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. “The least likely scenario would be to trade him because we’re trying to win. A first-round pick does us no good when we’re going to this year’s playoffs. I think we’re going to be a good team and he’s a big part of being a good team. He’s our captain, he’s our leader. We’ve had the most points in the NHL over the last five or six years. I mean, he’s doing something right. If we didn’t want to keep him, we wouldn’t have talked to him in the first place. We’ve got now until March to find out where we’re at.”
During training camp, the sides held a serious round of negotiations. Multiple sources saying Backes’ camp turned down a three year contract offer worth around $5.5 million per year deal.
“Both sides decided (in training camp) that we didn’t have a deal there or close to a deal, so both sides decided not to make it a distraction,” Arnott said. “Since then, we’ve just stayed in touch. That’s where we’re at. Some ongoing dialogue, but no further negotiation since the end of training camp. If and when it’s the right opportunity for either side, both sides are open to continuing some open dialogue and maybe some additional negotiation. But right now that hasn’t happened.”
Ryan Kesler’s six-year, $41.5 million could be used as a comparable, though many were skeptical of that deal when it was signed. It’s thought that Backes could be open taking less than Kesler’s $6.8 million cap hit, though not significantly less.
“I’ve been led to believe that he’d love to stay here,” Armstrong said. “From my perspective, there’s no question that we want him. Now we’ve just got to see if the business side works. It’s not a personal thing, there’s no outlining factors of what we need to see or what he needs. I don’t want to speak for him, but this is a business decision.”
