ST. LOUIS – Jake Neighbors couldn’t have been clearer when asked. It would have made more sense to wait out the St. Louis Blues for a longer-term contract.
“There are obviously thoughts about it,” the 22-year-old forward said after signing a two-year bridge deal worth $7.5 million (average annual value $3.75 million) on Tuesday. “You have to weigh all your options. Ultimately, I think it’s just a smart move to kind of put that stress behind me and get that deal done and stay here for another two years. I’m very happy with the contract .I think there are only two guys, ‘Vladi’ and ‘Petro’, who ever did it. I’m not those guys I was really happy with at the time [Doug Armstrong] I was given the opportunity to renew and that was a no-brainer for me.”
Buren is essentially betting on itself here, and that’s not a bad idea.
He is coming off a breakthrough year, scoring 27 goals (38 points). He basically tells himself that if he puts up similar numbers, or higher than what he will definitely aim for, a bigger payday will come.
When the Neighbors’ contract expires after the 2026-27 season, he will be 24 years old and have two more years of team control before he can become an unrestricted free agent.
Before we dive into what a future Neighbors contract looks like, let’s take a look at some other contracts that Armstrong has dealt with in a similar manner and how they played out:
*Alex Pietrangelo– Pick No. 4 in the 2008 NHL Draft was one of two exceptions in this situation. His entry-level contract was for three years and $9.68 million ($3.23 million average annual value), which was immediately cashed in with a seven-year, $45.5 million contract ($6.5 million AAV).
Pietrangelo’s entry-level contract included two slide years, and when he played out the three starting years, he had recorded 43 and 51 points before injury dropped him to 24 points in 47 games.
*Vladimir Tarasenko — Like Pietrangelo, the No. 16 pick in the 2010 draft signed a three-year, $2.7 million entry-level contract with an AAV of $1.75 million, but was able to land a long-term contract (eight years, $60 million, $7.5 million). million AAV) after scoring 37 goals (73 points) in 77 games in the final year of his ELC.
Tarasenko didn’t have any bad years and he came out of the gate tearing it up, and Armstrong, the Blues’ GM, saw the opportunity to sign these two players and immediately invest in them.
“We did it with two players – Tarasenko and Pietrangelo – and if I’m not mistaken, both players were second-team all-stars in the NHL at the end of the third year,” Armstrong said. “So there was plenty of information about that, where they would be and how they would be viewed in the future.”
Neighbors falls into the category of Jaden Schwartz, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou.
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*Jaden Schwartz– Schwartz, taken two picks ahead of Tarasenko at No. 14, went the bridge deal route after completing his three-year, $3.5 million contract ($1.67 million AAV) in 2012.
Schwartz was 23 when he became a restricted free agent and was tender-ready after putting up stellar numbers (25 goals, 31 assists in 80 games), but he gambled on himself when he canceled his two-year, $4.7 bridge deal million signed. in 2014.
He scored a career-high 63 points (28 goals, 35 assists) in his freshman year and then had 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in 33 games after missing 49 with a broken ankle. But Armstrong saw enough of that and Schwartz’s bet was converted into a five-year, $26.75 million ($5.35 million AAV), giving up a few years of UFA status for a longer-term contract while still being an RFA.
Neighbors can certainly see this as a good example of how his contract status could play out.
*Jordan Kyrou– Like Pietrangelo, Kyrou (No. 35 in the 2016 draft) signed a three-year contract worth $2.27 million ($880,000 AAV), including two slide years, and after recording 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists). in 55 games in 2020-2021, banked on himself with a two-year bridge deal worth $5.6 million.
Things couldn’t have turned out better as Kyrou put up seasons of 75 points (27 goals, 48 assists) and 73 points (37 goals, 36 assists) to take him to age 25, and here too there was give and take . : Kyrou gave up the first six years of UFA status but was well compensated for the final two years of RFA when he signed an eight-year contract worth $65 million ($8.125 million AAV) last summer.
*Robert Thomas– He signed the same contract (eight years, $65 million, $8.125 million AAV) that Kyrou signed, but took a slightly different route.
The No. 20 pick in the 2017 draft signed his three-year, $2.68 million entry-level contract after being drafted in 2017 and had one slide year, then produced well during his ELC.
Thomas was only played in 33 games in the final year of his ELC in 2020-21 due to injuries, including a broken left thumb that limited him to 12 points (nine assists) and received a qualifying offer, but also as a 23-year-old. old, like the neighbors, agreed to a bridge deal (two years, $5.6 million, $2.8 million AAV) that would eventually lead to a long-term contract, and that happened after achieving 77 points (20 goals , 57 assists) and 65 points (18 goals, 47 assists).
Thomas also had a give and take opportunity here, giving up four years of UFA while getting paid RFA for three.
Here’s where Neighbors thinks he can get too, and what the Blues believe is the trajectory of his career path.
“I think part of that is because he scored 27 goals and did that for a year,” Armstrong said of Neighbors. “Our history is that we try to do a bridge deal so that everyone feels comfortable when you do the long-term deal, so that there is enough information about the player that no one feels like he’s (not) getting his dollar value, the player or the organization… We’ve had a lot of other great players since then, players that I have a lot of respect for, whether it’s Schwartz or Robert Thomas or Kyrou… a lot of guys have done bridge deals and I just loved that this was the right way to deal with Jake.
“Again, he’s so young, I would assume Alex [Steen] will receive that call at the end of next year, when he wants to speak to him about an extension. But I don’t think anything is going to change where we don’t want him to stay Blue for a very long time, and I think the next deal will do that if that’s what he wants. I don’t have a crystal ball that far ahead, but the characteristics won’t change.”
This is smart business for both the player and the organization. As Armstrong said, get the necessary information about the player and decide whether you want to invest in the long term or not.
And with Armstrong diving into the tender list last summer with the signings of defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway from the Edmonton Oilers, did the GM worry someone would do the same to Neighbors next summer?
“This didn’t have to happen today because we were worried about offer forms or things like that,” Armstrong said. “I go back to what we were talking about earlier. I look at how Boston and Detroit handled their summer with really good young players. They left plenty of room.”
“I just think if he can pull it off, it’s something he can now play with freedom. The style he plays, I think it’s conducive to physical play. It’s the ability to inflict pain and inflict pain to get, and I didn’t I want him to back off from who he is So economically it didn’t make a big difference to do it now or in the summer It’s nice to know that we got it done and if When we get to next summer, that’s a fixed amount in our budget, so when we go into free agency or do other things that we want to do, we know what those costs are.”
So far it has been worked out on many fronts in this organization. This one also says that when the time comes for Neighbors to get its big contract, it will be here.
“I love it here,” say the neighbors. “I love the city, my teammates and the direction this organization is going. I think I fit in quite well here and I enjoy playing for the Blues. It was a no-brainer to renew.”
And it’s a good idea to bet that he will not only get a bigger payday, but also show the qualities that Neighbors has in him as captain material one day.
The pieces align between the organization and the player, as long as both parties stay the course.
