The St. Louis Blues aren't out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs race in the Western Conference, but with the gap growing between them and Calgary/Vancouver, this is a team that could be getting desperate.
Now, they've made their first surprise move of the season, as it has been revealed by top NHL Insider Frank Seravalli that the team will be placing veteran Brandon Saad on waivers on Tuesday after a slow start to the 2024/25 campaign.
The 32-year old has been in the NHL since way back in 2011, playing with Chicago, Columbus and Colorado before ending up in St. Louis as a free agent four years ago.
In that time, Saad has played in 906 NHL games, tallying 260 goals and 515 points over that time, with the highlight of his career thus far being two Stanley Cup wins with the Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015.
Unfortunately, Saad just hasn't played at the level he's expected too this season, posting just 7 goals and 16 points in 43 games this season while carrying a -14 differential, showing that at 32-years of age, he may be dropping off in a big way.
On top of that, Saad carries a $4.5 million annual salary cap hit, with one year left on his deal after 2024/25, but if a team out there believes they can revive his play and get him back to the level he was when he posted career highs of 52, 52 and 53 points in three straight years, there could be some significant interest in him on waivers.
G | A | PTS | ||
Matthew Tkachuk | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Sidney Crosby | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jack Hughes | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Luke Hughes | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jesper Bratt | - | 2 | 2 | |
Quinn Hughes | - | 2 | 2 | |
Timo Meier | - | 2 | 2 | |
Brett Pesce | - | 2 | 2 | |
Aleksander Barkov | 1 | - | 1 | |
Nathan Bastian | 1 | - | 1 | |
Sam Bennett | 1 | - | 1 | |
Michael Carcone | 1 | - | 1 | |
Marcus Foligno | 1 | - | 1 | |
Nils Hoglander | 1 | - | 1 | |
Erik Karlsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
Linus Karlsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
Marat Khusnutdinov | 1 | - | 1 | |
Dawson Mercer | 1 | - | 1 | |
Thomas Novak | 1 | - | 1 | |
William Nylander | 1 | - | 1 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Capitals | 50 | 34 | 11 | 5 | 73 | |
Jets | 52 | 35 | 14 | 3 | 73 | |
Oilers | 50 | 32 | 15 | 3 | 67 | |
Golden Knights | 51 | 31 | 15 | 5 | 67 | |
Hurricanes | 51 | 31 | 16 | 4 | 66 | |
Stars | 50 | 32 | 17 | 1 | 65 | |
Maple Leafs | 50 | 30 | 18 | 2 | 62 | |
Wild | 50 | 29 | 17 | 4 | 62 | |
Devils | 52 | 28 | 18 | 6 | 62 | |
Panthers | 51 | 29 | 19 | 3 | 61 | |
Conference | Cumulative |