St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong’s salary cap squeeze kept the typically active trader quiet at the trade deadline. This summer, however, will be anything but quiet for the Blues. Regardless of what happens down the stretch and in the playoffs, Armstrong has prominent unrestricted free agents in captain David Backes and Troy Brouwer to deal with. He also has a young forward in Jaden Schwartz who is a restricted free agent and ready for a raise.
If the Blues have a big spring and these players are a major part of it, as they’d have to be, there might not be enough money to go around.