SEATTLE 鈥 The Blues announced their season-opening roster before Monday鈥檚 4 p.m. (St. 不良研究所导航网址 time) deadline, completing the roster by sending forward Zack Bolduc and defensemen Tyler Tucker and Corey Schueneman to AHL affiliate Springfield (Massachusetts).
Tucker and Schueneman were both waived on Sunday and cleared on Monday before they were sent down. Bolduc was with the team and practiced with them Monday in Seattle, and his assignment is salary cap-related to help the Blues navigate their injury and paternity situations in the preseason.
The Blues also designated forward Brandon Saad (expecting the birth of his third child) as a non-roster player, meaning he does not count toward the active roster, but his $4.5 million cap hit still does.
Forwards Oskar Sundqvist (knee surgery) and Simon Robertsson (upper body) as well as defensemen Torey Krug (ankle surgery) and Adam Jiricek (knee surgery) were injured non-roster players. They also do not count toward the active roster, but their cap hits do count toward the salary cap.
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For Robertsson and Jiricek, as injured players on two-way contracts who did not play any NHL games last season, they carry no cap hit. Sundqvist ($1.5 million) and Krug ($6.5 million) still do, though.
If Bolduc were on the active roster, plus the extra cap hits on Saad, Sundqvist and Krug, the Blues would have been over the salary cap by $395,542. So in order to comply with the cap before Monday鈥檚 deadline, the Blues sent the waivers-exempt Bolduc down as part of a paper transaction, leaving them with $467,792 in cap space.
In order to recall Bolduc, the Blues can place Krug on long-term injured reserve, which allows teams to exceed the salary cap. Of Krug鈥檚 $6.5 million cap hit, the Blues would have use of $6,032,208 of it (the difference is how far the Blues were from the $88 million cap). Bolduc ($863,334 cap hit) would easily fit under that, even accounting for his potential performance bonuses ($400,000), which teams must include when recalling a player while using LTIR.
Because many teams around the league have manipulated their opening night rosters to maximize their LTIR usage, the NHL has scrutinized LTIR-related moves that happen between Monday鈥檚 roster submission and a team鈥檚 first game of the season. If the NHL maintains that standard, the Blues might have to wait until Wednesday to place Krug on LTIR and recall Bolduc; if not, Bolduc could be back on the roster Tuesday.
If the NHL is stringent in their LTIR enforcement, Bolduc would not be on the active roster for Tuesday鈥檚 opener in Seattle, which might not be that much of a concern for the Blues considering he skated as an extra forward during Monday鈥檚 practice anyway. Additionally, the Springfield season doesn鈥檛 begin until Saturday, so keeping Bolduc in the NHL does not affect him potentially playing AHL games.
With Bolduc technically assigned to Springfield, the Blues roster currently sits at 22 players, with Bolduc expected to be the 23rd at some point in the future.
Tucker back to AHL
After playing in the season opener last year in Dallas, Tucker did not make the NHL roster out of camp this season, as he was beaten out by depth defensemen Scott Perunovich and Pierre-Olivier Joseph.
鈥淭ough decisions,鈥 Blues coach Drew Bannister said. 鈥淲e have eight D right now, and Tucks is a guy that I believe is an NHL player. At some point, you have to make decisions, and he was the one that was the odd man out. I don鈥檛 think it was necessarily his play altogether. I think he came in and tried to earn a spot.鈥
Tucker played in 26 NHL games last season but was a frequent healthy scratch. He played in four preseason games this fall.
- If Saad鈥檚 baby was born before the road trip, there was a chance that Saad could have joined the team. But that has not happened, Bannister said Monday afternoon, and the Blues are planning on not having him for the first three games of the season.