Brenden Morrow’s decision to choose St. Louis over a handful of suitors should surprise no one, given his ties with the coach and general manager from their Dallas days.
Morrow visited the Blues last Thursday to speak with GM Doug Armstrong, coach Ken Hitchcock and other team staff to get a sense of where he would fit in.
From the get-go of free agency this summer, the Blues were interested in Morrow, but they also were hamstrung by cap/roster issues.
"We had had conversations in July," Armstrong told ESPN.com Monday. "We had to get Alex Pietrangelo signed, and didn’t know how much money would be available after that. We told Brenden if he signed elsewhere, we would understand. But we were interested."
At $1.5 million for one year, it’s a nice bargain for the Blues.
It’s going to mean a motivated Morrow, who took a massive pay cut from the $4.1 million he made last season.
"The most dangerous animal is a wounded animal," Armstrong said. "I thought he played really well in Pittsburgh until he got hurt last season. I spoke to people in Pittsburgh about him."
As Morrow kept hanging out as a UFA, Armstrong believed he just needed to circle back. He couldn’t stomach the thought of a rival team netting him.
"I kept thinking, 'Do we want to face him or do we want him with us?' " Armstrong said.
Now the Blues have to make room for Morrow by trading away a forward. Look for that to happen sooner rather than later.