Blues financial constraints play part in past/future deals … Kotalik could be bought out in summer … AHL Skills Competition goal

Mark Easson

14 years ago

Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The St. Louis Blues have a payroll of about $46 million, and financial constraints is one of reasons they didn’t go after Jamie Langenbrunner according to sources. Langenbrunner would have been about $1.4 million for the remainder of the season. The Blues did try to bring in the cheap Marek Svatos ($300,000) and Kyle Wellwood ($400,000), only to have them claimed off waivers by other teams. If they are able to secure new investors by the time the NHL trade deadline roles around could impact whether they are buyers or sellers. Eric Brewer and Ty Conklin are UFA’s and could be either be re-signed or traded. TJ Oshie and Patrik Berglund will be RFAs at season’s end.

Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Max Talbot is a UFA at season’s end, and his recent offensive struggles (pointless in 15, goalless in 24) might sway the Penguins to decide to move in a different direction. Dustin Jeffrey, Eric Tangradi, Nick Johnson and Tim Wallace could be ready to take a more prominent role with the Pens next year. Other Penguins UFAs will be: Pascal Dupuis ($1.4 million), Mike Rupp ($825K), Eric Godard ($750K), Aaron Asham ($700K), Craig Adams ($550K), Chris Conner ($550K), Mike Comrie ($500K).

Vicki Hall of the Calgary Herald: With the Flames sending Ales Kotalik to the AHL, they’ll begin rewarding players with callups. The move also clears up cap space for the remainder of the season. He could be bought out this summer, and would carry a $1 million cap hit in each of the next 2 seasons.