Waivers have been heating up in a big way as of late in the NHL, and on Tuesday, the St. Louis Blues made the shock call to place veteran Brandon Saad on waivers in a move that nobody saw coming.
Now, NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman has revealed that the two parties are working on a mutual contract termination that would see Saad become a free agent, free to sign with any team in the league.
According to Friedman, Saad wants to play at the NHL level, which just isn't possible with the Blues after they waived him, and while he'll forego the rest of his contract with the team, this will give him the opportunity to find a role fit for him at the NHL level.
However, this means he'll again be on waivers on Thursday for the purpose of contract termination, after which time he'll officially become an unrestricted free agent.
While Saad has just 16 points in 47 games played for the Blues this season, as late as the 2023/24 campaign, the veteran was a 25-goal scorer in the NHL, and even though he's ageing, he can clearly be a great help to a contender in their bottom-six.
It made sense that with a $3.9 million cap hit next year, teams didn't want to take that on during waivers, but now, all teams will have the chance to negotiate with him and bring him in on a very cheap deal for the remainder of this season.
Ultimately, while Saad is giving away a significant salary, he clearly wants to play in the NHL, and this mutual agreement allows him to do just that, and if he turns things around this season, he could be in line for a solid free agent deal over the summer.
G | A | PTS | ||
Matthew Tkachuk | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Sidney Crosby | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jack Hughes | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Luke Hughes | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jesper Bratt | - | 2 | 2 | |
Quinn Hughes | - | 2 | 2 | |
Timo Meier | - | 2 | 2 | |
Brett Pesce | - | 2 | 2 | |
Aleksander Barkov | 1 | - | 1 | |
Nathan Bastian | 1 | - | 1 | |
Sam Bennett | 1 | - | 1 | |
Michael Carcone | 1 | - | 1 | |
Marcus Foligno | 1 | - | 1 | |
Nils Hoglander | 1 | - | 1 | |
Erik Karlsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
Linus Karlsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
Marat Khusnutdinov | 1 | - | 1 | |
Dawson Mercer | 1 | - | 1 | |
Thomas Novak | 1 | - | 1 | |
William Nylander | 1 | - | 1 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Capitals | 50 | 34 | 11 | 5 | 73 | |
Jets | 52 | 35 | 14 | 3 | 73 | |
Oilers | 50 | 32 | 15 | 3 | 67 | |
Golden Knights | 51 | 31 | 15 | 5 | 67 | |
Hurricanes | 51 | 31 | 16 | 4 | 66 | |
Stars | 50 | 32 | 17 | 1 | 65 | |
Wild | 51 | 30 | 17 | 4 | 64 | |
Devils | 53 | 29 | 18 | 6 | 64 | |
Panthers | 52 | 30 | 19 | 3 | 63 | |
Maple Leafs | 51 | 30 | 19 | 2 | 62 | |
Conference | Cumulative |