St. Louis also gets a fourth-round pick for second rounder, prospect Jeremie Biakabutuka; veteran defenseman has two years remaining at $6.5 million AAV; Ducks retaining 38.5 percent

The St. Louis Blues have acquired veteran defenseman Cam Fowler from the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.

the Blues also acquire a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft and the return is a 2027 second-rounder and a prospect, defenseman Jeremie Biakabutuka. The Ducks will also retain just under 38.5 percent of Fowler's contract, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, who was first to report the trade. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong confirmed there was salary retention.

The numbers match that the Blues are on the hook for $4 million of Fowler's remaining contract, the exact number of Leddy's cap hit.

This move signifies that veteran defenseman Nick Leddy, who has a lower-body injury and hasn't played since Oct. 15, missing the past 26 games, will not play for the foreseeable future. And there's really no timeline when he will return.

"When you look at our team now, we've had four guys playing a lot of minutes most nights," Armstrong told reporters in Dallas. "I just felt like that wasn't going to be sustainable moving forward. Nick Leddy, his situation is up in the air. I feel for Nick. He wants to be on the ice, but we've been day to day with that now for the better part of two months and it's also difficult on the coaches and the players. I just felt it was the right time to support this group, add an experienced player that can help alleviate some of the ice time. I say this with a smile on my face. We're playing our top guys 25 minutes and one of them's going to be 40 soon. I'm not sure how sustainable this was moving forward."

To make room for Fowler, 33, the Blues also assigned defenseman Matthew Kessel to Springfield of the American Hockey League.

Fowler is a left-handed defenseman who has four assists in 17 games with the Ducks this season and has played his entire 14-plus year career with the Ducks, totaling 991 games (96 goals, 361 assists).

"We're excited to have Cam join our organization," Armstrong said. "... It just brings another quality player into our group with experience and then when Nick is ready, we'll have an experienced group back there."

With Leddy out of the picture currently and Torey Krug out for the season following ankle surgery, they needed a veteran presence to go along with Philip Broberg and Ryan Suter. They also have Scott Perunovich and P.O. Joseph from the left side for depth.

"When started this process of being competitive today and building for the future, I look at Theo Lindstein, our first round pick (in 2023) and then our two second-round picks last year (Colin Ralph and Lukas Fischer). If the actuary tables are right, they should be making an impact in the league as players maybe in '26, '27. A trade like this doesn't hold anybody our or push anybody back or stunt anyone's growth. So it just seemed to be the proper time to do something for us today and tomorrow. We do give up a second-round pick, but we do get a fourth. Depending on where we are in the standings, I think we can recoup a lot of these picks if we ever decide to."

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