St. Louis Blues 20 Worst Contracts in the Salary Cap Era
The St. Louis Blues kicked off the NHL salary cap era by trading their former league MVP Chris Pronger to the Edmonton Oilers, which when compounded with the retirement of Al MacInnes, broke their streak of 25 consecutive playoff appearances, and the team struggled as a result. Then GM Larry Pleau made some of his worst mistakes trying to fill that void on the blueline until he was eventually replaced with Doug Armstrong. Army certainly made a few errors over his tenure, but none that he wasn’t able to overcome. The team’s fortunes almost certainly would have been hindered, if not for some help by the Buffalo Sabres, who became a dumping ground for the Blues bad deals (like trading all their worst contracts for future Conn Smythe trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly).
The Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019, but their window to contend for glory may have closed behind them. The following season they were ousted from the first round of the playoffs by Vancouver, after which their captain Alex Pietrangelo departed for Vegas. The team is currently saddled with some prohibitive liabilities on the back-end that’s keeping them out of the playoffs, but otherwise this list ranks low on the badness meter. As you can see on the rankings report card below, they’re also near the bottom in total buyout money and AHL GP, which certainly has to make ownership feel better about the job management is doing (oh yeah, the Cup banner hanging from the roof too).
This was originally published in my 2020 book The Definitive Guide to Salary Mismanagement, and has now been updated with new contracts. I will continue to update each team’s list every summer going forward. The rule is that only active contracts can move up or down. Expired deals cannot pass each other (with a few exceptions). The book is still available on Amazon, though some of the stats on active contracts are now out of date. You may yet find it interesting because there were detailed stat graphics that you won't find here. One thing you won't find here are entry level contracts because they all come from the same cookie cutter and require less skill at the negotiating table.
1. Jay McKee
Adjusted Cap Hit: $26.0M, $6.5M (avg)
Value Returned: $4.3M, $1.1M (avg)
% Earned: 17%
"The organization is excited to add a quality defenceman and excellent leader in Jay McKee. He was very instrumental in Buffalo's playoff run last season."
Jay McKee had one of the best seasons of his career at age 28 following the 2005 lockout, helping the Buffalo Sabres advance to the Conference final. Larry Pleau generously over-compensated McKee for one good playoff and ignored the red flag of reoccurring injury issues prior to the lockout.
The salary was on par with what Derek Morris and Mattias Ohlund had recently been paid, and Jay was not that class of player, lacking an offensive component to his game. Over the first 3 seasons of this pact, McKee scored only 1 more point than he did as a free agent. Injuries would once again become a problem, as Jay’s contribution diminished, leading to a buyout after year three.
2. Jori Lehtera
Adjusted Cap Hit: $15.5M, $5.2M (avg)
Value Returned: $3.3M, $1.1M (avg)
% Earned: 21%
“When that decision was made to give him an extension, he had played one year in the league, he had close to 50 points, he was 28, it looked like a no-brainer at the time”
Jori Lehtera was given a 3-year extension after one year in the league where he scored 44 PTS while showing chemistry with Tarasenko. It would have been in Doug Armstrong’s best interests to wait for the sample size to grow larger, as his scoring output would only get smaller.
By year one of the deal, the center would score 22 PTS in 64 GP while getting paid like a 50-point player. Armstrong didn’t need (or want) to see any more, convincing the Flyers to eat the final 2 years (with a pair of 1st round picks) as part of the Brayden Schenn trade. Once in Philly, Jori was arrested for cocaine possession and eventually sent to the minors.
Year two was a disaster, scoring 8 PTS in 62 GP, missing games as a healthy scratch. The downward spiral worsened in the final year, which included a demotion to the AHL.
3. Jordan Binnington
Adjusted Cap Hit: $36.2M, $6.0M (avg)
Value Returned: $22.9M, $3.8M (avg)
% Earned: 63%
"I'm not looking to kind of crush the bank"
Jordan Binnington signed a 2-year extension after winning the Stanley Cup with a .927 regular season SV% and .914 in the post-season. In the two years that followed he was mostly an average goalie at a good price-point, earning himself a 6-year extension that made him the 8th highest paid goalie in the league. Basically, he got the Jacob Markstrom contract a few months later.
