The veteran defenseman was acquired at the trade deadline from Detroit.
The Blues, as it turns out, did not trade Oskar Sundqvist and Jake Walman to the Detroit Red Wings for a rental.
The team announced today that they had come to terms with defenseman Nick Leddy on a new four year contract. The free agent market for defenseman was comparable to who the Blues already had familiarity with, so Doug Armstrong decided to stick with what was familiar. Leddy’s contract has an AAV of $4 million per season (as per CapFriendly.com), which is a dip from his last contract.
Last season with the Blues, Leddy had 13 points in 29 GP with the Blues including the post-season; five of those points came during the playoffs. Leddy’s added stability and experience to the blueline, but beginning next season at least half of the defensemen will be over the age of thirty. Niko Mikkola, Colton Parayko, Calle Rosen, and Scott Perunovich are under thirty.
Leddy does not have NMC or a NTC, so his contract may not be an albatross in the future a la Marco Scandella’s. Scandella has two more years left in a contract that has a cap it of $3.275 million per season and a modified no trade clause. That, coupled with declining play, makes his deal difficult to get off the books.