St. Louis Blues: Barret Jackman, Zbynek Michalek Depart in Free Agency

Longtime St. Louis Blues defenseman Barret Jackman signed a two-year, $4 million-dollar deal with the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, officially ending a run in the Bluenote uniform for the longest-tenured athlete in St. Louis professional sports.

It got out in mid-June that Jackman would not return to the Blues for the 2015-16 season. The 34-year-old had spent his entire 13-year career with the Blues, playing in 803 regular season games with 28 goals, 153 assists, and a plus-minus rating of plus-53. Unfortunately for Jackman, the salary demands that come with a player of Jackman’s age and prestige didn’t mesh will with the Blues’ need to conserve cap space for two young restricted free agents, forward Vladimir Tarasenko and goalie Jake Allen. Especially with two emerging blueliners in Petteri Lindbohm and Robert Bortuzzo, the Blues didn’t have an exceptional need to retain Jackman, a stay-at-home defenseman who is best suited for a third-pairing role.

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In another expected turn of events, defenseman Zbynek Michalek chose not to return to the Blues, instead signing with the Arizona Coyotes, the team that had traded him to the Blues in March after he had played with them since 2012-13. The 33-year-old Michalek was acquired by the Blues at the trade deadline for prospect Maxim Letunov , though he did not play immediately following the deal, as he was recovering from a concussion suffered with Arizona.

He made his Blues debut on March 15, and he went on to score two goals and add two assists over 15 games with a plus-minus rating of plus-3. However, Michalek’s ability to play effectively in front of the net was iffy while with St. Louis, and his presence seemed to be more of a net negative than positive, especially since he forced effective rookie defenseman Petteri Lindbohm out of the lineup.

Next: Blues Re-Sign Defenseman Chris Butler to One-Year Deal