Over the summer, the St. Louis Blues made some key decisions that affected their long-term future. They allowed Ville Husso, a young netminder who had had a promising season, to leave to the Detroit Red Wings. They extended aging veteran defenseman Nick Leddy with a four-year, $16 million contract. And in a move that broke the hearts of many Blues fans, they allowed veteran forward David Perron — who had notably never signed a contract with another franchise — to leave as a free agent (joining Husso on the Red Wings).
Perron has had a fine season in Detroit and looks likely to close in on 20 goals for the fourth time in five seasons. But this week’s emotional return to St. Louis highlighted just how deep his connection to the fanbase was. While it’s impossible to measure his intangible impact on the team, given what the Blues’ season has become, it’s hard to argue that letting him depart wasn’t a fairly major mistake by Blues management.
10 Seasons As a Blue
Though Perron has now played for six different franchises, his is inexorably tied to the Blues, where he has spent 10 seasons of his career. In fact, he never signed a contract with a different team until doing so as a 34-year-old with the Red Wings. Drafted by St. Louis in the late first round of the 2007 Draft, he debuted as a 19-year-old in the 2007-08 season. He managed 198 points in 340 games in his first run with the Blues before a trade sent him to the Edmonton Oilers.
By the time Perron was a free agent again, circumstances in St. Louis had changed, and general manager Doug Armstrong was happy to welcome him back on a two-year contract. Armstrong may have had an ulterior motive, though. Because one year later, with one season left on his deal, he left the veteran winger exposed to the expansion draft, whereupon the Vegas Golden Knights selected him and made him a part of their inaugural season. He had a breakout season in the desert, helping the team reach the Stanley Cup Final and scoring a career-high 66 points. But instead of staying with Vegas, he signed once again with the Blues on a four-year, $16 million contract. That signing proved to be a perfect decision by Armstrong, and Perron helped lead the team to its first-ever Stanley Cup the same season. After three more seasons of high-level performance, it seemed inevitable that Armstrong would keep his veteran with the team.
Moving to Detroit
But the inevitable did not happen. Despite the warm feelings, the positive talk, and the near-certainty from those in the St. Louis media that Perron wouldn’t be going anywhere, he ended up signing with the Red Wings just hours into the first day of free agency. As the shock ebbed away and fans started looking for answers, it became clear that the reason for Perron’s departure rested with the Blues — the player wanted to stay, but the team never offered him a near-market contract for his services. He signed with Detroit for two years at $4.75 million per season. According to Blues’ beat reporter Jeremy Rutherford, the Blues never surpassed a one-year, $4 million offer to keep Perron.
I’m not blaming anyone. But once again you are forgetting that Perron says it was a one-year, $4 million offer. It’s water under the bridge now, but I’ll believe what the people involved have told me.
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) March 22, 2023
Armstrong’s defenders have been quick to point out that this was nothing new for the general manager. He has never allowed emotion in his decision-making, as evidenced by the fact that he has allowed his three previous captains to leave the team during (or near) free agency (David Backes and Alex Pietrangelo over the summer and Ryan O’Reilly during a deadline trade this season). Clearly, Armstrong was avoiding the risk of signing an aging veteran to a long-term extension, as he’d done many times before.
But the decision to extend Leddy pokes holes in that defense. Perron was already in the team, among the players, and playing at a high level. His value to the Blues was established. But Leddy, who played a few months with the team after the trade deadline, was also an older veteran — except his previous few seasons had been anything but exemplary. Moreover, Perron’s two-year deal is hardly “long-term,” especially in comparison to Leddy’s four-year commitment. Leddy just turned 32, and Perron is 34, meaning they will both be 36 when their respective contracts end. So it is difficult to suggest that Armstrong wanted to avoid signing aging veterans when it’s clear that he opted for one aging veteran (Leddy) over another (Perron).
Related: Blues Risk Repeating Scandella Mistake with Leddy
In the final analysis, whatever Armstrong’s personal feelings for Perron, he clearly decided to spend money on defense, an area of clear need for his team, at the expense of losing a beloved fan-favorite who had spent a cumulative decade with the team. It’s his job to make those tough decisions. Unfortunately for him, the Blues have suffered as a result.
Armstrong Made the Wrong Call
Armstrong’s decision to keep Leddy and move on from Perron was a bad one. Leddy has not become a stalwart top-four defenseman, which most anyone would have said was unlikely at the time of the signing. He has not been awful, but he hasn’t been a plus player. Perron, meanwhile, has maintained his strong form and his valuable two-way play. Of course, neither team is anywhere near the playoff hunt, and it’s tough to know whether things would be different for Detroit or St. Louis if the roles were reversed. But it is impossible to what effect Perron’s departure might have had on the team’s morale or locker room chemistry. Judging by the players’ reaction to his return, he held as big a place in their hearts as he did in the city’s.
Armstrong could not have known when he made his decision that one year later, he would be staring down the barrel of a team rebuild. But Leddy has added to a complicated mess on defense, one that will be incredibly difficult for the veteran general manager to solve. He is not the core of the issue, but he might be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. And the road ahead is not a pretty one for St. Louis. The decision cannot be reversed now, but since his return this week, fans are already looking ahead to July 2024, when Perron will once again be a free agent, hoping that Armstrong will reconsider his mistake and make sure that Sherbrooke, Quebec native finishes his career wearing the Blue Note. Only time will tell if Armstrong makes a different decision in the future.
