According to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford, the St. Louis Blues’ decisions to extend Robert Thomas and re-sign Nick Leddy meant that the team didn’t have enough salary cap to retain David Perron’s services–despite the fact that Perron’s so loyal to St. Louis that he’s had 3 stints with the team:
The salary cap is in control, and with it going up just $1 million to $82.5 million next season, it has limited what teams like the Blues can do.
“Yeah, this is projecting a cap that could go up by $1 million this year, next year and the year after,” [Blues GM Doug] Armstrong said. “Knowing the bridge deals of Kyrou and Thomas are no longer (in place after 2022-23), we don’t expect them to play anywhere near that amount of money after next year.
“We really love David (Perron), but a year ago, when you trade for (Pavel) Buchnevich and acquire (Brandon) Saad, the hard part is that you can’t participate every trade deadline and every summer with a flat cap. So that’s sort of how that situation unfolded. It’s a jigsaw puzzle that’s always moving. You have to make hard decisions.”
Unfortunately for fans, it claimed one of their favorites.
“Definitely a tough loss,” [Robert] Thomas said of Perron. “He’s a guy that loved being in St. Louis, loved being a Blue. He was a great leader on and off the ice. He competed hard every night and was a huge factor in past seasons and playoffs. Definitely a tough loss for us.”
Continued (paywall)
