The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has reported that restricted free agent Jaden Schwartz has filed for salary arbitration. Despite the fact the Blues have stated on numerous occasions that Schwartz would be their top priority over the summer, the 24-year-old forward still doesn’t have a new contract in place for 2016-17.
An arbitration hearing will now be held in Toronto between July 20th and August 4th. The Blues now have the option of selecting a one-year or a two-year deal at a salary determined by an arbitrator or they can negotiate a new contract prior to the actual hearing.
It sounds like both sides are still hopeful of locking in a long-term contract:
Schwartz's agent, Wade Arnott, remains "optimistic we may be able to negotiate something longer term with Doug Armstrong and the Blues."
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) July 5, 2016
Schwartz is coming off a two-year, $4.7 million deal which carried an average cap hit of $2.35 million. Injuries derailed a chunk of his 2015-16, but his overall strong play (22 points in 33 games) and his 2014-15 (63 points in 75 games) have him in a great position to ask for a long-term, big-money deal.
The Blues made it sound like finding a new deal for Schwartz would be a situation that would have been resolved well before July 1st. Now that David Backes and Troy Brouwer have moved on, the team has more than enough cap space (just under $10 million) and it seems like a deal should be easier to pull off than ever before. Instead, arbitration is a possibility unless the two sides find more common ground.
Hopefully this situation is quickly resolved and the Blues don’t burn a bridge by lowballing their star forward.
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