ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues placed veteran forward Brandon Saad on waivers Tuesday with the intent of sending him to the minors.

General manager Doug Armstrong said Saad would be assigned to Springfield of the American Hockey League if he clears or be playing for a different NHL team if he is claimed. Saad has another year left on his contract at a salary cap hit of $4.5 million, which makes it unlikely he's going anywhere but the AHL.

"That will open up some space for different players that I'd like to see get in the lineup and see where it goes," Armstrong said, referring specifically to younger Alexandre Texier.

The 32-year-old Saad has been held without a goal in 40 of his 43 games this season. He has a total of 16 points on seven goals and nine assists and was not garnering much, if any, trade interest around the league.

"Obviously, the production's not there," Armstrong said. "Right now the cap is tight, and obviously statistically he's not having a great year and he's got another year left. If we could find a match, we would try."

The Blues are languishing on the edge of the Western Conference playoff race past the midway point of the season, five points back of the second and final wild-card spot. Armstrong made his first big move in November by firing Drew Bannister 22 games into being the full-time coach and hiring Jim Montgomery as his replacement.

St. Louis has gone 14-12-3 with Montgomery behind the bench. The organization is trying to build for the future but also attempt to win now, and there are plenty of questions about why that is not happening.

"I don't know why our home record is under .500," Armstrong said. "I don't know whey we didn't embrace the opportunity of a three-game homestand to make hay. But my job is to not react to it but to observe it and then say, 'OK, well what do we need to do moving forward?' Part of the retool is we're finding out positives and negatives about a lot of different situations in our group."

Saad is in his fourth season with the Blues. During the prime of his career, he helped Chicago win the Stanley Cup twice: in 2013 and then in 2015.

Putting him on waivers comes a day after trading defenseman Scott Perunovich to the New York Islanders for a conditional 2026 fifth-round pick.

"I talked to the coach over the last little while and he didn't see a future to get him in the lineup here," Armstrong said. "So, when an opportunity came to give him a chance to play and the Islanders were interested, it seemed like something that made sense for us to help him along and wish him nothing but the best."

Texier, 25, has three goals and eight points this season across just 24 games. Last season, appearing in 78 contests for the Columbus Blue Jackets, he had a career-high 12 goals and 30 points.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.