When Jordan Binnington is on his game, he can provide you with Stanley Cup winning goaltending. When he’s not on his game, it can get ugly. Jordan is the primary reason for my gambling rule “never trust the St. Louis Blues to win or lose.” He can steal wins against really good teams then hand deliver embarrassing defeats against any given underdog. He’s completely unreliable. That really became apparent in year one when he posted a .901 SV% which is not worth $6M.
UPDATE: Jordan had a strong 2023/24 and might get lowered down the list at next update.
4. Colton Parayko
Adjusted Cap Hit: $52.1M, $6.5M (avg)
Value Returned: $31.3M, $3.9M (avg)
% Earned: 60%
"So it's pretty cool to be with the team that took a chance on me. I'm looking forward to continuing this career here in St. Louis. Obviously, not often a player gets the opportunity to do that."
Colton Parayko was a key contributor to the St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup victory when he was on a 5-year deal that was going to expire at age 29. This contract was earmarked for this list before it even started, even though he produced at a $6M level in the final season of his previous pact.
The reason being 8-years for a 29-year-old raises a lot of alarm bells, especially for one that’s 6’6 230 lbs. Big men typically age poorly unless it’s a fitness freak like Zdeno Chara. In the first 2 seasons, his expected free agent value was $5.2M and $5.5M, which is overpriced but not catastrophic. There’s 6 more years remaining and the 30th birthday is behind him.
5. Roman Polak
Adjusted Cap Hit: $17.3M, $3.5M (avg)
Value Returned: $10.8M, $2.2M (avg)
% Earned: 61%
"We believe Roman is one of the top defensive defencemen in the league who plays against the opposing team's best players night after night"
Roman Polak had played 3 full seasons with the Blues when Doug Armstrong decided to extend him on a 5-year ticket. The Czech defender had always exhibited limited offensive upside, deployed mostly in a defensive role to collect hits and blocks. They paid a premium for that service, on a similar deal to what Jeff Schultz signed in Washington one year earlier.
Polak’s ice time would decline for the first 3 years until he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Carl Gunnarsson and a 4th round pick. Roman became a very divisive player among Leaf fans, mostly complaining that he was always getting too much ice time. The Leafs did recoup their losses by flipping him to San Jose as a rental for a pair of picks.
6. Vladimir Sobotka
Adjusted Cap Hit: $11.2M, $3.7M (avg)
Value Returned: $4.5M, $1.5M (avg)
% Earned: 40%
"We had hoped it wouldn't get to that point three years ago, but we tried to stay in contact to make sure we didn't fray the relationship and I think that paid off this time when we were able to bring him back."
Vladimir Sobotka had played 4 seasons with the Blues before he left North America to join the KHL, where he played for 3 years. Eventually Doug Armstrong was able to lure him back to St. Louis with a deal very similar to what Zack Smith had signed in Ottawa 3 months earlier (but Vlad managed an extra $250K).
Sobotka was decent in year one (scoring 31 PTS in 81 GP) raising his value enough to become a chip in the Ryan O’Reilly trade. It was in Buffalo where Sobotka’s performance plummeted, not unlike Patrik Berglund. Unfortunately for Jason Botterill, Sobotka never agreed to mutually terminate his contract. Vlad was off to another bad start in year three before knee surgery ended his season.
7. Patrik Berglund
Adjusted Cap Hit: $13.0M, $4.3M (avg)
Value Returned: $6.7M, $2.2M (avg)
% Earned: 50%
"I think we have to see where Berglund’s going to get to. He’s one player that I think played with a dislocated shoulder.”
Patrik Berglund reached a career high 52 PTS in 2011, and experienced a production drop before his previous contract expired, likely due to a shoulder injury that the center had played through. Armstrong dismissed the decline as an aberration caused by injury and paid him like a 40-point guy on a 3-year term.
Unfortunately, the lower scoring rate proved to be permanent, as the Swede would struggle to surpass the 30-point barrier going forward. The team would sign him to an even uglier pact when this one expired, but were bailed out by the Buffalo Sabres (that seems to be a common theme emerging from this list).
