{"id":807356,"date":"2026-07-17T07:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/807356\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T07:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:21:12","slug":"blues-sign-connor-mcmichael-to-six-year-deal-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/807356\/","title":{"rendered":"Blues Sign Connor McMichael To Six-Year Deal \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St. Louis Blues have signed forward Connor McMichael<\/a> to a six-year, $40.5MM contract extension per Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman<\/a>. This move will secure the long-term future of the main chip in St. Louis\u2019 trade that sent Jordan Kyrou<\/a> to the Washington Capitals. It will also avoid salary arbitration between the Blues and McMichael.<\/p>\n

McMichael was coming off a two-year, $4.2MM contract signed with Washington in 2024. He earned that deal after a modest break into the Capitals lineup over the course of his entry-level contract. After being selected with the 25th-overall pick in 2019, McMichael turned pro with Washington in 2020 and debuted in the NHL in 2021. He played through 68 games of the 2021-22 season and scored 18 points. Looking for more of a spark from the rookie, Washington re-assigned McMichael to the minors for the 2022-23 season, where he pushed towards a Calder Cup championship with the Hershey Bears while scoring 49 points in 77 games.<\/p>\n

That was the jolt the Capitals needed to see \u2013 and earned McMichael a nightly lineup role in the NHL lineup for the 2023-24 campaign. He settled in as an impactful third-liner, scoring 33 points and recording a 42 percent faceoff win-rate on 872 draws. It was on the heels of that performance that Washington offered McMichael a two-year extension \u2013 a prove-it deal that offered the young center a chance to earn more once he found his footing.<\/p>\n

McMichael took the opportunity in stride as the 2024-25 season rolled around. He scored 12 goals in his first 16 games of the season, flaunting a breakaway speed and heads-up playmaking that connected well with Washington\u2019s veterans. That hot scoring pace didn\u2019t continue through the full season \u2013 but McMichael\u2019s growing willingness to play feisty and fundamental hockey kept him in Washington\u2019s top-nine. He finished the year with a career-high 26 goals and 57 points.<\/p>\n

But while McMichael\u2019s breakout was exciting, much of his 2024-25 campaign was spent on the wing \u2013 not the center position that Washington had been developing him into. The Capitals attempted to move McMichael back to center for the 2025-26 season, with mixed results. He again showed strong flashes \u2013 including a run of 10 points in eight games in November \u2013 but McMichael wasn\u2019t the same speedster while filling the middle lane. He finished the year with just 14 goals and 46 points, while posting a 43.0 faceoff percentage \u2013 exactly in-line with his career average.<\/p>\n

A change of scenery will offer McMichael the chance to prove his everyday value after adjusting to the NHL game. He is still a young pro \u2013 only 25 years old \u2013 and shouldn\u2019t be tasked with playing center on a Blues club that also acquired Mason McTavish<\/a>. Instead, McMichael will step up as the Blues\u2019 direct replacement for Kyrou \u2013 who rotated throughout the lineup while struggling to fit under head coach Jim Montgomery<\/a> last season. Kyrou also scored 46 points last year \u2013 a dismal stat line, despite his strong play away from the scoresheet, after four seasons of at least 65 points.<\/p>\n

McMichael\u2019s speed and playmaking ability could help him fit into Kyrou\u2019s play-driving role. The Blues will look towards Dylan Holloway<\/a>, Jimmy Snuggerud<\/a>, and Jake Neighbours<\/a> to drive their ship next season \u2013 while McMichael and McTavish take the space to carve out their new roles.<\/p>\n

McMichael\u2019s top competition for a second-line role will be Pavel Buchnevich<\/a>, who has also seen his impact dwindle over the last two seasons. Buchnevich scored just 48 points in 81 games \u2013 and spent time on the fourth line late in the year. He could be in-line to lose his top-six standing to Holloway and McMichael, unless he can rediscover the scoring that drove him to 76 points in his first season with the Blues. That lineup competition could be exactly what St. Louis is looking for after a year where many of their forwards seemed too comfortable with their assignments. A six-year deal will offer McMichael the security he needs to focus on winning that competition \u2013 and could land St. Louis with a high-value contract through his prime years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The St. Louis Blues have signed forward Connor McMichael to a six-year, $40.5MM contract extension per Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,171958,4247,448,82,759,4584],"class_list":["post-807356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-connor-mcmichael","tag-newsstand","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-blues","tag-transactions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}