May 31: There is certainly mutual interest, as Armstrong came right out and told reporters including Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic that he wants to bring Perron back. In what can often be a difficult period for pending free agents, this appears to be a relatively easy situation for both sides.
May 30: With the St. Louis Blues’ season now over, the focus of the team can now shift more fully towards their offseason. This summer looks like it will be a reasonably busy one for GM Doug Armstrong. He has several notable players hitting either restricted or unrestricted free agency and potential extensions to ponder for players approaching their own free agencies a year from now. One of the most important players now out of a contract is winger David Perron.
Perron, 34, has spent the past four seasons in St. Louis and that stretch represents his third separate tenure as a Blue. These past four years have been the most productive of his career, and this has led people to wonder if he would depart St. Louis once again to cash in on what could be his last guaranteed chance at a long, lucrative contract. While that speculation is reasonable, it appears that Perron has different priorities. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Perron “wants to go back” to St. Louis. He states that he expects Perron to sign an extension to remain a Blue “unless [Friedman] is told otherwise.”
As has been previously mentioned, Perron has enjoyed some of the best seasons of his career in these past four years, and he plays a major role on a team intent on winning another Stanley Cup. Perron had 70 points in 79 games this season (including the playoffs) and is part of the core group of players that led the team to its first championship. While the allure of a bigger contract or new opportunities attracts many players towards departing their teams as free agents, it seems from this report that Perron values continuity and familiarity over the unknown of the open market. It’s an entirely reasonable preference that should, in theory, help the Blues as they negotiate his extension.
From the perspective of rival clubs, the free agent market this summer may have lost one of its most talented scorers. So for other teams in need of offensive talent, the market for those players may have just gotten a little bit thinner.