Former Blues defenseman Nick Leddy was claimed off waivers by the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/9bfbe8aa-1485-4eed-abd2-e32873e4a871.jpeg] Former Blues defenseman Nick Leddy was claimed off waivers by the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. (James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images) MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Veteran defenseman Nick Leddy was claimed on waivers by the San Jose Sharks [http://thn.com/sanjose] on Thursday, ending his two-plus year tenure with the St. Louis Blues [http://thn.com/stlouis]. The 34-year-old, who was reported to be on waivers on Wednesday [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/report-blues-place-veteran-defenseman-on-waivers], has one year remaining on his contract at a cap hit of $4 million ($3 million in actual dollars). It became a numbers game for Leddy after the Blues acquired Logan Mailloux in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens [http://thn.com/montreal], and the ascension of Tyler Tucker in the lineup. And with the acquisition of center Pius Suter, who signed a two-year, $8.25 million contract that has the cap situation all tied in with the long-term injured-reserve situation with Torey Krug, Leddy became expendable. "It became a numbers game," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. "One of the things too is the coach who selects who goes over the boards is a big Tucker fan. He's a big Tucker fan. He thought that that's an element that our team, when he's on the ice, when he's playing, we're harder to play against and I think as a group, he likes that. If he was going to take that slot in our six, it made sense to give him that opportunity. "There's risk involved with that obviously. Nick's an experienced player, has had a very good career, will go to San Jose and do very well, but you have to create space if you want to give ice time away and that was one way to do that." Leddy, who had a full no-trade clause in the first three years of his four-year, $16 million contract he signed with the Blues on July 13, 2022, saw it drop to a modified 16-team no-trade list starting July 1. The Blues tried working out a trade for the defenseman with teams he was willing to be moved to, but that never worked out, and the course of action was to see if they could rid themselves of a $4 million cap hit through waivers. "Yeah, we did," Armstrong said of a trade. "Not just St. Louis, but no player is put on waivers without everyone knowing ... we have our inner circle, and you probably have a good feel of where everyone's at. I contacted the teams that were his preferred destination to go to and at the end of the day, the best course of action was waivers." It made sense for the Sharks to take a flier on Leddy. After they signed Dmitry Orlov to a two-year contract for $6.25 million AAV, and adding Leddy, it got San Jose closer to the salary cap floor.