8. Eric Brewer
Adjusted Cap Hit: $25.5M, $6.4M (avg)
Value Returned: $16.0M, $4.0M (avg)
% Earned: 62%
“Eric has been durable on the blue-line and he is having one of the best seasons in his NHL career. He will play a big part of our defence now and into the future with the Blues.”
When Eric Brewer came to St. Louis in the Chris Pronger trade, he was immediately thrust into a busy two-way role with top power play and penalty killing deployment. The veteran defenseman was on his way to becoming an unrestricted free agent at age 28 in 2007 until the Blues were able to procure his autograph on a 4-year extension. He tied a career high 29 PTS that season while averaging 3.4 minutes per game on the power play. Shoulder surgery the previous season was likely a contributing factor as to why he was not able to secure more term on the deal, or why he may have doubted that a lottery ticket was waiting for him on July 1st.
Brewer’s power play time and offensive contribution had been in decline before back surgery cost him a majority of the 2008/09 season. By year three, both his power play and even strength deployment were significantly reduced. He was still getting paid like a power play quarterback when he began to morph into a defensive specialist. Over these 4 years, Eric was -45, and the Blues only made the playoffs once (losing in a first round sweep). The team did salvage some value at the end, trading him to Tampa as a rental for a prospect and the 3rd round draft pick that became Jordan Binnington.
9. Marco Scandella
Adjusted Cap Hit: $13.3M, $3.3M (avg)
Value Returned: $6.4M, $1.6M (avg)
% Earned: 48%
The St. Louis Blues traded 2nd and 4th round draft picks to acquire Marco Scandella, and signed him to a 4-year extension two months later. This came a few months after they also extended Justin Faulk, locking nearly $10M in salary cap commitments when they had not yet extended their captain Alex Pietrangelo, who was a pending unrestricted free agent. It’s unclear if they simply didn’t want to re-sign their captain long-term, or if they were setting it up to squeeze Petro into a cheaper contract, or maybe it was just bad cap management. The captain certainly had to be aware when those other two deals were signed that the team wouldn’t be able to meet his asking price. Instead, he signed in Vegas for $1M less than Faulk+Scandella and won another Stanley Cup. The Blues haven’t won a playoff series since his departure, and Scandella eventually began battling injury issues and did not make a significant contribution. Faulk has been good, but they spent the $6.5 earmarked for Petro on Torey Krug (spoiler alter).
10. Chris Stewart
Adjusted Cap Hit: $10.4M, $5.2M (avg)
Value Returned: $5.5M, $2.7M (avg)
% Earned: 52%
“He led our team in scoring last season and is entering the prime of his career. We are expecting big things from him as he continues to grow with our club.”
Chris Stewart led the Blues in scoring during the lockout shortened 2013 season, potting 36 PTS in 48 GP (62-point pace). Doug Armstrong rewarded him with a 2-year bridge to unrestricted free agency at the pay grade of a 50-60 point player.
The power forward’s production would plummet immediately afterwards, but Armstrong was able to unload him on the Buffalo Sabres as part of the Ryan Miller trade. The Sabres managed to flip him to the Minnesota Wild for a 2nd round pick in the final season. When Stewart finally did reach the UFA market at age 27, he was only able to secure a 1-year deal for $1.7M.
11. Patrik Berglund
Adjusted Cap Hit: $20.2M, $4.0M (avg)
Value Returned: $5.5M, $1.1M (avg)
% Earned: 27%
“This is where I want to be, and this is where I want to win the Cup. That's the reason we're here. I really believe this team is going in the right direction."
Patrik Berglund was 6 years removed from his career high 52 PTS and was overpaid on his previous deal where he scored at a 31-point-pace. Doug Armstrong would not allow the Swedish center to make it to the UFA market, extending him for 5-years in February at a slightly higher salary. The first year of this contract wasn’t exactly terrible, with 17 Goals in 57 GP (which translates to a 25-goal pace). Berglund was deemed a good enough asset that the Buffalo Sabres were happy to receive him as part of the return for future playoff MVP Ryan O’Reilly. That’s where it all started to fall apart.
