The St. Louis Blues have addressed most of their pressing questions this summer, with one notable exception. Defenseman Jordan Schmaltz, a restricted free agent, is still lacking a contract for the 2018-19 season.
Schmaltz, 24, doesn’t sound like he’s too worried about receiving a new contract before the new season starts. In an interview with the Grand Folks Herald, Schmaltz said he plans to have a contract in place before training camp.
“For me, I’m just basically waiting to sign a contract, to agree on a deal. It will get done before camp.”
As far as the Blues are concerned, all indications have pointed to the team figuring out a way to keep Schmaltz in the mix. The Blues are squeezed against the salary cap with only $284,845 remaining in space according to Cap Friendly, so they may need to get creative.
Schmaltz skated in 13 games with the Blues in 2017-18, recording one assist and six total penalty minutes. Overall, Schmaltz has skated in just 22 NHL games and has barely had any consistent time with the Blues. As a result, it’s been difficult to make any kind of a firm assessment on how well Schmaltz will perform at the NHL level. Many believe he can still be a strong defenseman (he was an all-National Collegiate Hockey Conference defenseman), but he hasn’t had the opportunity to break through.
Let’s hope the Blues and Schmaltz are able to reach a new deal soon as the team could use some defensive depth.
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