Can a team voluntarily give up two players in the expansion draft? No? You mean we’re stuck with Jori Lehtera?
…sigh.
The Vegas Golden Knights didn’t have to make a very difficult decision when it came to selecting a player from the St. Louis Blues in the expansion draft. The Golden Knights picked David Perron, selecting the best offensive weapon the Blues left unprotected ahead of the draft.
There’s no telling whether or not the Golden Knights will keep or flip Perron, but if they do elect to keep him, they’ll gain a 29-year-old forward who posted 18 goals and 46 points in 2016-17. Those totals aren’t remarkable, but they were good enough to be in the top five in both categories among Blues players.
Why did the Blues elect to leave Perron unprotected when he had some of the best offensive numbers on the roster? One reason may relate to the salary cap as removing Perron’s $3.75 million hit will allow the Blues to tackle some other players/issues such as giving Colton Parayko a new deal. The other could relate to his dreadful performance in the playoffs in which Perron looked more like the Blues of old who fans thought were a distant memory. He had just one assist and committed a series of foolish plays in the playoffs. That complete lack of effort and focus during the most important stretch of the year might be worthy of showing him the door.
As the new seasons rolls on, fans will be sure to scrutinize the decision to protect Ryan Reaves over Perron. Should the Blues stumble, or struggle to find offense, Doug Armstrong may have some explaining to do.
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