Jay McKee: The Blues bought out the final year of his contract. The team will save $2.67 million in salary cap in 2009-10.
Mike Weaver: He signed a one-year, $800,000 contract.
Brad Winchester: He signed a one-year, $800,000 contract.
Jeff Woywitka: The team did not make him a qualifying offer, which makes him an unrestricted free agent.
JR
has to be one of the dumbest things ever, giving a solid player 2/3 of the money not to play. Sounds like adam kennedy all over again. dumb dumb dumb. hope wonder boy comes back strong from his season out of hockey - or they will look even dumber. the blues lost a hard working person with heart - might not another team have taken him in trade if we were going to pay 2/3 of his money. For 2 million or less he is a great buy for another team.
Dan in STL: Would you rather the Blues pay him the full salary to sit up stairs the entire season as an healthy scratch or play and continue to give the other team the puck. He may be a good fit for another team, but that’s because the don’t have the defensive depth that the Blues have. Also, we can now sign someone that is better (Zubov??) for about 3 mill this year and still save room under the cap. Next time, know just a little about the finicial part of hockey before commenting.
I agree with Cards06, though I dont think he needs to have such an attitude, geez grow up a little. He does make a good point though Dan in the fact that McKee will never play unfortunately. He is behind Brewer, Jackman, Johnson, Polak, Coliachavo(spelled wrong I know) Strachan and probably even Weaver, and there is even a possibility that Ian Cole makes it this year, so there just wasnt room for him. However, Cards06 if we go out and sign Zubov that would make no sense either because of the depth chart that I just pointed out!
JD has got to get a guy that can move the puck. We cant depend on a kid like Pietrangelo yet. Johnson will be back but we can use another offensive defenseman on the power play especially. Our defensemen are mostly just that. Go get Zubov.
Zubov will not be signed. Have you all not been paying attention to the blues brass?? They are not going to go out and sign a high priced free agent. I know they have room under the salary cap but they are saving that for a backup goalie and to resign their young home grown players. Don’t get me wrong I would love to have Zubov but it doesn’t make sense. With Jackman, Weaver, Polak (who will be resigned), Johnson, Brewer possibly coming back, Coliachovo, plus potentially Pietrangelo and Ian Cole there is no ice time for any more. I know Pietrangelo, Cole and the new kid Runblad aren’t necessarily ready right now for the NHL but they will be very soon and they need as much ice time as possible to get them ready. I’m not trying to be a stick in the mud but I think us fans sometimes forget that the Blues just made the playoffs by the skin of their teeth then got swept in the first round. As much as I hate to say it they are not ready to make a serious run at the cup. However in a couple of years they should be serious contenders. The release of Woywitka and McKee were huge steps in the right direction. McKee was a great teammate and had tremendous heart but for 4 million a year he was way overpaid and Woywitka was just plain terrible. As far as that goes I think they should get rid of Brewer as well. When he is healthy he doesn’t stop anyone or put points on the board. He is another 4million dollar plus waste of space. I don’t care that he is a good teammate so they made him the captain the guy is terrible.
Can’t wait to see who fills that salary! Someone good, please!!