Berglund scored just 4 PTS in 23 GP in Buffalo and decided that he didn’t want to play for the Sabres after the organization killed his passion for hockey. For some strange reason, he agreed to mutually terminate his contract, walking away from over $10M dollars in remaining salary. That’s how bad he wanted out of Buffalo, buying himself a $10M plane ticket back to Sweden. Jason Botterill dodged a bullet on that one, but still looked bad for acquiring Berglund in the first place. For Doug Armstrong, it was a bad contract that had only positive consequences, and in a way, helped them win the Stanley Cup. This would have ranked much higher up the list had the Sabres not been freed from the remaining liability.
12. Steve Ott
Adjusted Cap Hit: $6.2M, $3.1M (avg)
Value Returned: $1.6M, $0.79M (avg)
% Earned: 25%
"It’s important to have that type of grit and determination in our lineup"
After back-to-back seasons scoring at a 40-point pace while playing over 18 minutes per game, Steve Ott finally began to show decline in 2014 as he was closing in on 2000 career hits. The Blues had acquired Ott as part of the Ryan Miller trade before he was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. The 31-year-old agitator would test the open market, deciding to stay in St. Louis 10 days later.
Doug Armstrong would soon find out that Otter’s gas tank was running on empty, as the ice time dropped by almost 7 minutes per game, and so too did the points, finishing with 14 PTS in 99 GP. Ott missed a chunk of the final season with a hamstring injury, returning for the playoffs where he was healthy scratched. The Detroit Red Wings would offer him a 1-year deal for $800K when this expired, after which Ott retired, later becoming a Blues assistant coach.
13. Christian Backman
Adjusted Cap Hit: $11.6M, $3.9M (avg)
Value Returned: $7.7M, $2.6M (avg)
% Earned: 67%
"We feel that signing Christian long term is an improvement for our hockey club, considering the quality minutes he logs each game"
Prior to the 2005 lockout, Christian Backman had spent 2 seasons in North America, split between the NHL and AHL. When the league returned, the Swedish defenseman’s role on the team grew substantially, as he averaged nearly 25 minutes of ice time per game. The Blues bestowed him with a salary greater than what Jay Bouwmeester had just received from an arbitrator 2 weeks earlier for a 46-point season, and greater than what Michal Rozsival had received from the Rangers 8 days earlier for scoring 30 PTS.
Backman’s deployment would shrink significantly all 3 years of this treaty, with the Blues moving him to the Rangers at the 2008 trade deadline for a 4th round pick. The Rangers later traded him to Columbus, where Christian’s ice time dropped under 16 minutes. Once this deal expired, Backman returned to Sweden.
14. Barret Jackman
Adjusted Cap Hit: $20.5M, $5.1M (avg)
Value Returned: $15.4M, $3.8M (avg)
% Earned: 74%
"Barret has been a staple on the blue-line for the Blues since his rookie season. He logs plenty of minutes, and will continue to be a key part of our team as we move forward."
Barret Jackman was a former Blues 1st round draft pick who had only ever played in St. Louis, and Larry Pleau didn’t want him to reach the UFA market at age 27, inking him to a 4-year extension. Brent Seabrook had signed a very similar deal a few days earlier despite much better statistics (the difference being that Brent had just finished his ELC while Barret could command an unrestricted price).
Year one of the deal produced a passing grade, with the highest average ice time of Barret’s career and the 2nd highest point total. Sadly, the returns began diminishing shortly thereafter. It’s worth pointing out that Jackman was a legitimately good defensive rearguard, he was simply being paid too much money for that particular service.
15. Torey Krug
Adjusted Cap Hit: $45.9M, $6.6M (avg)
Value Returned: $25.6M, $3.7M (avg)
% Earned: 56%
I don’t know for sure how much the Blues were offering Pietrangelo before his departure, but I’ll hazard a guess that it was exactly $6.5M. Because that’s exactly what they offered Torey Krug at the beginning of that free agency period (Petro signed in Vegas 3 days later). Krug is an effective offensive player, but he’s very power play dependent for his PTS (at even strength he’s only slightly above average), doesn’t kill penalties, and is often injured. Faulk on the other hand has been much better and plays significantly more minutes, so if you wiped out Scandella and Krug from their payroll, that should have been enough to retain their captain. It’s about opportunity cost.
