Blues sign RFA Jaden Schwartz, avoid arbitration

Jaden Schwartz scored 1:40 into overtime and Brian Elliott was sharp again in goal as the St. Louis Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Thursday night.

The St. Louis Blues have signed RFA Jaden Schwartz to a five-year deal, the team announced Friday.

The contract is worth a total of $26.75 million and carries an annual cap hit of $5.35 million.

Schwartz, 24, had an arbitration hearing scheduled for July 20.

“He’s part of that core we have moving forward,” Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong said in a press release. “Schwartz and (Vladimir) Tarasenko, Robby Fabbri, Colton Parayko, Alex Pietrangelo, Jake Allen — we’re trying to build around these guys. Having Schwartz wrapped up in that group, we know we now have a core that we can build around and try to win a championship around.”

The deal also features a modified No-Trade Clause in its final two years (2019-20 and 2020-21), which allows Schwartz to submit a list of 15 teams to which he cannot be traded.

Schwartz, a first-round pick (14th overall) at the 2010 Draft, has registered 70 goals and 87 assists in 240 career regular season games — all with the Blues.

“These are guys that you’ve drafted. You’ve developed them and you’d like to keep them here,” Armstrong added.

The winger skated in just 33 regular season games in 2015-16 due to a fractured ankle, but returned prior to the playoffs and helped the club to its first Conference Final appearance since 2001.

July 15, 2016

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Jaden Schwartz
SIGNED BY
St. Louis Blues
LENGTH
5 yrs
CONTRACT TYPE
Re-signing
SALARY CAP HIT
$5.35 million
TOTAL
$26.75 million

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