On the first day of the NHL free agency period, the St. Louis Blues lost three players, including two fan favorites.
On a very eventful, and stressful first day of the NHL’s annual free agency period, the St. Louis Blues said goodbye to three players: Dakota Joshua, who signed with the Vancouver Canucks, Charlie Lindgren (Washington Capitals), and the most significant loss, fan-favorite forward David Perron who up until yesterday when he signed a two-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings, had never signed a contract with an NHL team besides the Blues.
The Blues also still have 10 free agents that remain unsigned between the NHL and AHL Springfield Thunderbirds with just $2,512,500 remaining in available cap space so there is likely to be more moves in the coming days.
The Blues remaining free agents are:
- Sam Anas (UFA)
- Tyler Bozak (UFA)
- Tommy Cross (UFA)
- Tanner Kaspick (UFA)
- Klim Kostin (RFA)
- Mackenzie MacEachern (UFA)
- Niko Mikkola (RFA)
- James Neal (UFA)
- Scott Perunovich (RFA)
- Nathan Todd (RFA)
As you can see from this list, both Niko Mikkola and Scott Perunovich, both up-and-coming blue liners, along with Klim Kostin remain unsigned. Just a little bit over two and a half million dollars realistically isn’t enough to fit all three of them under the cap so it remains to be seen what other moves GM Doug Armstrong will make before the puck drops in late September.