The St. Louis Blues will have to make some moves
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: With the addition of Justin Faulk, the St. Louis Blues currently have $65.6 million committed to the salary cap for the 2020-21 season, with 16 players under contract.
Let’s say the salary cap goes up to $85 million for next season. (It’s currently at $81.5 million.) That leaves the Blues with $19.4 million to sign seven players. Let’s assume that it takes $14 million to re-sign both Alex Pietrangelo and Brayden Schenn. (And that may be low.) That leaves $5.4 million for five players, which will be tough.
The Blues could trade Jake Allen’s $4.35 million or Alex Steen’s $5.75 million. But as Doug Armstrong said, the Blues are going to have to be creative in order to bring both Pietrangelo and Schenn back.
If the Blues have a Stanley Cup slump and are out of playoff contention, you can expect the Blues to try and trade Steen or Allen at the 2020 NHL trade deadline.
Will the New York Rangers trade Ryan Strome?
New York Post: Ryan Strome knows the New York Rangers have a ton of young talent in the system, most of it on display during training camp over the past few weeks. He knows a lot of them are natural centers, just like him. And he also knows he is entering the final year of his two-year, $6.2 million deal that will make him an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
The Rangers have shipped out pending UFA talent over the last two seasons. Strome has made it clear how he feels about playing for the Rangers in this market. He wants to be part of the future, and it’s to be seen if he will be.
