Blues place veteran F Saad on waivers
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The St. Louis Blues placed veteran winger Brandon Saad on waivers Tuesday, shortly after general manager Doug Armstrong announced the move was coming.
Saad, 32, has seven goals and 16 points in 43 games this season and remains signed through next season at a cap hit of $4.5 million.
Armstrong said Saad will be assigned to the AHL should he clear waivers, which would give the Blues just over $1.1 million in salary cap relief.
"I talked to he and his representative. If he gets claimed, he'll be on a new team," Armstrong said. "If not, he'll go down to play in Springfield. That will open up some space for different players that I'd like to see get in the lineup. So we'll see where it goes."
"There's been a group that's been here for a while and things don't seem to be changing. Collectively you have to start chipping further and further up."
A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks, Saad was listed on the first TSN Trade Bait board earlier this month.
He posted 26 goals and 42 points in 82 games last season. Over the course of 906 career games, Saad has 260 goals and 515 points.
Waiving Saad comes as he mired in a six-game point drought and nine-game goal drought. He saw 11:58 of ice time in Monday's 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Blues enter play Tuesday sitting five points back of the Calgary Flames for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with three more games played.