St. Louis Blues Give Jaden Schwartz Two-Year Deal
The St. Louis Blues got a key component of their roster back in the fold on Saturday, signing forward Jaden Schwartz to a two-year contract which will pay him $2 million this year and $2.7 million in 2015-16, creating an average annual value of $2.35 million. Schwartz had been in a contract dispute with the Blues that stretched further into training camp than many expected, and there was legitimate concern over whether he would return to the team by the beginning of the regular season.
Schwartz will fill a key top-six forward role and look to build on last year’s breakout season, in which he scored 25 goals and had 31 assists in 80 games. He’s expected to rejoin the team on Monday, and it’s a possibility that he could participate in the Blues’ preseason game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday if he’s properly conditioned.
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It should be interesting to see how his presence affects the makeup of the Blues’ roster. 2014 first-rounder Robby Fabbri has been putting together a great camp which resulted in him sticking around longer than any of the other junior-eligible players who were invited to training camp. The chances of him making the final roster would seem to be significantly decreased by Schwartz’s return, due to the fact that the Blues won’t keep him around and potentially hurt his development if he’s not in a top-nine forward role. There probably will also be at least one player with substantial NHL experience who now gets left off the opening 23-man roster, whether it be Dmitrij Jaskin, Magnus Paajarvi, or Chris Porter.