16. Dallas Drake
Adjusted Cap Hit: $3.9M, $2.0M (avg)
Value Returned: $1.6M, $.81M (avg)
% Earned: 42%
"I have admired the way Dallas handles himself on and off the ice over his career and thrilled to have him back leading our team,"
Dallas Drake reached his career high in scoring in 1999/00 with 45 PTS and was named team captain after the 2005 lockout following the retirement of Al MacInnis. Dallas only managed to score 26 PTS in 62 GP and reached July 1st as a 37-year-old unrestricted free agent. Larry Pleau decided to retain their captain on a 2-year deal with the same salary that Chuck Kobasew and Manny Malhotra had recently received.
Year one produced disastrous results that exacerbated the decline that had already been on display. Dallas scored 12 PTS in 60 GP before being bought out. He would sign one more deal with the Red Wings, scored 10 PTS in 87 GP (including playoffs), and won the Stanley Cup.
17. Barret Jackman
Adjusted Cap Hit: $12.1M, $4.0M (avg)
Value Returned: $6.2M, $2.1M (avg)
% Earned: 51%
“Barret has been a solid leader for our club, on and off the ice, and we’re happy to have him in the fold for the next three years”
Barret Jackman had long been a quality defensive blueliner who logged big minutes on his previous contract (as outlined above, he was not a bad player, simply overpaid). Two weeks before he was set to become UFA at age 31, the Blues locked him into a 3-year extension close to what Chris Phillips had signed the previous year in Ottawa.
A warrior though he might have been, Barret’s role on the team began to diminish following his 30th birthday. The ice time had already begun to decline on the previous deal, but this was where it became painfully worse, albeit at a lower price-point.
18. Jordan Leopold
Adjusted Cap Hit: $5.6M, $2.8M (avg)
Value Returned: $1.7M, $0.85M (avg)
% Earned: 29%
"He was here for a short period of time and I thought his experience was something that was beneficial to our team"
Doug Armstrong paid 2nd and 5th round draft picks to acquire Jordan Leopold from the Buffalo Sabres as a rental in 2013. Doug liked what he saw during that brief audition, and offered the 32-year-old UFA a 2-year deal. Unfortunately, Jordan had very little fuel remaining in his gas tank.
In year one the veteran defenseman’s ice time dropped by 4.5 minutes per game to a bottom pairing role. The offense that he showed posting 35 PTS in 2011 had faded into a distant memory. By the final year, Armstrong was able to move Leo to the Blue Jackets for a 5th round pick, but he would become a regular healthy scratch in Columbus. Leopold was later flipped to the Minnesota Wild after Jordan’s daughter wrote a touching Facebook post about missing her dad. This market the end of Leopold’s NHL career.
19. Paul Stastny
Adjusted Cap Hit: $32.5M, $8.1M (avg)
Value Returned: $22.7M, $5.7M (avg)
% Earned: 69%
"We were not asking anyone to come in here with a cape on and be Superman. We're just looking for another strong piece to the puzzle that can keep us competitive”
Paul Stastny became an unrestricted free agent on July 1st 2014 at age 28 after scoring 25 goals and 60 PTS with the Colorado Avalanche. He was able to elicit a big salary on the open market, but only on a 4-year term. Paul reportedly had told the Avs that he’d give them the opportunity to match any offer, but the price bid by the Blues was too high.
By all accounts Stastny was a good player for the Blues (188 PTS in 286 GP, 54-point pace) and was shipped out of town at the end of this contract for a 1st round pick. He’s on this list because $7M AAV was simply too much money for a player who topped 50 PTS just once in these 4 seasons.
20. Brayden Schenn
Adjusted Cap Hit: $52.4M, $6.5M (avg)
Value Returned: $41.8M, $5.2M (avg)
% Earned: 80%
Brayden Schenn received an 8-year extension a few months after helping the Blues win the Stanley Cup, and he would be 29 years old before playing his first game on the new deal. How many 8-year contracts have been given to players this age since 2005? By my count, 14 and 11 of them are on or nominated for one of my worst contract lists. There was an alarming drop in productivity in year one, but he bounced back and earned his money in years two and three. The concern here is that he logged a little under 1700 hits in the NHL before his 30th birthday. That physical toll did not significantly erode his productivity early in the contract, but there’s plenty of time left. If he gets worse suddenly, this will move higher up the list. If he stays near the 60-point level for the remainder, he’ll be removed entirely.