Blues Trade David Perron To Edmonton Oilers for Magnus Paajarvi And A Second Round Pick

This is how Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong gets Alex Pietrangelo and Chris Stewart signed: he ships David Perron and his contract with a cap hit of $3,812,500 to the Edmonton Oilers. Obviously there is a shortage of good young forwards in Edmonton, right?

No?

Eh, whatever. Perron did not have his best year to date, scoring 25 points in 48 games. Of course, that still would have put him on par for about what he scored last year if not a few points more. He's a points producer and the Blues do need a forward like that. They also need a forward who doesn't consistently take offensive zone penalties like they're oxygen and he's been under water for 20 minutes. It's a wash, but if the Blues could manage to get a hold of a player with similar points potential and a decent pick, this could work out.

And they kind of did. They got a second round pick for the 2014 draft, and they got former first rounder Magnus Paajarvi. Perron was drafted in the first round, 26th overall, in 2007. Paajarvi was drafted 10th overall by Edmonton in 2009, and just has had a heck of a time cracking the roster with the talent there. That doesn't mean that he's not good - far from that. What it does mean is that he hasn't been able to be utilized properly. In St. Louis with some better quality centers, he may just work out. In his only full year with the Oilers in 2010-2011, he scored 15 goals and 19 assists. Unfortunately he was also a -13, but chances are good that had more to do with the Oilers having another terrible season than anything else.

He is just coming off of his $900,000 entry-level deal and is an RFA, so Armstrong will have to re-sign him. He should be had for less than Perron and for similar production depending on how he gets acclimated to playing whoever he has at center. In 42 games last year, he had 14 penalty minutes. In 48 Perron had 44.