An arbitrator helps out the Blues!

St. Louis Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson won a Stanley Cup two months and was apparently looking to get paid like one. 

However, an independent arbitrator has decided that the blue liner is not worth what he was seeking. He has instead chosen to help out the cap-strapped Blues on Tuesday. 

Over the weekend, Edmudson’s agents submitted a salary figure of $4.2 million, which is very, very far off from the Blues’ offer of $2.3 million. His last contract was a one-year, $3,000,000 deal and a good season from Edmundson could have led to a raison, however, his 2018-2019 season saw a slight drop in production, a few games as a healthy scratch and a playoff performance that occasionally made him look more like a liability than an asset…

Therefore, the arbitrator ruled on Tuesday that Edmundson would get a $3.1 million annual salary for 2019-20, per Elliotte Friedman. 

This should help out the Blues, who still need to get forward Ivan Barbashev under contract. 

Lou Korac of NHL.com recently revealed that Barbashev is looking for a four-year term like teammate Oskar Sundqvist inked earlier this summer at somewhere around $1.75-2M per year. 

If they can agree on that for Barbashev, after getting Edmundson for $ 3.1M, this will put the Blues right up against the cap to start the year. A clear win for St. Louis.