{"id":611183,"date":"2026-06-30T16:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/611183\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T16:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:30:13","slug":"blues-announce-qualifying-offers-drouin-placed-on-waivers-the-hockey-writers-st-louis-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/611183\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues Announce Qualifying Offers, Drouin Placed On Waivers &#8211; The Hockey Writers &#8211; St Louis Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday morning, Alexander Steen made his first announcement as the <a href=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/st-louis-blues\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/st-louis-blues\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">general manager of the St. Louis Blues<\/a>. The newly named general manager announced that <a href=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/docs\/connor-mcmichael\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/docs\/connor-mcmichael\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Connor McMichael<\/a> and Leo Loof have been tendered qualifying offers, while <a href=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/docs\/jonathan-drouin\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/docs\/jonathan-drouin\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jonathan Drouin<\/a> has been placed on waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract.<\/p>\n<p>Qualifying Offers Tendered<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McMichael was acquired by the Blues last week in the trade that <a href=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/blues-trade-jordan-kyrou-to-capitals\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/blues-trade-jordan-kyrou-to-capitals\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sent Jordan Kyrou to the Washington Capitals<\/a>. By offering McMichael a qualifying offer, the Blues are guaranteed compensation should he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/news\/top-nhl-restricted-free-agents-available-2026\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/news\/top-nhl-restricted-free-agents-available-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sign an offer sheet<\/a> with another team. However, that is not likely. The Blues should be able to agree to a deal with their new winger, who likely play on the second line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Loof, meanwhile, has yet to play in an NHL game. He recorded six points in 47 games with the Blues\u2019 American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.<\/p>\n<p>Drouin\u2019s Contract to Be Terminated<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Blues acquired Drouin as part of the trade that <a href=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/new-york-islanders-st-louis-blues-brayden-schenn-trade\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/new-york-islanders-st-louis-blues-brayden-schenn-trade\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sent Brayden Schenn to the New York Islanders<\/a> this past season. Drouin only played nine games with the Blues, scoring a goal and adding two assists. <\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"851\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Jonathan-Drouin-Islanders-1200x851.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Drouin New York Islanders\" class=\"wp-image-1571473\"  \/>Jonathan Drouin, former New York Islander (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drouin\u2019s role with the Blues for the 2026-27 season was unclear, especially after <a href=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/blues-acquire-mason-mctavish-from-the-ducks\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.com\/blues-acquire-mason-mctavish-from-the-ducks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">acquiring McMichael and then Mason McTavish<\/a>. It makes sense that Steen is choosing to part with him to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/team\/roster\/_\/name\/stl\/st-louis-blues\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nhl\/team\/roster\/_\/name\/stl\/st-louis-blues\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">open up a roster spot<\/a> for a younger player. Drouin was only included in the Schenn trade for salary cap reasons for the Islanders.<\/p>\n<p>Let the Games Begin<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are just about 24 hours away from free agency opening. Teams are finalizing their rosters before the window opens. As always, check in with The Hockey Writers as we inch closer to free agency. Tomorrow will be a fun day, and we will be here to bring it to you! <\/p>\n<p class=\"thw-substack-cta__label\">Free Newsletter<\/p>\n<p class=\"thw-substack-cta__title\">\n        Get St Louis Blues coverage delivered to your inbox        <\/p>\n<p class=\"thw-substack-cta__desc\">In-depth analysis, breaking news, and insider takes &#8211; free.<\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/thehockeywriters.substack.com\/s\/st-louis-blues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"thw-substack-cta__btn\"><br \/>\n        Subscribe Free \u2192<br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday morning, Alexander Steen made his first announcement as the general manager of the St. Louis Blues.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5120],"tags":[71,1601,5,1037,4,19146,534,84,5285,5284],"class_list":["post-611183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-louis-blues","tag-blues","tag-connor-mcmichael","tag-hockey","tag-jonathan-drouin","tag-nhl","tag-qualifying-offer","tag-st-louis","tag-st-louis-blues","tag-stlouis","tag-stlouisblues"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116840013925697752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}