St. Louis Blues Trade Jordan Leopold to the Columbus Blue Jackets
The St. Louis Blues made their first trade of the 2014-15 season on Saturday morning, trading defenseman Jordan Leopold to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick.
The 34-year-old Leopold, who was the oldest player on the Blues’ roster, dressed for seven of the Blues’ first eight games but had been a healthy scratch since October 30 after defenseman Carl Gunnarsson returned to the lineup following offseason hip surgery. With Ian Cole having established himself as a legitimate top-six defenseman and veteran Barret Jackman playing too well to justify a timeshare with Leopold, the opportunities for Leopold obviously were going to be limited going forward. He’s expected to immediately step into Columbus’s lineup.
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While the trade of Leopold is advantageous for the player in that it gives him the opportunity to get on the ice regularly once again, it also gives the Blues a little bit more breathing room with the salary cap. Though the Blues retained $500,000 of his salary, the trade immediately gave the team $1.2 million of pro-rated cap space. The team now has $2,358,943 of available space, which should give them the flexibility to call up at least a few replacement players in the event that injuries ravage the team again the way that they did a few weeks ago.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong mentioned veteran Chris Butler (who will be recalled to take Leopold’s space on the roster), rookie Petteri Lindbohm, and 25-year-old Brent Regner as defensemen who the organization has confidence in should they need to take advantage of their depth later on in the season.