Parayko & Blues Avoid Arbitration

The St. Louis Blues got the last major piece of business for the summer done on Thursday and they narrowly avoided the arbitration process to get it done.  Nevertheless, the Blues and defenseman Colton Parayko agreed to terms on a 5-year, $27.5 million deal, assuring that the 24-year old will be dressed in Blues colours for the foreseeable future.

The young defender stormed onto the scene in the 2016 season and followed it up with another strong campaign in the 2017 season, picking up 33 points in year one and 35 points year two.  He has ranked 42nd and 44th among defensemen in scoring, in those respective seasons, meaning that he is right in the thick of hockey pool activity at the draft.

Parayko saw his overall goal total go down between seasons, but his puck movement obviously made up for the increase of pressure on him at the point, as he isn't a well-kept secret anymore.  With a healthy group of forwards, plus the addition of Brayden Schenn in the off-season, the Blues do seem to be rounding out to be a solid team on paper, especially with this signing done.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Vladimir Tarasenko	7.500	Alex Pietrangelo	6.500	Jake Allen	4.350
Paul Stastny	7.000	Colton Parayko	5.500	Carter Hutton	1.145
Alexander Steen	5.750	Jay Bouwmeester	5.400
Jaden Schwartz	5.350	Carl Gunnarsson	2.900
Brayden Schenn	5.125	Robert Bortuzzo	1.150
Patrik Berglund	3.850	Joel Edmundson	1.050
Vladimir Sobotka	3.500	Jordan Schmaltz	0.925
Dmitrij Jaskin	1.000
Kyle Brodziak	0.950
Chris Thorburn	0.900
Robby Fabbri	0.894
Zach Sanford	0.875
Magnus Paajarvi	0.800
Ivan Barbashev	0.742

The projected roster of 23 players above is resting nicely, just underneath the salary cap ceiling, leaving about $1.8 million in space, give or take some roster adjustments.  The Blues have a couple more minor league restricted free agents left to tackle, but they shouldn't be too much trouble, now that the big fish is now under contract.