MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Just as Doug Armstrong indicated several weeks ago, the Blues were fairly quiet on the opening of free agency on Saturday.
They didn't bring back Ryan O'Reilly, who instead signed with the Nashville Predators for a reported four-year, $18 million ($4.5 million cap hit) contract, and several other former Blues changed addresses on this day, including defenseman Joel Edmundson (traded to the Washington Capitals), Kevin Shattenkirk (Boston Bruins), Ian Cole (Vanvouver Canucks) and Niko Mikkola (Florida Panthers) and forward Noel Acciari (Pittsburgh Penguins).
The Blues did replenish the cupboard for their depth when they signed four players on Saturday, including the return of forward Mackenzie MacEachern on a two-year, one-way contract worth $775,000 per season. They also signed defensemen Joshua Jacobs and Wyatt Kalynuk, and veteran goalie Malcolm Subban to one-year, two-way contracts.
And that's the extent of the Blues' first day of free agency, but let's be realistic here: did anyone really expect too much here?
General manager Doug Armstrong said on many occasions they likely wouldn't be big players in the free agent market and would likely change the makeup of this roster, if possible, via trade.
They've began that process with the acquisition of Kevin Hayes from the Philadelphia Flyers, and that doesn't mean there couldn't be any more trades to be made. Plenty of time for that between now and the middle of September, but there has been much made of bringing O'Reilly back into the fold, but there was no way Armstrong would go that lengthy of term, particularly. And good for O'Reilly, 32, to get that term. It's his final big contract, if you will.
The Blues have less than $2 million in cap space and restricted free agent Alexey Toropchenko yet to sign, even after the cap ceiling went up by $1 million to $83.5 million, so the funds were dry enough, and that left no wiggle room to go out and make any larger free agent splashes without trading pieces off the roster.
The Blues made their acquisitions when they brought forwards Jakub Vrana and Kasperi Kapanen into the fold last season.
Remember what Armstrong said in April after the season ended?
"We're not going to be a major player (in free agency) unless things change," he said. "And if things change, that means cap space is open. As of today, no, we're not going to be a major player. Now ... stay tuned."
He left it open-ended, but that meant things had to change, and they didn't. And it all comes down to their own contracts dealing with a cap crunch era.
"When we signed some of our players, we were trying to keep a window open as long as possible, thinking we'll pay them now," Armstrong said earlier this week. "At the end, their value might not be as high as it is at the start, but the cap is going to make it less strenuous. The flat cap ($82.5 million) over the last year has made it strenuous, and we're just one of, what, 25 teams that deal with the cap."
So it means the development of their own players will help determine that the Blues if the near and distant future looks like.
"You can always get better," Armstrong said. "A trade here, or a trade there can change that makeup. (But) we're excited about the young players coming into our team over the last 12 months. You start with [Joel] Hofer in goal. Jake Neighbours is going to play full-time. We expect Nikita Alexandrov to take a bigger role, Scott Perunovich to be healthy and take a role, and Tyler Tucker to take a role. When you add that many players, you do want to have some veteran players around to support those guys. But that's where we're at today."
The Blues have $30-plus million tied into nine defensemen, which includes Calle Rosen and his two-way contract, and they have just under $46 million locked down by 12 forwards with one more to go [Toropchenko].
MacEachern, 29, who was originally drafted by the Blues in the third round of the 2012 NHL Draft and spent six seasons in the Blues organization, playing in 115 NHL games (11 goals, eight assists) before signing with the Carolina Hurricanes last season and played in eight playoff games (one goal, one assist).
Jacobs, 27, originally came from the New Jersey Devils organization when he was selected in the second round of the 2014 draft, spent last season with Colorado of the American Hockey League.
The 26-year-old Kalynuk, originally drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the seventh round of the 2017 draft, has played in 26 NHL games with the Chicaho Blackhawks (four goals, five assists). Last season he split between Abbotsford and Hartford of the AHL.
Subban, 29, selected by the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2012 draft (24th overall), played for Buffalo Sabres AHL affiliate in Rochester; he is 36-33-9 with a 3.10 goals-against average .898 save percentage in the NHL with the Bruins, Sabres and Chicago Blackhawks. He will serve on a tandem with Vadim Zherenko in Springfeld next season.
NOTES: Prospect camp also began for the Blues on Saturday with team drills, goalie drills, then to cap it off, 4-on-4, 3-on-3 and shootout play.
Among the highlights include recent third-round pick (76th overall) Juraj Pekarcik's goal in the 4-on-4 drills ...
* Among those not to skate on Saturday included forward Zach Dean, acquired by the Blues from the Vegas Golden Knights for Ivan Barbashev; defenseman Anton Malmstrom and defenseman Quinton Burns, who was also taken in the third round (74th overall) on Thursday.
* Among the attendees included 2021 first-round pick and QMJHL and Memorial Cup winner Zach Bolduc and 2022 first-round pick Jimmy Snuggerud.
* Eight of the Blues' nine draft picks Wednesday and Thursday in Nashville are in attendance for this week's camp. The only exception is seventh-round pick, Russian right wing Nikita Susuyev.
* Stanley Cup champion Alexander Steen, who won it in 2019 with the Blues, was on hand part of the coaching staff at prospect camp on Saturday; he was recently hired by the organization as its European amateur scouting consultant.