Armstrong wasn’t going to let Husso walk without a return.
The Blues’ goalie conundrum is over, at least for now. Pending unrestricted free agent Ville Husso and the Blues had not progressed in their talks, and it’s been expected that Husso was going to test the market this off-season. He had every reason to want to test the market, considering his regular season stats were career best. He finished with a 25-7-6 record on the year, with a 2.56 GAA (that rose at the end of the season, perhaps when the workload was catching up with him) and a .919 SV%.
The Detroit Red Wings were in need of a goaltender, the Blues need to save cap space for many, many reasons, and Doug Armstrong apparently has a great relationship with Steve Yzerman. The St. Louis to Detroit pipeline continues.
First Robby Fabbri, then Oskar Sundqvist, and now Ville Husso have a chance to grow their careers with a rebuilding team run by a GM with Stanley Cup pedigree. Not a bad way to end up.
The Blues traded Ville Husso to the Red Wings for the 73rd overall pick in today’s draft, preventing him for walking for nothing.
TRADE ALERT: The Blues have acquired the 73rd overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for goaltender Ville Husso. #stlblues
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) July 8, 2022
Detroit has the cap space to sign Husso, so an extension is already in the works:
Word is Husso and DET closing in on 3 year, $4.75M AAV contract
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 8, 2022
Next season, if they don’t make a signing during free agency, the Blues look primed to roll with Charlie Lindgren or Joel Hofer backing up Jordan Binnington.