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I hope that none of you were growing attached to the players from the Stanley Cup winning team, because this off-season it’s shaping up that the Blues will lose three of them. Dunn? Probably Seattle. Tarasenko? Whichever of his ten listed teams will actually pay for risk. Schwartz?
It’s looking like he’ll be testing the market.
As @PierreVLeBrun reported, Seattle did talk to Blues UFA Jaden Schwartz about a contract but nothing materialized. At this point, all signs are pointing toward Schwartz hitting the free-agent market. #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) July 21, 2021
This does not necessarily mean that Schwartz will not sign with the Blues - the upshot with hitting the market for a player is that you can weigh offers and play them off of each other. Schwartz is coming off of a contract with a $5,350,000 per season cap hit, and will more than likely want a raise. If teams disregard his injury history, he’ll get one.
It’s tough for the Blues to completely ignore his injury history even if they’ll have cap space to work with. It’s difficult for fans to notice that the Blues have played demonstrably more poorly when Schwartz has been out of the lineup.
The Blues will have to make moves to shore up both the left and right wings if both of their 2010 first rounders leave this off-season. Neither player signing elsewhere is necessarily ideal, but it seems unavoidable with Tarasenko. Schwartz, however, is doable - but much like other teams are trying to figure out the risk/reward with Tarasenko, Armstrong is having to evaluate that with Schwartz.