Alex Steen didn’t ease into his new job. On his first official day as general manager of the St. Louis Blues, he bought out Jonathan Drouin’s contract. The move came after Drouin played just nine games for the team.
Steen’s promotion was announced more than two years ago, when Doug Armstrong said he’d eventually step aside. That day finally came. And Steen’s first big decision was cutting ties with a player the Blues acquired in the Brayden Schenn trade.
“Obviously a tough decision; we waited a lot,” Steen said, via Lou Korac of NHL.com. “I think ‘Dru’ is a very defined player and at the end of the day, we didn’t feel like we were going to provide him with a position to excel, so we landed at that decision.”
The Blues picked up Drouin from the New York Islanders as part of the Schenn deal. The Islanders had signed Drouin to a two-year deal before the 2025-26 season but flipped him when they got a chance to upgrade to Schenn. Drouin immediately got hurt after arriving in St. Louis, and in those nine games he managed just one point.
The cap math and roster crunch
Drouin was set to make $4 million this season before hitting free agency again. Instead, he’s a free agent now. The buyout costs the Blues $1.33 million against the cap for each of the next two years. That saves them $2.67 million this season and a total of $1.33 million over the life of the deal.
The Blues have been busy since the trade deadline. They moved Schenn, Justin Faulk, and Jordan Kyrou. They brought in Connor McMichael, Brandon Carlo, and Mason McTavish. There just wasn’t a spot left for Drouin, so they took the cap savings instead.
Drouin was bad for both the Islanders and the Blues last year. Like, really bad. So his market might be limited. Some team will probably give him a low-risk deal and hope he finds something. But it’s hard to see a contender jumping at that opportunity.
Steen’s first move as GM wasn’t flashy. It was pragmatic. And it tells you something about how he plans to run things.
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