Forward had one year remaining on a two-year, $8 million contract signed with Islanders; was acquired on March 6 in Brayden Schenn trade; Blues owe $1.33 million against cap in each of next two seasons
ST. LOUIS -- To no one's surprise, Jonathan Drouin cleared waivers on Wednesday morning and the St. Louis Blues bought out the final year of his contract.
Drouin, 31, who was acquired on March 6 from the New York Islanders in the Brayden Schenn trade, is owed $4 million, which means the Blues are responsible for 2/3 of the contract, which will be a hit against the cap of $1,333,333 in each of the next two seasons.
It's the first buyout of a contract since before Doug Armstrong took over as general manager in 2010. Armstrong relinquished the GM duties officially on Tuesday, and Alexander Steen is in place as the team's GM as of Wednesday.
"Obviously a tough decision. We waited a lot,” Steen said on Tuesday of the decision to buy out Drouin. “I think ‘Dru’ is a very defined player and at the end of the day, we didn’t feel like we were going to provide him with a position to excel, so we landed at that decision."
Drouin had a goal and two assists in nine games. It will open up a roster position for younger players in the pipeline, including Otto Stenberg.
"What our management group is really high on is internal competition, so we’ll be looking at everything," Steen said. "We’re happy with where our team’s positioned right now, but that would be something that we’d explore if it presented itself to us. This is going to be a highly-competitive camp."
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