ST. LOUIS _ At the start of training camp this year, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said he had no problem negotiating contracts in-season. He wasn't kidding.
Just one game into the regular season, the Blues announced Friday morning they had agreed to an eight-year, $52 million contract extension for forward Brayden Schenn. That pays Schenn an average of $6.5 million a year and keeps him under contract with the Blues through 2028.
"Obviously it's really nice," Schenn said. "The organization, management and coaches have shown faith in me moving forward here obviously when they're going to do that, you want to buy in and when you see how good the team is, how good we were last year, how good we can be, I think it makes you only want to stay. Over the period of the contract, the term, the team's going to change but the one thing that doesn't is the city. It's a great city to live in, a great organization to play for, so I'm looking forward to it."
Starting with the 2020-21 season, the deal pays Schenn annual salaries of $8 million, $8 million, $5.2 million, $8 million, $8 million, $6.5 million, $4.3 million and $4 million over the length of the deal, per Pierre LeBrun of The Sports Network.
He will play this season under his old contract, which counts $5.1 million against the cap.
Schenn, 28, came to St. Louis via trade with Philadelphia two seasons ago. He scored 28 goals with 42 assists for 70 points in his first season with the Blues _ all career highs. His numbers dipped to 17 goals and 37 assists for 54 points last season.
He had five goals and seven assists for 12 points during the playoffs last season. Early last season, Schenn played on the left wing and then moved to his familiar role at center.
Schenn brings "a little bit of everything to be honest with you," coach Craig Berube said. "We've used him in different roles. Center, wing, he's a physical player. He's got that jam. When we need it going out there and mixing it up or being a physical player. You can play him against top lines on other teams. He's kind of a versatile guy."
With Schenn under contract, the Blues have only two players scheduled for unrestricted free agency after this season: defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester.
The length of the contract stands out. Schenn will be 36 in the final season of the contract and Armstrong acknowledged that in the final years of the contract, there could be some issues. But the team felt it worth the risk. With the talent the team has, they see this as a window of opportunity for the Stanley Cup.
"When you look at all the contracts that are signed by players that are anywhere from 28 to 31 or 32, you want to get that extended term to try to get that cap number down," Armstrong said. "We're at in our organization now, we have a lot of players from 25 to 30 that are in the real guts of their career and I felt it was our responsibility as an organization and this is to Schenn and Tarasenko and O'Reilly and Pietrangelo and Parayko and that list is to support that group. They've done everything we've asked over the past five or six years to be a very competitive team. The last eight years we've been very competitive. I know the term is something that in all reality we're going to have to deal with in five, six, probably closer to six or seven years, with that being said, we'd rather put a 12-, 13-, 14-year run together in a salary cap system and worry about that then. We're going to need young players at that time, the CBA could look different. You never know what it's going to look like but I felt it was our responsibility and with the blessing of ownership to support that group that supported us for the last three or four years. They can see a reason to be here and want to be here for the next five or six years when we can be competitive."
